Every admissions officer says, “Tell us if you have responsibilities at home instead of a job”. Should an applicant reveal that their parent is terminally ill and their job(s) are working at home (landscaping, construction, electrical wiring and auto maintenance)?
His grades, ECs and test scores are very high and have not been impacted. Time is important, help is needed and there are so many skills to learn from his dad.
Will an admissions officer be concerned about the impact of grief during his college years or be impressed by his extreme resilience? Or just understand how he spends his free time?
I think adcoms will definitely be more impressed than worried! Students write about hardships all the time since they know that, like you said, essays about working through hardships show resilience. Just make sure that he focuses on his resilience and not the hardships themselves, since admissions officers want to learn more about him and not his situation
I agree. I think admissions officers are looking applicants who productively use their time outside of school and your S certainly seems to be doing just that.
I think the terminally ill part is appropriate in Additional Information. And it is perfectly logical that he has needed to spend time with his dad and help out at home. But I’m having trouble understanding about the skills transfer part – are you saying your son is helping run the family business? What will happen when he goes to college?
@intparent Son is applying as a mechanical engineer with specific interest in adding EE and CS courses for a well rounded engineering degree working on electromechanical devices. Lessons learned doing and not just studying will be a big plus. Dad is/was an executive; hasn’t been able to play at work for two decades with too much responsibility so our home has a vast array of unfinished complex projects.
As I connect with peers to reenter the ME field, they are impressed with the knowledge of college graduates, but very underwhelmed by the level of skills necessary to fully design and bring a project through to a producible product.
Additional information was my suggestion; unless the guidance counselor or teachers mention in recommendations.
I think it is useful as an explanation of why he doesn’t have more traditional ECs (although it sounds like he does). I don’t see the skills as a particular boost to his admissions – the admissions officer probably isn’t really thinking in terms of those skills being something they especially value in a freshman class. It maybe does show some inclination toward mechanical things, which is in synch with his desire to major in engineering, and they do like a consistent application.
If landscaping is yardwork (mowing, weeding, etc) and auto maintenance isn’t more rigorous than changing the oil, then it could come off as trying to pump up his app, though.
He does NOT need to write his essay about this if he doesn’t want to (can put a few brief sentences in additional info – not another essay, just a factual description).
I don’t think ad coms will have any concern about grief in terms of admitting him if he puts it in.
My mom was terminally ill during my junior high and high school years and passed away the summer of my junior year. Telling this story in my essay put my grades in context to what I did around the house and the grieving process I went through. It abosultey helped and also did a lot of hands on construction related work that had the admissions department actually steer me from engineering to construction management.
An essay should tell the biggest part of what makes you unique but also help fill in the blanks that a transcript and standardized tests might have.
