<p>i'll be honest, my family problems are not as significant as some other people's problems
nonetheless, i'll give a little bit of info, my stepmom has been to drug rehab three times in the past five years,
would a family problem like this make a difference college admissions?</p>
<p>yeah, i've been wondering the same thing. I lost 60% of my hearing freshmen year. I've had 3 uncles, a grandmother and a very close (read: brother) family friend die. My grandfather also came down with colon cancer. This occured over the past 3.5 years so my grades havent been perfect (A/B/C, more on the B+/A- side) because I've been so busy trying to help take care of them... It's killing me 'cause I'd love to go to any Ivy League and that's all my grandma wanted, but I don't know how this would affect me... I have, however, exxcelled in the classes and EC's that I'm truly passionate about; which is anything pertaining to music. Music is the only thing that has given me a chance to really express what I feel... I'm the Drum Major of the marching band, Captain of the Drumline, section leader of the Sax section. I've been playing trumpet for 8 years, guitar, bass, and drums for 6, saxophone for 5, and trombone for 3. I excell in all of these. I also am into debate, secretary for debate club, made my schools We The People team...etc.. Sorry about the tangential, stream-of-conciousness style of writing, but I thought that would be helpful... But in the end, how much will this affect my application process?</p>
<p>If you write a great essay about it, then it could help you a lot.</p>
<p>It depends on how you let it affect your life. Colleges notice things like that. You also have a unique perspective on life that many students don't. I have a story too, and it's long, but to keep it short... my youngest sister was born with an extremely severe mental and physical disorder when I was in third grade. She has come close to dying twice: winter of my freshman year and this past month. Actually, she wasn't supposed to live past the age of two, and the way things are going now it probably won't be very long. My grandfather was also diagnosed a few years ago with another rare neurological degenerative disorder which will take him within the next year or so. I was also diagnosed with hypothyroidism the summer after my freshman year, and it went untreated for quite a while. (I still was able to maintain A's in all my classes and I've done band, drum major, math team, AP's, etc...) As a result of all this stuff though, I've decided that what I want to do with my life is go into medical research that is finding treatments and possibly cures for neurological diseases similar to my grandfather's and sister's. Kind of a don't let the bad stuff get you down but grow from it type story in my case. But like I said, it depends on how you let it affect you and how you present yourself and your story to colleges and people in general. You can turn yourself into the pity case or you can grow from your experiences.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that over the past 4 years I've gone through probably 7 surgeries to repair my hearing, each with limited or no success. My goal is similar to yours. I'm interested in Anesthesiology because 1) I know the value of a good Anesthesiologist, and 2) I want to help people be relieved of their pain, if only for a short amount of time...</p>
<p>Not to make light of anyone's family problems but I agree with Kathryn you would be better served on writing about how these problems have affected your life.. If you tell your story as a tale of woe and as an excuse for not doing wel, the school will look at your story from a perspective that you lack resiliency and will crumble once things become challenging (and there will be some challenging moments). </p>
<p>Schools want to see that even though there were times where you bent, you did not break, you managed to find strentght, gather your reserves and go on. As hard as it is schools want to see the life lessons you have learned from these experiences.</p>
<p>Yeah that's my goal. With my hearing problems and then being able to excel in music, I believe is huge... I'm also going to mention juggling 4 AP's, passionate EC's, and trying to help my family at the same time...It's all big to me...Hopefully the adcoms at the Ancient Eight will think so too...</p>
<p>u''ll definitely stand out..good luck!</p>
<p>does the fact that i had a brain tumor...it was non cancerous and unremovable..help me even tho it was in 8th grade...It will effect a lot of little things in my life for the rest of my life..like if my shunt(what they put in to help stop the pain its a long story) malfuctions(which has happened b4 to other people) i will need to go into immediate surgery and probably miss another month of school recovering. I have to be careful... I had 3 seizures after my surgery in the hospital a 4th one outside of the hospital which made me GO back to the hospital and it was very major(30 minute long one) This causes me to be on seizure medicine and i might get off it but it took us close to 3 years for r doctor to think about getting a eeg to make sure everythings ok...(that was not even a week ago) and get off the medicine</p>
<p>kathryn, that's what i thought, i've really learned from my stepmom's experience, about how prescription drugs can really hurt a family and a life</p>
<p>that said, i've managed to maintain a 4.19 (weighted) and take 3 APs
so i agree that it's all about how you handle situations</p>
<p>I don't think they will for something that miniscule. My friend went to drug rehab his senior year and ended up getting rescinded.</p>
<p>i'll try to be calm, but a close family member with a drug problem (especially one that's supposed to be raising two kids) is NOT a miniscule issue
in addition, that drug use contributed to mental instability with one of her kids and anger management issues with the other
this has really affected my whole life</p>
<p>that said i'm probably not even going to mention this in my app, unless it comes it</p>
<p>I've seen people who have had significant family problems (i.e. Death in the family, physical condition, care for another) get a huge help in admissions. A girl in my class got into Harvard, barely had above a 2000 SAT, and a 3.8, but she had this situation that made her stand out.</p>
<p>I think (or maybe it's just that I hope) that it's unusual to have a parent or step-parent go through a struggle with drug addiction. It's worth talking about because I'd imagine you gained some perspectives that many people your age do not have. </p>
<p>Many students choose to write about emotional issues in their essays. People will talk about suicides, about divorce, about the death of a loved on, about not attaining a goal they'd set. There is no need for you to shy away from this topic, as long as your essay doesn't sound like you've been wallowing (and I have little fear of that).</p>
<p>I just recently had an epidural bleed in my head about 6 weeks ago and im still recovering. As long as you write how a problem has affected you can definitely make a difference in college admissions.</p>
<p>"i'll try to be calm, but a close family member with a drug problem (especially one that's supposed to be raising two kids) is NOT a miniscule issue in addition, that drug use contributed to mental instability with one of her kids and anger management issues with the other this has really affected my whole life</p>
<p>that said i'm probably not even going to mention this in my app, unless it comes "</p>
<p>I see where you're coming from, I had one family member die of a herion O.D. and another of a cocaine O.D. A good friend of mine died in a drunk driving crash, (he wasn't drunk) and another committed suicide that same year. So yeah, we all have issues...</p>