<p>For the personal statement part of the Columbia application, I wrote about how my father's death helped me develop a sense of independence and maturity and how that is shown through the countless hours I have spent tutoring others (basically all my EC), starting my own online business, and getting a paid internship to help pay for college. (word count approx 550 words)</p>
<p>Is this too uncreative and clich</p>
<p>If this has influenced you the most, write about it. Almost every topic will be already written by someone else. It just depends on how well you write about the topic and how that topic makes you come alive.</p>
<p>i would emphasize specifics in your background paragraphs. Relate a few little vignettes in one or (max) two sentences each to give a sense of how your relationship with him used to work and keep it specific, humorous and very brief and crisp. make it extremely personal - that's where the uniqueness will come from.</p>
<p>this can be pulled off well, and pulled off like a cliche, so be sure to get lots of input on content. not lots of editing help, but lots of people giving their thoughts on how things went or reminding you of stories. it'll write itself if you get the right content.</p>
<p>thanks for the comments.</p>
<p>what I did was, the first paragraph describes my most cherished memory of my father, which briefly consists of the whole immigrating to America for a better life theme. from there i just progress from how it affected me and etc.</p>
<p>The problem with getting lots of input on the content is that I moved to another state and consequently have not really kept in touch with those who went through my ordeal with me. </p>
<p>Anyways, thanks again for your helpful feedback.</p>
<p>i'm sure other family members have stories of you when you were little where he taught you something or showed you something, or when you two did something special together. some of it you might've even been too young to remember. beats me, but if you're gonna draw your parents into your college essay, in my opinion it ought to evoke a sigh of "awwww" in the reader</p>