<p>So the prompt says: "Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story."</p>
<p>My question is, as long as I focus on how I have grown and developed as a person and student from it, and how it has shaped my identity, can I write about struggling with my father's illness? He has a brain tumor and is unemployed. It has put a strain on my entire family and makes school really, really hard to keep up with.</p>
<p>The thing is, I don't want to sound too whiny. Should I approach the essay a different way or go ahead and somehow try to incorporate my family's story?</p>
<p>I think the best piece of advice I can give you is to go with the topic you “feel”. For example: make a list of possible essay topics, mull them over, then go with the one that your gut tells you that you’d be best at writing and/or you have the most interest in. Go with what is most relevant to YOU, what has changed you the most. Remember: the essay is about YOU, not your family.</p>
<p>If the topic you feel you’d write best is your father’s illness, by all means, go for it! There is a fine line between an essay about struggling through a problem and a pity-party, though. You have to define that line. Colleges want to see how the illness has strengthened you, what you’ve learned from it, how it has made you mature, how it has affected what you’ll do in the future (for example, if it made you want to be a brain surgeon - this is a poor example but you catch my drift). Don’t make up stuff like that just to sound enriched, though.</p>
<p>Really, go for it if you believe you can make a strong, uplifting message come out of something that is a terrible situation. If you write the essay and you feel that the reader would feel more pity for you than they would feel that you’ve grown and learned from the experience, then you may want to find another topic.</p>
<p>Ultimately - go with what feels right! Good luck!</p>