<p>Here are some comments from experts that I found about the kind of topic that the OP is considering. </p>
<p>"Top 5 College Essay Topics to Avoid</p>
<p>1) Essays About Death
Sometimes it seems natural to write about a person's death and what that person meant to you, especially when it's a close family member. While writing about that experience may be therapeutic and useful, it's usually not a great idea for a college essay topic. The essay is a good opportunity to write about positive aspects of yourself, and essays about death tend to focus on another person. It's also frequently difficult for applicants' personalities to shine through such a somber topic."<a href="http://collegeapps.about.com/mbiopage.htm">http://collegeapps.about.com/mbiopage.htm</a></p>
<p>"Admissions officers agree that whatever the topic, everything rests in the execution. They look for a thoughtful, revelatory essay that enhances the rest of a student's application. Some applicants reveal too much, however. "I've read accounts of lost virginity, kleptomania, bulimia," says Lloyd Peterson, a former gatekeeper at Yale University who is now vice president at College Coach in Newton, Massachusetts. "But the topics that really illuminated an applicant's personality were the ones that dealt with setbacks--a divorce or a death--and showed resilience or depth. 'What I Did on My Summer Vacation' didn't help an application in most cases," [Lloyd] Peterson [a former Yale admissions officer] warns."
<a href="http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_3_37/ai_n6097596%5B/url%5D">http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_3_37/ai_n6097596</a></p>
<p>From U of Virginia's office of admissions:</p>
<p>"Too often, however students who want to avoid sounding generic with respect to form or content choose exactly the wrong remedy; they think that bigger topics - or bigger words - are better. But it is almost impossible, in 500 words, to write well about vast topics such as the death of a loved one (see excerpt: "the bad"). I am not advocating longer essays (just remember how many applications admissions officers need to read); I am advocating essays with a sharp focus that allows for detail. Detail is what differentiates one essay from another, one applicant from another....</p>
<p>"The student whose essay appears below, an example of "the good," has undertaken the task of describing - that is, of showing, in detail - the deterioration of her father as he gets treated for cancer. I do not know of a single member of our staff who was not deeply affected by this essay, the whole of which is as well done as the excerpt. What is impressive about the essay is the willingness of the writer to carefully notice everything that is happening. She opens with a sound, that coughing, and then creates a visual scene that we can see clearly. I said before that writing about death and sickness is perhaps one of the most difficult topics to tackle in a college essay, but here we have an example of why this topic can demonstrate not only writing ability but the courage to face a terrible situation head-on with intellect and power. Compare this with the other essay about death. There, even though the writer was saturated with emotions, he was merely telling us, in abstract terms, what he felt."</p>
<p>Excerpts from the U of Virginia's essays.
"The bad: From an early age, we accept death as the inevitable, but do not comprehend its actual denotation. Death is the impending future that all people must eventually grasp. In my early teens, my grandfather tragically perished. As a youth who did not identify with such a cataclysm I was saturated with various emotions. Initially, I was grieved by the loss of a loved one and could not understand why this calamity had to befall upon my family. I always considered death to have a devastating effect, but was shocked by the emotional strain it places upon an individual.</p>
<p>--The good: The coughing came first, the hacking in the middle of the night. Then there were the multiple doctor visits, each one the same: the little white rooms with magazines where I tried not to stare at the bald, gaunt woman across from me. One of the white coats finally said something, steadily, forecasting an 80 percent change of rain. The list of second opinions grew too long to count, looking for someone to say the right thing. Finally, there was relief in hearing the name of a kinder killer: lymphoma...."</p>