<p>My son will be a senior in HS next year- has a 4.2 weighted GPA in IB program. He's a very good student, but not what one would call a genius. He is planning on applying to schools that are either most selective or highly selective. His biggest hook, in my opinion (and in the opinions of his teachers and a world renowned Cardiologist at a world famous medical school) is how he has dealt wth serious health problems- 2 nearly fatal blood clots in the lungs and a genetic disease that affects 1/80,000,000 people (yes, this number is correct- he has a much better chance of winning a lottery than one has of being born with this disease) that predisposes him to future blood clots. However, my son has turned these issues into his favor by becoming an advocate for patients. He has joined a national organization as the Young Adult Representative of an advocacy committee and will be working with the organization and the Cardiologist this summer. He is also starting a patient support group in our town for children and adults.</p>
<p>My son plans on writing his college essays on not just what he has gone through, but how he plans to help those around him (yes, he is interested in a career in medicine). He also wants to add that while he can certainly add to any school's "diversity", he would actually prefer to be able to experience a normal life (without the need for future surgeries or a life of being on blood-thinners).</p>
<p>Appreciate any thoughts and comments on how best to have an ADCOM see that there is so much more to him than his grades and test scores.</p>
<p>Thanks for your response- I commend you for being mature enough to face such an event, and I hope my son can shine just like you.</p>
<p>I’m sure he will. What he has done is very commendable and I’m sure you are very proud.</p>
<p>“Hope.” -barack obama </p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC</p>
<p>The common app essay prompts and some of the essay prompts for supplemental applications for certain schools are a bit similar. Would it be overkill if my son addressed how he overcame adversity in both essays, or should he choose completely separate topics?</p>
<p>No offense but it seems killed you’re doing all the research for your son. I know you care, but he should be the one researching what and what not to do on essays. That’s the only way he will learn </p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC</p>
<p>Actually, my son has done all the research and knows exactly what he wants to write and how to convey it- I told him to get an account with CC and ask the questions, but till he does that, I’m his scribe :)</p>
<p>PsychoDad… </p>
<p>Sorry that your son has gone through all of this, but it seems a lot of good has come about because of it. It shows your son’s strengths and I think it is definitely a topic worthy of the personal statement. Every one of the choices on the Common App is actually asking the same sort of thing: Who is the applicant, apart from stats?</p>
<p>Now, let me give some practical advice. (Since I wrote a book on writing admissions essays, I can pretend that I know something. 
) </p>
<p>The topic itself is a good one, but it definitely runs the risk of coming across as “I-faced-huge-life-issues-but-look-how-great-it-made-me.” This essay definitely needs to take almost a cinematic approach, each paragragh a “scene” in the story. Don’t TELL the reader how great you are… let the reader DISCOVER that by what you SHOW.</p>
<p>For example, on what he “has gone through,” don’t tell that story: show it with a scene deep with the sights, sounds, smells etc of the moment, perhaps when the first blood clot in the lung happened: I awoke surrounded by machines, humming and dripping and beeping… etc etc. The problem could then be briefly explained by describing the conversation with the physician.</p>
<p>Instead of saying he “became an advocate for patients. He has joined a national organization as the Young Adult Representative of an advocacy committee and will be working with the organization and the Cardiologist this summer. He is also starting a patient support group in our town for children and adults,” consider describing a scene where he is working with a child, seeing in him/her a reflection of himself. Again, let the reader discover who he is.</p>
<p>It has all of the elements needed, but the essay will have to be constructed carefully.</p>
<p>Digmedia- thanks for your response- you’re right, and my son doesn’t want to just portray the facts; he wants to tell it as a story with two points of emphasis: 1. He does not want to be identified by his disease (ie" the pulmonary embolism in room 7212" [as one less than zero doctor called him- I’m a physician myself and have little regard for many of my colleagues]); 2. As colleges strive to achieve diversity, he would add to the diversity by doing what few students do- dream of a normal , Mayberry-like, life- after all he’s been through, being an average Joe is more important to him than being some hotshot.</p>