<p>This year my transfer essay was about my father's death and how it made me stronger. The decision to write about this was difficult, because nobody wants to take advantage of something like that. I'm writing this because everywhere I look there's negativity towards people who write about these kinds of subjects, and I'm not sure I understand it. People who have lost close relatives are always impacted by these events, so it is natural to answer essay questions with accounts of their challenges. You will never see an essay about a parent's death that isn't truthful. I guess I'm wondering what adcoms think about these essays. Do they fall into the same cliched category as "Debate club made me better" and "I learned a lot from grandpa"? I think one of the common features for essays on death is that the writers have a kind of "us against them" mentality, where anybody who hasn't lost a parent just can't understand the pain. That's why they write about it, myself included. I realize that everybody has a sad story to tell, and I think that one of the best ways to really bond with somebody is to talk about these kinds of things. But for whatever reason parents' deaths are touchier subjects. I'm not really making any kind of point, just illustrating a few things and hoping to stir some discussion. Let me know what you think. =)</p>
<p>My father died when I was two, and my step father left us when I was 11, and I included both of these things in my essays. I did this not because I wanted people to feel sorry for me, but those events helped me become a man on a own, and its something I'm proud of. In short, I totally agree with what you did.</p>