For a few supplemental essays where the question is along the lines of “what is a subject/area you are interested in/want to pursue in college?”, I’ve used an essay that describes my passion for neuroscience (that’s also the major I’m applying as). I was thinking of adding a sentence or two about how witnessing my great grandmother deal with Alzheimer’s and pass quickly due to the lack of health care availability and resources her village was an experience that pushed me to explore neuroscience and strive to contribute towards neuroscience research in the future.
I’m not sure if I should add this because I’ve heard in general never to include death, especially the death of a distant relative, because it’s a sob story colleges don’t want to hear (also I am a relatively privileged person in general so I especially don’t want to make it seem like a pity story). I’ve tried to word it in a way that focuses more on my interest and less on grief but do you think this is okay to include? Especially for Columbia’s question:
“For applicants to Columbia College, please tell us what from your current and past experiences (either academic or personal) attracts you specifically to the areas of study that you previously noted in the application”
Who told you never to mention death? I think it would be a good idea to include this information- it is impactful. Don’t make it too dramatic, but it is an understandable motivator for your interests and indicator of your growth.
Under the circumstances, I think it is a very reasonable thing to put in your essay describing your interest in neuroscience. They want to know what students intend to study, and why, so that they can judge whether your interest is well-grounded. It’s not a pity ploy. After all, most of us never even get to meet our great-grandparents! It’s that you saw the cognitive deterioration in a family member, and it sparked your interest in how the brain does and doesn’t work. Totally appropriate subject for the “why do you want your intended major” question.
My kid used the “anything else about you that we should know” supplemental question for a tippy-top as a space to explain their intended major, intended career goal, and how their interest in it had developed, because from the rest of the (successful) application it looked as if they were laser-focused on becoming a pro musician; they had no ECs related to their intended major and intended career goal. Honestly, many MDs that I have known have gone into their field of medicine because they had a family member who suffered from a disease in that specialty. Kids of Parkinsons patients who became neurologists, kids of heart disease patients who became cardiologists, kids of oncology patients who became oncologists. It’s a fairly common career spark for MDs, even to the point that it’s fairly field-specific. So go ahead, tell them your story. Just don’t dwell on the tragedy of a nonagenarian’s cognitive decline and demise. Focus more on how it sparked your intellectual interest in neuroscience.