<p>I've had a troubled childhood (criminal father, sister ran away, police coming round every 6 months); yet I managed to do my work and I'm applying to college this year. I don't want to throw a pity party, but I could've done better without all this. I'm homeschooled, and my mum probably won't mention this in the counselor rec. I'm not sure who will write my teacher recs. If an adcom Googles my name, they will find out about this.</p>
<p>Should I talk about it in an essay or something?</p>
<p>Yes, it would be appropriate to write about in an essay, and depending on how you approach the subject, such an essay could be very helpful to your admission chances. Just keep the focus on what you learned from that background, and how you managed to rise above it. Let them know, too, if your background has inspired you to help people or to plan to help people with similar difficulties. Make sure you don’t write a “pity me” essay or an essay that focuses on your father and sister, but doesn’t tell much about you.</p>
<p>Great advice. Besides making your essay very personal make a reader ‘taste’ it. Like they are in your situation, like they are there. Unfortunately, admission officials see a lot of these kind of essays, so your essay needs to set you apart from the rest. It needs to strongly resonate.</p>
<p>^^ agreed. Mention in your essay. It doesn’t have to be a pity party unless you make it one. You can talk about adversity, how you coped with it and how it shaped the person you are today.
Best of luck.</p>
<p>OK, thanks :), should I ask anyone to read my essay beforehand? I am not sure how my mum would feel about reading this essay or even my writing it in the first place and sending it to the adcoms. I’m also not sure whether an adcom would wonder if I’d been affected and mentally screwed up by all that’s gone on; my sister worked in the oldest profession, and my dad commited crimes of that nature. My sister also went to a top uni early, like I’m trying to, but I’m slightly older than she was.</p>
<p>You can ask somebody here for advice, since you consistently hint that your mother doesn’t seem to be too supportive of this essay topic?</p>
<p>Anyways, the more experienced members here would definitely be able to give you suggestions on how to fix the essay or how to make it better–ask around if necessary, or, if you want, you could always send it to me. Just send me a private message or I’ll poke my head back into this thread.</p>
<p>Yes, find a trusted person to review your essay. Let them know what points you want to get across. It probably should be someone with knowledge of your family background so it doesn’t come as a total shock to them. If not your mom, possibly another family member, family friend, or someone from the church you attend.</p>
<p>Alright, I’ll write about it. It may take until about the end of the week, at least for the first draft, but I’ll post back here when it’s done. Thanks for the advice :)</p>
<p>Sorry it’s taking a while… it’s hard to get down on paper. I almost feel that I should write about it later this year (since I am maturing in leaps and bounds, so to speak) would this be a good idea?</p>
Slow down a little.</p>