<p>My family life, for as long as I can remember, has been difficult. My mother is a disabled veteran of the US Army, she joined right out of high school (she was the valedictorian of her class, and hoped that the GI bill could help her pay for college, as her family was rather poor) - however, her experience in the army had left her with a number of serious mental illnesses that she fights to this day, along with alcoholism. When I was much younger, my mother had a serious mental episode which caused her to be kept at the hospital for a month. We have no extended family, so my father had to stay home from work to watch me (I was 5 years old) - he ended up losing his job, and my mother lost hers. We had to move into my grandfather's house for a while, before being able to purchase a house of our own.</p>
<p>Both of my parents got new jobs, where my father worked nights and my mother worked days. There was a four hour period (and still is) where neither parent is home. I, in turn, had to stay in an after school program for that time. When my younger sister was born, I was legally able to (according to state laws) babysit my sister for the time that neither of my parents are home because of their work schedules. I continued this role till this day, and will continue doing so into my senior year.</p>
<p>This situation has caused two problems for myself -
1) I am home, after school, looking after my 6 year old sister, for 3-4 hours each day. This has seriously prevented me from joining any clubs or sports. I cannot even receive extra help from teachers unless I go early in the morning (which I often do.) I do, however, do programs/volunteering/internships over the summer and some day programs on the weekend. </p>
<p>2) Math has never been my strongest subject, and though I was always a good student, during my Sophomore year, my mother was taken to the hospital multiple times for problems with her pancreas. We feared that it could be cancer. Along with her worsening mental stability, I spent a lot of time in the hospital or watching my sister late at night, which caused me to neglect a lot of my math homework and I ended up getting far behind in math, leaving me with a C for the year. The only C on my transcript, with the rest being A's. </p>
<p>I believe that these two problems will severely hinder my ability to get into a good school. I used to aspire to go to Harvard, but that dream has been dashed because of all of this. No matter how well I perform on the SATs, or how many APs I take, I always feel like I'm at a serious disadvantage.</p>
<p>I just wanted to know if this story is worth telling to colleges or if they'll just think I'm making excuses.</p>