<p>I'm preparing to send in my application for the University of Washington. I have read that talking about "personal hardships" in your application cannot always be a good thing, so I wanted others opinions on if I should include this. I felt I wanted to explain my lack of AP courses and smaller amount of extracurricular activities my first few years.</p>
<p>My mother struggled with both alcohol and narcotics addiction primarily throughout my freshman year into my junior year. She eventually attended a rehabilitation facility for almost a month, and the increased responsibility at home strained me academically at times. With the struggle, I felt it was very difficult for me to find the time to both focus on my grades, work, and clubs/activities, and therefore my list of activities is somewhat thin during the first three years of my high school career.</p>
<p>In addition, my mother and I have experienced financial hardships as well. My school does not offer Advanced Placement courses as part of the curriculum, and taking a course online was simply not within our budget, nor did I have enough time to self study while pursuing a full curriculum at school. </p>