<p>I want to write about something that has influenced my life...but ive read all over that you want your essay to stand out, not the typical thing. so im thinking either:
1) experiences with my grandmother and grandfather, a hungarian holucaust survivor (auschwitz birkenau) and a lithuanian (red army) pow and how their stories etc influenced my views on my religion and the world
or
2)in 5th grade i woke up one morning with double vision and a lot of problems, went through a 2 week ordeal of daily trips to the hospital etc. finally found out i had a very rare diesease called miller fisher syndrome, a variant of guillain barre syndrome. i could talk about how going through this at such a young age affected my outlook on life, etc. the disease went away after a few months and i had a full recovery. fortunately miller fisher is not as damaging as guillain barre.</p>
<p>which do you think would be better, or a spin on either of them?</p>
<p>if you are going into Pre-med and you want to talk about how having this rare disease opened up your eyes to medicine, and got you interested in becoming a doctor, I'd say go for #2</p>
<p>1 can be good, but you don't want to write about other people, unless you are absolutely sure you can anecdotely create a vivid picture of yourself through your writing.</p>
<p>I would avoid the first one if at all possible. It has the extreme potential of becoming very cliche. I'm sure its a moving topic, but it would be hard to do it justice in 500 words or so. </p>
<p>I would personally go with the second one. It would me more unique and you could do some interesting things with it.</p>
<p>well i have time, just brainstorming. i know the first one sounds cliche, its just such a big part of my life. second one was a much smaller in my life but its pretty unique...hrmmm</p>
<p>do you think it would bore them lol? its nto the most exciting thing in the world but its definitely unique. i had double vision for like a month :o [ o<em>o o</em>o ] AHHH!!!</p>
<p>I wrote my personal statement about how my grandpa took me to visit a small village in Turkey when I was eleven. Grandpa was only in three lines of the whole essay though. As long as YOU remain the focus of the essay it will not become cliche; however, it is a gap that many people cannot avoid falling into.</p>
<p>It might be more helpful to describe the possible topics in greater detail, especially as to how they make a significant point about your personality and abilities. The first topic seems like it's better designed to convince readers that your grandparents are unique and fascinating rather than that you are. </p>
<p>Personally, I can't evaluate the second option without knowing specifically how the event "shaped your outlook on life." Your outlook on life is the important thing; the anecdote you choose is only decoration. How about you tell us what your outlook on life is, so that we can tell which topic would better fit what you really want to say?</p>
<p>double vision, when you see two of everything...if you wanna see a mild version, take you fingers and push your eyes inward so the view overlaps, kinda like that.</p>
<p>and as for more details, im not really sure yet. im actually only a junior, just trying to get a head start :D. ill think about it a little and post in more detail tonight</p>
<p>i have esotropia and have had it my whole life or since i was two, meaning i had double vision, and surgeries and vision therapy etc, i was told not to write an essay about it, but i guess it depends how you do it</p>