<ol>
<li><p>How dads suicide when I was age nine taught me to be more observant of other people as well as more caring.</p></li>
<li><p>How I overcame my fear of driving and how I related driving to being a nurse in the future; calm, confident, and careful.</p></li>
<li><p>Even though I am growing up, I find it important to always be a child at heart while being able to still be mature and how in todays generation of youth, they have grown up so fast. Sometimes wisdom can be found in the young; forgiving easily, enjoying life through bad times, learning to get up and move on when you have fallen and get hurt, keep trying, appreciating the small things in life, loving even the smallest of things (little bugs on the ground relating to small/mean hearted people); go after dreams, facing fears, keeping that innocence.</p></li>
<li><p>How my three-year old sister has impacted me in my life by teaching me to be patient, learn motherly skills, teaching me to focus more on family. She is important to me because she is the only sibling I have and I want to make sure that her childhood is better than mine (when parents got in an argument, I was alone and had no one but my sister has me).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I like #1 the best. It’s different and it’s a story and it will tell them about YOU. Just don’t make it a sob story and have them try to feel sorry for you. Don’t get me wrong, it IS really sad and my heart goes out to you for having to deal with that, but just make sure you don’t make yourself sound like an emo teenager.</p>
<h1>1. Absolutely. So sorry for your loss. Could make for a very powerful story about your ability to grow from challenge; a lot of college students crumble when things get tough and you can show that you are not at risk of that. In fact, your compassion will help your classmates.</h1>
<p>What’s the prompt? (Or are you just choosing the no-prompt option?)</p>
<p>I love #3. I think #1 would be powerful, but sort of tough to read; #2 would be great as humor; #4 could also be powerful but just doesn’t interest me personally. But #3 is just a very strong topic, especially for the college admissions process - you’re at a turning point in the “growing up” process.</p>
<p>Thank you for the responses, I have been mostly steered towards #3 but I can see how #1 would be powerful. I was afraid it might turn into a sob story, but I will find a way to focus on how I have grown as a person and have become strong rather than focus on the incident itself. Thanks again!</p>
<p>I am very sorry for your loss. It is almost too deeply personal to share on your college applications. Preventing it from becoming a sob story will be difficult because it is so sad. Also, a comment made ot almost every college information session we attended in regard to the essay was to stay away from death, divorce and disease. It will be difficult to write the silver lining essay in this situation. The loss of your dad is too profound.</p>
<p>You are smart to brainstorm several ideas. I think you nailed it with the overcoming your fear of driving essay in relation to choosing nursing. I am already hooked.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input Kitty40. I am still thinking of new topics. Thank you for your concern though and I will definitley keep you in mind when finally picking a topic :)</p>
<p>Write them all and see which one comes out better; I would assume the first topic would be the most natural for you to write about, but try them all. You never know how an essay will turn out until you try writing it.</p>
<p>Personally, if I were an adcom I’d look forward to reading about #3 most. The topic itself just sounds more interesting. </p>
<p>The other topics are a little more common. If you do choose to go with #1 you need to be very careful. Talking about death in an application essay (commonly considered an “essay no-no”) is a risky thing.</p>
<p>I’d like to see #4 with some of the ideas in #3. You could talk about how being the older sibling in your family has made you more protective and caring, while also giving you a better appreciation of youth than your peers might have. You value childhood, so you made sure that someone else was able to enjoy it even more than you did. I think that would make a very touching and thoughtful essay.</p>
<p>You could mention #1 in the same essay, since I’m sure it had a significant impact on your personal development, but if you wrote a whole essay about it it would probably be kind of a downer. This is a good way to focus on the positive and show how it changed you for the better (taking the role of parent for your sister and becoming more caring and responsible as a result).</p>
<p>I agree with NYCtempo’s idea. See which one comes more naturally.</p>
<p>With essays, you have to determine two things: 1) which one would I find more interesting to read? 2) which one tells the most about me and brings about my “voice” most clearly?</p>
<p>I would say #1 or #2. If you make 2 funny, it could be great. If you make 1 not a sob story, it could be great as well. #3 could be good if you really focus it. Feel free to send me a draft and I can give some feedback.</p>