I know it’s not recommended to write about it if it’s you who has the illness but is it cliche to write one about a sibling who has one and how it affected you?
I don’t think I would write about your sibling. It would be interesting to read I would think and would tell them about your life and the challenges you have faced. However, my concern would be that some may think “doesn’t mental illness sometimes run in families?” What if she has it too and is not saying? What if she develops it over the course of her time at the school? What if her sibling comes to visit and makes other students uncomfortable?
I would try to pick a topic that is safer. To me this opens a can of worms that even though some might be fine with your essay or consider it a positive even, some could find it a negative. Your call of course. Good luck with your essay and the whole admissions process.
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I apologize. I wrote my response as if you were a she, and it is not clear from your post if you are a he or a she. So sorry if I was wrong.
You should write about you and not about other people, even sibling. It’s you who they want to know not your sibling.
Plus, I think that mental illness is a very personal issue. I would be very upset if my sibling shared–and probably overdramatized–the most vulnerable parts of my life just to prove that he learned to be caring or developed an interest in mental health issues or something like that. If you do pursue this topic, you should definitely ask your sibling if it’s okay.
Which prompt would t answer?
@OnMyWay2013 has a very, very good point: this is not your story to tell, it’s your sibling’s.
The point behind this essay is to “give them a reason to say yes”-- to you. So write a story about YOU, where the focus of the story is on you.