Writing about mother's illness?

College Essays
1

Hi everyone.

For my comm. app essay, I was thinking of writing about my mom’s sudden illness and how it matured me. I was thinking of talking about her sudden (brain tumor) illness for 15% of the essay and the rest on how it changed me and my philosophical ideas on living? It indeed is a key event of my life and really matured me. I spent the past 3 months taking care of her at home almost all day. But this essay will NOT be about pity and all. I only kind of touch upon mum’s illness than talk about me. It will show my independence, maturity and how I will always overcome problems.

Or should I write about my passionate feelings on inequality - especially on human trafficking. Because this has been an issue I have cared so much about since I was about 5, it will show my passion and personality. It will be passionate, original (I can make it so)

Which do you think it’s better. I have actually written the one about my mother and as I said, it obviously isn’t be writing about how sorry people should feel about me at all. I have shown it to 2 people and they said it is very inspiring. But idk if I should write the second op. instead?

thanks

2

I think you want to consider what makes an admissions officer (who reads hundreds of essays per day) say, “Yes, I want this student on campus!” The college essay is one time when fully answering the prompts is not your real goal. Making them intrigued about you as a person is. This is just my opinion, but I think achieving that goal can be hard with a weighty, serious topic. You also want the essay to be about you – not about another person or topic you care about. I think these topics could work, but keep your goal in mind.

3

As long as you’re a good writer and can be sure that the focus of your essay is on you and how you’ve matured, that would be a great essay for topic five (transition into adulthood). The second one could be worked into the solving a problem prompt, but it may be helpful if you can show some ways that you’ve taken action with the issue, especially since you’ve been aware and passionate about it for so long.

4

Thank you so much @intparent @undecidedaf