adversity+chronic illness

[jt6234]

i'm trying to figure out how to frame this for an essay because I don't think that it makes me special (a lot of people deal with chronic illness) and I don't want anyone ever to feel bad for me bc of the stuff I had to deal w because of it. it was; however, something that impacted my education and my life in general in a really big way. I guess i'm just trying to avoid sounding like I want people to feel bad for me... I dealt with my ****, I grew a lot because I had to advocate for myself a lot and learned about myself and my limits/capabilities, and with a whole lot of pt and time and meds I slowly got better. right now my essay feels a little like "I was so sick, and as I was there on the hospital bed slowly withering away I knew I wanted to be a doctor" which is soooo not me. does anyone have advice on making my essay more about the things I actually learned from my experiences being sick without losing the context that I was really sick?

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[Rachapkis]

AdComs have seen most permutations on most themes, and thus it is quite difficult for an essay to be truly unique. That said, the theme of an essay does not have to be unique for it to be an excellent essay. I would explain your chronic illness in a simple and straightforward fashion, and devote most of the essay to how you handled the challenges and what you learned from them.

 

[Moko]

My thoughts:
- Personal or family illnesses are commonly used to answer this prompt
- The bulk of your essay should be about how you overcame this adversity (and not about the adversity itself)
- To avoid appearing like you are "milking" it for sympathy, just state the facts and let readers come up with their own conclusions.