Adversity essay prompt

[mik30102]

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Hello everyone I am starting to write my secondary essays and wanted to ask for peoples opinions on how to best answer this prompt. I was thinking about talking about a experience early on in my education but I am not sure if I was to young for this to be relevant in the eyes of adcoms. In 5th grade I missed over half the school year due to having my tonsils out, and then having a long stomach illness due to a unknown cause still to this day (the GI at the time thought it might have been Crohns). Due to this I was put into resource room to try to help me catch up in 6th grade, and I was almost held back 6th grade since I was almost failing all of my classes. However after a lot of dedication and hard work I began to excel at school again. Would this be a good topic to talk about? Besides this experience I am not really sure what else I could talk about since I am not at all comfortable bringing up other challenges I have had in my life. Thanks everyone!

 

[Jennyfishy]

Usually people discuss circumstances, hardships, or disadvantages they faced in terms of academics, SES, environment, home life, etc. when thinking of adversity. An example is growing up I'm an unsafe community, a lack of education, immigrant household, etc.

Your example sounds like more of a time you faced a challenge and how you got past it. Buuut if you think this was a significant milestone in defining you or if it has made you the person you are today, my comment is irrelevant, haha.

 

[DokterMom]

Just one opinion -- but yeah, too long ago. Suggest you 'get comfortable' with the more recent challenges.

 

[SnakeOilForSale]

That's an inconvenience, not adversity. Don't talk about that, it makes it look like you've never had any more significant challenges worth speaking about.

 

[mik30102]

Thanks for the opinions guys, guess ill try to avoid doing that unless I really have to (thankfully only 2 schools out of the 20 I'm applying to have a adversity prompt). The other major challenge I have had in my life is having a dysfunctional family life (affairs, some mental issues, kleptomania, etc.) but I strongly prefer not bringing this up. Alternatively I could write about caring for my grandma who has been rapidly progressing with dementia over the past 3 years and having to see the person I once knew almost become lost and how this has made me a more compassionate person, and shown me how illness effects other family members. Would this be a more appropriate topic?

 

[eagles22]

Thanks for the opinions guys, guess ill try to avoid doing that unless I really have to (thankfully only 2 schools out of the 20 I'm applying to have a adversity prompt). The other major challenge I have had in my life is having a dysfunctional family life (affairs, some mental issues, kleptomania, etc.) but I strongly prefer not bringing this up. Alternatively I could write about caring for my grandma who has been rapidly progressing with dementia over the past 3 years and having to see the person I once knew almost become lost and how this has made me a more compassionate person, and shown me how illness effects other family members. Would this be a more appropriate topic?

Is this essay required? While all of your things are difficult to deal with, they're going to make you seem like a whiner. If you don't have to write it, I wouldn't with your examples. Unless you cared for grandma every day while taking a full college course load, then I would avoid it. It's not really an adversity to have a family member deteriorate into old age. That's just called life.

 

[Jennyfishy]

Thanks for the opinions guys, guess ill try to avoid doing that unless I really have to (thankfully only 2 schools out of the 20 I'm applying to have a adversity prompt). The other major challenge I have had in my life is having a dysfunctional family life (affairs, some mental issues, kleptomania, etc.) but I strongly prefer not bringing this up. Alternatively I could write about caring for my grandma who has been rapidly progressing with dementia over the past 3 years and having to see the person I once knew almost become lost and how this has made me a more compassionate person, and shown me how illness effects other family members. Would this be a more appropriate topic?

Don't write about anything you are not prepared to defend or have heavily scrutinized (General rule of thumb).

Your second topic sounds like something you could discuss or mention more appripriately in a personal statement or question that asks about moments where you decided on medicine. When I read "adversity" I think more of circumstances or misfortunes you personally faced and learned to cope with/overcome. It's one thing to have a sickness in the family (life happensl, but it's an entirely different story If you are one of the primary care givers and had to make sacrifices to provide them with the attention they needed (which I would consider an adversity)

 

[Temerit]

What's the general advice for how to approach an adversity prompt if one was not significantly disadvantaged in any way throughout their entire life?

 

[Jennyfishy]

What's the general advice for how to approach an adversity prompt if one was not significantly disadvantaged in any way throughout their entire life?

On an older forum, someone wrote that the point of the essay isn't to talk about how worse or disadvantaged you were per se (not everyone grew up poor or has been dealt the short end of the stick in life), but to really reflect on your own experiences that show how you deal with challenges in life. Your goal is to use an example that conveys how you have learned to cope with unexpected situations, developed characteristics that now make you a better person, or show that you can manage/handle stress well.

A less extreme example that satisfied this (on an older forum) was a person living in an apt who had a toxic housemate who made everyone else's lives hell. The fact that the person drew on their leadership and communication skills to address the issue, compromise, and resolve any tension/conflict was a good way they showed they are mature and were able to overcome this obstacle.

I think you can work your grandmother story into this if it applies. The way you explained it sounded more like an inconvenience to you though 😀