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I read the other thread regarding this section of the PTCAS application, and the consensus was, unless it was extreme circumstances (e.g. severe physical trauma with a long recovery, death of immediate family member), don't mention it.
I wanted to know if you would be willing to judge my past and tell me if it would be wise to mention it in this section. I'm being intentionally vague here to protect the identity of my sibling (HIPAA and all).
My older sibling is mentally disabled. As a family, we've struggled for a long time to ensure that he/she will be able to function semi-independently. When the recession hit, funding for disability programs was cut, and my mother had to tack on more hours at her 'regular' job, so I came home to help out with my sibling.
It's hard to judge how 'extreme' my sibling's disability is, but he/she did not complete a traditional education due to severe learning disabilities, has impaired cognitive function, has trouble with multiple adaptive behaviors, difficulty communicating, gets frustrated easily, suffers from anxiety and depression, and unfortunately, is prone to violent outbursts. He/she has been described by a clinician as exhibiting behavior and symptoms similar to that of members on the autism spectrum, but his/her precise condition is not autism.
I thought, at the time, that it was OK that my transcript was taking a hit, because I didn't think I was going to apply for graduate school, and that it was more important to use my time to ensure that my sibling grew and learned more, especially because I knew when working full-time, I would not have the flexibility to help in the same capacity (can't exactly explain to one's job that you need to step out of work to track down your sibling because they took the wrong bus and freaked out). We set a family goal of having her hopefully living in a shared home setting with one professional caretaker looking after several disabled roommates.
Because there was more 'coaching time' total between my mother and myself, we were able to help her gain some skills and grow. Now, my sibling has a job, a hobby, and has made marked improvements in functioning independently (e.g. previous he/she was terrified of taking the bus, now he/she takes the bus with ease, and calls the local disability 'dial-a-ride' to go out for recreation). Now, he/she will attempt to communicate when upset rather than expressing his/her emotions violently.
He/she is not quite to the level of functioning we had envisioned by now, but easily much, much more functional, happier, and generally doing better.
Would this count? Is it worth mentioning? I know that school should have been my first priority, but I felt at the time that if I didn't commit fully to helping my sibling out, we would be wasting a good opportunity to help him/her grow, and unfortunately, I overcommitted and neglected my studies, which resulted in extending my time in school significantly by several years, taking fewer classes per session, one failed class, and a few withdrawals. My GPA thankfully did not suffer too much, though.
I don't want this to sound like a 'poor me' story--I made a significant mistake which I regret (well, with respect to graduate school anyway...I don't regret the changes we've enabled in my sibling).
I wanted to know if you would be willing to judge my past and tell me if it would be wise to mention it in this section. I'm being intentionally vague here to protect the identity of my sibling (HIPAA and all).
My older sibling is mentally disabled. As a family, we've struggled for a long time to ensure that he/she will be able to function semi-independently. When the recession hit, funding for disability programs was cut, and my mother had to tack on more hours at her 'regular' job, so I came home to help out with my sibling.
It's hard to judge how 'extreme' my sibling's disability is, but he/she did not complete a traditional education due to severe learning disabilities, has impaired cognitive function, has trouble with multiple adaptive behaviors, difficulty communicating, gets frustrated easily, suffers from anxiety and depression, and unfortunately, is prone to violent outbursts. He/she has been described by a clinician as exhibiting behavior and symptoms similar to that of members on the autism spectrum, but his/her precise condition is not autism.
I thought, at the time, that it was OK that my transcript was taking a hit, because I didn't think I was going to apply for graduate school, and that it was more important to use my time to ensure that my sibling grew and learned more, especially because I knew when working full-time, I would not have the flexibility to help in the same capacity (can't exactly explain to one's job that you need to step out of work to track down your sibling because they took the wrong bus and freaked out). We set a family goal of having her hopefully living in a shared home setting with one professional caretaker looking after several disabled roommates.
Because there was more 'coaching time' total between my mother and myself, we were able to help her gain some skills and grow. Now, my sibling has a job, a hobby, and has made marked improvements in functioning independently (e.g. previous he/she was terrified of taking the bus, now he/she takes the bus with ease, and calls the local disability 'dial-a-ride' to go out for recreation). Now, he/she will attempt to communicate when upset rather than expressing his/her emotions violently.
He/she is not quite to the level of functioning we had envisioned by now, but easily much, much more functional, happier, and generally doing better.
Would this count? Is it worth mentioning? I know that school should have been my first priority, but I felt at the time that if I didn't commit fully to helping my sibling out, we would be wasting a good opportunity to help him/her grow, and unfortunately, I overcommitted and neglected my studies, which resulted in extending my time in school significantly by several years, taking fewer classes per session, one failed class, and a few withdrawals. My GPA thankfully did not suffer too much, though.
I don't want this to sound like a 'poor me' story--I made a significant mistake which I regret (well, with respect to graduate school anyway...I don't regret the changes we've enabled in my sibling).
