Challenge I faced?

[entertainment720]

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Hi all, I'm looking over secondary prompts, and a common one asks about a challenge I overcame. I have a few related to lab/research experience, but I was thinking about using a more personal one. Specifically, I lived with my grandparents and my aunt for one year of college. My grandma had a rare disease, and this was the last year of her life. I think this experience was challenging because my grandpa wasn't physically able to take care of my grandma, and my aunt was borderline abusive to the entire household (not sure if I'd mention this). Thus, I had to balance a full courseload with taking care of my grandpa and dealing with my aunt. I think this experience definitely made me grow up, and also inspired me to pursue a major related to my grandma's disease.

However, I know that people here often say to steer clear away from grandparent illnesses, just because it is a common topic. I'd really appreciate any thoughts/advice!

 

[Goro]

This is excellent material for the prompt.

 

[trini818]

Hi all, I'm looking over secondary prompts, and a common one asks about a challenge I overcame. I have a few related to lab/research experience, but I was thinking about using a more personal one. Specifically, I lived with my grandparents and my aunt for one year of college. My grandma had a rare disease, and this was the last year of her life. I think this experience was challenging because my grandpa wasn't physically able to take care of my grandma, and my aunt was borderline abusive to the entire household (not sure if I'd mention this). Thus, I had to balance a full courseload with taking care of my grandpa and dealing with my aunt. I think this experience definitely made me grow up, and also inspired me to pursue a major related to my grandma's disease.

However, I know that people here often say to steer clear away from grandparent illnesses, just because it is a common topic. I'd really appreciate any thoughts/advice!

I second @Goro. That is a good answer. I wrote about something similar having to help take care of my mom and work full time as a postdoc.