Help Judging Adversity Secondary Essay Topic

[Saxy_Wing]

After brainstorming and scratching the last 68938 potential topics for an adversity essay, I’ve landed on my latest one. Lmk if you think this works and if you think this is “MY adversity.” I definitely do not want to come off as insensitive or that I’m describing someone else’s adversity as my own.

Also if any of y’all have tips on how to show resilience through this idea, you’ll be my lord and savior.

Basically, the week before I left for college (2017), my best friend got diagnosed with really bad cancer. Consequently, he couldn’t leave home and start school. What’s more is that we were supposed to at the same school together and had planned on being roommates. Where my adversity comes in (I think) is that the entire first year of college, I felt so much regret and so much remorse about moving on with my life, while his was stuck in the same place. I felt so much uncertainty that year as I tried to navigate and make the most of my experiences in college, while trying to uphold that values that I held dear (compassion, loyalty, etc). Each step I took to advance towards my goals and dreams, was one more step further from my best friend.

Besides the incredible sense of guilt I felt, I visited home very often and learned to be a support system for him even from afar. I became knowledgeable in cancer therapies and read through journals trying improve my medical vocabulary so both of us wouldn’t be in the dark all the time. I guess the big lesson from all this was I learned that uncertainty and doubt will always remain in me, and I had to learn to accept myself and what I’m doing for my successes and shortcomings.

Thanks for any help!

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[LunaOri]

It's not an adversity topic, but it would make a great secondary for a different prompt, or part of "why I want to be a doctor".

 

[Rachapkis]

This is not my favorite topic for an adversity essay because your adversity pales in comparison to that experienced by your friend. Your reaction does show compassion and deep feeling, however, and I can see how it would further motivate you to become a doctor.

 

[LizzyM]

This is not my favorite topic for an adversity essay because your adversity pales in comparison to that experienced by your friend. Your reaction does show compassion and deep feeling, however, and I can see how it would further motivate you to become a doctor.

This is not a contest to see who has had the worst life experience.

The essay doesn't have to reflect back on what motivates you to be a doctor. In some cases, the school wants to know how you'll handle a bad situation that will come up in medical school or residency or beyond. Some adversity is to be expected in your life and how you respond to it will be important to your success, and in some cases, even your survival.

Besides the incredible sense of guilt I felt, I visited home very often and learned to be a support system for him even from afar.

I'd change this to "be part of his support system".

Your difficulty was moving on to college while your friend (and college roommate) was stuck at home undergoing treatment for an aggressive cancer. How did you cope with the experience of being a college freshman without your "wingman" and with the desire to be supportive of him as he went through this challenge in his life? You've described learning more about cancer therapies. Was there more to starting college without your close friend and being suppportive of him?

Read each prompt and be responsive to that prompt rather than just marching out the same "adversity" essay regardless of the specific details of it.

 

[Saxy_Wing]

This is not a contest to see who has had the worst life experience.

The essay doesn't have to reflect back on what motivates you to be a doctor. In some cases, the school wants to know how you'll handle a bad situation that will come up in medical school or residency or beyond. Some adversity is to be expected in your life and how you respond to it will be important to your success, and in some cases, even your survival.



I'd change this to "be part of his support system".

Your difficulty was moving on to college while your friend (and college roommate) was stuck at home undergoing treatment for an aggressive cancer. How did you cope with the experience of being a college freshman without your "wingman" and with the desire to be supportive of him as he went through this challenge in his life? You've described learning more about cancer therapies. Was there more to starting college without your close friend and being suppportive of him?

Read each prompt and be responsive to that prompt rather than just marching out the same "adversity" essay regardless of the specific details of it.

Thank you so much for your input! So I guess the big takeaway is to spend majority of my time in the essay describing "actively" what I did during that first year to cope with my remorse/regret/guilt? One of my BIG hobbies today is writing/performing stand-up comedy and I started doing this during my freshman year. I would write jokes or ideas for some and send them to my friend. Then he'd write some or tell me what he thought was funny. It was a really good, new way for us to stay connected and busy. And it gave me the motivation to actually get up on stage for the first time my freshman year.

 

[LizzyM]

Thank you so much for your input! So I guess the big takeaway is to spend majority of my time in the essay describing "actively" what I did during that first year to cope with my remorse/regret/guilt? One of my BIG hobbies today is writing/performing stand-up comedy and I started doing this during my freshman year. I would write jokes or ideas for some and send them to my friend. Then he'd write some or tell me what he thought was funny. It was a really good, new way for us to stay connected and busy. And it gave me the motivation to actually get up on stage for the first time my freshman year.

That's great. As always, be responsive to the prompt.