I am considering writing about how a family member's struggle with addiction affected me and what I learned from it. My approach is to minimally talk about the details of what my family member went through and focus on how it affected me. Is this a strong topic for this essay? I have seen some top schools outright say that talking about a family member's illness is not good material for the adversity essay but I am wondering if that applies to this approach I want to take.
Is talking about a family member's illness/addiction a bad idea for adversity essays?
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Be tactful.
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If this is something that you feel strongly about sharing, then go for it (just not at the schools that specifically tell you to avoid this topic -- following instructions is a highly valued trait in the application process). As @Isoval said, this needs to be done tactfully as addiction is a sensitive topic.
As with everything in the application, do keep in mind how it might be perceived by schools. The key is to display introspection ('lessons learned') and emphasize appropriate coping mechanisms that will allow you to continue thriving in spite of future adversities that you will encounter. We want to know that when **** inevitably hits the fan in med school, that you will withstand the pressure and have tried-and-true strategies in place to succeed personally and academically. So whatever is discussed should ideally be translatable to these situations.
Family health issues and addiction are frequently brought up for the adversity prompt and there are some common pitfalls that I've seen. My off-the-cuff tips:
- Do not focus too much on the actual event itself and neglect to talk about your resiliency and coping strategies. The application is about you, not your family.
- Do not talk negatively about anyone, including family members, even if it's factually true and they were absolutely atrocious. Being negative almost always reflects poorly on the applicant, and never positively.
- Do not volunteer information that could be perceived as 'red flags' (e.g signs of poor judgment on your part). Not saying that you need to come off like a saint, just don't dig yourself into a hole. Surprisingly does happen and speaks to an applicant's self-awareness, or lack thereof.
- Be prepared to talk about this during interviews -- anything you put down is fair game.
As with everything in the application, do keep in mind how it might be perceived by schools. The key is to display introspection ('lessons learned') and emphasize appropriate coping mechanisms that will allow you to continue thriving in spite of future adversities that you will encounter. We want to know that when **** inevitably hits the fan in med school, that you will withstand the pressure and have tried-and-true strategies in place to succeed personally and academically. So whatever is discussed should ideally be translatable to these situations.
Family health issues and addiction are frequently brought up for the adversity prompt and there are some common pitfalls that I've seen. My off-the-cuff tips:
- Do not focus too much on the actual event itself and neglect to talk about your resiliency and coping strategies. The application is about you, not your family.
- Do not talk negatively about anyone, including family members, even if it's factually true and they were absolutely atrocious. Being negative almost always reflects poorly on the applicant, and never positively.
- Do not volunteer information that could be perceived as 'red flags' (e.g signs of poor judgment on your part). Not saying that you need to come off like a saint, just don't dig yourself into a hole. Surprisingly does happen and speaks to an applicant's self-awareness, or lack thereof.
- Be prepared to talk about this during interviews -- anything you put down is fair game.
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No one is going to blame you for your relative's illness.
it's fine as a topic, and a common one.
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The depth of it would be "X family member suffered through addiction and it turned our lives upside down" then elaborate on how i learned its not so black and white as to just blame him for making this mistake as there are a ton of external, uncontrollable factors that lead to such problems.
