Using same topic in 2 essays for one school

[Jaigantic]

One of the secondary essays for a school ask about my proudest accomplishment. I want to write about how I lived through a severe, personal issue with a family member for several months but how I was still able to overcome and work around this issue to do very well in school and on the MCAT. It wasn't the fact that I did well in school and on the MCAT that makes me proud but that I was able to do so while shouldering the burden of this personal issue.

The second essay asks to write about an obstacle I've overcome. I want to write about that same family issue but don't want to sound redundant. Is it acceptable to write about the same topic for both essays as long as a I focus on different aspects of it for each essay?

Thanks in advance

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[aldol16]

Acceptable isn't the bar you should be trying to clear here. That's a relatively easy bar - almost anything is "acceptable." But that doesn't mean that it adds anything to your application - and that's what you should be trying to do with your secondaries. To give as many dimensions to your application as possible. Unless the same topic can yield very different insights about you, I'm sure you can think of another significant obstacle you've overcome.

 

[Jaigantic]

Acceptable isn't the bar you should be trying to clear here. That's a relatively easy bar - almost anything is "acceptable." But that doesn't mean that it adds anything to your application - and that's what you should be trying to do with your secondaries. To give as many dimensions to your application as possible. Unless the same topic can yield very different insights about you, I'm sure you can think of another significant obstacle you've overcome.

I did focus on relatively different things in both of them. For example, for the proudest accomplishment one I focused on adaptability and perseverance whereas for the obstacle one i centered around empathy and open-mindedness. I'm not sure if these qualify as very different but the two certainly don't repeat the same info about me.