Which adversity topic should I choose?

[throwaway122312252]

I've been struggling the last few weeks on what to write about for adversity and I finally narrowed it to two things but didn't know what I should choose between them:

1) Getting reprimanded at work for struggling with a task but I went into how I went to make things right with my boss and how I worked with others to get things done in the end (this one is already written out but when I showed it to a friend they didn't think the topic itself represented "adversity" all that well, this was also apparently good enough to secure an interview at a Canadian school when I used it but who knows how much of an effect it really had)

2) Volunteering at a hospital and having a patient close to me die but not having felt like I did all that I could to alert other staff (they didn't take my input very seriously when I did bring up his complaints/conditions that he was living in). I struggled for a while after with the guilt before eventually coming to terms with it and learning that even despite my best efforts, that sometimes there isn't much more you can do and even less that you can do to change the past and that it wasn't necessarily my fault. (not sure if this really counts as personal adversity personally, but the same friend thought it would be a stronger topic to write on. I would also have to spend more time to write out this essay after already sitting on my secondaries for a while)

I personally don't think either are all that great but I had already used my topic on growing up in a low SES neighbourhood in my diversity essay but for a few schools I'm applying to have the adversity and diversity topics split up and I didn't think it would be wise to repeat the same topic twice there.

Any advice would be appreciated!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gamache]

"growing up in a low SES neighborhood"... Were you low SES? Or just your neighbors?

If you specifically were low SES, I am sure there is some adversity you can flesh out that wasn't specifically discussed in your diversity essay. If you weren't specifically low SES and wrote your diversity essay more about your neighborhood than yourself, I would keep searching.

Think of this in terms of your greatest challenge to overcome to get to where you are now. Is the greatest challenge you have faced really that your boss reprimanded you once? If so, go ahead and write about it. Otherwise put some thought into what has really challenged you in life. Think of the times that took a lot of work to cope with.

#2 sounds like grief or regret.

 

[throwaway122312252]

My family was slightly above the poverty line but we were living in an area where >50% live under it so ultimately compared to the others I grew up around, I don't think I had it nearly as bad as they did. At most, I did some casual jobs here and there to make do and help pay for groceries but I never viewed it as this great insurmountable challenge so I framed my essay there more on the perspectives I gained and how I can easily relate to the low SES patients that I've worked with rather than my own personal adversity.

 

[Goro]

My family was slightly above the poverty line but we were living in an area where >50% live under it so ultimately compared to the others I grew up around, I don't think I had it nearly as bad as they did. At most, I did some casual jobs here and there to make do and help pay for groceries but I never viewed it as this great insurmountable challenge so I framed my essay there more on the perspectives I gained and how I can easily relate to the low SES patients that I've worked with rather than my own personal adversity.

How does this demonstrate your coping skills, resilience and grit?

The way you phrase your OP, it sounds more like an answer for a diversity prompt, not the adversity one.

 

[throwaway122312252]

How does this demonstrate your coping skills, resilience and grit?

The way you phrase your OP, it sounds more like an answer for a diversity prompt, not the adversity one.

Yeah that originally was my diversity prompt answer rather than my answer for overcoming "adversity". However, it sounded like gamache thought it would be better to find a way to utilize that same topic again to also try to address overcoming adversity over the other two topics I was considering. Would you also agree?

 

[gamache]

My family was slightly above the poverty line but we were living in an area where >50% live under it so ultimately compared to the others I grew up around, I don't think I had it nearly as bad as they did. At most, I did some casual jobs here and there to make do and help pay for groceries but I never viewed it as this great insurmountable challenge so I framed my essay there more on the perspectives I gained and how I can easily relate to the low SES patients that I've worked with rather than my own personal adversity.

Got it. Not adversity, then. I would keep searching about what has challenged you.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

#2 demonstrates empathy but doesn't really help me with your own personal struggles or challenges. #1 could go with adversity but I need more information... but it's not a good thing if you were reprimanded formally...

 

[throwaway122312252]

I don't want to get too detailed with the specifics for anonymity's sake, but my boss didn't think I was meeting expectations but I kicked it into high gear once I got the feedback and sought help from others where I was struggling. Eventually I left on good terms and eventually managed to publish something while I was there. It wasn't a formal reprimand where it had to escalate further from just me and my supervisor.