Brain Surgery Sophomore Year

blueiguana
Tue, 28 Aug 2012 16:50:50 +0000

I would be careful how you choose to incorporate these two items into your essays. Your essays are supposed to highlight something about you, give information not otherwise available on your transcript/application package, that makes the reader want to get to know you, feel like you’d be a great asset to the university community, and most of all see how you’d fit in. This can be very tricky to do when you are focusing on things that may be seen as hardships. The surgery is something that your GC would include in their report. I would not mention your parents separation unless it caused a significant drop in grades. Although very traumatic in your life, sadly it is not unique to you. Lots of students have to navigate this. Again, this might be better addressed by your GC if you are trying to address lower grades. I feel that your essays are your time to shine and focus on really positive attributes that you have to offer these schools. Think of it like an interview…what are the most important things you want them to know about you if you only had three minutes?

Best of luck to you.

(note, I’m not ignoring your question regarding ‘chances’, I simply don’t ‘do’ them.)