<p>^ I agree. I wouldn’t do either. </p>
<p>I wrote about my personal circumstances that kept me from doing many extracurricular in my Additional Info section, and it proved to be enough.</p>
<p>The immigrant topic is so common, its not even funny… (I’m an immigrant too…) </p>
<p>The near death experience, while nearly tragic, fails to be a good essay as it cannot really tie in with your aspirations, wishes, and future… It could vaguely, saying how it motivated you, but its still a stretch… (I also had a near death experience. I choked on a piece of candy… not a two second choke, but my face turned blue, and my mom had to save me choke…) </p>
<p>Anything is a good essay topic… I wrote about a philosophical thought I had in a local pizza place as my Yale essay… :)</p>