For PS's and Adcoms, are adversity topics seen as completely subjective (e.g. unemployment)?

cgracia12

So I finished my first rough draft, and one of the ways I introduced the theme of my essay is through a time I went through unemployment, and how that built character for me.

Character was the main theme of my essay, and I attempted to tie it in through my work as a bilingual teacher, personal experience with one of my students' families immigration attorney and how that changed my students' character similarly to how it changed my character through my experience with my family.

One of my friends however, suggested that me writing about unemployment as adversity was a bad idea.. What do you guys think? I obviously did not proudly write about my unemployment, and I was not laid off for a bad reason or anything like that, and my focus was not on being unemployed.

I thought adversity in these essays was entirely subjective, without the obvious exception of writing about something illegal, etc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Alex

I love the idea of adversity as a topic but I'm not sure about the unemployment aspect. I think---like many topics---it will come down to how you write about it and connect it to the overall theme of adversity.

nicole.brooklyn

I think unemployment as a topic could go either way. Did you face true adversity during your time unemployed? Or did you face a series of inconveniences? If it’s the latter case, the adcom might see the essay as immature or lacking perspective. If you demonstrate real adversity, however, I think it could be successful!

cgracia12

@"Alex Divine" and @"nicole.burdakin" , thank you for your input! I'll be taking this into consideration