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- MistakenGenius
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Last edited by MistakenGenius on Sun Dec 13, 2015 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Holocaust topic for PS?
I second this. Unless you can tie your grandfather's story in as part of your own story - e.g. some moment where it critically changed your perspective and caused you to do x instead of y, or something like that - you shouldn't write about it.MistakenGenius wrote:I'd say no. Not because of you "playing the holocaust card", but because it's just a bad topic idea. Your grandfather sounds like an amazing man, and your essay would make me want to admit him, not you. It's a personal statement. We should be able to learn about you, not your family. Talk about a personal experience or something that shaped your own life, not something that transpired many years before you were born.
- encore1101
- Posts: 826
- Joined: Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:13 am
Re: Holocaust topic for PS?
ymmv wrote:I second this. Unless you can tie your grandfather's story in as part of your own story - e.g. some moment where it critically changed your perspective and caused you to do x instead of y, or something like that - you shouldn't write about it.MistakenGenius wrote:I'd say no. Not because of you "playing the holocaust card", but because it's just a bad topic idea. Your grandfather sounds like an amazing man, and your essay would make me want to admit him, not you. It's a personal statement. We should be able to learn about you, not your family. Talk about a personal experience or something that shaped your own life, not something that transpired many years before you were born.
To be fair, the OP said "I was thinking i could simply mention his experiences in Poland briefly, before moving on to the real substance of his effect on me, etc. "
If you're worried about whore'ing out your grandfather's experiences for the sympathy card, I think you'd be the best judge of that. Traumatic events, including those that occurred to those close to us, can have a tremendous impact on our lives. People talk about the divorce of their parents, deaths in the family, being abused, etc. I talked about the time I saw some dude beat the shit out of his gf/wife in public. One of my best friends in law school wrote about how his grandparents were put in japanese internment camps.
That being said, I don't think its necessarily bad per se, but you need to be careful 1) you're not riding off your grandfather's experiences, and 2) you have a sufficient, rational "reason" to be affected by his experiences. You just have to be careful that it sounds believable. It's not firsthand-experience, its not firsthand-witnessed experience, but its "empathy for someone else for something that occurred before I was even born." I think the further away you get from direct impact, the less believable it seems.
Last edited by encore1101 on Fri Jul 11, 2014 4:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Posts: 21482
- Joined: Mon Oct 21, 2013 1:36 pm
Re: Holocaust topic for PS?
If his story occupies more than, let's say, 1 paragraph of your 2-page PS, I'd say that's probably too much. You barely have time to tell your own (salient) story, let alone someone else's.Cradle6 wrote:I understand where you're coming from.
I thought of the same thing, but countered by the fact that he (and by extension his experiences) have had a huge effect on who I am and my own goals in life.
Knowing him has had a tendency to affect your perspective on life.
Though it could come off as just praising him without illustrating me even if done well
- MistakenGenius
- Posts: 824
- Joined: Sun Jul 28, 2013 9:18 pm
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Last edited by MistakenGenius on Sun Dec 13, 2015 9:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Holocaust topic for PS?
Write a draft and post it.Cradle6 wrote:I understand where you're coming from.
I thought of the same thing, but countered by the fact that he (and by extension his experiences) have had a huge effect on who I am and my own goals in life.
Knowing him has had a tendency to affect your perspective on life.
Though it could come off as just praising him without illustrating me even if done well
I think it could be promising.
Ps is to show who you are, doesn't have to directly say why law.