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Hi all,

I'd really appreciate some feedback on my intended PS topic. My intent was to write about how as a child I was isolated within a Scientologist church with no education or connection to non-Scientologists/the outside world, until I rebelled against the church and enrolled myself in public school at 14. The idea is that it'll be an "overcoming adversity" PS about how I got out of a cult, taught myself everything in school to blend (seeing as it's pretty embarrassing so I kept/still keep it secret), went on to excel in school and went to college, etc.

The issue is, is this too personal? I didn't write about it for my undergraduate admissions because I felt like it was. It's also potentially irrelevant now since it happened almost 10 years ago. But I don't have much else to write about. Should I figure something else out, or stick with this?

lawhorona wrote:Hi all,

I'd really appreciate some feedback on my intended PS topic. My intent was to write about how as a child I was isolated within a Scientologist church with no education or connection to non-Scientologists/the outside world, until I rebelled against the church and enrolled myself in public school at 14. The idea is that it'll be an "overcoming adversity" PS about how I got out of a cult, taught myself everything in school to blend (seeing as it's pretty embarrassing so I kept/still keep it secret), went on to excel in school and went to college, etc.

The issue is, is this too personal? I didn't write about it for my undergraduate admissions because I felt like it was. It's also potentially irrelevant now since it happened almost 10 years ago. But I don't have much else to write about. Should I figure something else out, or stick with this?

It's only too personal if you don't feel comfortable talking about it. It's only irrelevant if it didn't impact who you are today; since it happened 10 years ago, that's the starting point for the PS, but you should make it current by speaking about how the experience has continued to impact you and/or your outlook on life today. It has the potential to be a decent topic.

This could be brilliant. Write it and see how it feels. Post for comments if you want.

I would say this could be a really cool topic to write about. Just make sure to mention what the breaking point was that made you take action and enroll yourself in public school. How did you break free from the cult/group thinking? Law schools love deep thinkers. If you talk about how you started thinking differently, that would be a compelling PS.

Depends on how you tie the experience together. Don't use unique, interesting life events to draw super-generic conclusions (ex. "...and that's how I learned the value of justice.").

Also, be careful about overwrought writing when you get really personal (ex. "The depths of my melancholy were verdant in their sagacity."). A lot of people do this, and it sucks.

Sounds like a promising topic. All good advice above.