Is this an appropriate or a disturbing topic to write about in college application essays?

College Applications
1

Okay. If you guys wish or do not wish to post this on the forum publicly that is completely fine with me. but contact me with the answer. However, I have been asking this urgent question: if this subject is appropriate to write about on college applications’ essays so in the case it is not, then I won’t make the wrong decision and get rejected. (Not because of whether it is “good” or a “bad” topic to write about but rather if it is allowed to be written on a college application)

Question:
Can I write about the sexual assault/abuse incidents I encountered as a child and on ways to improve the legal system so the younger generations in the future will not have to go through the same unfortunate conditions?
(I will try my best not to add unnecessary unwanted/sensitive/sexual information)
(I am becoming a civil law/ litigation lawyer and a lot of this explains why that is my chosen career)

2

Generally, we advise students to avoid extremely personal/private topics in college essays (see our article on what not to do in college essays here). However, given how you want to frame your career aspirations, there may be a way for you to mention what happened to you in a general way, without any details that would make the reader uncomfortable. This would have to be done very delicately, and it might be better to avoid the subject entirely given its highly personal/private nature.