Exploiting tragedy for admissions?

[Xbocker]

I'm working on my personal statement and there is this tragic event that happened in my life (father's death) that helped me pursue family medicine. However I keep having this feeling that its tactless and shameless and I feel like I'm exploiting this tragedy just to get into residency even though this was a significant reason why I wanted to pursue family medicine. Is there some sort of balance between exploitation and sharing an insight on why you want to become a family physician?

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[CD125]

Maybe devote a paragraph to it in but don't make it the overall theme of your personal statement.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I don't see it as exploitation at all. The event helped form your interests and career. Feel free to talk about it. It could be the bulk of your PS if you'd like. The only issue is to make sure that you're comfortable talking about it -- if you put it in your PS, it will likely come up for discussion. If you'll become very emotional talking about it, you need to decide whether you want to include it.

 

[Xbocker]

I have another question as I didn't want to make a separate thread for it. If I were to talk about my passion for primary care and then later on talk about why I chose family medicine, would program directors look down upon that as a sign I may be applying to more than one specialty?

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I don't see why they would. Family Medicine (plus some people in IM, Peds, and some OB) are all considered primary care.