mentioning controversial personal experiences in application/secondaries

[throwaway31]

Hi everyone, using this throwaway account for reasons that will become very obvious if you read the rest of the post.

I know a lot of secondaries will be asking a variation of the question "talk about some personal adversity you faced/how did you overcome it?" The most honest way that I could answer this question is to talk about my junior year of college, when I came out to some of my close friends as homosexual (I am a male). Going into college, I was a strict Christian, which is how I was raised by my parents. I battled with the way I was brought up and with my own feelings all throughout my freshman and sophomore year, and was convinced I would spend the rest of my life in the closet. To make a long story short, I met someone in junior year who kind of catapulted me out of the closet. However, dealing with it during my junior year, by far the busiest year I had in UG, was extremely difficult. My grades weren't the best, but still good. I realized that what I was doing just wasn't working for my health, and I made the decision to seek help through the school's mental health facility. I would obviously talk about how the experience changed me and how I became a stronger person by facing this problem head on instead of trying to push it out of my life, and the amount of self-reflection and growth it took for me to seek help from mental health services.

I wouldn't put this in my PS, for two reasons: A.) it's definitely not a main factor in why I want to be a doctor and B.) some of my family members/church members will be reading the PS and I haven't exactly made my sexuality facebook official. However, it is definitely a huge part of who I am and my own maturity. I think it would be a misrepresentation of myself to write anything other than this experience under the adversity question, which I'm sure I'll be asked about on my secondaries. However, I also know that it is a controversial issue, and that there is clear prejudice against homosexuals in some areas of the US. I believe this to be a practical and ethical dilemma, and I'd love to know what adcoms think I should do in my situation.

Thanks, throwaway31 over and out. (unless I really have to field questions, then I guess just "over")

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[loltopsy]

It requires skill to talk about a topic like that in a personal statement without sounding forced, I think. For a question about adversity, I'd say it's a lot easier and more logical.

As for getting rejected for being gay, if a school did that, it probably isn't a school you want to spend 4 years at. It's really win-win.

 

[SilverCat]

I think coming out of the closet stories are among those that LizzyM says to avoid for the PS, but I don't know about secondary essays.

If it were me, I would use it, particularly if you consider it a major personal adversity. I know many would recommend avoiding it, just given how controversial a subject it is, but if you can handle it well, it may help you. I spoke about my religion in my secondary essays-- another topic some recommend avoiding-- and I can't say it hurt me. Just don't politicize it, and have many people read over it.

 

[LizzyM]

This is a fairly common topic for the adversity essay (or the diversity essay). However, don't use it for more than one essay at a given school as you risk coming across as unidimentional.