Need an honest opinion

[MDhopeful324]

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[Doctor_Kat28]

I think that's good. It's definitely something not everyone has to go through, and it was very tough.

 

[wizzed101]

I think it's ok if you don't spend too much on the MCAT.

"These tragedies happened while I was studying for the MCAT." and stop there. If you go on and write " As a result, I scored really low on CARS.", then it may raise some eyebrows.

 

[MDhopeful324]

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[Sardinia]

@MDhopeful324 Will this help you empathize more with patients as you see them suffer. If it doesn't, then pretend it does.

 

[MDhopeful324]

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[StrongIslandDoc]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss. Regrettably, what you are describing is probably not what the admissions committees have in mind, nor will it be something that you will curry favor for with your applications. Here's why: there is an implied value that the response you give will tie in, in some way or another, your intent to pursue medicine, your resilience, etc. When you took the MCAT, you had already decided on pursuing a career in medicine, presumably. You gotta dig deep and come up with something else.

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

They dont care about excuses. They just want to see results. You could have managed a decent score on the MCAT or GPA, and a small slip and youre out. Even if you managed all this with amputated arms, eating grass due to financial constraints, and did all this while standing on one leg, at the same time managed to put 1000 hours of work, and found the cure to HIV, they dont care if the MCAT doesnt meet their standards. Do your best to do well on the MCAT bud, its a hard exam now, but I have faith in you.

Stone & Parker have already conceptualized the cure for HIV, sorry to burst your bubble!

 

[Donald Juan]

I agree that you should make sure it doesn't sound like you are trying to justify doing poorly. I would phrase it as here is how you learned that your life has to keep going on even in the face of personal/family problems, and how you were able to balance the two both practically and emotionally while still being successful academically. This is something all doctors have to do at some point.

 

[MDhopeful324]

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[StrongIslandDoc]

@StrongIslandDoc I wasn't aware that the challenge I choose has to occur before I decided on pursing medicine. However, I was planning on emphasizing resilience and how this experience ties into my future in medicine.

@Donald Juan I agree with you on how to phrase my response. Did I score poorly on a section? Yes. However, I'm not trying to justify anything. I take full responsibility for that. I took some time during the break to compose myself and crushed the remainder of the test. My outlook on the situation and what I experienced while studying for and taking the test is what I am trying to emphasize.

It's not black and white or anything, I just think "I had some challenges come up during MCAT studying" will leave a poor taste in some people's mouths. I'd encourage you to avoid any MCAT tie in whatsoever if you decide to write about these events.

 

[MDhopeful324]

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[ed*26]

This sounds like it would work but I agree with others that the MCAT should be mentioned as little as possible. You could write the bulk of the essay describing the family challenges and how they impacted you, then towards the put something along the lines of "these events became emotionally overbearing during the time that I was studying for the MCAT, which in an of itself is a uniquely stressful event. I was forced to reflect on the greater situation at hand: my aspiration to become a physician was being impacted by events I could not control. From this experience I have gained an appreciation for the ways that these situations can impact every area of our life, an insight which I believe will help me empathize with my patients" or something.

 

[StrongIslandDoc]

This sounds like it would work but I agree with others that the MCAT should be mentioned as little as possible. You could write the bulk of the essay describing the family challenges and how they impacted you, then towards the put something along the lines of "these events became emotionally overbearing during the time that I was studying for the MCAT, which in an of itself is a uniquely stressful event. I was forced to reflect on the greater situation at hand: my aspiration to become a physician was being impacted by events I could not control. From this experience I have gained an appreciation for the ways that these situations can impact every area of our life, an insight which I believe will help me empathize with my patients" or something.

#warriorpoet

 

[Goro]

Place more emphasis on the bolded.

You may shoot yourself in the foot because I have Adcom colleagues who would question your judgment about taking a high-stakes, career deciding exam while not being at your best (this is assuming that you didn't do well on MCAT...if you did, then it is actually impressive, just ordinarily not advisable).

Hi all,

So I am currently filling out some secondaries that ask the typical "adversity" question. I've been thinking about this question a lot lately, and I've realized that one of the biggest challenges I experienced lately occurred while studying for the MCAT and while taking the test itself. That is not to say that taking the test itself, although challenging, is what I am planning on addressing. To make a long story short, I was dealing with the death of a family member at that time, and that experience alone ties into some unfortunate family drama I experienced in the past and how together they affected my mindset.

I'm planning on focusing on how I came out of the situation and what I learned rather than the unfortunate experience itself. I really don't want anyone's pity. At the same time, I don't want anyone thinking that I'm trying to milk the situation to explain an MCAT score.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[Goro]

The purpose of this prompt tis to demonstrate resilience and introspection. Not everything has to be tied to Medicine.

@MDhopeful324 Will this help you empathize more with patients as you see them suffer. If it doesn't, then pretend it does.

 

[MDhopeful324]

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[Goro]

Do that and you'll be fine!

@Goro I did okay overall, but nothing too special because of that one section where sort of freaked out emotionally. I composed myself afterwards and ended up crushing the next sections. I took the exam because I felt ready having scored well on practice exams, knowing that there would not be another exam offered for another 6 months. I was of sound mind going into the exam, but I'm only human and I couldn't have foreseen something like this happening. But like I said before, I really just want to focus on my resilience as well as the lessons I learned about myself and dealing with my past family drama as well as things I cannot change.

 

[LizzyM]

For this to work, I think you have to be very specific rather than circumspect. While you were studying for the MCAT, a loved one died of x and family drama y played out. While you were taking the MCAT, a passage about z brought back memories of x and y and made it very difficult to concentrate for 30-40 minutes. While you eventually composed yourself and finished out the test with what you believe is a very respectable score, you drew on your ability to compartmentalize your feeling and to soldier on despite the emotional turmoil you felt being reminded so vividly of the events of recent weeks.

 

[MDhopeful324]

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