Need help deciding on secondary essay topics

[zen_artist]

Sorry about another secondary post! I need help deciding between these topics (or maybe none of them are worth keeping).

Diversity/what I add to the class
1. For 2 summers I worked in an "upscale fast food" restaurant where I learned a ton about cooking since I had to do it every day. This got me interested in fresh/good food and now I cook and garden a ton (gardening was one of my hobbies on my primary), I also really enjoy trying new food. Each year my friends and I go to a nearby city and spend the weekend trying new food (8-10 restaurants a day) and it's really helped me get out of my comfort zone and explore cities' food. I'm worried this all just amounts to "I like eating" which is really not diverse and doesn't add anything to a class

2. I'm double majoring in bio and a certain humanities major, X, which I pursue because I think it's fundamental to the way anyone should live life. I've learned how to disagree productively, question everything, and have most importantly gotten to really appreciate viewpoints that are entirely different than mine. I didn't do any research work in my second major but I do touch on it in my PS.

3. I lead a political club on campus and was involved in campaigning for a US presidential candidate and founded a reading club based on the theory of the political club. I described this activity as "political engagement" on my primary since I didn't want to discuss my political views too strongly on my app but maybe on a school-to-school basis this may be a good topic? My political involvement had me campaigning for local and national change which of course put me in contact with a very wide variety of people, young and old.

I am the child of immigrants but I never really felt too outcast-y about growing up with people who didn't look like me; I just didn't care. That's why I hesitate to write about the immigrant experience, as I feel like it wasn't a real game-changer for me.

Adversity/challenge
1. When I was 17 I spent a summer abroad studying a language I'd taken a few years in classes on and dealt with a really exhausting language barrier. This was made 10x worse when I got food poisoning and was sick for a few days and had to navigate the medical system in a different language while I was vomiting every hour. It was a great feeling to learn so much from such an immersive experience though and this made me want to continue learning the language in college. This happened before college so I'm hesitant to include it.

2. Working at the fast food restaurant made me realize how my shyness makes me a bad coworker at times, so I really worked on pushing myself outside my comfort zone and becoming a better/more vocal and assertive communicator. These skills helped me in my clinical position as well and as a petite woman I found myself being taken way more seriously once I worked on becoming less shy.

3. I got a very failing grade on my first calc midterm during my first semester at college entirely due to my own cockiness about how well I knew the material. I realized I needed to actually study in college but more than that, study the right way, which I'd never done in high school. I still ended with a B in the class but got a 90 on the final which was 40 points above the class average, which was a win for me. This is pretty cliche and I don't want to talk about academics but it feels like the safest option to me

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[JimKimSlim]

For diversity, I really like the fast food one since most med students don’t have that kind of experience. If I were you, id take the angle of street smart, as in things that you learned there that you can’t learn from books or classes. For instance, it’s fast-paced and learned to be highly efficient by cooking burgers and making shakes at the same time. You know, something clever to really grab the readers attention.

For adversity, AVOID failing calc, no need to bring that up again after they read your transcript. Studying abroad is kinda cliche but I don’t think you should repeat the fast food bit again.

Just my 2 cents, and good luck!

 

[Goro]

Sorry about another secondary post! I need help deciding between these topics (or maybe none of them are worth keeping).

Diversity/what I add to the class
1. For 2 summers I worked in an "upscale fast food" restaurant where I learned a ton about cooking since I had to do it every day. This got me interested in fresh/good food and now I cook and garden a ton (gardening was one of my hobbies on my primary), I also really enjoy trying new food. Each year my friends and I go to a nearby city and spend the weekend trying new food (8-10 restaurants a day) and it's really helped me get out of my comfort zone and explore cities' food. I'm worried this all just amounts to "I like eating" which is really not diverse and doesn't add anything to a class

I like food and cooking has been done to death. Being a restaurant worker is more interesting

2. I'm double majoring in bio and a certain humanities major, X, which I pursue because I think it's fundamental to the way anyone should live life. I've learned how to disagree productively, question everything, and have most importantly gotten to really appreciate viewpoints that are entirely different than mine. I didn't do any research work in my second major but I do touch on it in my PS.

Nope. You need to show that you have a life outside of acadmics.

3. I lead a political club on campus and was involved in campaigning for a US presidential candidate and founded a reading club based on the theory of the political club. I described this activity as "political engagement" on my primary since I didn't want to discuss my political views too strongly on my app but maybe on a school-to-school basis this may be a good topic? My political involvement had me campaigning for local and national change which of course put me in contact with a very wide variety of people, young and old.

I'm interested in politics is also a non-starter. Everyone should be interested in politics

I am the child of immigrants but I never really felt too outcast-y about growing up with people who didn't look like me; I just didn't care. That's why I hesitate to write about the immigrant experience, as I feel like it wasn't a real game-changer for me.

Nope. Not even close.
Introspection is a required trait for being a doctor

Adversity/challenge
1. When I was 17 I spent a summer abroad studying a language I'd taken a few years in classes on and dealt with a really exhausting language barrier. This was made 10x worse when I got food poisoning and was sick for a few days and had to navigate the medical system in a different language while I was vomiting every hour. It was a great feeling to learn so much from such an immersive experience though and this made me want to continue learning the language in college. This happened before college so I'm hesitant to include it.

Sounds good (and sorry this happened!)

2. Working at the fast food restaurant made me realize how my shyness makes me a bad coworker at times, so I really worked on pushing myself outside my comfort zone and becoming a better/more vocal and assertive communicator. These skills helped me in my clinical position as well and as a petite woman I found myself being taken way more seriously once I worked on becoming less shy.

Maybe

3. I got a very failing grade on my first calc midterm during my first semester at college entirely due to my own cockiness about how well I knew the material. I realized I needed to actually study in college but more than that, study the right way, which I'd never done in high school. I still ended with a B in the class but got a 90 on the final which was 40 points above the class average, which was a win for me. This is pretty cliche and I don't want to talk about academics but it feels like the safest option to me

This is reject material in my book. See my comment above on academics.