The diversity prompt has claimed 20 hours of my life

[aegistitan]

PLEASE DON'T QUOTE THIS

What do you guys think about writing about being physically fit and into exercise (running marathons, crossfit, etc.), which lead to me losing weight as the topic of the diversity essay?

I included below a prompt from UCF and wanted to know your opinion on whether I can use an essay on fitness for this prompt (and others like it), but I am not sure if fitness and weight loss would contribute anything to my class.

Please provide a short essay to help us understand who you are. This essay should be different from your AMCAS Personal Statement. UCF COM places great value on the broad diversity of our students within the classroom. We believe the diverse characteristics of each individual in the class are important factors in serving the educational missions of this school and of our community. Please discuss any unique, personally important and/or challenging experiences in your background that have influenced your goals and preparation for a career in medicine and service to others. These may include experiences such as the quality of your early educational environment, socioeconomic status, cultural background, or other significant events or circumstances that you feel have shaped your character and defined you as an individual.We are also interested on your thoughts about what you can contribute to your class and the medical profession in general.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Shirafune]

I think it's fine. Just talk about it in terms of how it gives you a unique perspective as a doctor. You probably learned a lot about nutrition, exercise routines, how to stay motivated, balance between health and body dysmorphia-like issues, or etc. It sounds a lot related to preventative healthcare.

 

[liquidsodium]

In my mind, it depends if we're talking 5 lbs or 50+ lbs...if it's significant weight loss, I think there's a lot to be said for the prolonged willpower and dedication that takes. Kudos!

 

[DingoPingo]

Weight loss was probably a challenging experience that can make you unique.

Sounds like a great topic!

 

[liquidsodium]

As long as you can explain the challenge you overcame and how it makes you unique, I think that's perfectly fine. If anything, it's the principle of working diligently on something and achieving it that counts.

Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Goro]

Hey, med school and residency will cost you a LOT more!

 

[aalamruad]

If you are publishing in a public forum, it will be public

God, you're all so unnecessarily mean. Starting to hate SDN.

 

[aegistitan]

If you are publishing in a public forum, it will be public

You serious?

 

[aalamruad]

Not trying to be mean at all but trying to point out to anyone who publishes anything in a public forum with the hopeful plea "DO NOT QUOTE" you risk that adcoms for the school may see it and note it. I still get emails from various faculty/staff/admins at schools about comments they read on SDN about their schools. This is particularly true with the search engines and web crawlers that can seek pubic forums for mention of the school and automatically send links back. Do you think I am doing this because I am just being snarky and just happen to pick this thread?

In other words, if you are going to publish anything in public forum for premedical/medical school, always be professional even when being critical

Wow, what a service you've done by showing everyone something that we already know. Sure, "you risk that adcoms for the school may see it and note it," but that risk skyrockets when there are jerks who quote your post because they can't respect a simple, polite request. Feel free to pointlessly try to defend your motives, but your post with the quoted OP violated SDN's TOS, in that it was not courteous, didn't contribute positively to the discussion, and was not on-topic. Some of SDN's stickies even suggest putting "please do not quote" at the top of your posts if you wish to remove identifying information later. More importantly, it was classless and disrespectful, and makes SDN a less enjoyable and safe place for people to use as a resource.

 

[Lost in Translation]

If you are publishing in a public forum, it will be public

Thanks. If you didn't do it, I was going to. All OP needed to do was not write "DON'T QUOTE" and everything would have been hunky dory.

 

[radioactive15]

If you really have absolutely nothing else unique to write about then weight loss could work if you frame it correctly. It won't be something to make you stand out among the applicants, but it won't hurt you either. I'd say it's a neutral response. Although if you are a strong applicant, you should have nothing to worry about.

If it were me, I would prefer to use this weight loss anecdote for the greatest challenge prompt instead of the diversity prompt for other schools.

search engines and web crawlers that can seek pubic forums

Uh... You might want to fix that typo

 

[Pusheen]

This thread and the other thread where people posted about sensitive issues and asked not to quote just make me sad. These types of posts are few and far between enough that they don't really make a difference in the amount of information available on SDN. The hostility/bad feelings of quoting someone who asked not to seem to override any benefits, imo.

 

[Pusheen]

Uh... You might want to fix that typo

 

[MaxPlancker]

My 2 cents...

You will appreciate the blunt people when you look back in your life. They will say and tell you things that others won't or are afraid to say; these things can be valuable advice.

 

[7331poas]

Wow, what a service you've done by showing everyone something that we already know. Sure, "you risk that adcoms for the school may see it and note it," but that risk skyrockets when there are jerks who quote your post because they can't respect a simple, polite request. Feel free to pointlessly try to defend your motives, but your post with the quoted OP violated SDN's TOS, in that it was not courteous, didn't contribute positively to the discussion, and was not on-topic. Some of SDN's stickies even suggest putting "please do not quote" at the top of your posts if you wish to remove identifying information later. More importantly, it was classless and disrespectful, and makes SDN a less enjoyable and safe place for people to use as a resource.

Actually that risk stayed constant because web caches exist

I dont even know why you guys are upset. All the guy did was repost the prompt from a secondary and asked about an essay topic

 

[Astra]

@aegistitan

Get bronze donor and delete threads bro! Its worth the 15 bucks

 

[aegistitan]

I got a question about it which was solely noted because of the "dont quote"

what did the question say?

 

[Pusheen]

Damn, adcoms are quite the internet stalkers

 

[ThoracicGuy]

God, you're all so unnecessarily mean. Starting to hate SDN.

If you consider that mean, how will be able to make it through med school and residency?

 

[aalamruad]

If you consider that mean, how will be able to make it through med school and residency?

I'll be just fine.

 

[Pusheen]

I'll be just fine.

Sorry to say this,but if you think that's mean, I really don't think you're cut out for medicine /s

 

[ThoracicGuy]

I'll be just fine.

Good luck. Hopefully hearing things that you are told bluntly won't cause you to get so upset that you just leave... because there will be alot of that in your future in medicine.

 

[aalamruad]

Good luck. Hopefully hearing things that you are told bluntly won't cause you to get so upset that you just leave... because there will be alot of that in your future in medicine.

My skin's plenty thick and I handle criticism plenty well, I just don't like when people are dinguses to other people. Couldn't care less how people treat me.

 

[ThoracicGuy]

My skin's plenty thick and I handle criticism plenty well, I just don't like when people are dinguses to other people. Couldn't care less how people treat me.

He wasn't being one, though. Some people may not really realize that it could be saved on the internet forever even if they come back to edit it later. @gonnif speaks from experience.

 

[aalamruad]

He wasn't being one, though. Some people may not really realize that it could be saved on the internet forever even if they come back to edit it later. @gonnif speaks from experience.

Anyone with a single neuron understands that posts can be saved on the internet forever even if they come back to edit it later.

 

[Lawpy]

If you are publishing in a public forum, it will be public

God, you're all so unnecessarily mean. Starting to hate SDN.

Not trying to be mean at all but trying to point out to anyone who publishes anything in a public forum with the hopeful plea "DO NOT QUOTE" you risk that adcoms for the school may see it and note it. I still get emails from various faculty/staff/admins at schools about comments they read on SDN about their schools. This is particularly true with the search engines and web crawlers that can seek pulbic forums for mention of the school and automatically send links back. Do you think I am doing this because I am just being snarky and just happen to pick this thread?

In other words, if you are going to publish anything in public forum for premedical/medical school, always be professional even when being critical

Wow, what a service you've done by showing everyone something that we already know. Sure, "you risk that adcoms for the school may see it and note it," but that risk skyrockets when there are jerks who quote your post because they can't respect a simple, polite request. Feel free to pointlessly try to defend your motives, but your post with the quoted OP violated SDN's TOS, in that it was not courteous, didn't contribute positively to the discussion, and was not on-topic. Some of SDN's stickies even suggest putting "please do not quote" at the top of your posts if you wish to remove identifying information later. More importantly, it was classless and disrespectful, and makes SDN a less enjoyable and safe place for people to use as a resource.

You should revisit the stickies for clarification.

 

[Pusheen]

Wanna bet?


http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/is-hiding-your-social-media-necessary.1195790/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...strong-applicant-in-your-experiences.1134926/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...hools-search-an-applicant-personally.1066684/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/is-this-true-about-premed-forums.1198242/

Assume all social media may be searched and seen by Adcoms so always be professional. One of the admission directors at a particular school is doing her doctorate in social media and medical student selection. Some medical schools have added an internet background search step usually post-interview, per-selection as due diligence to find any obvious issue. With automation and some software this is easy to do

This is a much larger issue for medical residents in applicant selection with many medical specialty academies and GME (residency) programs issue guidelines and, in some cases, strict agreements on social media use while in a program. The reason for this has been patients and families have started to look up doctors who are treating them. A case then was a 3rd year peds residents was treating a young girl and the next day the parents came in screaming to take that doctor away from my daughter or I will sue. Turned out the parents were freaked about a photo from a drunken frat party taken some 10 years earlier was posted on a social media site with this doctor tagged. (I will find the original case report and add it).

In the meanwhile there have been a slew of studies done on this to the point that AAMC has guidelines for applicants (first in list)
https://www.aamc.org/students/aspiring/324178/socialmediadoesnthurt.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3758042/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23139411
http://www.amednews.com/article/20121127/profession/311279999/8/
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/731175
http://www.ojphi.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2161/2026
http://jepm.seahq.net/VolXVI_IssueV_McHugh.pdf

Well thank you for the detailed answer. It's nice to see a disagreement include thought out responses and sources.

 

[Lawpy]

I will also say this: if someone wants to ask for advice regarding something personal, they should PM the adcoms/faculty of interest. Or use Confidential Consult. Or even ask a moderator to post your WAMC thread on your behalf. So while saying "PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE" is fine and members should be kind and not quote them, they are not obligated to do so per the stickies.

So I think gonnif is unfairly being criticized for his quote even though he brings up very important points. My $0.02.

 

[deleted407021]

I don't think any adcoms are going to employ the mad hax necessary to dig up something someone may have posted on SDN once, that they didn't want quoted. This used as justification for going ahead and quoting anyway is ridiculous.

@ThoracicGuy Even more ridiculous is the notion that the person who labels such behavior as rude or mean is somehow not cut out for medicine because they're some sensitive snowflake. It's rude, unprofessional and counterproductive for the physicians and adcom members on this forum to participate in what is essentially Burnette's Law (I think that's right?).

@WedgeDawg , could we get some help in here, because apparently some of these adults need their hands held

 

[ThoracicGuy]

@ThoracicGuy Even more ridiculous is the notion that the person who labels such behavior as rude or mean is somehow not cut out for medicine because they're some sensitive snowflake. It's rude, unprofessional and counterproductive for the physicians and adcom members on this forum to participate in what is essentially Burnette's Law (I think that's right?).

My point was that the person who got all upset needs to realize that there will be many things that happen through med school and residency that would be much, much meaner than the post. I never said they were not cut out for medicine.

 

[Astra]

Seems like the application season wears down people's patience. Been seeing a lot of negativity that wasn't as prevalent a few months back

 

[ace_inhibitor111]

God, you're all so unnecessarily mean. Starting to hate SDN.

To me, this post sounds meaner than the original comment...

 

[deleted407021]

If you consider that mean, how will be able to make it through med school and residency?

My point was that the person who got all upset needs to realize that there will be many things that happen through med school and residency that would be much, much meaner than the post. I never said they were not cut out for medicine.

Perhaps you should choose your words more responsibly then, because one could very honestly interpret from your post that you'd predict the quoted individual wouldn't be able to make it through training.

But I'm glad you got to make your point about how tough someone needs to be as judged by a short comment in the context of an anonymous Internet forum. Good work, only at the expense of being a poor example and potentially adding to the already heavy milieu of neuroticism and anxiety.

 

[Astra]

The season will go one for another 12 months when the last WL spots are called for

And then it repeats lol.

 

[aalamruad]

Perhaps you should choose your words more responsibly then, because one could very honestly interpret from your post that you'd predict the quoted individual wouldn't be able to make it through training.

But I'm glad you got to make your point about how tough someone needs to be as judged by a short comment in the context of an anonymous Internet forum. Good work, only at the expense of being a poor example and potentially adding to the already heavy milieu of neuroticism and anxiety.

I'm starting to like you a lot

 

[artist27]

God, you're all so unnecessarily mean. Starting to hate SDN.

S/he probably wasn't hugged as a child.

 

[radioactive15]

Well this thread took a nice turn... From weight loss to public forum ethics.

 

[artist27]

Well this thread took a nice turn... From weight loss to public forum ethics.

You mean pubic* forum to steal from the all-wise and all-kind gonnif

 

[radioactive15]

I'm surprised Post #6 from: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/almost-at-rock-bottom…what-do-i-do.1213123/ didn't receive the same backlash as this post. Quoting that post was more revealing than quoting this diversity topic.

OP should just delete the "PLEASE DON'T QUOTE THIS" from this post and end this drama

 

[Pusheen]

I'm surprised Post #6 from: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/almost-at-rock-bottom…what-do-i-do.1213123/ didn't receive the same backlash as this post. Quoting that post was more revealing than quoting this diversity topic.

OP should just delete the "PLEASE DON'T QUOTE THIS" from this post and end this drama

That was even more douchey, IMO. I love how fast all wannabe troll hunters dissipated as soon as their claims actually got questioned though.

 

[aalamruad]

I'm surprised Post #6 from: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/almost-at-rock-bottom…what-do-i-do.1213123/ didn't receive the same backlash as this post. Quoting that post was more revealing than quoting this diversity topic.

OP should just delete the "PLEASE DON'T QUOTE THIS" from this post and end this drama

1) That person isn't as much of a respected big-name poster on this site. More is expected of gonnif.

2) Some people did call that person out for quoting. i.e. @Crayola227 tore that jerk apart.

3) That person didn't defend him/herself in the ridiculous manner that gonnif did in this thread.

 

[aalamruad]

the only ridiculous thing here is the wholly unreasonable and unrealistic expectation that a posting in a public forum, especially one that automatically quotes messages, will not come back to be mentioned again. And I was only aware of this thread to begin with was because I was prompted by another as to what the critical issue that some poster didnt want quoted. And if everyone here hasnt learned the lesson that I couldnt be more obvious and plain in teaching, that medical school do read and notice these forums, I am not sure what more i could do. So be professional at all times, even when being critical.

Since more is expected of me, as has been pointed out by @walloobi, let me set those expectations: I will always speak my mind, often in blunt and unapologetic tones, about how to deal with this complex and convoluted process, even if that means a public slap and rebuke, especially if the point is important enough, such as being careful about what you post publically under the concept that you can withdraw it later with no issues

Even though I (and a lot of other people) found it disrespectful, I gotta give you at least one iota of credit for making your point loud and clear. No denying that.

 

[Crayola227]

@gonnif

I'm a little disappointed. Seems you and I and @Goro are getting our share of salt this season

If you want to the punish the kid for being silly and posting the name of the school, it was the kid's bonehead move, yeah, message received

But I think the fact they are talking about weight loss, a potentially sensitive issue.... I dunno, point was made with you quoting, but to remove it now on request would be kind. Maybe even the kindness we want on this forum.

I've done the automatic quote thing elsewhere. I just wrote an impassioned post that if the original post contains anything potentially mental health - associated that we set an example of kindness and don't quote such things on this board.

 

[sallyhasanidea]

the only ridiculous thing here is the wholly unreasonable and unrealistic expectation that a posting in a public forum, especially one that automatically quotes messages, will not come back to be mentioned again. And I was only aware of this thread to begin with was because I was prompted by another as to what the critical issue that some poster didnt want quoted. And if everyone here hasnt learned the lesson that I couldnt be more obvious and plain in teaching, that medical school do read and notice these forums, I am not sure what more i could do. So be professional at all times, even when being critical.

Since more is expected of me, as has been pointed out by @walloobi, let me set those expectations: I will always speak my mind, often in blunt and unapologetic tones, about how to deal with this complex and convoluted process, even if that means a public slap and rebuke, especially if the point is important enough, such as being careful about what you post publically under the concept that you can withdraw it later with no issues

How do you guys expect kindness in your applicants and then treat them like this?

The OP's post has sensitive issues and you're going to discourteously quote them just to prove a point?

 

[gapyearguppy]

Lmao so unnecessary.
Why pretend to teach OP a "lesson" when you just wanted to quote because OP said not to

 

[Lost in Translation]

If you consider that mean, how will be able to make it through med school and residency?

MUH SAFE SPACE!

I'm fully prepared to keep my head down and be the best M3/4 I can be (hopefully that means one of the best the attending(s) have seen so I can get glowing evals). But I'm definitely not going to fight the authority unless it's an obvious abuse of power/hazing, which should then be reported to whoever manages the clerkship scheduling.

出る釘は打たれる。