Too personal for a personal challenge?

[NotWayneBrady]

I know there is an awkward line to walk along as far as personal challenges for secondaries, but I was wondering if my story was a bit too personal and/or had any major red flags in it.

Basically, after moving back from college I did not have a real place to live for a year. My father has had a really rough life, and so has developed some problems with alcoholism and collecting too much stuff to fit in our house. As a result after moving back from college there was no longer any room for me in my parents house, and I had to find a place to stay without a job while I studied for my MCAT.

In the end I wound up sleeping on a friends couch for over a year, still rocked my MCAT, got a job, and am now in a leadership position in a clinical internship as well. This time in my life was actually pretty difficult to get through in retrospect, so I think it is a solid answer to a challenge question despite the incredibly blessed life I've lived so far.

My main concerns here are about my father's bad habits, are these issues something adcoms would see as a history of mental health disorders and red flag my application immediately? I'm perfectly sane, never had any major clinical issues like my father but I worry about them seeing this in my secondaries and immediately throwing out my app.

Sorry for the essay friends of SDN, any advice here would be greatly appreciated.

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[DrDorianTurkleton]

I don't think adcoms will make a leap from your father's mental health status to yours. Overall, I think the story isn't too personal and sounds like it is a good way to answer that prompt.

 

[thegooddoctor2015]

I think this will look great! You've overcome so much and accomplished so much at the same time!

 

[LizzyM]

Here's how to word it without going into any details about your parents situation.

Due to a change in their circumstances, my parents were not able to welcome me home after I graduated from college. Consequently, I wound up sleeping on a friend's couch for over a year, while preparing for the MCAT and seeking a job. I found a job, and am now in a leadership position in a clinical internship as well.

 

[NotWayneBrady]

Thank you so much everyone! I'm in the thick of secondaries right now and this question has been giving me a panic attack ever since.

And thanks LizzyM, your advice is incredibly helpful for shaping how I'm going to put this together

 

[Goro]

No Adcom member thinks like this.

My main concerns here are about my father's bad habits, are these issues something adcoms would see as a history of mental health disorders and red flag my application immediately? I'm perfectly sane, never had any major clinical issues like my father but I worry about them seeing this in my secondaries and immediately throwing out my app.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

I would hope that adcoms, people in the medical industry, don't stigmatize mental illness that badly....

 

[LizzyM]

But some in the medical profession might have more respect for you if you keep private things that you have learned in private and do your best to protect the privacy of your family members rather than exposing their foibles to strangers.

I was horrified one year to get an application from the son of a prominent professional. His mother was a prominent figure in an industry. The application went into details about domestic violence by the dad and abuse of the mom & a sibling!! I just felt that the AMCAS application was not the place to air that dirty laundry.

 

[takeurmeds02]

AHHH, now you run into the problem of how much info is too much!

@LizzyM My diversity/personal challenge response involves the fact that my mother stopped supporting me and communicating with me after I came out to her at the age of 18.

 

[ChillDawg]

Being so vague seems to 'weaken' the story though, doesn't it?

 

[LizzyM]

AHHH, now you run into the problem of how much info is too much!

@LizzyM My diversity/personal challenge response involves the fact that my mother stopped supporting me and communicating with me after I came out to her at the age of 18.

That's the sort of thing that adcoms tend to be sympathetic toward. If your mother was the chairman of a department in the medical school, or a public figure, putting her in a bad light by exposing her cruel behavior might be considered bad form ... there might be some things we'd prefer not to know about people we know that don't seem as bad when reported about strangers whom we may never meet. I don't know if that makes sense but it seems like human nature. I found it very awkward to discover through a medical school applicant's difficult situation essay that her parents divorced after her father came out. I was rather shocked because I knew the applicant's grandmother socially through membership in a club. It was not something that she had shared with me about her family (although she was quite a talker and I knew all about her brilliant grandchild).

Being so vague seems to 'weaken' the story though, doesn't it?

The point is not to get into a pissing contest about whose life was harder but to cover how you cope with adversity or how what you bring to the table adds diversity to the class.