Hello everyone,
I'm hoping to receive feedback on my adversity/challenge, as I'm having a hard time to choose. As a non-trad from middle-income family, I'm fortunate to have parental support throughout my life. Health has been great so far and only child, so my parents and I have a close bond. Rest of my extended family are overseas. Apologies in advance for a lengthy post. Here are my ideas:
1. Entering into undergrad and graduate school as the only person from my friend's group: Long story short, I'm going with a "structure as shackles" vibe. The challenge/adversity situation is that I originally felt lonely and depressed by being the only person that I know in a large room/group setting. I can also relate to the fact that I had been bullied in elementary school. However, I've grown by standing up for myself (being my own advocate), adopting a new mindset/perspective, where rather than focusing on the fact that I'm lonely, I have a new opportunity to expand my social circle and a fresh start. Similarly, when working as a peer mentor for incoming local and international students to adopt a similar mindset. Relevance: I'm a Canadian applying to MD program in the States, so I have experience transitioning to new environments and as a hopeful student in their institution, will look forward to being a peer mentor for future incoming students.
2. Fundraising for the Royal Canadian Air Cadets: The challenge/adversity situation is that because we have a military-like uniform, we are often mistaken as a militaristic organization. Thus, through the public-facing fundraising events, while I have met WWII veterans and their families, I have been berated countless times by the public due to this bias. I've grown by being able to explain to people with polarizing perspectives about our organization's purpose of instilling leadership values to teens and understanding why they have their own biases. Relevance: As a hopeful medical student, I'll interact with colleagues who have different opinions and these experiences (over 6 years) give me the foundation to maintain a cooperative environment focused on shared decision making.
3. Ph.D. research (learning how to do animal microsurgeries): The challenge/adversity situation is that I'm not very good with my hands, anatomy confused me, I became anxious when blood entered into the field of view and learning to do surgeries coincided with a period of time where I had to prepare to transfer into the PhD program (i.e. doing other experiments, reading literature, writing proposals etc). So, it was difficult to balance/manage priorities. I've grown by being able to balance time and identifying how I learn best (i.e. visual person, so I recorded the surgery video, so I can review frame by frame, along with drawing the anatomy to learn better; doing surgeries on dead animals (or cadavers)). I'm now proficient with this technique, a lot better dealing with hands and accustomed to seeing blood. Relevance: As a hopeful medical student, I might need to revamp my learning strategies. Furthermore, as I want to have an educator role, my experiences have allowed me to help others explore and improve their learning strategies.
4. Mistakenly disposing of biopsy samples when I worked in a histology lab: The challenge/adversity situation is that I was a hospital volunteer who naively threw away cassettes containing patient biopsy samples, which understandably caused a lot of grief in the histology lab. I was subsequently fired from the position and had my volunteering privileged take away from me. I've grown by owning up to my mistakes, creating a concrete action plan for improving myself and learning to openly accept criticism from peers and mentors. Also, the lab staff was very supportive (seeing my sincerity) in welcoming me back and letting me help them again. Relevance: In my future medical career, I'll likely and unfortunately make mistakes as a student, resident and sometimes as an attending physician, so it is important to learn from my mistakes. As a hopeful preceptor, it is key to forgive others when appropriate and help them learn from their mistakes. It touches on the student-teacher relationship, which aligns with the goals of becoming a doctor and educator.
@Goro, @gonnif, @LizzyM, @Catalystik, @gyngyn, what do you think? To other SDNers, I hope to receive feedback from you too! Feel free to tear me a new one!
I'm hoping to receive feedback on my adversity/challenge, as I'm having a hard time to choose. As a non-trad from middle-income family, I'm fortunate to have parental support throughout my life. Health has been great so far and only child, so my parents and I have a close bond. Rest of my extended family are overseas. Apologies in advance for a lengthy post. Here are my ideas:
1. Entering into undergrad and graduate school as the only person from my friend's group: Long story short, I'm going with a "structure as shackles" vibe. The challenge/adversity situation is that I originally felt lonely and depressed by being the only person that I know in a large room/group setting. I can also relate to the fact that I had been bullied in elementary school. However, I've grown by standing up for myself (being my own advocate), adopting a new mindset/perspective, where rather than focusing on the fact that I'm lonely, I have a new opportunity to expand my social circle and a fresh start. Similarly, when working as a peer mentor for incoming local and international students to adopt a similar mindset. Relevance: I'm a Canadian applying to MD program in the States, so I have experience transitioning to new environments and as a hopeful student in their institution, will look forward to being a peer mentor for future incoming students.
2. Fundraising for the Royal Canadian Air Cadets: The challenge/adversity situation is that because we have a military-like uniform, we are often mistaken as a militaristic organization. Thus, through the public-facing fundraising events, while I have met WWII veterans and their families, I have been berated countless times by the public due to this bias. I've grown by being able to explain to people with polarizing perspectives about our organization's purpose of instilling leadership values to teens and understanding why they have their own biases. Relevance: As a hopeful medical student, I'll interact with colleagues who have different opinions and these experiences (over 6 years) give me the foundation to maintain a cooperative environment focused on shared decision making.
3. Ph.D. research (learning how to do animal microsurgeries): The challenge/adversity situation is that I'm not very good with my hands, anatomy confused me, I became anxious when blood entered into the field of view and learning to do surgeries coincided with a period of time where I had to prepare to transfer into the PhD program (i.e. doing other experiments, reading literature, writing proposals etc). So, it was difficult to balance/manage priorities. I've grown by being able to balance time and identifying how I learn best (i.e. visual person, so I recorded the surgery video, so I can review frame by frame, along with drawing the anatomy to learn better; doing surgeries on dead animals (or cadavers)). I'm now proficient with this technique, a lot better dealing with hands and accustomed to seeing blood. Relevance: As a hopeful medical student, I might need to revamp my learning strategies. Furthermore, as I want to have an educator role, my experiences have allowed me to help others explore and improve their learning strategies.
4. Mistakenly disposing of biopsy samples when I worked in a histology lab: The challenge/adversity situation is that I was a hospital volunteer who naively threw away cassettes containing patient biopsy samples, which understandably caused a lot of grief in the histology lab. I was subsequently fired from the position and had my volunteering privileged take away from me. I've grown by owning up to my mistakes, creating a concrete action plan for improving myself and learning to openly accept criticism from peers and mentors. Also, the lab staff was very supportive (seeing my sincerity) in welcoming me back and letting me help them again. Relevance: In my future medical career, I'll likely and unfortunately make mistakes as a student, resident and sometimes as an attending physician, so it is important to learn from my mistakes. As a hopeful preceptor, it is key to forgive others when appropriate and help them learn from their mistakes. It touches on the student-teacher relationship, which aligns with the goals of becoming a doctor and educator.
@Goro, @gonnif, @LizzyM, @Catalystik, @gyngyn, what do you think? To other SDNers, I hope to receive feedback from you too! Feel free to tear me a new one!
