Adversity/Diversity Essay Topics!

[kkrossy]

I'm just starting to prewrite my secondaries and I'm pretty stuck on what to do for the diversity and adversity essays, especially the diversity essay. Any insight on the topics I've thought of so far would be great!

Diversity:
1. I was raised by a single mom and we've been renting the same apartment for 13 years. I went to school in an affluent area and didn't have a lot of the same advantages that most of my peers had, and I had to mature pretty quickly. It's definitely affected my perspective and values and would allow me to be more empathetic towards the circumstances of my peers and future patients (I could also probably use this as an adversity essay).

2. I was politically involved during the last couple of years; I did text banking for the 2020 election and 2022 CA recall election to make sure people were registered to vote. However I'm not sure if this significant enough to use as a diversity essay since it wasn't a very extensive experience (I didn't include it in my W/A section). Also I might run the risk of conservative adcoms not liking it :/

3. My involvement in music; this was already covered in my W/A section and I think it's pretty standard for a lot of applicants to have so I'm not sure about this one either.

Adversity:
1. Talking about my dad's issues with substance abuse/addiction and how I've coped with that over the years/my relationship with him now

2. Going through my parents' divorce at ten which was pretty messy and affected me for multiple years after, plus moving from a house to an apartment at the same time. I can see how similar this is to my diversity essay topic though

* I talked about a specific event relating to topics 1 and 2 in my Other Impactful Experiences essay from the primary, and I briefly mentioned my parents' divorce in my personal statement. I'd be talking about these events in a different way here, but would I risk being too redundant throughout my application?

3. Overcoming shyness and heavy self-esteem issues as a kid (worried this may not reflect well on me though)

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[deleted1163682]

1. I was raised by a single mom and we've been renting the same apartment for 13 years. I went to school in an affluent area and didn't have a lot of the same advantages that most of my peers had, and I had to mature pretty quickly. It's definitely affected my perspective and values and would allow me to be more empathetic towards the circumstances of my peers and future patients (I could also probably use this as an adversity essay).

1. Talking about my dad's issues with substance abuse/addiction and how I've coped with that over the years/my relationship with him now

2. Going through my parents' divorce at ten which was pretty messy and affected me for multiple years after, plus moving from a house to an apartment at the same time. I can see how similar this is to my diversity essay topic though

I think this is a good topic. Is your application at all themed around mental health, substance, psychiatry, or family medicine? That can probably contextualize your motive for pursuing medicine better.

2. I was politically involved during the last couple of years; I did text banking for the 2020 election and 2022 CA recall election to make sure people were registered to vote. However I'm not sure if this significant enough to use as a diversity essay since it wasn't a very extensive experience (I didn't include it in my W/A section). Also I might run the risk of conservative adcoms not liking it :/

Definitely a missed opportunity for not putting this down on your application as this is social advocacy. Most adcoms are progressive, as schools select diverse individuals to be apart of this team to recruit an inclusive class. I don't see why any reasonable person on an adcom would be against voter rights.

3. Overcoming shyness and heavy self-esteem issues as a kid (worried this may not reflect well on me though)

Avoid this.

 

[kkrossy]

I think this is a good topic. Is your application at all themed around mental health, substance, psychiatry, or family medicine? That can probably contextualize your motive for pursuing medicine better.

Definitely a missed opportunity for not putting this down on your application as this is social advocacy. Most adcoms are progressive, as schools select diverse individuals to be apart of this team to recruit an inclusive class. I don't see why any reasonable person on an adcom would be against voter rights.

Avoid this.

Thanks so much for your response!

1. I would say my application has a focus on primary care and underserved communities for sure. While I never had difficulty accessing healthcare growing up, I do think my upbringing would allow me to have more empathy towards patients with disadvantaged backgrounds and I definitely want to work with patients who are struggling with addiction.

2. I know I decided not to include this in my W/A section because it was only about 25 hours total and I didn’t think it was substantial enough to include. Would it be good to talk about in secondaries if schools ask for any additional information I want to share?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm just starting to prewrite my secondaries and I'm pretty stuck on what to do for the diversity and adversity essays, especially the diversity essay. Any insight on the topics I've thought of so far would be great!

Diversity:
1. I was raised by a single mom and we've been renting the same apartment for 13 years. I went to school in an affluent area and didn't have a lot of the same advantages that most of my peers had, and I had to mature pretty quickly. It's definitely affected my perspective and values and would allow me to be more empathetic towards the circumstances of my peers and future patients (I could also probably use this as an adversity essay).

2. I was politically involved during the last couple of years; I did text banking for the 2020 election and 2022 CA recall election to make sure people were registered to vote. However I'm not sure if this significant enough to use as a diversity essay since it wasn't a very extensive experience (I didn't include it in my W/A section). Also I might run the risk of conservative adcoms not liking it :/

3. My involvement in music; this was already covered in my W/A section and I think it's pretty standard for a lot of applicants to have so I'm not sure about this one either.

Adversity:
1. Talking about my dad's issues with substance abuse/addiction and how I've coped with that over the years/my relationship with him now

2. Going through my parents' divorce at ten which was pretty messy and affected me for multiple years after, plus moving from a house to an apartment at the same time. I can see how similar this is to my diversity essay topic though

* I talked about a specific event relating to topics 1 and 2 in my Other Impactful Experiences essay from the primary, and I briefly mentioned my parents' divorce in my personal statement. I'd be talking about these events in a different way here, but would I risk being too redundant throughout my application?

3. Overcoming shyness and heavy self-esteem issues as a kid (worried this may not reflect well on me though)

What did you write for Other Impactful Experience?

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[deleted1163682]

2. I know I decided not to include this in my W/A section because it was only about 25 hours total and I didn’t think it was substantial enough to include. Would it be good to talk about in secondaries if schools ask for any additional information I want to share?

If you have nothing else to share, go for it, but I don't think it's worth writing an entire additional information section on this activity. For instance, you could say something like "based on my previous experience with X, I am eager to continue my social advocacy efforts at Y organization at Z med school/ city the med school is in." Of course, mention why this activity is important to you and how it reflects the actions you want to take as a future physician