Adversity Secondary Question

[asianpremed]

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I was wondering what kinds of topics for challenges would be acceptable for this essay. One of my personal challenges was being incorrectly arrested and accused of committing a crime that I did not commit. In the end, I still had to go to court but the charges were dropped because the court realized how dumb the case was and how obviously innocent I was. I am wondering if this would be alright to write about given that I didn't actually do anything wrong or commit any crimes. However, I have heard people tell me that I should steer clear from mentioning at all that I was arrested. What do you guys think?

 

[Lannister]

Usually the prompt asks about a time when you overcome adversity. Did you actually do anything to overcome this adversity? It doesn't really sound like it, it sounds like the situation kind of worked itself out, from the way you described it. That's just my $0.02, though.

 

[Goro]

It's fine.

I was wondering what kinds of topics for challenges would be acceptable for this essay. One of my personal challenges was being incorrectly arrested and accused of committing a crime that I did not commit. In the end, I still had to go to court but the charges were dropped because the court realized how dumb the case was and how obviously innocent I was. I am wondering if this would be alright to write about given that I didn't actually do anything wrong or commit any crimes. However, I have heard people tell me that I should steer clear from mentioning at all that I was arrested. What do you guys think?

 

[asianpremed]

Usually the prompt asks about a time when you overcome adversity. Did you actually do anything to overcome this adversity? It doesn't really sound like it, it sounds like the situation kind of worked itself out, from the way you described it. That's just my $0.02, though.

It was a little more complicated than that. The police in my town went to my school and were trying to get my kicked out of my school/generally harassing me. They even tried to say I was dangerous and should be sent to juvee. The legal battle was very hard on my family and on my personally. I would talk about this difficulty and how I managed to stay afloat especially as I was trying to keep my grades up and get into college. The legal process is very slow and it took about 1 1/2 years to clear up.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Personally, I would steer clear from this. But hey, its your app, and I'm sure it could be discussed in a successful way.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

I have a learning disability, and get accommodations on timed tests. I talked about it on only two secondaries for obstacles overcome, one which advertises inclusions of all types of diversity, then goes on to list about 10 types. I am taking a risk, but I will see how it goes given I am a pretty vocal advocate for those with disabilities.

I have been counseled that ADA requires no disclosure. But this has been my only true obstacle. Otherwise, just a privileged kid of an MD household with 2 parents, and my life otherwise is awesome. My brother tried to write a sentence that basically said that, blessed with great opportunities, no problems to overcome Got shot down by advisors. Came up with some BS. He reports that over half of his M1 class have physician parents or other high SES upbringing so must have alot of BS out there on that question.

Someone once said "I am burdened with a happy childhood."

 

[asianpremed]

But the question is raised as to WHY you were being persecuted? If you cant discuss that and be accepted as both sincere and reasonable by an adcom, it may be an unwise move. For example, if you were arrested solely on mistaken identity or under a racial profiling, it is one thing. But if you are claiming that they were out to get you, it is harder hurdle to climb. This is not to minimize your intense plight in anyway, but making sure you can answer and defend your position in coherent, concise and compelling way in a short essay needs to be extremely well written. Make sure it is read by someone who doesnt know your history before submission which will be similar to an adcom reading

Additionally, you may need to discuss and defend it in an interview. Since you wrote about it, it is fair game. I had an older nontrad applicant who wrote about her husband leaving her in the middle of her post-bacc finals. An interviewer, who happened to be a psychiatrist brought it up and it was a tough session. She however will be attending that ivy med school in a few weeks

It was mistaken identity. They arrested me thinking I looked like "an asian with a white shirt and jeans". Basically, I fit the description they were looking for. The police in my town are known for being unreasonably aggressive so that explains why they would go so far as to try to get me kicked out of school but I understand what you are saying about making it seem like they are out to get me. I guess I'll emphasize the mistaken identity part in the essay.