Any topics off-limit for secondary essays?

[hs764]

I'm looking through old essay prompts for the schools I'm applying to just to try to get a jump on things, and some of the questions are pretty straightforward but a lot of them are really open-ended and I'm not sure where to go with them. Are there any things we should avoid talking about? Is it appropriate to bring up things like family or romantic relationships or my dog or even politics?

For example, one of the old prompts is: "Write a sentence that is not true, then tell us why you wish it were true." Is it okay to go with something personal or something fun and cute, or should I stick to something safe and serious like "there's no world hunger."

I don't want to come across as trite but I also don't want to get into anything that an admissions committee would think was inappropriate.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[@Hazel-rah]

First thing I look is sincerity so trite, safe topics, leave nothing memorable when asked at a committee review "Anyone have any additional comments about this applicant?"

Could you give a few examples of memorable versus non memorable?

Like for the one the OP mentioned or a question like "Tell us about a time you didn't get what you felt you deserved" or "A time when things didn't work out"

They seem like trick questions, and there are so many situations, from an everyday one in which a recipe failed to a big picture one in which a year-long project failed......

 

[hs764]

First thing I look is sincerity so trite, safe topics, leave nothing memorable when asked at a committee review "Anyone have any additional comments about this applicant?"

Yeah, what exactly is memorable? I thought the point is you want to be memorable....that's why I'm afraid of sounding generic and boring. But I don't want to be memorable in a negative way.

 

[LizzyM]

Could you give a few examples of memorable versus non memorable?

Like for the one the OP mentioned or a question like "Tell us about a time you didn't get what you felt you deserved" or "A time when things didn't work out"

They seem like trick questions, and there are so many situations, from an everyday one in which a recipe failed to a big picture one in which a year-long project failed......

It can seem like a trick question if your response indicates that you come across as entitled and indignant at not having things go your way.

Do you think that this is an attempt to find and enroll the people with the saddest stories? It is not. What the adcoms are looking for are people who can describe how they bounce back from disappointment or failure. That "grit" is an indicator of an ability to do well academically and in a medical career.

 

[@Hazel-rah]

It can seem like a trick question if your response indicates that you come across as entitled and indignant at not having things go your way.

Do you think that this is an attempt to find and enroll the people with the saddest stories? It is not. What the adcoms are looking for are people who can describe how they bounce back from disappointment or failure. That "grit" is an indicator of an ability to do well academically and in a medical career.

Thanks for giving me your perspective. I will give you an example from my thinking:
The question I'm currently addressing is:

"Tell us about a time when you felt you deserved something but didn't get it and how did you respond?"

First thing that comes to mind is situations where I was jealous of someone who got an award and I didn't and these are all from when I was in my teens or 20s. I.e. Didn't get top tier coke scholar award in high school, or didn't get picked for daisy award at work, etc.
----If I were an ad com and read that, I'd be like "waah waah"/eye roll

Now that I'm in my thirties I just don't think about things that way any more. It seems immature to answer that question now. Anything I can think of at a time I felt I deserved something, in hindsight, I'm like, "Who cares? Big deal."
There must be another way to approach the brainstorming of scenarios...

 

[LizzyM]

Thanks for giving me your perspective. I will give you an example from my thinking:
The question I'm currently addressing is:

"Tell us about a time when you felt you deserved something but didn't get it and how did you respond?"

First thing that comes to mind is situations where I was jealous of someone who got an award and I didn't and these are all from when I was in my teens or 20s. I.e. Didn't get top tier coke scholar award in high school, or didn't get picked for daisy award at work, etc.
----If I were an ad com and read that, I'd be like "waah waah"/eye roll

Now that I'm in my thirties I just don't think about things that way any more. It seems immature to answer that question now. Anything I can think of at a time I felt I deserved something, in hindsight, I'm like, "Who cares? Big deal."
There must be another way to approach the brainstorming of scenarios...

I'd suggest trying to think of a time when you thought you were good enough but after not getting what you wanted you tried harder to improve and retried to reach your goal.

 

[@Hazel-rah]

I cant give some format for how to do this but I can give you context of what an adcom sees: 3.7+ Bio-related majors with some research, volunteering, shadowing, and a few other "typical" things with a PS that often reads like "I did this, I did that" or as I like to say, what I did on my summer vacation on the way to medical school. When you have 10, 20, 50, 100 off these they all easily overlap

My basic definition : a medical school application is a concise, coherent, and compelling narrative showing a strong pattern or theme of motivation, commitment, and achievement, support by ECs. LOR, GPA, and MCAT

1) Dont tell me what you did "I volunteered in an ER"
--Show me what you did "As a volunteer, All I could I do was hold the hand of the Mother as they worked on her child"

2) Give me details that may stick in my mind
--"It was all the smiles I saw while serving food at homeless shelter"

3) Have a theme, a pattern, (or more than 1) in your PS.
--This is your chance, actually your only chance, to influence how you want to viewed. this could be almost anything such as
-- Always a strong active student
--Always improving (good for those who had the common bad freshman year)
--Interest in medicine was piqued by...how body worked, etc
--Medicine to me is a way to .... help...educate...combine intellectual challenge and caring.....

4) Have your ECs, when possible to support or add to the theme

5) Anything in your background that may remotely atypically, unusual or memorable.
--People really overlook this as anything can be framed in this manner from working in fast food, hobby, sport, lab, trip, etc

6) Details do not have to be actual events but how they affected you, impacted you, etc

When I coach people, I have them write a bullet point list usually by school year (Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer) of their whole lives, including grammar school. It just a way to see what their background is so nothing is missed. Did they move, have a family issue (ie single mother) a summer adventure, atypical hobby, etc. Do this thru college taking each term and noting all you did to see if there is something useful or something you missed.

thank you!

 

[@Hazel-rah]

I'd suggest trying to think of a time when you thought you were good enough but after not getting what you wanted you tried harder to improve and retried to reach your goal.

Thank you!