Application Help

[Hilltopper2018]

Hi again SDN,

I have a question regarding whether or not to put something on my application and where exactly it would fit as it doesn't necessarily fall into a black and white category. This situation is much bigger than me or my application but I still feel it may be necessary to put on somewhere.

My college team adopted an 11-year old boy onto our team, who has severe food allergies, which forces him to only eat very specific foods. He struggles with weight loss, social anxiety, and an inability to do a lot of daily activities that a young boy should be able to. That being said, he absolutely loves the sport that I am a part of and struggles with not being able to play it due to his disease. As a team, we have him come to our practices, our games, have had social events with him, play with him and do whatever we can to bring a smile to his face. We have had cookouts with him and even celebrated his birthday, buying him a cake and giving him our team uniform. He comes and goes as he or his family feels fit, but usually comes when he is feeling down and needs to have fun. He is an amazing kid and I always enjoy interacting with him and his parents, who also seem to really appreciate our support. Like I said, I know this is above me, and above medical school, but he has a really compelling story that has impacted me. This is not really considered volunteering or clinical or shadowing but as I stated, I believe it is important to include as a part of my application and am curious as to whether it should fit into one of those categories or simply be a part of my personal statement.

Sorry for the essay, and thanks for the help.

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[seren1051]

Very noble of you & your team to help this guy out! That being said, I'm, like you, unsure where this would fit. You cannot put it under 'volunteering' category, as you're aware of. It's not clinical or shadowing. Putting in 'hobby' section sounds bad, too. Putting in PS might be okay, but how do you plan to make the connection to medicine? Seeing a poor suffering youngster (a lot of what you've written regarding your interaction sounds passive - no offence, just my impression) made you want to pursue pediatric psychiatry? There's a good chance that this might spotlight his struggles / highlight his story rather than your own.

 

[sss1219]

Sounds like a great response for secondaries along the lines of 'a challenge you have faced', 'a time where you were humbled', etc.

 

[workaholic181]

I second the above, this is a good thing to address in secondary prompts. I’d be pretty surprised if any of the secondaries you complete won’t have a question where you could speak to this experience.

 

[Hilltopper2018]

how do you plan to make the connection to medicine? Seeing a poor suffering youngster (a lot of what you've written regarding your interaction sounds passive - no offence, just my impression) made you want to pursue pediatric psychiatry? There's a good chance that this might spotlight his struggles / highlight his story rather than your own.

None taken, as I said it was a team thing so a lot of us were involved but I had definitely interacted with him and his family more than most (a lot of the younger kids on my team didn't necessarily understand the impact they could have). It does highlight his struggles much more than mine. But I saw it as another reason to get into medicine. It verified my desire to help those in need, however that may be. I view it as I am lucky enough to be a healthy, soon to be college graduate, and should therefore use what I have been given to help those who are less fortunate. So in a sense it relates back to me but I also worry that it comes off as though I am using someone else's story to leverage my own. Which I don't want to do.

 

[Goro]

Hi again SDN,

I have a question regarding whether or not to put something on my application and where exactly it would fit as it doesn't necessarily fall into a black and white category. This situation is much bigger than me or my application but I still feel it may be necessary to put on somewhere.

My college team adopted an 11-year old boy onto our team, who has severe food allergies, which forces him to only eat very specific foods. He struggles with weight loss, social anxiety, and an inability to do a lot of daily activities that a young boy should be able to. That being said, he absolutely loves the sport that I am a part of and struggles with not being able to play it due to his disease. As a team, we have him come to our practices, our games, have had social events with him, play with him and do whatever we can to bring a smile to his face. We have had cookouts with him and even celebrated his birthday, buying him a cake and giving him our team uniform. He comes and goes as he or his family feels fit, but usually comes when he is feeling down and needs to have fun. He is an amazing kid and I always enjoy interacting with him and his parents, who also seem to really appreciate our support. Like I said, I know this is above me, and above medical school, but he has a really compelling story that has impacted me. This is not really considered volunteering or clinical or shadowing but as I stated, I believe it is important to include as a part of my application and am curious as to whether it should fit into one of those categories or simply be a part of my personal statement.

Sorry for the essay, and thanks for the help.

Wonderful story, very altruistic. This is what we want to see in our applicants and students.

But "being a pal" is not an EC. I'll bet that you can find lots of places in your PS and secondaries to mention this, though.

 

[Hilltopper2018]

Sounds like a great response for secondaries along the lines of 'a challenge you have faced', 'a time where you were humbled', etc.

Thanks, it never crossed my mind to use it in a secondary (no idea why).

 

[HomeSkool]

Thanks, it never crossed my mind to use it in a secondary (no idea why).

You're nuts if you save this for secondaries. This is personal statement material, bruh!

 

[candbgirl]

Did you set this program up? Do you plan the activities? Do you keep in touch with the child/Family? If so, you you could use it as leadership/community outreach etc..