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A lot of secondaries and prehealth offices at universities seem to ask this question of what's the biggest problem you've overcome, and how you dealt with it (or sometimes more specifically, an ethical dilemma you've overcome, what you learned about yourself from the experience, blah blah blah).
I have to answer this question for my premed office, and I'm having such a difficult time coming up with a story. I have a few candidates, but they seem immature or inappropriate.
For instance, I moved to the US right before starting high school... of course that was difficult, but not a "problem" per se, and something I experienced nearly a decade ago... and it sounds like something more and more people are experiencing these days anyway... "no big deal"
When I didn't get into med schools in 2008, that was a huge blow to my self-esteem, and with everything else in my life happening simultaneously (family issues, personal issues, etc) I went through a big problem phase in my life including depression. But again... not something I think I can write in a med school application.
When I got my first full-time job, moved to a city all on my own, not knowing anyone in the area, working with a really very difficult coworker (everyone else at the job agrees too, not just me), that was a difficult time as well. But again, it sounds sorta immature... maybe...
I'm not sure if I'm just not thinking in the right direction or what. In the previous app cycle, a bunch of secondaries asked for ethical dilemmas specifically, and I wrote about an instance where a PI of my undergrad lab and the graduate student i was working with were pulling me in different directions, each telling me to do different things and disagreeing with each other in the meantime... and basically putting me in the middle. Is that still something that could count?
I just feel like any scenario I come up with seems so insignificant, and readers are just gonna think "that's the biggest problem you've ever faced? you've lived such a sheltered life..."
PS - something else that just occurred to me: as an undergrad, my PI and the department head were basically in war. I unfortunately got stuck in the middle with funding issues (who's gonna pay me), and because the PI and the head didn't wanna fight with each other, they both ended up having me as the messenger... they started putting blames on each other, which was fired onto me at the time, and there was a big miscommunication blow up. Is that something I could write about?? The only way I can say I "solved" the problem is really that I facilitated proper communication... which doesn't sound all that great either. Gahhhhh
I have to answer this question for my premed office, and I'm having such a difficult time coming up with a story. I have a few candidates, but they seem immature or inappropriate.
For instance, I moved to the US right before starting high school... of course that was difficult, but not a "problem" per se, and something I experienced nearly a decade ago... and it sounds like something more and more people are experiencing these days anyway... "no big deal"
When I didn't get into med schools in 2008, that was a huge blow to my self-esteem, and with everything else in my life happening simultaneously (family issues, personal issues, etc) I went through a big problem phase in my life including depression. But again... not something I think I can write in a med school application.
When I got my first full-time job, moved to a city all on my own, not knowing anyone in the area, working with a really very difficult coworker (everyone else at the job agrees too, not just me), that was a difficult time as well. But again, it sounds sorta immature... maybe...
I'm not sure if I'm just not thinking in the right direction or what. In the previous app cycle, a bunch of secondaries asked for ethical dilemmas specifically, and I wrote about an instance where a PI of my undergrad lab and the graduate student i was working with were pulling me in different directions, each telling me to do different things and disagreeing with each other in the meantime... and basically putting me in the middle. Is that still something that could count?
I just feel like any scenario I come up with seems so insignificant, and readers are just gonna think "that's the biggest problem you've ever faced? you've lived such a sheltered life..."
PS - something else that just occurred to me: as an undergrad, my PI and the department head were basically in war. I unfortunately got stuck in the middle with funding issues (who's gonna pay me), and because the PI and the head didn't wanna fight with each other, they both ended up having me as the messenger... they started putting blames on each other, which was fired onto me at the time, and there was a big miscommunication blow up. Is that something I could write about?? The only way I can say I "solved" the problem is really that I facilitated proper communication... which doesn't sound all that great either. Gahhhhh
