Challenge/adversity essay questions

[questionsquestions!]

I have 2 things that I have been thinking about for these essays.

1.) Parent's struggle with serious mental illness while I was growing up and how that influenced me. Is it okay to disclose this? I would obviously ask permission prior to writing about them, but I wonder if this will seem inappropriate to the adcom.

2.) I had a close friend that was self-harming and suicidal and I was their only social support. I ended up breaking that friends' trust and reporting them so they could get help. This was definitely the most difficult situation I had ever faced. It has been a few years since then and my friend has forgiven me and credits me with helping them get the support they needed to heal.

Are these topics too controversial? Should I be trying to come up with a more academic/intellectual challenge?

I could also talk about my struggles with my weight/fitness but those are honestly not as formative as the other 2.

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[mcatjelly]

Not controversial at all! I would personally go with the second. It shows that you a) have compassion, b) can stick around through tough stuff, and c) will do the right thing even if it has short- (and potentially long-)term consequences for you.

 

[caffeinemia]

I have 2 things that I have been thinking about for these essays.

1.) Parent's struggle with serious mental illness while I was growing up and how that influenced me. Is it okay to disclose this? I would obviously ask permission prior to writing about them, but I wonder if this will seem inappropriate to the adcom.

2.) I had a close friend that was self-harming and suicidal and I was their only social support. I ended up breaking that friends' trust and reporting them so they could get help. This was definitely the most difficult situation I had ever faced. It has been a few years since then and my friend has forgiven me and credits me with helping them get the support they needed to heal.

Are these topics too controversial? Should I be trying to come up with a more academic/intellectual challenge?

I could also talk about my struggles with my weight/fitness but those are honestly not as formative as the other 2.

My few cents...

Pieces of advice after reading far too many of these:

- Stay away from academic/intellectual challenges, unless you have a major learning disability or something. They tend to devolve into "my pre-med courses were hard," or "gosh, I was bad at school but now I know better and have overcome my lack of discipline." That's boring drivel.

- Make sure you clearly delineate who was facing the challenge/adversity. Hint Hint, it should your adversity not the parent/friend's adversity. Once you've had explained the personal impact on yourself, make sure you don't come across as over-dramatic and keep it in perspective. It's about you, but it may not really be about you know, you know? Cuz you're not the crazy one here.

 

[questionsquestions!]

Thanks for the feedback!

My few cents...
- Stay away from academic/intellectual challenges, unless you have a major learning disability or something. They tend to devolve into "my pre-med courses were hard," or "gosh, I was bad at school but now I know better and have overcome my lack of discipline." That's boring drivel.

I was thinking more of discussing maintain my grades (which never really dipped) while managing a chronic health condition. But I don't really want to bring up my health and have it potentially used against me, so I think I will avoid discussing that.

- Make sure you clearly delineate who was facing the challenge/adversity. Hint Hint, it should your adversity not the parent/friend's adversity. Once you've had explained the personal impact on yourself, make sure you don't come across as over-dramatic and keep it in perspective. It's about you, but it may not really be about you know, you know? Cuz you're not the crazy one here.

Do you think it might come across as insensitive to discuss how difficult these situations were for me without really delving into how much harder it must have been for them?

 

[caffeinemia]

Thanks for the feedback!



I was thinking more of discussing maintain my grades (which never really dipped) while managing a chronic health condition. But I don't really want to bring up my health and have it potentially used against me, so I think I will avoid discussing that.



Do you think it might come across as insensitive to discuss how difficult these situations were for me without really delving into how much harder it must have been for them?

Having a parent who is sick and incapable of caring for you and creating stress in your family is a different burden than helping a friend, who's issue may not affect you directly.

It is okay to address the fact that you recognize someone else may be bearing a far greater burden. If anything, it will show that you have maturity, empathy, and perspective.

 

[banana_phone]

On a related note, is it ok for these to discuss stuff that happened when we were growing up? Or does it need to be recent? There was a period of time at the beginning of high school where my father passed away, my mom was hospitalized for anorexia, and my stepmom was diagnosed with kidney disease. Definitely the hardest part of my life, but happened 10 years ago...


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[OMG I'm going to be an MD]

Not to sound selfish, but I think you should go with the second idea but make it about you. Describe your friend's condition, but the focus of the essay should be about how friend's illness impacted you, how you handle the burden of being a support, how you responded to your friend's need and your struggle deciding which would be more beneficial to your friend; health or not breaking your friend's trust? Discuss how losing your friend even though you thought what you did was right still hurt. Discuss how this influenced your decision to become a physician/ how it will influence how you deal with your potential patients and their support group. Whatever you do, try not to approach this topic as a discussion of your friend or friend's well being. In order to answer the question correctly, it should be about your struggle. I would include a strong sentence that emphasized my friends struggle so that I don't seem apathetic or insensitive. I would also end the essay on "No matter how much it hurt, my struggles or the prospect of losing a friend was not as important as my friend's health, although I'm relieved my friend forgave me and is doing well today" tone

 

[OMG I'm going to be an MD]

On a related note, is it ok for these to discuss stuff that happened when we were growing up? Or does it need to be recent? There was a period of time at the beginning of high school where my father passed away, my mom was hospitalized for anorexia, and my stepmom was diagnosed with kidney disease. Definitely the hardest part of my life, but happened 10 years ago...


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I'm pretty sure that's fine. Mine was from 12 years ago. I mean come on...
You: submit app
Adcom: err we see OP hasn't suffered/struggled recently...DENIED, you need more hard times in your life...
You should probably still fine a way make it relate to your present self. Even if it's just a "the lessons I learned from ____ continue to inspire my actions such a when____. I don't look back at ____ as just bad times; the support I received, and the love that I felt from the people in my life makes ___ more of a learning experience" you should make sure you don't write about your struggle as ancient history that has no bearing on your life.
I hope that helped/made sense