Hi everyone! I would really appreciate feedback on my current idea for the challenge essay, as well as any help with choosing between three topics for the diversity essay.
Challenge: I was planning to write about being a caregiver for my grandfather, who has Alzheimer's. Since developing symptoms, he stopped getting along well with any family members other than me and my mom. Between the two of us, I have the more flexible schedule, so I took on the responsibility of helping him with daily tasks.
He also has issues with paranoia and aggressive behavior, and I often have to mediate conflicts between him and other family members. The most difficult part about this is preventing him from getting physically combative, as I am very petite and can't restrain him if he becomes violent. I can talk about how I drew on the conflict resolution training I received while volunteering as a health educator in order to better manage these conflicts. I could also talk about how the patience, composure under pressure, etc. I developed through this experience will help me respond to challenging situations and patients in the future.
Diversity:
1) Growing up and attending college in West Virginia--focusing on the impact of being from an environment with low health literacy, large rural population, and very poor health compared to the rest of the country (#1 in obesity, cardiovascular disease, drug overdoses, etc.). I could write about how this shaped my interest in public health (majored in PH + most of my ECs are related in some way), as well as my goal of becoming a primary care physician.
2) Also growing up in West Virginia, but from the angle of an immigrant and ethnic/religious minority trying to fit into a predominantly white and conservative Christian society. I initially felt pressure to be a "cultural ambassador" around coworkers and patients, some of whom had never interacted with a person of my ethnicity before, but eventually realized that I loved being a part of these cultural exchanges.
3) One of my hobbies is cooking--I can talk about how I first learned to cook with my grandmother, and used this as a means of connecting with the older women in my family and learning about my heritage. Also, since I was a child, I have been interested in learning about other cultures and traditions. Since I do not live in a diverse area and didn't have the means to travel, I used cooking as a way to explore other cultures. I can also talk about doing research in a community nutrition lab in college and working on a project to help low-income families learn to cook healthier meals. **I did write about this latter part on my primary, so I'm not sure about touching on it again here**
I am leaning towards the first topic, as I did not talk about it much on my primary, but feel that it's pretty important to my identity. I'm mostly applying to schools in large urban centers, including several T20 schools, virtually all of which had zero students from West Virginia in last year's class according to MSAR. This is a pretty underserved area of the country in terms of health, so I hope it will make me sufficiently diverse?
Thoughts?
Challenge: I was planning to write about being a caregiver for my grandfather, who has Alzheimer's. Since developing symptoms, he stopped getting along well with any family members other than me and my mom. Between the two of us, I have the more flexible schedule, so I took on the responsibility of helping him with daily tasks.
He also has issues with paranoia and aggressive behavior, and I often have to mediate conflicts between him and other family members. The most difficult part about this is preventing him from getting physically combative, as I am very petite and can't restrain him if he becomes violent. I can talk about how I drew on the conflict resolution training I received while volunteering as a health educator in order to better manage these conflicts. I could also talk about how the patience, composure under pressure, etc. I developed through this experience will help me respond to challenging situations and patients in the future.
Diversity:
1) Growing up and attending college in West Virginia--focusing on the impact of being from an environment with low health literacy, large rural population, and very poor health compared to the rest of the country (#1 in obesity, cardiovascular disease, drug overdoses, etc.). I could write about how this shaped my interest in public health (majored in PH + most of my ECs are related in some way), as well as my goal of becoming a primary care physician.
2) Also growing up in West Virginia, but from the angle of an immigrant and ethnic/religious minority trying to fit into a predominantly white and conservative Christian society. I initially felt pressure to be a "cultural ambassador" around coworkers and patients, some of whom had never interacted with a person of my ethnicity before, but eventually realized that I loved being a part of these cultural exchanges.
3) One of my hobbies is cooking--I can talk about how I first learned to cook with my grandmother, and used this as a means of connecting with the older women in my family and learning about my heritage. Also, since I was a child, I have been interested in learning about other cultures and traditions. Since I do not live in a diverse area and didn't have the means to travel, I used cooking as a way to explore other cultures. I can also talk about doing research in a community nutrition lab in college and working on a project to help low-income families learn to cook healthier meals. **I did write about this latter part on my primary, so I'm not sure about touching on it again here**
I am leaning towards the first topic, as I did not talk about it much on my primary, but feel that it's pretty important to my identity. I'm mostly applying to schools in large urban centers, including several T20 schools, virtually all of which had zero students from West Virginia in last year's class according to MSAR. This is a pretty underserved area of the country in terms of health, so I hope it will make me sufficiently diverse?
Thoughts?
