Controversial most meaningful activity?? Please help!!!

[sealfriendo]

Hi all!

My friend is applying this upcoming cycle and she wanted to write about her scribing experience. However, for her most meaningful activity section, she was thinking about writing about a time she made a mistake when she was just starting her job. She mixed up a patient's chart and thus the doctor ordered an erroneous procedure. She realized immediately after, called the patient to apologize, and took complete responsibility for the situation. The procedure did not go forward.

What she wants to convey is in that moment she fully grasped the responsibility doctors have in caring for the health of their patients, and the importance of integrity and accountability in medicine. However, she is worried about writing about a time she made a mistake and is afraid she will look incompetent in the eyes of the adcoms. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

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[Blueprint Med School]

Doctors make mistakes. It's gonna happen. I really doubt any adcom will see her making a mistake in a medical job as a red flag. However, I'm not sure if writing about a mistake is the best way to discuss an experience.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[Sky138]

I don’t suggest putting this on the primary but it could be talked about during the interview if the situation calls for it.

 

[notthrowingawaymyshot]

I think the activities/experiences section is meant to lay out the details of what you did/how it relates to medicine if not obvious. I wouldn’t necessarily surround the whole meaningful experience essay talking about the mistake. However, I had several secondaries that asked a question along the lines of describing a mistake and how we handled it and it would be an appropriate anecdote to use for those secondary prompts or in an interview if that kind of question comes up.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi all!

My friend is applying this upcoming cycle and she wanted to write about her scribing experience. However, for her most meaningful activity section, she was thinking about writing about a time she made a mistake when she was just starting her job. She mixed up a patient's chart and thus the doctor ordered an erroneous procedure. She realized immediately after, called the patient to apologize, and took complete responsibility for the situation. The procedure did not go forward.

What she wants to convey is in that moment she fully grasped the responsibility doctors have in caring for the health of their patients, and the importance of integrity and accountability in medicine. However, she is worried about writing about a time she made a mistake and is afraid she will look incompetent in the eyes of the adcoms. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

She should save this incident for a suitable Secondary prompt and rewrite her PS to address "Why Medicine?"