Difficult / Challenging Experience Prompt

[VeggieBoy]

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I’m working on writing an essay about a difficult/challenging experience and I have a couple questions. The most challenging experience I can think of is a time when I had a medical condition that required surgery. It was near finals time and I had to miss a little over a week of class. I was obviously behind in my classes because of it but my professors were understanding and I worked hard to get caught up, which I did pretty quickly.


First of all, is this even a good topic to be writing about? I’m not positive it is because they ask about coping skills I used to overcome the challenge. I’m a pretty laid back person, so I kinda just took the whole situation in stride. I never really needed to “cope” with the situation, I just did what needed to be done and that was that. With that said though, I’m having trouble thinking of any situations I’ve been in that I needed to significantly use coping skills.


Secondly, if I do use this topic, is it OK to acknowledge that this wasn’t an overly challenging experience? I feel that other applicants will have much more serious experiences to write about and I don’t want to give the impression that I’m whining about something that was fairly minor. I was thinking about maybe adding in a sentence saying something along the lines of “I’ve been fortunate that my life has been free from major adversity and am grateful for it every day.” I really do feel that way and think that attitude might be viewed positively by adcoms, but at the same time, minimizing the experience might not be the best idea…


I’d love to hear what SDN has to say about this. Any input would be appreciated!

 

[claduva94]

You just to be able to discuss what you learned from it. If you got something meaningful out of it then it is a suitable topic.

 

[umbrellaapp]

The challenge question isn't really concerned so much with how challenging your life has been (see disadvantaged status essay), so the admissions committee isn't going to judge you based on how hard your problems are. It's more of how you reflect and grow from the challenge. Don't worry if it's not a major challenge (although imo a surgery sounds pretty major). Don't use the essay to excuse grades if you didn't do as well as you hoped that semester. I think it's a good topic depending on how you reflect on it.

 

[DokterMom]

Yes on all counts --

Yes to note that you've been fortunate so far. If you have been, it shows maturity and lack of entitlement to acknowledge it.
Yes that this is an appropriate topic to write about. It is the kind of obstacle that can derail a neurotic pre-med with poor coping skills.
Yes, that what you did was "basically, just what was necessary".
And yes, that really isn't rocket science -- overall, or to you specifically. But you found out about the problem, coped emotionally, made a logical plan and executed on that plan. Really, it was only simple because you did the right things.
And maybe that's the whole point. Coping, planning and executing turn obstacles into obstacles overcome.

 

[VeggieBoy]

Thanks for your responses everyone!