Diversity essay about being a tech geek?

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For the essays that are phrased what can you bring to the student body, how can you offer diversity, etc., could I talk about how I am a tech guy? I'm always thinking of ways to involve technology and put my ideas online. I think its something relatively "unique." I don't have much else to work with as a middle class white male. I can play up how I am really into mentoring and teaching too. I think that idea could work, but I've found it difficult to twist that into contributing to diversity. Any thoughts?
 
I think that you can come up with something better than that, and urge you to do so, in fact.



Tankstah said:
For the essays that are phrased what can you bring to the student body, how can you offer diversity, etc., could I talk about how I am a tech guy? I'm always thinking of ways to involve technology and put my ideas online. I think its something relatively "unique." I don't have much else to work with as a middle class white male. I can play up how I am really into mentoring and teaching too. I think that idea could work, but I've found it difficult to twist that into contributing to diversity. Any thoughts?
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I was a Sociology major. I remember whenever a topic like this came up the rich white kids would always talk about their frat. Don't have people laugh at you for being tech geek. In today's world, everyone knows enough about tech to navigate the world.
 
If your idea of being a tech geek involves basic use of Instagram and Facebook, don't list it. If you were previously recruited and worked for Facebook or Google, that would be interesting, unless you were one of the people responsible for Google Plus, in which case it would be a negative.
 
AlbinoHawk DO said:
I was a Sociology major. I remember whenever a topic like this came up the rich white kids would always talk about their frat. Don't have people laugh at you for being tech geek. In today's world, everyone knows enough about tech to navigate the world.
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They would talk about their frat for diversity?!
 
Doug Underhill said:
If your idea of being a tech geek involves basic use of Instagram and Facebook, don't list it. If you were previously recruited and worked for Facebook or Google, that would be interesting, unless you were one of the people responsible for Google Plus, in which case it would be a negative.
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I build computers and taught my self web design. Nothing too crazy, but I also got involved in research involving online health resources.
 
Lawper said:
What languages do you know? I don't expect the vast majority of applicants being knowledgeable on computers so you may be lucky, considering the importance of computer science in medicine
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Nothing impressive. I know html and java enough to design a basic website. Now that I will finally have some time after finishing the MCAT, I am going to really dive in and learn more. Obviously can't write about something that hasn't happened yet though.
 
Tankstah said:
Nothing impressive. I know html and java enough to design a basic website. Now that I will finally have some time after finishing the MCAT, I am going to really dive in and learn more. Obviously can't write about something that hasn't happened yet though.
Click to expand...

learn ruby...profit
 
I also have played piano my whole life. I took a few music theory classes in college and planned on a minor, but ran out of time. Music is a big part of my life, but I'm not sure how to spin this into "contributing to diversity." Has anyone successfully done this? I'm not a classically trained pianist so I can't talk about concert hall performances or anything.
 
Better to list this under hobbies.

Tankstah said:
I build computers and taught my self web design. Nothing too crazy, but I also got involved in research involving online health resources.
Click to expand...


This is better! I'm always impressed by people with musical talent, especially since the best I can do is whistle.

Tankstah said:
I also have played piano my whole life. I took a few music theory classes in college and planned on a minor, but ran out of time. Music is a big part of my life, but I'm not sure how to spin this into "contributing to diversity." Has anyone successfully done this? I'm not a classically trained pianist so I can't talk about concert hall performances or anything.
Click to expand...
 
Tankstah said:
Nothing impressive. I know html and java enough to design a basic website. Now that I will finally have some time after finishing the MCAT, I am going to really dive in and learn more. Obviously can't write about something that hasn't happened yet though.
Click to expand...

Ah so you are a computer novice. Well, it'll make a good hobby and it partially sets you apart. But how are you different from engineers who had to use programming to deal with their design projects?
 
My knowledge of music and composition far exceeds anything I can do with a computer. Music seems like the better choice. My issue is how to discuss it in a diversity light. I can talk about how music has allowed me to keep an abstract and artistic mind while focusing on concrete sciences. I already addressed this in my primary though.
 
I'm in a frat too but haven't talked about it whatsoever and don't plan to because of kids like that
 
Tankstah said:
Nothing impressive. I know html and java enough to design a basic website. Now that I will finally have some time after finishing the MCAT, I am going to really dive in and learn more. Obviously can't write about something that hasn't happened yet though.
Click to expand...

Unless you're not telling us something, you're at the same level as anyone who's taken a single CS class (in high school, even). I don't mean to sound harsh, it's just that anything in your app is fair game for intense discussion, and it will quickly become apparent to your interviewer if you try to play this up as anything more than it is. You're not going to be able to, say, become a C++ guru by the time interviews start.
 
Unless your tech geek knowledge includes how to code competently and a firm vision of how and why that is important to the future of medicine and how you will fit into this new order where comp sci is important. otherwise probably not.
 
corvettefan said:
After reading this, I think I might need to fix my diversity essay. I talked about my computer skills and how I can use them to contribute to the school. The most notable thing I did is help develop part of an intelligent tutoring for organic chemistry that's free for students to use. I talked about how I want to apply my tech skills to develop databases and do data analysis for Scholarly Projects.

Any thoughts?
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You have a tangible way that your tech skills contributed so I think that is different. I think its a pretty good idea, but they may disagree
 
Goro said:
This is better! I'm always impressed by people with musical talent, especially since the best I can do is whistle.
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@Goro, how do applicants meaningfully articulate this kind of thing? Is it really enough to just say you will contribute diversity to the class because you have skills in music (or another art form) and have demonstrated those skills by performing/writing/whatever music?
 
Yes. I haven't got the stones to hand an instrument to a candidate, but it's tempting!!

ChrisMack390 said:
@Goro, how do applicants meaningfully articulate this kind of thing? Is it really enough to just say you will contribute diversity to the class because you have skills in music (or another art form) and have demonstrated those skills by performing/writing/whatever music?
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Maybe it's just me, but all this diversity stuff seems really complex. Not everyone has some secret talent or bizarre life experience. What if you're just an average person with average hobbies who has devoted their college time to work, study, and pre-med EC's?
I personally had some unique life experiences that I think add to diversity, but not everyone has those opportunities..
 
Goro said:
Yes. I haven't got the stones to hand an instrument to a candidate, but it's tempting!!
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It really is enough to just say that I can write music to contribute to diversity? That seems so shallow to me. When you see an applicant that is able to play/write music do you really consider that a plus to the diversity of the student body? Like @ChrisMack390 said, its difficult to articulate how music contributes to diversity.
 
Writing music makes you unique. In my case, I taught myself how to play without any lessons. If that isn't something "special about me", what makes kayaking/traveling/sports/other life experiences so "diverse"? I don't agree.
 
Writing music? It's something I sure can't do.

Tankstah said:
It really is enough to just say that I can write music to contribute to diversity? That seems so shallow to me. When you see an applicant that is able to play/write music do you really consider that a plus to the diversity of the student body? Like @ChrisMack390 said, its difficult to articulate how music contributes to diversity.
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
I think that you can come up with something better than that, and urge you to do so, in fact.
Click to expand...
Should this topic touch on the application to medicine, or is it just something cool about yourself that you'd add to the student body (not necessarily medically related)

I ask because mine is about being an avid cook (no one in my SMP did that from what I've gathered, yet my friend in the same program wrote about being patient and sincere and reflected on how it was important in his volunteering
 
It's a common pre-med misconception that everything about you had to have some clinical context. This prompt is, again, WHAT IS COOL ABOUT YOU?

WHAT UNIQUE THING DO YOU BRING TO THE TABLE?

If you can't answer this ask your friends.

IlyaR said:
Should this topic touch on the application to medicine, or is it just something cool about yourself that you'd add to the student body (not necessarily medically related)
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
It's a common pre-med misconception that everything about you had to have some clinical context. This prompt is, again, WHAT IS COOL ABOUT YOU?

WHAT UNIQUE THING DO YOU BRING TO THE TABLE?

If you can't answer this ask your friends.
Click to expand...

I feel as if most people think their unique interests aren't going to help their application, especially for a topic as open and vague as diversity.

Example: I play table tennis at a collegiate level. I spend a lot of time practicing and I go out to competitions occasionally so I can play against other people to improve my rank. Even though I'd consider it pretty unique, I don't know if it would be a good idea to force adcoms to read a secondary about me playing ping pong. I'm sure there are a million things that people do that they wouldn't consider worthy of writing about in their diversity essay, but where's the line drawn between 'interesting' and 'trivial'?
 
Thanks @Goro, that makes it all the more clear, I felt like I needed to plug in some way my experience is a valuable asset to medical schools, but I just wanna put it out there because it's kinda just cool.
 
Akech said:
I feel as if most people think their unique interests aren't going to help their application, especially for a topic as open and vague as diversity.

Example: I play table tennis at a collegiate level. I spend a lot of time practicing and I go out to competitions occasionally so I can play against other people to improve my rank. Even though I'd consider it pretty unique, I don't know if it would be a good idea to force adcoms to read a secondary about me playing ping pong. I'm sure there are a million things that people do that they wouldn't consider worthy of writing about in their diversity essay, but where's the line drawn between 'interesting' and 'trivial'?
Click to expand...

Put it into a light that makes it interesting, my diversity essay focuses on a sports program in my (relatively poor and crime-addled) community that helped kids stay out of drugs/jail, it just turns out I was actually pretty good and it ballooned and I competed at the national level and broke records. The diversity comes from the sport and achievement, but also from the people I met in the program, people from all walks of life, the lessons I learned from them and training etc.
 
Pusheen said:
... Not everyone has some secret talent or bizarre life experience. What if you're just an average person with average hobbies who has devoted their college time to work, study, and pre-med EC's? ...
Click to expand...

Then for some schools you'll probably sit on the wait list with the other "average" people. Med schools like to see that "wow" factor. They won't see enough of that to fill their class so some "average" people will get in too, but unquestionably schools are looking for it. The notion that "average" with cookie cutter stats and premed ECs always gets in kind of died in 1980.
 
Goro said:
Yes. I haven't got the stones to hand an instrument to a candidate, but it's tempting!!
Click to expand...

Can I bring my tuba to the interview? At the very least I can provide musical entertainment for the applicants waiting in the lobby.
 
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Law2Doc said:
Then for some schools you'll probably sit on the wait list with the other "average" people. Med schools like to see that "wow" factor. They won't see enough of that to fill their class so some "average" people will get in too, but unquestionably schools are looking for it. The notion that "average" with cookie cutter stats and premed ECs always gets in kind of died in 1980.
Click to expand...
Yeah, and I get that. I'm saying that it's hard to get that "wow" factor specifically through diversity, since it's something people have the least control over.
 
Pusheen said:
Yeah, and I get that. I'm saying that it's hard to get that "wow" factor specifically through diversity, since it's something people have the least control over.
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Diversity apparently doesn't mean what you think, then. How you distinguish yourself is very much under your control.
 
Law2Doc said:
Diversity apparently doesn't mean what you think, then. How you distinguish yourself is very much under your control.
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Fair enough. I suppose the examples I've seen have always had to do with race, or unique life experiences, or having an interesting cultural background.
 
Every human being on this planet has had multiple unique life experiences. The prompts are written they way they are to weed out those people who are so incapable of self-reflection that they can't think of these, or who are so pretentious that their own examples are the most insipid or vapid (like, "I took a summer vacation in X European country, and that's how I can relate to people who are different from me" or "I was devastated the first time I got a C on an exam, but I recovered by...or "I'm diverse because I'm a parent").

Pusheen said:
Fair enough. I suppose the examples I've seen have always had to do with race, or unique life experiences, or having an interesting cultural background.
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
Every human being on this planet has had multiple unique life experiences. The prompts are written they way they are to weed out those people who are so incapable of self-reflection that they can't think of these, or who are so pretentious that their own examples are the most insipid or vapid (like, "I took a summer vacation in X European country, and that's how I can relate to people who are different from me" or "I was devastated the first time I got a C on an exam, but I recovered by...or "I'm diverse because I'm a parent").
Click to expand...
Thinking about it in terms of a unique life experiences... How recent must these be? In 2004, I spent a year competing almost every single weekend in a martial art and eventually became a state champion. It was extremely formative of my current character, but I ditched the idea since it is so far back and not related to medicine at all.
 
For me, it should be after high school.


Tankstah said:
Thinking about it in terms of a unique life experiences... How recent must these be? In 2004, I spent a year competing almost every single weekend in a martial art and eventually became a state champion. It was extremely formative of my current character, but I ditched the idea since it is so far back and not related to medicine at all.
Click to expand...
 
Goro said:
For me, it should be after high school.
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I wrote a diversity essay about how being homeschooled growing up gave me a different perspective and gave specific examples of how I enacted this in my undergrad career. Is this appropriate?
 
Goro said:
It doesn't overwhelm me.
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Think going with writing music is better? I still just can't see how to spin that into providing some benefit to the student body. It makes me different. Is that enough?
 
Law2Doc said:
Yes, for med schools you didn't exist until undergrad.
Click to expand...

What if you served in the military before undergrad? Would something in that time frame still be acceptable as far as ECs or essays go?
 
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