Diversity essay secondary topic

[chungomunch]

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Hi everyone!

I've been struggling to come up with good topics for the diversity essay. I have three possible ones and would love your advice about whether they could work.

1) I've done mountaineering at a fairly high level throughout college. I can talk about taking responsibility, verbal and nonverbal communication, learning and applying procedures under stressful situations etc.

2) I was an environmental engineering major and published a few papers in the field. I think this is a fairly uncommon major for pre-meds, so I could bring in perspectives like combining many fields to solve problems, taking systems approaches etc.

3) I grew up in a lower-middle-class household in an urban, underserved area with a lot of homelessness. I think this environment shaped a lot of my goals and interests in medicine, but the topic is less about stuff that I have done so I'm not totally sure.

Let me know if any (or none) of these seem like good topics.

 

[LizzyM]

Your lived experience in your neighborhood is a rarity among medical school applicants. You bring a perspective having grown up in a setting that many students had experienced tangentially as volunteers or have read about in books. I'd go with #3.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What's the prompt?

Write Your Secondary Essays First | SDN

Most advice to applicants focuses on the personal statement and description of work or activities required to complete the initial centralized application

www.studentdoctor.net

 

[chungomunch]

Your lived experience in your neighborhood is a rarity among medical school applicants. You bring a perspective having grown up in a setting that many students had experienced tangentially as volunteers or have read about in books. I'd go with #3.

Thank you so much LizzyM! This is very helpful!

 

[chungomunch]

What's the prompt?

Write Your Secondary Essays First | SDN

Most advice to applicants focuses on the personal statement and description of work or activities required to complete the initial centralized application

www.studentdoctor.net

I don't have a specific single prompt in mine, but I'm attempting to pre-write some secondaries and many schools have a prompt along the lines of "how will you contribute to the diversity of our medical school?" So I'm trying to brainstorm possibles topics

 

[LindaAccepted]

Hi everyone!

I've been struggling to come up with good topics for the diversity essay. I have three possible ones and would love your advice about whether they could work.

1) I've done mountaineering at a fairly high level throughout college. I can talk about taking responsibility, verbal and nonverbal communication, learning and applying procedures under stressful situations etc.

2) I was an environmental engineering major and published a few papers in the field. I think this is a fairly uncommon major for pre-meds, so I could bring in perspectives like combining many fields to solve problems, taking systems approaches etc.

3) I grew up in a lower-middle-class household in an urban, underserved area with a lot of homelessness. I think this environment shaped a lot of my goals and interests in medicine, but the topic is less about stuff that I have done so I'm not totally sure.

Let me know if any (or none) of these seem like good topics.

As you can tell from @Mr.Smile12 's question the prompt does count and should determine how you respond to a question. However, for most diversity questions, I agree with @LizzyM and would go with #3, especially since you are now pre-writing secondaries an aren't really responding to a specific prompt. (Although you'll have an easier time pre-writing, if you are working with a specific prompt or even app -- maybe your favorite program or IS school????)

 

[Mr.Smile12]

As you can tell from @Mr.Smile12 's question the prompt does count and should determine how you respond to a question. However, for most diversity questions, I agree with @LizzyM and would go with #3, especially since you are now pre-writing secondaries an aren't really responding to a specific prompt. (Although you'll have an easier time pre-writing, if you are working with a specific prompt or even app -- maybe your favorite program or IS school????)

Yes, I agree #3 likely hits what most of us are looking for, but the prompt will guide you.

Mountaineering is just a cool hobby. Engineering is a cool major.

 

[LindaAccepted]

Just one more point, not only the individual prompt should guide you but the experiences and messages you're providing in the other essays should influence your choice. As I said above, you want to minimize or ideally eliminate duplication.

They'll see your engineering major, but mountaineering is cool as @Mr.Smile12 says, so if at all possible include it, at least in the primary, and when relevant in the secondaries.