I've seen that @Goro often likens the diversity topic to something 'cool' about you, as reported by your friends, and it doesn't have to be related to medicine. But where does one draw the line between something that would make a good topic and something that's just a hobby?
If I ask my friends what they find cool about me, I get various responses, like the fact that I paddle dragon boat, or I run Tough Mudders, or I've basically taught myself orbital mechanics. But to me, these are hobbies - dragon boat is a fairly unique sport, yes, but I haven't 'gone anywhere with it' like national competitions or anything; doing mud runs and other similar things is a pretty common pasttime; and while I have indeed taught myself basic orbital mechanics (from Wikipedia and MIT OCW), and it is pretty unique, it's mostly for my own fascination with spaceflight, and it's not like I've worked at SpaceX or otherwise used that knowledge for a tangible impact.
Am I overthinking this?
I have two potential topics on the table.
1) One of my friends' responses re: something 'cool' about me was my initiative. If something isn't working, I fix it - I tackle challenges head-on, make do with what I have, and do my best to turn ideas into action. I got an eboard position this way, in a student org with a hierarchy of general members, committee chairs, and eboard members where eboard members typically spend a year as a committee chair first; but I felt I could do it so I took the plunge. In another case, during a class project where our class was divided into collaborative teams, when the professor baldly told the class in the middle of the semester that our performance was below her expectations, I stepped up and took over as leader for my team because I felt that I could make a difference. My main concern with this is that I'd imagine that initiative is a fairly standard/expected quality (nobody wants a med student who's going to hide in the corner all the time).
2) I'm heavily into engineering as an interest/hobby (some friends call me 'the pre-med that should've been an engineer'). I've taught myself a fair amount, including several scripting languages (to make my life easier in school and in the lab), basic electrical stuff (enough to let me fix things around the house; earlier this summer my computer monitor died and I dismantled it and replaced the old capacitors on the board - works fine now), and orbital mechanics as mentioned above. I've also done a one-year post-bacc program that gave me great experience with engineering in medicine (e.g. designing, developing, and building a medical device + the steps required to get it approved by the FDA) and that's been formative to a personal belief that (especially as tech progresses and the aging portion of our society grows) a closer relationship between physicians and engineers would be hugely beneficial, and physicians will need to be proactive in participating in the development of better treatments, devices, and safety systems in order to help people even when they're not actively in a clinic/hospital. My concerns about this one are that 1) my engineering interest is still just that, an interest, and 2) I'm not sure if it really directly answers the diversity question, at least in its current form.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
If I ask my friends what they find cool about me, I get various responses, like the fact that I paddle dragon boat, or I run Tough Mudders, or I've basically taught myself orbital mechanics. But to me, these are hobbies - dragon boat is a fairly unique sport, yes, but I haven't 'gone anywhere with it' like national competitions or anything; doing mud runs and other similar things is a pretty common pasttime; and while I have indeed taught myself basic orbital mechanics (from Wikipedia and MIT OCW), and it is pretty unique, it's mostly for my own fascination with spaceflight, and it's not like I've worked at SpaceX or otherwise used that knowledge for a tangible impact.
Am I overthinking this?
I have two potential topics on the table.
1) One of my friends' responses re: something 'cool' about me was my initiative. If something isn't working, I fix it - I tackle challenges head-on, make do with what I have, and do my best to turn ideas into action. I got an eboard position this way, in a student org with a hierarchy of general members, committee chairs, and eboard members where eboard members typically spend a year as a committee chair first; but I felt I could do it so I took the plunge. In another case, during a class project where our class was divided into collaborative teams, when the professor baldly told the class in the middle of the semester that our performance was below her expectations, I stepped up and took over as leader for my team because I felt that I could make a difference. My main concern with this is that I'd imagine that initiative is a fairly standard/expected quality (nobody wants a med student who's going to hide in the corner all the time).
2) I'm heavily into engineering as an interest/hobby (some friends call me 'the pre-med that should've been an engineer'). I've taught myself a fair amount, including several scripting languages (to make my life easier in school and in the lab), basic electrical stuff (enough to let me fix things around the house; earlier this summer my computer monitor died and I dismantled it and replaced the old capacitors on the board - works fine now), and orbital mechanics as mentioned above. I've also done a one-year post-bacc program that gave me great experience with engineering in medicine (e.g. designing, developing, and building a medical device + the steps required to get it approved by the FDA) and that's been formative to a personal belief that (especially as tech progresses and the aging portion of our society grows) a closer relationship between physicians and engineers would be hugely beneficial, and physicians will need to be proactive in participating in the development of better treatments, devices, and safety systems in order to help people even when they're not actively in a clinic/hospital. My concerns about this one are that 1) my engineering interest is still just that, an interest, and 2) I'm not sure if it really directly answers the diversity question, at least in its current form.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
