Illness

[doglova]

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[RTC19]

I'm sorry you had to go through that whole ordeal.

On the vast majority of secondary applications, there is a little space for "Anything else we should know?" where you can explain your extenuating circumstances and let them know how it affected you academically.



P.S. Cute username.

 

[965978]

Most secondaries will have some sort of space for this.

 

[doglova]

Thanks guys. Any advice about how to start writing a decent explanation which doesn’t sound like I’m groveling or making excuses in the anything else we should know section.

@RespectTheChemistry19 your cat in your profile pic is so cute <3

 

[965978]

Thanks guys. Any advice about how to start writing a decent explanation which doesn’t sound like I’m groveling or making excuses in the anything else we should know section.

@RespectTheChemistry19 your cat in your profile pic is so cute <3

Actions speak louder than words. Were you able to bounce back from having endometrial cancer? Did you get your grades up, get research in, and do well on the MCAT?

If you application clearly shows that you did well after battling your illness, then the trajectory of your application is your evidence. All you have to do is point it out and express that it made you a better person.

 

[doglova]

Actions speak louder than words. Were you able to bounce back from having endometrial cancer? Did you get your grades up, get research in, and do well on the MCAT?

If you application clearly shows that you did well after battling your illness, then the trajectory of your application is your evidence. All you have to do is point it out and express that it made you a better person.

Hi clamshell,
I’ve written about this elsewhere on sdn. Everyone thought I was sounded conceited and neurotic which is why I’m concerned about how to write about it. Basically I took a year off after making a mess of my junior year and lost everything. After I came back
I bust myself with a massively overloaded schedule and received an A+ in every class but one really weird machine learning class in which I got an A, I graduated magna but not summa cum laude with double engineering majors from a top 5 school, and received a 100th percentile score on the mcat. I want to tell a story of persistence but every time I try I sound ridiculously conceited.

 

[Valtun]

Hi clamshell,
I’ve written about this elsewhere on sdn. Everyone thought I was sounded conceited and neurotic which is why I’m concerned about how to write about it. Basically I took a year off after making a mess of my junior year and lost everything. After I came back
I bust myself with a massively overloaded schedule and received an A+ in every class but one really weird machine learning class in which I got an A, I graduated magna but not summa cum laude with double engineering majors from a top 5 school, and received a 100th percentile score on the mcat. I want to tell a story of persistence but every time I try I sound ridiculously conceited.

Ok wow I think what you just said will explain your growth far more than anything you'll write lol


Sorry you had to go through what you did but congratulations on all the success!

 

[riverrunner]

Stick to facts: At the end of my junior year I was diagnosed with X and took a year off for treatment and full recovery.

That is all. Let the reader connect the dots. Wow, that's a tough diagnosis. And wow, again, look at that incredible rebound. Don't even attempt to talk about your heroics, grit, etc in all of this. Let the facts speak for themselves. If one of your letter writers is in a position to talk about this, let them. Not you.

And I'm sure it feels incredible to be on the other side of this. You've got a lot to contribute in the world!

 

[doglova]

Stick to facts: At the end of my junior year I was diagnosed with X and took a year off for treatment and full recovery.

That is all. Let the reader connect the dots. Wow, that's a tough diagnosis. And wow, again, look at that incredible rebound. Don't even attempt to talk about your heroics, grit, etc in all of this. Let the facts speak for themselves. If one of your letter writers is in a position to talk about this, let them. Not you.

And I'm sure it feels incredible to be on the other side of this. You've got a lot to contribute in the world!

Also my letter writers don’t really know about any of this because all of them are from my senior year and I didn’t tell anyone and avoided everyone who used to know me in an effort to move forward. Is this a problem.

 

[riverrunner]

Also my letter writers don’t really know about any of this because all of them are from my senior year and I didn’t tell anyone and avoided everyone who used to know me in an effort to move forward. Is this a problem.

I really don't think you need a writer to comment on this: you or anyone else. The timeline and your rebound is so powerful. Let the reader figure out the sequence and draw their own conclusions about you. You earn big points for resisting the temptation to paint yourself as a hero. As you've said, there's no way to do that artfully, and I will also guess that the last thing you want is pity. Let them see your strength.

 

[965978]

I really don't think you need a writer to comment on this: you or anyone else. The timeline and your rebound is so powerful. Let the reader figure out the sequence and draw their own conclusions about you. You earn big points for resisting the temptation to paint yourself as a hero. As you've said, there's no way to do that artfully, and I will also guess that the last thing you want is pity. Let them see your strength.

I still think OP should tactfully explain the circumstances and explain how they grew as a person.

For example:

“After battling cancer I realized the preciousness of life and dedided to commit myself further to my professional goals”. No need to get into specifics because the evaluator can then connect the dots for themselves and figure out the fact that OP got a perfect GPA and did extremely well on the MCAT after the dip in their academics.

Now compare that to:

“I beat cancer, got a perfect GPA, and crushed the MCAT. Boo yeah BISHHHHH!!!!!!”

Basically the same thing being said in two very different ways.

 

[doglova]

I still think OP should tactfully explain the circumstances and explain how they grew as a person.

For example:

“After battling cancer I realized the preciousness of life and dedided to commit myself further to my professional goals”. No need to get into specifics because the evaluator can then connect the dots for themselves and figure out the fact that OP got a perfect GPA and did extremely well on the MCAT after the dip in their academics.

Now compare that to:

“I beat cancer, got a perfect GPA, and crushed the MCAT. Boo yeah BISHHHHH!!!!!!”

Basically the same thing being said in two very different ways.

Thanks for the advice it’s super helpful. Any other advice on how to tactfully write about this. As you can probably tell there is a reason why I studied engineering as I’m a horrible writer so any advice is appreciated.

 

[Goro]

Thanks guys. Any advice about how to start writing a decent explanation which doesn’t sound like I’m groveling or making excuses in the anything else we should know section.

@RespectTheChemistry19 your cat in your profile pic is so cute <3

Just tell the truth....you got sick

 

[Wayfinder]

As someone who also went through childhood illness and currently working on my personal statement, these are just my thoughts. I would suggest to really reflect on your long term goals as a physician. What during this time inspired you to not only continue down the path you are on but also what did it change? The whole idea of the personal statement is 'Why Medicine?" Was there a bed side manner that you want to implement, or a population you are now passionate for? For me, my experience with illness helped me identify my goals as a physician. What I saw that worked really well and what I think can be improved upon, and what role that I want to take in those improvements. But I would really work on integrating your extracurricular experiences when mentioning your health. Yes your battle with cancer gives you a perspective that not many pre-meds have, but this isn't all there is to you. The time before and after your cancer also say a lot and I think it is this integration that will really give the full picture of who you are and what you want to do in medicine. You have accomplished some amazing things so let the facts speak for you! I hope this helps, and good luck!

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

Also my letter writers don’t really know about any of this because all of them are from my senior year and I didn’t tell anyone and avoided everyone who used to know me in an effort to move forward. Is this a problem.

If you still have a meeting with any of your letter writers, you might be able to let them know. Typically, when I write a letter for someone, I do meet with them and I give them a chance to chat about anything they think I should know that might impact the letter. So I am hoping that one of your letter writers will want to have a meeting with you and you can tell your story to that person to include in their letter.

Obviously, it helps if you write about it too. You just have to strike the right balance between resilience and arrogance and using it to explain any bad grades, but it is all how you write the essays. And letter readers will want to hear about your story and most will be very empathic. Obviously, it is a great essay for any questions asking about adversity or challenge.

 

[LizzyM]

With a gap in your record like this, you do need to have some explanation. If you were pre-med before you might want to write "why medicine" weaving in the fact that you wanted to help patients (or use science to help patients or advance scientific knowledge to improve outcomes for people with illnesses --whatever) and that after your own struggle with cancer you now have the additional experience of being a patient to bring to the table. You could add that you are one of the lucky ones in that your cancer has a xx% cure rate and then add something about how you know that not all cancer patients have that good fortune but you are committed to caring for patients and particularly interested in ... (kids, the elderly, women, veterans, the disabled -- or whatever patient group broadly defined might be of interest to you based on your volunteer or work experience).