Frustrating Secondary Question

[praying4MD]

How in the world do you answer this question (shows up on many secondaries): Tell us something about yourself that is not addressed elsewhere in your application and which would be helpful to the Admissions Committee.

It's pretty frustrating to address this question after they have just asked for your life history in the previous six pages! What sort of things can be mentioned here? I thought about explanaing flaws in my application, but I do not want to accentuate the negative, and even if I do write about it, I would only write a short paragraph. Here, they leave room for about a 1 to 1 1/2 pages. Any examples of what you put would be helpful, or even just suggestions. Thanks.

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[kutastha]

This is med school code for 'Why do you want to come to our school?' Read their admissions bulletin or check out the website and write about what interests you about their school.

 

[BeckyG]

While AJR's comments certainly are true, I would also argue that this space is a chance for you to highlight something that doesn't fit into one of their other questions. Do not talk about negative things. This is a chance for you to shine -- be positive, tell the committee something about you that shows what you have *LEARNED* from an experience and how that experience will make you an excellent doc. Think of it this way, if you only had a page (or half a page) to give someone information that would make them decide between you and someone else to interview, what would you say to them? How would you sway your case? You would definitely tell them why you want to go to their school (this is a smaller part though), and you would tell them about an experience that highlights your unique qualities and characteristics. That's what I would do, anywyay. There are lots of ways to answer this, but think about what you have not told the Committe that could help you get an interview. Hope this is helpful. Good luck!

 

[Scooby Doo]

i answser it with "n/a"
or just a blank space...
sometimes silence is golden...
and much less stressful

 

[synite]

i agree with scooby..

if you have something to say, then by all means say it. but if you can't think of anything, don't stress about it and try to engineer a response. it'll sound funny, and probably do you worse than if you left it blank.

i've heard this advice straight from adcomm people. remember, they will read it if you write it. and they will form opinions of you as they read it. and if they think you wasted their time by crafting a BS response, you can imagine the opinion they will form. they are only human after all.

 

[praying4MD]

Originally posted by BeckyG:
•... tell the committee something about you that shows what you have *LEARNED* from an experience and how that experience will make you an excellent doc.•

That's what I thought as well, however, I have adressed these things in both my personal statement and my practice vision essay... So what's left?

Thanks for all the advice though. I appreciate it.