Greatest Weakness? Strength?

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ChubbyChaser

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Is anyone having trouble coming up with answers to these questions??

I think I came up with a good one to my greatest weakness, but Im having trouble for my greatest strength. I cant really think of anything that doesnt make me sound arrogant or cheesy.
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I tried to be honest, and I have no idea if it worked out. I'm pretty sure I didn't receive interviews at the schools that asked about that stuff.

My greatest weakness: I'm stubborn.

My greatest strength: I'm dedicated/stubborn.

I was going to write the entire Brown essay (What is your best attribute?) about my quads, but I figured that would be ridiculous. Looking back, I think it would have improved my chances.
 
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dienekes88 said:
I tried to be honest, and I have no idea if it worked out.

My greatest weakness: I'm stubborn.

My greatest strength: I'm dedicated/stubborn.

I was going to write the entire Brown essay (What is your best attribute?) about my quads, but I figured that would be ridiculous. Looking back, I think it would have improved my chances.
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haha, im trying to be honest, but nothing really sticks out in my mind.

O well, ill try to bs this one.
 
I am going take the Michael Scott approach and tell you my weaknesses only:
cares too much
works too hard
too friendly
 
Greatest weakness: I'm too good looking. My patients would keep trying to bed me.

Or not. Either way, the problem I'm having is discussing this concept in a way that is free of douchery. I know that we're obliged to make our weakness a strength, but there's a need to be genuine about it (read: I'm struggling too). I would not attempt to make one's greatest strength one's greatest weakness as well, though. That makes you sound a bit self-sycophantic.
 
I think I avoided douchebaggery and just made myself a bad candidate.

I recommend not doing that.
 
is there anything in your personal experiences, especially something you wrote about in your ps that could lend itself to being a strength?

in my case, I am planning on saying that I am able to assert myself and hold my own among strong, (read: cocky, know it alls, tools) personalities bc of my experiences living and playing and travelling with athletes over the year...
 
WMD 172 said:
is there anything in your personal experiences, especially something you wrote about in your ps that could lend itself to being a strength?

in my case, I am planning on saying that I am able to assert myself and hold my own among strong, (read: cocky, know it alls, tools) personalities bc of my experiences living and playing and travelling with athletes over the year...
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hmmm something in my PS?? yeah I could say im compassionate, but thats pretty douchebaggieful
 
If you were raised to be modest, sometimes it can be hard to see what your greatest quality really is. I found the best answer to this question by asking my best friend what they thought my greatest strength was. I got an answer that was really true, but something I would have never thought twice about.
 
I went with communication as a strength. Of course, that's fairly easy for me to pull off since I'm pretty charismatic and personable, and someone who's only been talking to me for a half hour really won't have anything else to work with. Before the WTFDOUCHEBAG flags fly, know that I grew up in a family that threw large parties damn near every week. I grew up working a crowd regularly, so it's pretty natural at this point.

For weakness, I said I was sometimes too direct, and it put some people off. That really was the first thing that came to mind, and I worked with it the best I could. I think that was probably a neutral factor in my candidacy or maybe slightly positive.
 
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Bah, there is nothing wrong at all with acknowledging your strengths and weaknesses. Every person has them, no one is devoid of them, and to know them is to know that tiny slice of yourself. Humility is a wonderful STRENGTH, and it's nice to see you all displaying that! ...Although it is a bit disconcerting to see so much humble pie in future doctors. Where are the big-headed egotistical narcissists?! AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE.

Er, anyway, here is one of each for me.

Biggest Strength: Charisma! I could charm the pants off a nun; although I don't think I'll go down that road. Also, I don't know how this equates over the intarwebs. Probably not that well. Whatever!
Biggest Weakness: Pride. I don't like being wrong. :[ To the point where I will make excuses and sound like a huge douchebag just to show that I am at least somewhat right. I'M WORKING ON IT OK
 
If I put "inability to make quick decisions" as my greatest weakness, is that shooting myself in the foot? Unfortunately I don't know if telling the truth in this case would exactly make me look like a good candidate.
 
If that really is your biggest weakness, lie like crazy. I didn't tell you to do that, though. Try going with something like "inability to stop producing illegitimate children" or "sudden onset of kleptomania when around controlled drugs." Those are sure winners.
 
Greatest Weakness: People Pleaser/Perfectionist
Greatest Strength: Dedicated/Follows Through/Endurance
 
MilkmanAl said:
If that really is your biggest weakness, lie like crazy. I didn't tell you to do that, though. Try going with something like "inability to stop producing illegitimate children" or "sudden onset of kleptomania when around controlled drugs." Those are sure winners.
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I'm not sure if the first part of your post is facetious, since clearly the last part is...anybody else have an opinion?
 
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I went the honest route with my strengths and weaknesses as well, and honestly I don't think anyone cared all that much (and they probably wouldn't have paid too much attention unless I said my weakness was something like "running out of places to hide the bodies")

My Strength: I actually love stressful situations and thrive on them. It is almost impossible to stress me out.

My Weakness: I am a very unemotional person.
 
I wasn't being facetious at all with the first part. The whole point of a question like that is to see how well you can come up with something that seems mildly negative an turn it into a positive. With your response, about the best you can do is "I like to be thorough," but that often won't cut it. In other words, yes, you'd be shooting yourself in the foot.
 
Biggest weakness: I can't say no to people. I overcommit and overextend myself CONSTANTLY cause I am overly eager to please and never want to say no. It's easy to tell if they look at the amount of stuff I did at once in college...

Biggest strength: same as MilkmanAl, actually. My family's big on throwing parties, and I went to etiquette school when I was little. It is HARD to render a situation awkward when I'm around. I'm trained to handle awkwardness well and to take shy people out of their shells and to figure out what people want almost automatically.

If I say so myself, ahem.

In general, that questions is ASKING you to brag. Just do it gracefully, maybe joke about it a little, don't take yourself too seriously.
 
dienekes88 said:
I was going to write the entire Brown essay (What is your best attribute?) about my quads, but I figured that would be ridiculous. Looking back, I think it would have improved my chances.
Click to expand...

i was workign on last year's northwestern essay (which has apparently changed, grrrr), which asked for your top 3 characteristics. my friend told me to write "a**, legs, and boobs" lol...
 
Dulcina said:
i was workign on last year's northwestern essay (which has apparently changed, grrrr), which asked for your top 3 characteristics. my friend told me to write "a**, legs, and boobs" lol...
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Dulcina incase you didnt know..your biggest weakness is that you worry too much.😛
 
My greatest weakness is that I don't have any weaknesses.

My greatest strength is that I don't have any weaknesses.
 
my greatest weakness is that i'm vulnerable to water
My greatest strength is fire, I am super effective against ice, but it turns to water and kills me 🙁
 
That makes you ******ed. Resurrecting this thread means that it's reached the point that you're now a danger to yourself and others 👎
 
I hate this question because it's not one that the interviewer ever wants you to answer honestly. The route I take is not directly answering the question. I say that I USED to have too many interests and spread myself too thin but then I turned it into an asset by narrowing down what I was involved in and it helped me "find myself" as an individual.

That was for Teach for America, and they ate it up. Nobody really wants to hear a pre-med admit their actual weaknesses: "I'm too shy to talk to boys/girls." "I need Adderall to get As." "My irritable bowel syndrome acts up when I'm under stress."
 
DaisyBuchanan said:
I hate this question because it's not one that the interviewer ever wants you to answer honestly. The route I take is not directly answering the question. I say that I USED to have too many interests and spread myself too thin but then I turned it into an asset by narrowing down what I was involved in and it helped me "find myself" as an individual.
Click to expand...

I'm struggling with this as well. I was always going to say "time management" and how I used to have issues with it, but two years later that is really my biggest strength. I'm doing A, B, and C activities while still getting a 4.0 four straight semesters. I don't know if I can justify to myself and an interviewer saying time management is my weakness anymore. Frankly, for the last two years I've been perfect in terms of being a pre-med and utilizing every opportunity. What's my weakness then, not hanging out with friends and acting my age? Studying too much?
 
Old thread, but I'll bite anyway. For weakness, I always said I was a big klutz, which made me have to work harder in labs to do the same work as my peers. Also makes me a pretty lousy dancer. They always seemed to love that :laugh:. For strength, I said I am pretty good at knowing how to talk to people from all different backgrounds and making them feel comfortable.
 
I'm in the 2012 app cycle so no interviews yet, but I've been thinking about how to answer this.

Greatest weakness: I don't like to ask for help. I am heartened by being able to help others, but I am reluctant to accept help. Sometimes this has been an asset, as I am very self-reliant and can solve problems on my own, but I still consider it a weakness because sometimes you just need to ask for help.

Greatest strength: I strive to put myself in others' shoes. I feel that this allows me to be compassionate, nonjudgmental, and easily communicate with people much different than myself.

Are these stupid? I tried to be really honest. Maybe I should just ask my friends what they think of me :laugh:
 
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