How Covid Impacted Me: What if it didn't?

[LeeSin]

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There seem to be two schools of thought regarding this secondary question. One is that if I don't have anything serious to add, why add anything at all? The other is that space is precious, and some good reflection might help my shot.

All in all I feel Covid didn't really impact me significantly beyond the average student. I stopped my clinical work until I got the vaccine, took classes online, and continued my research.

Should I just leave that prompt blank if possible? Should I be risky and talk about how I'm lucky enough that it didn't affect me?

 

[Goro]

"The other is that space is precious, and some good reflection might help my shot."

People who think like this don't go to medical school, because they fail to understand simple instructions.

If COVID didn't affect you, it didn't affect you. End of story.

 

[RunningMSN]

Did you learn anything about yourself and/or your career goals from COVID?

The COVID questions on secondaries can vary. If the question specifically asks if COVID impacted your ability to prepare for medical school, then it's reasonable to just say that it didn't. However, if it asks you to more generally reflect on COVID, I would be surprised if you had nothing to say.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Talk about some new topics or areas of research you might have pursued in light of the pandemic

 

[LeeSin]

Did you learn anything about yourself and/or your career goals from COVID?

The COVID questions on secondaries can vary. If the question specifically asks if COVID impacted your ability to prepare for medical school, then it's reasonable to just say that it didn't. However, if it asks you to more generally reflect on COVID, I would be surprised if you had nothing to say.

Got it, so when it asks how it affected me applying it’s reasonable to leave those blank rather than talk about losing a clinical volunteer position and pretending like that significantly affected me.

Then when the prompts are nuanced I can reflect more. Thank you!!!

 

[wholeheartedly]

Got it, so when it asks how it affected me applying it’s reasonable to leave those blank rather than talk about losing a clinical volunteer position and pretending like that significantly affected me.

Then when the prompts are nuanced I can reflect more. Thank you!!!

Is it asking how it impacted you or if/how it significantly impacted you?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I would state the facts, and don't worry about comparing yourself to others. As you mentioned, your clinical work was suspended for a year, your classes went online, and research was definitely stopped for most people for a while. Most people did not really adjust well to online-only learning, and you probably had to do a lot of changes when it came to your study groups (meetings online). If you were fortunate not to have gotten sick or hospitalized, I hope none of your family or friends did either. Other volunteering opportunities opened up, especially with meal distribution to those in real need. When moving back to campus, you probably had to be tested frequently or be subject to a student code violation. You probably had to stay distant or conform to social distancing rules on-campus. Clubs or other student orgs were definitely affected, as would access to gyms and indoor pools for fitness.

 

[LindaAccepted]

There seem to be two schools of thought regarding this secondary question. One is that if I don't have anything serious to add, why add anything at all? The other is that space is precious, and some good reflection might help my shot.

All in all I feel Covid didn't really impact me significantly beyond the average student. I stopped my clinical work until I got the vaccine, took classes online, and continued my research.

Should I just leave that prompt blank if possible? Should I be risky and talk about how I'm lucky enough that it didn't affect me?

Did it motivate you to help others? Start something? Take some initiative?

 

[Neuroscifan]

I was in the same boat. It didn’t really have any negative impact on me, so if the prompt was optional, I didn’t write in it. The ones that were not optional were more asking how it changed your perspective. Those I wrote about how my perspective on public health and public health education changed and how I realized it’s importance more than ever before.

 

[Catalystik]

How Covid Impacted Me​

There seem to be two schools of thought regarding this secondary question. One is that if I don't have anything serious to add, why add anything at all? The other is that space is precious, and some good reflection might help my shot.

All in all I feel Covid didn't really impact me significantly beyond the average student. I stopped my clinical work until I got the vaccine, took classes online, and continued my research.

Should I just leave that prompt blank if possible? Should I be risky and talk about how I'm lucky enough that it didn't affect me?

Did you gain no perspective on the limitations of our healthcare facilities and ICUs? Or learn of the negative impact of overwork and stress on medical professionals? Did you not read every new science-based discovery about the topic? Or do you think they just want to know about the personal inconveniences to yourself?

 

[LeeSin]

Did you gain no perspective on the limitations of our healthcare facilities and ICUs? Or learn of the negative impact of overwork and stress on medical professionals? Did you not read every new science-based discovery about the topic? Or do you think they just want to know about the personal inconveniences to yourself?

So I think there are two types of questions. One is asking how it impacted my application, and I don't really feel like it significantly did. Others ask for takeaways overall, which I definitely have. But I just feel wrong saying that my application was significantly impacted beyond the average applicant, and want to leave those questions blank.

 

[Goro]

So I think there are two types of questions. One is asking how it impacted my application, and I don't really feel like it significantly did. Others ask for takeaways overall, which I definitely have. But I just feel wrong saying that my application was significantly impacted beyond the average applicant, and want to leave those questions blank.

That's OK.