Medical How much creativity should go into secondaries?

[Goro]

Hello! After digging around on this forum a bit, I'm still a little unsure about the best approach to secondaries - particularly the more creative essays that don't focus on our experiences or activities. After trying to pre-write a few, I'm finding it a bit difficult to strike a good balance between being too creative and too generic in my essay responses in questions such as "what are your hobbies?" or "describe a challenging situation." I guess I'm feeling a bit caught between not wanting to put off anyone in admissions by being too creative on these prompts, but also trying to have essays that stand out so I don't get overlooked.

At one of the colleges I was admitted at years ago, one of the secondary questions was about a time you disagreed with someone and reached an agreement. I wrote an (admittedly) dramatic and intentionally comical paragraph about sharing a room with my brother growing up. My side of the room was clean and pristine, his side filthy, and I wrote about how after a lot of fighting we eventually worked towards a balance. Would an essay like this be acceptable for medical school secondaries, or is there a higher level of expected professionalism/just getting to the point in the essays?

I've heard that the best approach is just to write earnestly about how you feel/felt, but are there any approaches that are taboo (like trying to be funny)? Do you have any general examples of responses that you really liked/hated?

Thank you so much!

These essays are not for comedy, nor creative writing.

The simplest thing to do is simply answer the question

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[TheBoneDoctah]

I would not attempt to make your secondary essays funny. A little wit is fine, but "creative writing" doesn't have a place here. Answer the question in the prompt so admissions aren't left guessing what your views/thoughts are cause it was too creative.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Best approach:
1) Answer the question.
2) treat every question like an interview question.
3) Answer the question.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Moral of story: don’t be cute.