How to Answer "Anything Else?" Question as an ORM

[TheDeadrok]

Several schools I'm pre-writing for have questions where they ask "Is there anything else you would like to share with the Committee on Admissions?" or something of that effect. I can't tell if this is really just an "anything else you wanna say?" type question or if it is a veiled diversity question. I don't want to answer inappropriately if the admissions committees are just looking for socioeconomic/racial/ethnic diversity statements, but I don't want to leave it blank if they truly mean I can share anything else. What do y'all think?

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[Rooks]

i used this prompt as a way of addressing my two withdrawals on my transcript. u could also talk about the impact of covid.

 

[DOCOC15]

Don't overthink it. If they wanted to ask about diversity specifically they'd just put a question for it like all the other schools.

 

[LindaAccepted]

Several schools I'm pre-writing for have questions where they ask "Is there anything else you would like to share with the Committee on Admissions?" or something of that effect. I can't tell if this is really just an "anything else you wanna say?" type question or if it is a veiled diversity question. I don't want to answer inappropriately if the admissions committees are just looking for socioeconomic/racial/ethnic diversity statements, but I don't want to leave it blank if they truly mean I can share anything else. What do y'all think?

It's an opportunity for you to dive into an experience, interest, hobby, or aspect of your background that you haven't discussed or only mentioned superficially. If you discussed it elsewhere, perhaps you can go into more depth or approach from a slightly different angle. Think of it more as an opportunity to provide color or context (as @Rooks suggests) to your application than merely a veiled diversity question.

 

[LindaAccepted]

Yes! If the optional question is worded as in the initial post in this thread.

In general, the secondaries are opportunities for you to provide information that complements and builds on the primary, while answering the questions posed and showing fit with the specific school.

 

[LizzyM]

I'm not sure you can do the "anything else to tell the committee" essay without taking into account what the other questions on the secondary are. Don't repeat something already answered through another prompt. Don't write something just for the sake of writing. Like teaching a pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

 

[deleted929944]

I'm not sure you can do the "anything else to tell the committee" essay without taking into account what the other questions on the secondary are. Don't repeat something already answered through another prompt. Don't write something just for the sake of writing. Like teaching a pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

That's only because you've never seen Porky Pig sing.

 

[justanaverageguy]

i used this prompt as a way of addressing my two withdrawals on my transcript. u could also talk about the impact of covid.

Be careful about how you word your response because I've been told not to draw attention to withdrawals unless secondary questions specifically ask for them

 

[ablanco]

Be careful about how you word your response because I've been told not to draw attention to withdrawals unless secondary questions specifically ask for them

Some say it's a chance to generally address difficulties and then talk about growth from them. A message you'd like to convey one way rather than them reading your app and coming to their own conclusion. Some say let it be and add colour to a different part of your app/something left out. Answer is probably somewhere in-between and beyond those two ideas. Seen both and other approaches do well (if they were even that considered, impossible to know)

 

[TheDeadrok]

I'm not sure you can do the "anything else to tell the committee" essay without taking into account what the other questions on the secondary are. Don't repeat something already answered through another prompt. Don't write something just for the sake of writing. Like teaching a pig to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Good point, in the case of WashU the first prompt is a "name a time you failed" prompt, while the last one is a question about gap years. Their middle prompt is as follows: "Is there anything else you would like to share with the Committee on Admissions? (Optional) Some applicants use this space to describe unique experiences, obstacles, and/or challenges they faced in their journey to medical school."

Do you think that is appropriate to respond to with obstacles other than race/gender/ethnicity/SES? I feel like it is but would like a second opinion.

 

[LizzyM]

"unique experiences" is a code-word for what kind of diversity you bring to the table or to describe something that put you at a disadvantage as a student/applicant.

I could certainly see something like an injury requiring surgery that precluded participating in any activities for 8-10 weeks. That may have greatly reduced your opportunities to get a substantial research experience in a lab or a summer-long service project. (You need not add that you used the time to prep for the MCAT more than you ever expected you would. haha).

Catastrophic situations that are outside of race/SES are also possible topics: chronically ill family member whose care presented challenges, natural disaster impacting your family or skipping your family but devastating your local community (wildfire, tornado, hurricane, flood, power grid failure) which had an impact on your ability to do things you needed to do for school or pre-med journey, That sort of stuff....

 

[TheDeadrok]

"unique experiences" is a code-word for what kind of diversity you bring to the table or to describe something that put you at a disadvantage as a student/applicant.

I could certainly see something like an injury requiring surgery that precluded participating in any activities for 8-10 weeks. That may have greatly reduced your opportunities to get a substantial research experience in a lab or a summer-long service project. (You need not add that you used the time to prep for the MCAT more than you ever expected you would. haha).

Catastrophic situations that are outside of race/SES are also possible topics: chronically ill family member whose care presented challenges, natural disaster impacting your family or skipping your family but devastating your local community (wildfire, tornado, hurricane, flood, power grid failure) which had an impact on your ability to do things you needed to do for school or pre-med journey, That sort of stuff....

Gotcha. So writing about receiving an ADHD diagnosis halfway through college probably wouldn't be too moving as it isn't too unique and didn't affect my grades too severely? If I'm understanding correctly

 

[LizzyM]

Gotcha. So writing about receiving an ADHD diagnosis halfway through college probably wouldn't be too moving as it isn't too unique and didn't affect my grades too severely? If I'm understanding correctly

Do you want to let that cat out of the bag? That's the real issue here and that's up to you. Pluses and minuses.

 

[Moko]

"Is there anything else you would like to share with the Committee on Admissions?"

If there's nothing else for you to add, then it's fine to leave this optional essay blank. I don't see this as being a veiled diversity question, though certainly one could use diversity (among many other things, e.g., family or partner in area, etc.) to answer this. Just my thoughts.