How to approach the "What has been your biggest challenge" secondary question

[crazyhands]

One of my secondary questions is: "What has been your biggest challenge so far?"

Although I have had many challenges in my life so far, I don't really know how to approach the question. None of my challenges seem unique.

Two questions:

1) Have you had this for a secondary question?

2) How did you approach it?

Thanks

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[JackInTheBox]

Two questions:

1) Have you had this for a secondary question?

2) How did you approach it?

Thanks

1. Yes.

2. I told the truth.

Seriously, your hardships might not be unique (not everybody's parents were addicted to crack and gave them up for adoption). The admissions committees just want to see how you handle adversity. How did you cope, who did you turn to, what did you learn, etc.

 

[87138]

Be humble. Don't make a mountain out of a molehill. And if the word "MCAT" comes anywhere even CLOSE to that essay, just mail me the secondary fee instead of the school, because you're wasting your time/money.

 

[droshan]

I know this sounds kind of corny and you guys may laugh at this (good cuz we're all so damn neurotic nowadays), but I talked about my senior year high school football coach who was prejudiced towards my ethnicity (he said some ****ed up things) and how I overcame his blatant detestation towards me. It sounded better the way I wrote it (and after my brother edited it)...which brings up a solid point, its not only what you are writing about but how you write it. I didn't drag on and on about the situation but emphasized what I did to overcome the problem and what I learned from it.

I submitted this essay to case and already had my interview so I guess it wasn't too bad! And yes I know talking about high school is taboo...but I couldn't really think of anything else...college was just that chill.

 

[engineeredout]

I talked about being fat and losing weight. Anyone who thinks that thats a stupid thing to talk about as a challenge was never a fat kid most of his life and never attempted to lose a substantial amount of weight.

Plus my parents weren't killed when I was three, I wasn't shot when six, I didn't have to pull my alcoholic brother out of a burning house when I was nine, I wasn't captured by rebels and handed an AK-47 when I was twelve, I didn't raise three children at 15, and I didn't have chemo when I was 18, so yeah nothing else to write about.

 

[decafplease]

One of my secondary questions is: "What has been your biggest challenge so far?"

Although I have had many challenges in my life so far, I don't really know how to approach the question. None of my challenges seem unique.

Two questions:

1) Have you had this for a secondary question?

2) How did you approach it?

Thanks

What's the consensus on these kind of questions when you've applied at disadvantaged? When I saw this post, I thought of a couple of good ideas for an essay, but those are all things I plan on touching on in my disadvantaged essay.

Would it be okay to use the "challenge" essay to go into more detail on something I've already mentioned in my disadvantaged essay?

 

[flip26]

What's the consensus on these kind of questions when you've applied at disadvantaged? When I saw this post, I thought of a couple of good ideas for an essay, but those are all things I plan on touching on in my disadvantaged essay.

Would it be okay to use the "challenge" essay to go into more detail on something I've already mentioned in my disadvantaged essay?

Just make sure you save something from your "challenged" and "disadvantaged" essays for the "my greatest fears" and "my darkest hour" essays...

All of these essays are ridiculous.

 

[pianola]

One of my secondary questions is: "What has been your biggest challenge so far?"

Although I have had many challenges in my life so far, I don't really know how to approach the question. None of my challenges seem unique.

Two questions:

1) Have you had this for a secondary question?

2) How did you approach it?

Thanks

I've done lots of volunteering stuff in Gainesville...I took my "greatest challenge" from things that I've encountered during volunteering/shadowing here at Florida. Maybe if you think back on your volunteering/shadowing experiences you'll find something helpful for you, too (?)

 

[decafplease]

Just make sure you save something from your "challenged" and "disadvantaged" essays for the "my greatest fears" and "my darkest hour" essays...

All of these essays are ridiculous.

LOL. I agree, but you gotta play the game if you want the prize...

 

[alicat]

One of my secondary questions is: "What has been your biggest challenge so far?"

Although I have had many challenges in my life so far, I don't really know how to approach the question. None of my challenges seem unique.

Two questions:
1) Have you had this for a secondary question?
2) How did you approach it?
Thanks

I had a really hard time with this question, too. Most of the toughest challenges I've had to deal with were way too personal for me to be comfortable writing about. There were lots of other challenges I could write about, but nothing sounded important enought o called my "biggest" EVER.

So then I started thinking about it from another angle. I asked myself what is a challenge that I've basically had to deal with on an ongoing basis my whole life. It was still personal, but not too personal. I don't know if this vague answer helps, but if you want to know more about what I'm talking about or what I actually wrote about just PM me 🙂

 

[drelizabeth292]

Plus my parents weren't killed when I was three, I wasn't shot when six, I didn't have to pull my alcoholic brother out of a burning house when I was nine, I wasn't captured by rebels and handed an AK-47 when I was twelve, I didn't raise three children at 15, and I didn't have chemo when I was 18, so yeah nothing else to write about.

HAHAHAHAHAHA! love it!

 

[Kaydubz]

Lol, so I wrote about overcoming my 4 month long Everquest addiction (not too long to be creepy, but long enough to be significant)

But hey, out of 3 schools I used that for I've gotten 2 invites and 1 hold. 😀

 

[crazyhands]

Lol, so I wrote about overcoming my 4 month long Everquest addiction (not too long to be creepy, but long enough to be significant)

But hey, out of 3 schools I used that for I've gotten 2 invites and 1 hold. 😀

I know there are people obsessed with videogames. I've been there.

But seriously, you have to be kidding.....right??

 

[hitherefriend]

For the person who made the comment about not writing about the MCAT, I would like to ask why you think its such a bad thing. Maybe it doesn't sound like the biggest problem in the world, but I decided to write about it because for me it really was a stressful time. The first time I took the exam I got a 25 and since my GPA is not stellar I began to seriously doubt whether I was going for something that wasn't meant for me. After regrouping I scored a 34 the second time. In the end, I think it is about being honest and also about showing what you learned and you dealt with it, which is what I did in my essay.

 

[87138]

For the person who made the comment about not writing about the MCAT, I would like to ask why you think its such a bad thing. Maybe it doesn't sound like the biggest problem in the world, but I decided to write about it because for me it really was a stressful time. The first time I took the exam I got a 25 and since my GPA is not stellar I began to seriously doubt whether I was going for something that wasn't meant for me. After regrouping I scored a 34 the second time. In the end, I think it is about being honest and also about showing what you learned and you dealt with it, which is what I did in my essay.

If that's truly your greatest challenge in life, don't let me stop you. But even if it was, it kind of stinks of "my life consists of academically-oriented things exclusively." I made sure that my answer to this question had nothing to do with school.

It goes hand in hand with the idea that the MCAT should never appear in an essay/answer about your "greatest achievement" or "greatest success." It makes you look one dimensional.

 

[hitherefriend]

.

 

[Kaydubz]

I know there are people obsessed with videogames. I've been there.

But seriously, you have to be kidding.....right??

...no, I mean, it is possible to write a cohesive and almost non-juvenile sounding essay on such a topic, I made sure to do so!

 

[xrevision]

Really? The MCAT has been your biggest challenge? Not to sound mean or anything, but can I have your life?

 

[hitherefriend]

.

 

[Kaustikos]

If that's truly your greatest challenge in life, don't let me stop you. But even if it was, it kind of stinks of "my life consists of academically-oriented things exclusively." I made sure that my answer to this question had nothing to do with school.

It goes hand in hand with the idea that the MCAT should never appear in an essay/answer about your "greatest achievement" or "greatest success." It makes you look one dimensional.

What about having a seizure in the middle of finals week?

 

[Narmerguy]

For the person who made the comment about not writing about the MCAT, I would like to ask why you think its such a bad thing. Maybe it doesn't sound like the biggest problem in the world, but I decided to write about it because for me it really was a stressful time. The first time I took the exam I got a 25 and since my GPA is not stellar I began to seriously doubt whether I was going for something that wasn't meant for me. After regrouping I scored a 34 the second time. In the end, I think it is about being honest and also about showing what you learned and you dealt with it, which is what I did in my essay.

Besides being extremely one-dimensional, the problem with discussing the MCAT as your greatest challenge (or even as A challenge...you could pick something else) is that you're taking an essay question designed to get you to describe a personal moment of struggle (and usually triumph) and instead using it to describe a standardized test where every single other applicant took the same test (relatively) and had the same time (usually) and covered the same material (almost always) and sat down at the same time...it's kind of hard to appreciate an applicant whose idea of his great struggle was shared and likely surpassed by his fellow applicants.

 

[flip26]

What about having a seizure in the middle of finals week?

Get a medical deferment, take your exams later?

An inconvenience, yes, a challenge, umm, no...

 

[serendpt1984]

Not my biggest challenge. The essays I wrote about it for just said talk about A challenge.

hitherefriend,
I wrote about something similar.
I think that the response was fine as long as you were sincere and honest. I totally understand where you're coming from, and I wouldn't worry if I were you about sounding "one-dimensional"

It's one of the struggles faced, not the biggest challenge in your life.
Don't worry! 🙂

 

[Kaustikos]

Get a medical deferment, take your exams later?

An inconvenience, yes, a challenge, umm, no...

Stick to aamc graphs and pie charts and the "what are my chances?" threads. 👎

 

[hitherefriend]

.

 

[crazyhands]

I've decided on a different idea to the one I originally had. If I explain the orignial idea, all of you would probably laugh your asses off.

Anyway, I've decided to talk about the most difficult time period in my life. During this short time period, I had several major disappoinments. There were 4 things that I really valued and none went my way.

Heres the part where I need advice. I am not going to tell them specifically what happened. I'm not even going to post it here. My justification is that the events were personal and it is not going to help the essay much if I explain what happened.

Instead I will talk about what some of the posters here have been saying: I'll tell them what I learned and how I became more wise, mature, and resilient. I will talk about the time period several months after the events, and show how I became a better person as a result of this (btw, this is not BS, I really believe it made me stronger)

Do you think this will work?

btw. This truly was the most challenging time in my life by far. I put my heart and soul into things and all of them didnt turn out the way I wanted. This was mainly because of things out of my control. I will probably stress that point.