I am currently working on pre-writing some of the common secondary essays (to use as a template to build from). I had an idea for the diversity essay and the adversity (and possibly challenge) essay. Could someone let me know their thoughts on these topics I was thinking of using?
Diversity:
1. Grandfather who is on the spectrum
I wanted to write about my relationship with my grandfather. He is on the spectrum, so growing up he never showed any affection or displayed any traditional signs of love towards me or anyone in my family. When we visit him, rather than asking about our lives, he just talks about his investments and patents he has, and regardless of what we try to talk about it always goes back to money and stocks. He offers handshakes over hugs, and will say "Yep yep, see you" instead of "love you too" when any of us say we love him. This was very difficult for me growing up, since he was someone I truly looked up to, but at the same time it seemed he didn't even care about me. Over time, as I have learned more about him and how he expresses himself, I have realized he does love me, but expresses it in non-traditional ways. He offers handshakes because hugs overstimulate him, and he doesn't react well to them. He always talks about investments because he wants to show me how he is planning for my future.
I am very grateful to have had him as my grandfather because what I have learned through my relationship with him helps me in interacting with people of different cultures or who don't express their feelings in a traditional manner. Someone may express fear or grief in unique ways, but recognizing that although they express their emotion differently, their feelings are still very real. Being able to acknowledge this is crucial for a physician who will interact with patients of different backgrounds and who express things differently.
2. Grandmother had lewy body dementia my whole life and we had to care for her while she was in a nursing home. Even though she stayed in a nursing home, I saw how my family was very active in her care, doing more for her than we do for our own house. This instilled an understanding of the burden placed on the families of chronically ill patients. Similar to my struggle with my relationship with my grandpa, it was also difficult to connect with my grandmother who's memory got worse pretty much every time I saw her. Frustrating at first, I eventually came to terms with the fact that her forgetting my birthday or even name was not due to neglegance, but a disease out of her control. This has taught me to be more considerate of others peoples circumstances before jumping to conclusions (basically recognizing that situational causes are more likely than dispositional).
Adversity/Challenge:
I grew up playing baseball, it was a huge part of my life. I played for travel and club teams, traveled across states, etc. As I approached highschool, I realized I could not keep up with kids. They were maturing and I did not. Turned out I had a growth hormone deficiency, and because of this I was not able to enter puberty until I received medication starting the spring of my sophomore year. This had a broad impact on my life, confidence, and mental health. But one of the biggest blows was that I realized I physically couldn't keep up with baseball. I dropped it realizing I could no longer provide value to the team. I decided to switch to tennis, which I have played since I was 3. Although my physical limitation still stopped me from competing with our top players, I was able to provide value to the team because of the skill I had from playing for over a decade. I designated myself to teaching the new players all of their fundamentals, opting to provide lessons during team practices over improving my own game. While my individual contributions on the court were small, our JV team massively improved under my guidance. Eventually with medication my body could mature and I played a larger role on varsity, but I still took time to teach the new players, some of who have developed into the top players on my high schools current team.
What are your thoughts?
Diversity:
1. Grandfather who is on the spectrum
I wanted to write about my relationship with my grandfather. He is on the spectrum, so growing up he never showed any affection or displayed any traditional signs of love towards me or anyone in my family. When we visit him, rather than asking about our lives, he just talks about his investments and patents he has, and regardless of what we try to talk about it always goes back to money and stocks. He offers handshakes over hugs, and will say "Yep yep, see you" instead of "love you too" when any of us say we love him. This was very difficult for me growing up, since he was someone I truly looked up to, but at the same time it seemed he didn't even care about me. Over time, as I have learned more about him and how he expresses himself, I have realized he does love me, but expresses it in non-traditional ways. He offers handshakes because hugs overstimulate him, and he doesn't react well to them. He always talks about investments because he wants to show me how he is planning for my future.
I am very grateful to have had him as my grandfather because what I have learned through my relationship with him helps me in interacting with people of different cultures or who don't express their feelings in a traditional manner. Someone may express fear or grief in unique ways, but recognizing that although they express their emotion differently, their feelings are still very real. Being able to acknowledge this is crucial for a physician who will interact with patients of different backgrounds and who express things differently.
2. Grandmother had lewy body dementia my whole life and we had to care for her while she was in a nursing home. Even though she stayed in a nursing home, I saw how my family was very active in her care, doing more for her than we do for our own house. This instilled an understanding of the burden placed on the families of chronically ill patients. Similar to my struggle with my relationship with my grandpa, it was also difficult to connect with my grandmother who's memory got worse pretty much every time I saw her. Frustrating at first, I eventually came to terms with the fact that her forgetting my birthday or even name was not due to neglegance, but a disease out of her control. This has taught me to be more considerate of others peoples circumstances before jumping to conclusions (basically recognizing that situational causes are more likely than dispositional).
Adversity/Challenge:
I grew up playing baseball, it was a huge part of my life. I played for travel and club teams, traveled across states, etc. As I approached highschool, I realized I could not keep up with kids. They were maturing and I did not. Turned out I had a growth hormone deficiency, and because of this I was not able to enter puberty until I received medication starting the spring of my sophomore year. This had a broad impact on my life, confidence, and mental health. But one of the biggest blows was that I realized I physically couldn't keep up with baseball. I dropped it realizing I could no longer provide value to the team. I decided to switch to tennis, which I have played since I was 3. Although my physical limitation still stopped me from competing with our top players, I was able to provide value to the team because of the skill I had from playing for over a decade. I designated myself to teaching the new players all of their fundamentals, opting to provide lessons during team practices over improving my own game. While my individual contributions on the court were small, our JV team massively improved under my guidance. Eventually with medication my body could mature and I played a larger role on varsity, but I still took time to teach the new players, some of who have developed into the top players on my high schools current team.
What are your thoughts?
