Ideas for how to respond to the following secondary question

[F.Underwood]

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What challenges do you expect to arise from living and working in a complex urban environment? How will you meet them?

I was thinking about racially and economically diverse groups of people. What do you ppl think?

 

[familyaerospace]

I think that would depend on you.

Personally, I thrive in racially diverse areas.

My challenges with *living* in the city include the following : the high cost of living, the fact it's crowded, it's loud, no place to park, I have a harder time dealing with my dogs, and as a small human being I get worried about safety, lack of reliable public transportation.

My challenges with *working* in the city : traffic, no place to park, lack of reliable public transportation.

 

[TheBossDoctor]

Parking. I still have nightmares where I'm getting tickets from parking enforcement

 

[Ismet]

Parking. I still have nightmares where I'm getting tickets from parking enforcement

Where I am, they ticket you for not moving your car on street cleaning days, but the city is too poor to fix the street cleaning machines, so the streets don't even get cleaned. They just ticket you for the heck of it. Most annoying $25 I've spent.

My biggest issue with living in a city is related to that...cost of having a car and paying for parking. Street parking is 7.5 min/quarter here, which is atrocious. You can expect to pay at least $70/month for a spot in an uncovered private lot, over $100/month for a parking garage with cover. Your car also gets a beating with city conditions/parking outside/etc. A number of my classmates have lost hubcaps/car parts to potholes, something with my car's front axle broke off after an encounter with a rather large pothole. It's pretty essential to have access to a car for MS-3 and MS-4, and I think these are concerns and costs that are often overlooked.

 

[NYerrr]

Space is expensive, well everything can be costly.

 

[F.Underwood]

Thank you all for your responses. Very insightful.

 

[DK2014]

is this for columbia?

 

[F.Underwood]

is this for columbia?

yes

 

[invissideways]

Are they really looking for things like parking and cost of living though?

 

[Ismet]

Are they really looking for things like parking and cost of living though?

Probably not.

 

[invissideways]

Probably not.

Haha was going to say...it would make for an interesting essay when you talk about how you would deal with it!

 

[F.Underwood]

Probably not.

So what are they looking for then? I would imagine it would be something about diversity.

 

[WhittyPsyche]

Idk if this helps, but I have a friend that moved from the Midwest to here, major city. And she said the biggest adjustment isn't getting used to public transportation/parking/traffic etc but more of the faster way of life. She said she didn't realize how much she would miss the familiarity of her hometown, knowing everyone in her neighborhood, going to pre-k through hs with the exact same people, the genuine consideration etc of small town life.

Maybe this is what they are trying to get at. The harsh reality of the city life where people don't stop to ask you how you/your mom/and second cousins are doing. It can be a tough transition.

The only other point I would see would be of a diversity issue. Being surrounded by with very distinct and different backgrounds/personalities/experiences/beliefs/cultures. This is commonplace in a city, but again if you are from a small town an urban environment like this could be quite an adjustment.

 

[Lamel]

So what are they looking for then? I would imagine it would be something about diversity.

Well what challenges DO you expect to arise?

Imagine you just moved to NYC tomorrow; how would you go about your day? What do you think would be different? Be honest, they aren't looking for any one answer.

 

[ThisCouldBeYou]

The lack of eye contact. In my home town, I wave (slightly) a "thanks" as I cross the street usually because drivers routinely stop.
In the city, you just want to be sure no car hits you. Of course you never actually look at the driver/passengers because you're not likely to know them anyway. When I was working in NYC last summer, I walked so quickly during my lunch hour and on the way to/from work, in part because I weaved in-and-out and never looked at anyone.

 

[familyaerospace]

So what are they looking for then? I would imagine it would be something about diversity.

The question is what if you don't have a problem with diversity? It's not a challenge for me. I grew up in a diverse area, was an anthropologist and have traveled all over the place. I am much more creeped out by homogenous areas.

Only things I can imagine involve what I put down. I hate the crowds as that stresses me out.

 

[TheBossDoctor]

Yea I wasn't serious about putting "parking" for the secondary (though it is a huge problem!).

Maybe you could say crime. And maybe poverty as well (that will affect you since you'll be working with the patient population there).

I don't know if you should write about diversity being a challenge since you could come across as not being open-minded and appear uneasy about working with people from different cultures. You could possibly mention language barriers (especially in NYC), but go about it carefully and emphasize how you're willing to accept those differences in languages.

 

[NYerrr]

I don't see diversity as a "challenge". You could answer this 10 different ways, its all what you reflect on being a challenge to you personally.