Is it rude to talk about EC in this way?

[ZombieDante]

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I'm trying to narrow down an answer to "why do I want to be a doctor" and I've pretty much got a perfect answer, however the problem is that part of this answer talks really badly about an EC I've been involved in for four years.

I'm on my college's debate team and I absolutely HATE it! The people, the activity, the organization, just everything. I can't stand it at all. The only reason I've continued to do it for so long is because it pays for more than 50% of my tuition at a college I absolutely LOVE.

I still give it my all (well as much as my mind will allow me), but this has definitely taught me not to do something for the money, especially if it takes up a lot of time and effort.

Would it be in bad taste/risky to put this in my personal statement?

 

[Bottle]

Answer this: why did stay in this organization?

I know you answered it in your post, and I completely understand why you continued with that crappy activity, but I'm not adcom and I'm not sure if they'll like it. If you can draw a clever answer for that such as "Giving every possible chance to something before I judge it" or "I stayed in attempt to correct something in that organization"

 

[ridethecliche]

I probably wouldn't do that given that you have no idea what it's like to be a doctor.

I would probably try to spin the experience as a positive learning experience of some sort. What you're doing might come across in person in an interview setting than in a PS. I would also frame it like a job that enabled you to be somewhere you wanted to be i.e. your school.

Good luck!

 

[sliceofbread136]

You are taking something that looks good and making it not look good for something that largely does not matter. I don't think it is worth it

 

[LizzyM]

I'm trying to narrow down an answer to "why do I want to be a doctor" and I've pretty much got a perfect answer, however the problem is that part of this answer talks really badly about an EC I've been involved in for four years.

I'm on my college's debate team and I absolutely HATE it! The people, the activity, the organization, just everything. I can't stand it at all. The only reason I've continued to do it for so long is because it pays for more than 50% of my tuition at a college I absolutely LOVE.

I still give it my all (well as much as my mind will allow me), but this has definitely taught me not to do something for the money, especially if it takes up a lot of time and effort.

Would it be in bad taste/risky to put this in my personal statement?

You stuck with something you disliked for years because it benefited you financially. Now why do you want to go into medicine?

 

[DokterMom]

You stuck with something you disliked for years because it benefited you financially. Now why do you want to go into medicine?

Ouch! But absolutely on point...

So yeah, don't go there...

 

[Mad Jack]

This is not only a terrible idea, but one of the worst things you could do to your app. It will make you come off as a person who does things that make them miserable if they help them get ahead financially, which is exactly the sort of person you're trying to filter out with med school interviews, as plenty of people enter medicine for the money even though they hate the practice of medicine.

 

[Conflagration]

I'm trying to narrow down an answer to "why do I want to be a doctor" and I've pretty much got a perfect answer, however the problem is that part of this answer talks really badly about an EC I've been involved in for four years.

I'm on my college's debate team and I absolutely HATE it! The people, the activity, the organization, just everything. I can't stand it at all. The only reason I've continued to do it for so long is because it pays for more than 50% of my tuition at a college I absolutely LOVE.

I still give it my all (well as much as my mind will allow me), but this has definitely taught me not to do something for the money, especially if it takes up a lot of time and effort.

Would it be in bad taste/risky to put this in my personal statement?

Color me clueless, but how does your hatred for your debate team shape your drive to be a physician?

 

[helpabrotherout]

Color me clueless, but how does your hatred for your debate team shape your drive to be a physician?

Maybe it makes him not want to be a lawyer?

 

[Lamel]

Maybe if you did it for 1 semester and then learned that it wasn't for you...but you did it for 4 years. If I were you I'd maintain this experience as a positive and spin it for your benefit.

 

[Goro]

Wait a minute, one can get a scholarship or tuition rebate for being on the debate team??? When did that happen?????

 

[deleted480308]

Remember that there is a silly but real notion that doctors are supposed to brilliant academic and critical thinkers but somehow completely unaware that there is financial security almost unheard of in other fields....don't mention enduring things for money

 

[ZombieDante]

Answer this: why did stay in this organization?

I know you answered it in your post, and I completely understand why you continued with that crappy activity, but I'm not adcom and I'm not sure if they'll like it. If you can draw a clever answer for that such as "Giving every possible chance to something before I judge it" or "I stayed in attempt to correct something in that organization"

Well honestly I joined because I loved high school debate and it changed my life for the better. Foolish me thought college debate would be somewhat similar. And alright I'll think of a better reason for why I stayed then

Color me clueless, but how does your hatred for your debate team shape your drive to be a physician?

Lol yeah sorry, from this post it does seem completely random. It's actually in a long chain of events that led to be wanting to be a physician.

Wait a minute, one can get a scholarship or tuition rebate for being on the debate team??? When did that happen?????

LOL!! Yeah I didn't know about it either until I got accepted into the school. 18k a year I'll gladly accept it.

This is not only a terrible idea, but one of the worst things you could do to your app. It will make you come off as a person who does things that make them miserable if they help them get ahead financially, which is exactly the sort of person you're trying to filter out with med school interviews, as plenty of people enter medicine for the money even though they hate the practice of medicine.

So not to sound completely stupid, but I'm lost. How does one show they aren't that type of person? Wouldn't one of the best ways to know how absolutely horrible just doing something for the money is having had to go through such a horrible experience?

 

[PlasticBag]

It's a valuable experience but not something you'd want to put on your application. Especially after you mentioned that you loved it in high school but then grew to hate it in college and continued to do it only for money. That sounds like exactly something that might happen with med school! You love science, volunteering, etc, but then when actual medicine comes along you might grow to hate it and continue with it only because of loans. Unhappy doctor is probably less likely to succeed so why would med schools want to risk it.

I'm not saying that this is likely to happen but why give any (!) red flags for something that is actually impressive?

 

[DokterMom]

So not to sound completely stupid, but I'm lost. How does one show they aren't that type of person? Wouldn't one of the best ways to know how absolutely horrible just doing something for the money is having had to go through such a horrible experience?

That's looking at the experience from one side, but as @LizzieM's observes, someone can look at the exact same facts from the other side and come to a most unflattering conclusion. You're both right, but there's a high degree of risk in pointing out that you stuck with something you found unpleasant for financial gain. The message is to tread carefully --

 

[Promethean]

There are so many things you can want to communicate about yourself in the 4000-5300 character space you are given for a personal statement. Unfortunately, few of those things answer the question "Why do you want to go into medicine?" As LizzyM points out, that is the question.

Your answer should not be about anything else but why you want to go into medicine. Anything that distracts from that is dangerous territory.

I ended up writing something that was very risky in my personal statement, something that could have been taken the wrong way. But it was my real, honest answer to the question, "why medicine?" And that worked out for me. Talking about doing something you hate for the money and how you learned better than to do that doesn't really answer the question. It talks around it. Maybe you are trying to say that you decided not to do something else instead? Or maybe you are trying to say that you are virtuously unattracted to the money aspect of medicine as a career? But either way, it dodges the essential question and makes you sound like you compromise your values when the inducement is high enough. Bad image to project.

Do have a reason why you are choosing this path that is coherent and relevant. Write it down in a single sentence or two and then expand from there. When you have something to say, it gets much easier to say it.

 

[Salt Salt]

It's easy to judge OP, but if someone said to you "I'll give you $18,000 a year to participate in an EC that is good for your mind and your future but not something you enjoy," how many of us would really say "no"? That's nearly $75,000 for simply participating in an EC.

 

[Conflagration]

It's easy to judge OP, but if someone said to you "I'll give you $18,000 a year to participate in an EC that is good for your mind and your future but not something you enjoy," how many of us would really say "no"? That's nearly $75,000 for simply participating in an EC.

Hell, I'm not judging him- I would have taken it too. Even if I didn't like it, and I can admit that.

All I'm saying is that I don't think it'd be wise to talk crap about something that you did for that long, because of a few reasons. What made OP not like it? If it was leadership, why didn't OP try to improve their team? Did OP not work well with their teammates? Those are just the nicer questions, and I'm sure a discerning eye would think of those and worse to ask OP if they saw this in their personal statement.

 

[Albino Dino]

It's easy to judge OP, but if someone said to you "I'll give you $18,000 a year to participate in an EC that is good for your mind and your future but not something you enjoy," how many of us would really say "no"? That's nearly $75,000 for simply participating in an EC.

I agree with this completely - and @Conflagration as well