Just another diversity essay thread

[IntelligentFault]

Can't seem to pick between the ideas below. I know that they want to hear about what makes you "unique" and I keep coming back to "boring white person"

1. bicultural- parents immigrated from rural france. I grew up balancing the two and dealing with not being 100% american or 100% french. This has also lead to me spending a lot of time in europe and have seen how the french healthcare system works through my grand parents
2. moved from texas to new york and had to adapt to living in such a big city build a new friend group/community
3. have a masters in clinical psych
4. spent a year working in a rural hospital as a unit clerk and got to see the impact of income/proximity to health care on outcomes (mentioned this in my most important experiences)
5. worked in a chaotic bar in undergrad and had to learn how to move quickly/deal with lots of drunk people

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[marcosma]

Honestly, the most interesting one of those for me is #5. If you can twist bartending into a compelling essay about how it has impacted your journey to medicine and how you think it will make you a more capable med student and physician, I would be impressed!! It will definitely more unique than 1-3. You could also write a compelling essay for 4, I think, but you say it was already a most meaningful so you’d have to make sure that you hit it from a different angle. AND, you’d have to find a way to personalize it more than just “I witnessed this,” imo

Is there any piece of your application that is “sharp,” meaning that it just out from the others because you have a lot of experiences in the same realm? You could use the diversity essay to draw attention to that and flesh out your motivations and reflections a bit more (like, for education, or for public health advocacy, or for healthcare system reform ... or something like that—something that complements your PS)

 

[IntelligentFault]

Honestly, the most interesting one of those for me is #5. If you can twist bartending into a compelling essay about how it has impacted your journey to medicine and how you think it will make you a more capable med student and physician, I would be impressed!! It will definitely more unique than 1-3. You could also write a compelling essay for 4, I think, but you say it was already a most meaningful so you’d have to make sure that you hit it from a different angle. AND, you’d have to find a way to personalize it more than just “I witnessed this,” imo

Is there any piece of your application that is “sharp,” meaning that it just out from the others because you have a lot of experiences in the same realm? You could use the diversity essay to draw attention to that and flesh out your motivations and reflections a bit more (like, for education, or for public health advocacy, or for healthcare system reform ... or something like that—something that complements your PS)

Thank you! Yea I could definitely use that experience to talk about skills I'd take with me into medicine like thinking critically under pressure or learning how to de-escalate situations with upset patrons. It also turned out to be some of my first "patient" encounters cause we had a girl OD in our bathroom, someone stepped on broken glass once, and someone else got tased (it was a weird bar).

The only other things I can think of are that I used to volunteer at a blood/tissue donation center monitoring donors and did community service tutoring low income pre-k students with jumpstart. I've done a lot of research and work in neuroscience/psychiatry. My PS talks a lot about that and the work I've done as a resident assistant and clinical research coordinator. My interests are pretty centered around the brain but that seems like it's been beaten to death in the rest of my application.

 

[Goro]

Can't seem to pick between the ideas below. I know that they want to hear about what makes you "unique" and I keep coming back to "boring white person"

1. bicultural- parents immigrated from rural france. I grew up balancing the two and dealing with not being 100% american or 100% french. This has also lead to me spending a lot of time in europe and have seen how the french healthcare system works through my grand parents
2. moved from texas to new york and had to adapt to living in such a big city build a new friend group/community
3. have a masters in clinical psych
4. spent a year working in a rural hospital as a unit clerk and got to see the impact of income/proximity to health care on outcomes (mentioned this in my most important experiences)
5. worked in a chaotic bar in undergrad and had to learn how to move quickly/deal with lots of drunk people

1) Done to death.
2) maybe
3) No.
4) No. Pick something that's NOT clinical. We want to know how you deal with LIFE.
5) YES!!!!!!!

 

[daffodil017]

Thank you! Yea I could definitely use that experience to talk about skills I'd take with me into medicine like thinking critically under pressure or learning how to de-escalate situations with upset patrons. It also turned out to be some of my first "patient" encounters cause we had a girl OD in our bathroom, someone stepped on broken glass once, and someone else got tased (it was a weird bar).

The only other things I can think of are that I used to volunteer at a blood/tissue donation center monitoring donors and did community service tutoring low income pre-k students with jumpstart. I've done a lot of research and work in neuroscience/psychiatry. My PS talks a lot about that and the work I've done as a resident assistant and clinical research coordinator. My interests are pretty centered around the brain but that seems like it's been beaten to death in the rest of my application.

This is going to be the most badass diversity essay of all time woah

 

[carboxylicpremed]

1. bicultural- parents immigrated from rural france. I grew up balancing the two and dealing with not being 100% american or 100% french. This has also lead to me spending a lot of time in europe

1) Done to death.

Not to derail OP's topic (also love #5) but just wondering, if you immigrated yourself (not just your parents) and you bring it up in terms of how it translated into a passion in the arts that you pursued in the US which fits with your philosophy on medicine, do you still think it's too lame/to scrap the immigration part since it's so common in premeds?

 

[Goro]

Not to derail OP's topic (also love #5) but just wondering, if you immigrated yourself (not just your parents) and you bring it up in terms of how it translated into a passion in the arts that you pursued in the US which fits with your philosophy on medicine, do you still think it's too lame/to scrap the immigration part since it's so common in premeds?

The immigrant experience is always of value. Although I don't se how that translates into a passion for Medicine.

Being first gen American, no. You're talking about up to 30% of all medical students.

 

[LunaOri]

5 is the most unique. I wouldn't mind 3, if you can talk about a truly different perspective it brings.