nontraditional - do I use my previous career as diversity?

[deleted861943]

I worked in business before deciding to change careers. When asked "how will you bring diversity to our university," I'd like to talk about my business experience, explaining how I can apply it to medicine and share my knowledge with the student body - all of which I genuinely believe.

On the other hand, I grew up in a blue-collar town and I almost went into a trade, but chose college instead. I'd also like to write about my blue-collar upbringing as a way I'll bring diversity. This seems like a bit more of what they are getting at by asking about diversity.

As a nontraditional student, I feel like I should use those nontraditional experiences to show how I will make me a great doctor. But I also don't want to sound privileged by talking about the good paying job I left...

Does anyone have thoughts on this? Which direction would you go?

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[Goro]

Just being a non-trad yourself brings diversity to a Class. I think that if you use both, it's fine. And it's not about what you bring to Medicine, it's to the Class.

 

[deleted861943]

That makes sense. Thanks for reminding me that this is about the class. I'll keep that focus.

This may be an impossible questions since I'm asking you to read minds and over generalize... but I'd like to hear your thoughts....

If write about my work experience, is that more or less redundant because my non-trad status is already a dimension of diversity? If so, I should make the most of the space and write about something to don't already know, like my childhood. Or will they see I'm a non-trad and find it odd I didn't focus more on that?

 

[DrMidlife]

It's good that you're considering what narrative you want to present, but please understand that your essay is not going to be thoroughly, thoughtfully experienced. You only get a couple minutes with a reviewer's eyeballs.

A reviewer is trying to get through a pile of apps. First the reviewer is looking for reasons to reject, because most of the pile has to not make it to the interview stage (schools get 5000-15000 apps, invite 500-2000, interview 300-800, seat 100-200). So your essay needs to not have red flags such as grammar errors, misspellings, inappropriate language etc. Second (simultaneously) the reviewer has at most 2-3 minutes to form an impression from your essay and ECs. Your job is to make it very, very easy for that impression to be positive, and preferably, for that impression to have an obvious theme. Third, your essay will be briefly re-read before your interview and during the excom decision review(s), and those individuals will also be looking for reasons to say no before they look for reasons to say yes.

It is not confusing for you to be both the blue collar kid and the experienced biz person. Your job is to market that experience. Manage your brand. Find a way to start and end your essay (or thread it, if your writing is exceptional) in a way that makes it incredibly easy for a tired volunteer physician, who needs to get back on the floor to finish rounds, to "get it."

Imho reviewers would LOVE IT if each med school app had a summary line, like what's expected for a patient in the hospital or clinic. 32 year old male with history of blue collar rural upbringing in western Minnesota, biz career in telecom industry, 3.74 GPA, 512 MCAT, >100 hrs hospital ED and clinic, Habitat for Humanity, no pubs, LORs from UCSD faculty, rock climbing. Mostly objective. As it stands, getting through an AMCAS app means flipping through a 5-10 page printout, the same way, every time, looking for basic info, 50 times in a sitting. As it stands, it's too much like flipping channels on TV and not enough like finding a decent cordless drill on Amazon.

tl;dr: package a simple, digestible narrative and help the reader say yes & move on

Best of luck to you.

 

[cellsaver]

I worked in business before deciding to change careers. When asked "how will you bring diversity to our university," I'd like to talk about my business experience, explaining how I can apply it to medicine and share my knowledge with the student body - all of which I genuinely believe.

You did not state what area of business or industry so it is hard to frame an answer. However if your area is the medical business landscape, the admins might be all ears. Teaching Business knowledge in medical school is a hot topic right now. When writing your essay, know your audience well. Medicine is in desperate need of physicians who can maneuver within business. Frame your essay accordingly

Check these articles.

Best wishes.

Having Business Know-How Opens Up New Career Opportunities for Physicians - AAMC
Having Business Know-How Opens Up New Career Opportunities for Physicians



New Physicians Will Need Business School Skills - NEJM Catalyst
http://catalyst.nejm.org/new-physicians-need-business-school-skills/



Med Schools Urged to Add 'Management 101' | Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
Med Schools Urged to Add 'Management 101' | Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

 

[GreenDuck12]

Just being a non-trad yourself brings diversity to a Class. I think that if you use both, it's fine. And it's not about what you bring to Medicine, it's to the Class.

Goro, out of curiosity, how would you recommend framing bringing outside experience to the class?

 

[Goro]

Goro, out of curiosity, how would you recommend framing bringing outside experience to the class?

That's your job.

 

[GreenDuck12]

That's your job.

Fair enough

 

[deleted861943]

Thanks everyone for your responses. This is some really great advice! I appreciate the look behind the scenes of the process, DrMidlife. And Cellsaver, I didn't know business skill was so highly valued in medical school!

I'm going to write about my business experience because I think I can be more specific about how it sets me apart

Do you have advice on whether I should write about the soft skills I learned: communication, professionalism, team work, etc. Or, I could write about the technical skills: designing processes and working in high-pressure environments, knowledge of budgeting, and finance, then relate it to medicine and explain I can bring that knowledge to the student body.

I prefer the soft skill approach, but I also know it's less original.