Northwestern Secondary Help

[ahhh123]

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#1. Describe the distinguishable characteristics (non-academic) you possess and tell us how you think these characteristics will enhance your success as a FSM medical student and future physician.

- I'm not sure how to go about writing about my distinguishable characteristics.. should i list them first and then tie it in as a story or should i demonstrate these charateristics through a story... what did u guys do? any help would be appreciate!!!

 

[notdeadyet]

There's a million ways to do this. I wouldn't follow the personal statement fomat though (here's a story, but let me interrupt it with me telling you info, then let me tie it back to the story). That's a bit trite.

Personally, I just answered their question. I told them about non-academic characteristics about myself that I felt would make me a good med student and a good physician. I backed it up with some evidence, but didn't go overboard.

 

[omggggggggg]

I haven't written this one yet (I did question #3 first, because it was the easiest for me), but I'm planning on a straightforward response - characteristic + supporting evidence type thing. Honestly, just answer however you feel comfortable! I'm going for conciseness because I don't have time to "get creative", what with the 13 other secondaries I still need to complete.

For me, the worst question of the three is #2: Describe a time when you faced personal adversity that was not school related. What coping strategies did you employ/develop?

I can't think of anything for this. No one close to me has died. I've never suffered from clinical depression or had an eating disorder. I'm from a middle class family with two supportive parents. So, unless they want to hear about my having to give my puppy away when I was in middle school, I think I'll just have to go with the "feel free to tell us anything more you'd like the Committee on Admissions to know about how you deal with personal challenges" prompt. These types of open-ended questions are the toughest, in my opinion.

Help. 🙁

P.S. Good luck with your secondaries! Hopefully we'll all get through this process with sanity intact.

 

[MadHopsMD]

So, unless they want to hear about my having to give my puppy away when I was in middle school, I think I'll just have to go with the "feel free to tell us anything more you'd like the Committee on Admissions to know about how you deal with personal challenges" prompt.

Also remember it all comes down to rhetoric over content...giving the puppy away could really make for an interesting and *moving* read.

 

[omggggggggg]

Hmmm, actually - what exactly is a "personal challenge"? Does it have to be something I handled completely alone (and therefore the word personal)? I've been wracking my brain trying to think of something to write for this.

The idea I'm toying with right now is the story of how several friends and I nearly got stranded in Barcelona because our cheapass airline decided to cancel our flight. We ended up having to rush to the nearest train station and catch a night train to Paris, since most of us had classes the next morning. Not sure if this qualifies as a "personal challenge" though...I guess it's more of a humorous story than anything else?

I could also write about something more serious, I suppose, but I wouldn't have as much fun with it.

What do you guys think?

 

[ahhh123]

Hmmm, actually - what exactly is a "personal challenge"? Does it have to be something I handled completely alone (and therefore the word personal)? I've been wracking my brain trying to think of something to write for this.

The idea I'm toying with right now is the story of how several friends and I nearly got stranded in Barcelona because our cheapass airline decided to cancel our flight. We ended up having to rush to the nearest train station and catch a night train to Paris, since most of us had classes the next morning. Not sure if this qualifies as a "personal challenge" though...I guess it's more of a humorous story than anything else?

I could also write about something more serious, I suppose, but I wouldn't have as much fun with it.

What do you guys think?

yeh i think that's actually really a fun read.. they'll definitely like it

 

[ahhh123]

I haven't written this one yet (I did question #3 first, because it was the easiest for me), but I'm planning on a straightforward response - characteristic + supporting evidence type thing. Honestly, just answer however you feel comfortable! I'm going for conciseness because I don't have time to "get creative", what with the 13 other secondaries I still need to complete.

For me, the worst question of the three is #2: Describe a time when you faced personal adversity that was not school related. What coping strategies did you employ/develop?

I can't think of anything for this. No one close to me has died. I've never suffered from clinical depression or had an eating disorder. I'm from a middle class family with two supportive parents. So, unless they want to hear about my having to give my puppy away when I was in middle school, I think I'll just have to go with the "feel free to tell us anything more you'd like the Committee on Admissions to know about how you deal with personal challenges" prompt. These types of open-ended questions are the toughest, in my opinion.

Help. 🙁

P.S. Good luck with your secondaries! Hopefully we'll all get through this process with sanity intact.

for real me too.. i don't have time to get creative either.. i have soo many more.. sob!!!

 

[LizzyM]

The idea I'm toying with right now is the story of how several friends and I nearly got stranded in Barcelona because our cheapass airline decided to cancel our flight. We ended up having to rush to the nearest train station and catch a night train to Paris, since most of us had classes the next morning. Not sure if this qualifies as a "personal challenge" though...I guess it's more of a humorous story than anything else?
What do you guys think?

You have to know how to spin this so that it shows your ingenuity and adaptabilty as well as your sense of humor. Your flight was cancelled. You had to meet your responsibilities in Paris. How did you determine the alternatives? What were the logistics of determining the train schedule, getting to the station, purchasing tickets (was there a language barrier?) Did you work as part of a team? What was your role on the team? This could be a good essay about your coping strategies.

 

[omggggggggg]

You have to know how to spin this so that it shows your ingenuity and adaptabilty as well as your sense of humor. Your flight was cancelled. You had to meet your responsibilities in Paris. How did you determine the alternatives? What were the logistics of determining the train schedule, getting to the station, purchasing tickets (was there a language barrier?) Did you work as part of a team? What was your role on the team? This could be a good essay about your coping strategies.

I want to use this example because I feel my friends and I really worked as a team to get the situation sorted out. We kept each other calm, decided as a group as to our next course of action, and made a plan of attack as we van-taxied to the nearest local train station (there was a mass exodus out of the airport once people realized that no backup flights were available, so we wanted to make sure we could all get tickets).

All righty, back to work on this - thanks for the help guys!

 

[omggggggggg]

for real me too.. i don't have time to get creative either.. i have soo many more.. sob!!!

Haha, just keep chugging! We'll get there eventually. 🙂