Not Answering Diversity Prompt

Discover Your Odds of Getting into Medical School
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anonymityforthispost

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I am a white male raised in upper middle class suburbia. I acknowledge that I have had a privileged life, and there is really nothing very unique about it. I do have an essay for the schools that directly ask "What will you bring to improve the diversity our school." I talk about diversity in perspective formed from experiences in my life. My question is for schools that have a prompt along the lines of:
Do you consider yourself a person who would contribute to the diversity of the student body of X School of Medicine?
You have the option of hitting yes or no. Would it kill my chances for an interview to hit no? I honestly think this may be a topic I should stay away from, feels forced.

Thanks for any responses.
@Goro @gonnif @LizzyM @Catalystik
 
anonymityforthispost said:
I am a white male raised in upper middle class suburbia. I acknowledge that I have had a privileged life, and there is really nothing very unique about it. I do have an essay for the schools that directly ask "What will you bring to improve the diversity our school." I talk about diversity in perspective formed from experiences in my life. My question is for schools that have a prompt along the lines of:
Do you consider yourself a person who would contribute to the diversity of the student body of X School of Medicine?
You have the option of hitting yes or no. Would it kill my chances for an interview to hit no? I honestly think this may be a topic I should stay away from, feels forced.

Thanks for any responses.
@Goro @gonnif @LizzyM @Catalystik
Click to expand...

If you select no, they will probably select no when it comes to deciding whether or not to interview you.

You can add diversity even while being white, privileged, and male. You can add to diversity through your experiences.

DON'T SELECT NO.
 
Some people would want to highlight something unusual that might otherwise be overlooked such as both parents are blind,first generation college student, grew up in foster care, grew up on military bases, had a parent in federal prision, etc.

If you have nothing that sets you apart, it might be harder to get an interview but if you are academically strong and have had interesting experiences (research, service, teaching, leadership, teamwork, etc) then you might be an attractive candidate despite being like so many of your peers.
 
anonymityforthispost said:
I am a white male raised in upper middle class suburbia. I acknowledge that I have had a privileged life, and there is really nothing very unique about it. I do have an essay for the schools that directly ask "What will you bring to improve the diversity our school." I talk about diversity in perspective formed from experiences in my life. My question is for schools that have a prompt along the lines of:
Do you consider yourself a person who would contribute to the diversity of the student body of X School of Medicine?
You have the option of hitting yes or no. Would it kill my chances for an interview to hit no? I honestly think this may be a topic I should stay away from, feels forced.

Thanks for any responses.
@Goro @gonnif @LizzyM @Catalystik
Click to expand...
Introspection is a required trait for a physician.

Nobody leads a charmed life.

The prompt is NOT about ethnicity per se.
 
anonymityforthispost said:
I am a white male raised in upper middle class suburbia. I acknowledge that I have had a privileged life, and there is really nothing very unique about it. I do have an essay for the schools that directly ask "What will you bring to improve the diversity our school." I talk about diversity in perspective formed from experiences in my life. My question is for schools that have a prompt along the lines of:
Do you consider yourself a person who would contribute to the diversity of the student body of X School of Medicine?
You have the option of hitting yes or no. Would it kill my chances for an interview to hit no? I honestly think this may be a topic I should stay away from, feels forced.

Thanks for any responses.
@Goro @gonnif @LizzyM @Catalystik
Click to expand...
You can do it! Select "yes!" Every essay is an opportunity to express to the adcom why you should/want to be there. Selecting "no" seems like saying I'll pass on this opportunity to tell you about myself. It may take some extra thought :woot: Introspect!
 
Say "yes", then talk about experiences that have taught you about diversity -- maybe experiences with a new culture, experiences with a unique patient population, international travels... anything. Just do not say no.
 
Med school and residency are one big game with lots of pointless hoops to jump through. The annoying diversity essay is only the first of many. If you show reluctance to play their game by answering no, you run the risk of both pissing them off and causing them to think you are a difficult individual (i.e., a free thinker) who will refuse to play the myriad number of other games that lie ahead. I have tried to take a stand on certain games I ethically disagreed with or thought were pointless and caused myself a lot of grief in the process. Play the game, tell them what they want to hear, and move on.
 
atomi said:
Med school and residency are one big game with lots of pointless hoops to jump through. The annoying diversity essay is only the first of many. If you show reluctance to play their game by answering no, you run the risk of both pissing them off and causing them to think you are a difficult individual (i.e., a free thinker) who will refuse to play the myriad number of other games that lie ahead. I have tried to take a stand on certain games I ethically disagreed with or thought were pointless and caused myself a lot of grief in the process. Play the game, tell them what they want to hear, and move on.
Click to expand...
Because a class full of academic clones is what American Medicine really needs, right?
 
atomi said:
Med school and residency are one big game with lots of pointless hoops to jump through. The annoying diversity essay is only the first of many. If you show reluctance to play their game by answering no, you run the risk of both pissing them off and causing them to think you are a difficult individual (i.e., a free thinker) who will refuse to play the myriad number of other games that lie ahead. I have tried to take a stand on certain games I ethically disagreed with or thought were pointless and caused myself a lot of grief in the process. Play the game, tell them what they want to hear, and move on.
Click to expand...

Goro said:
Because a class full of academic clones is what American Medicine really needs, right?
Click to expand...

But to be honest, many other parts of life are also all about playing the game. I am sure medical school applications have a fair bit of this. Surely I'll find out this cycle, if I haven't already.
 
Goro said:
Because a class full of academic clones is what American Medicine really needs, right?
Click to expand...

Sure, lets throw in a couple of C students with quirky personalities. Everyone loves a wildcard. This is professional school, not a sitcom. Innate intellectual aptitude, work ethic, and communication skills. Three factors well covered by GPA, MCAT, and interview. Very simple. But we have to overthink and play puppetmaster. The reality is that spending a year building canoes in Fiji does not better prepare one to be a doctor over John R Boring, BS from Plainville, flyover state.
 
atomi said:
Sure, lets throw in a couple of C students with quirky personalities. Everyone loves a wildcard. This is professional school, not a sitcom. Innate intellectual aptitude, work ethic, and communication skills. Three factors well covered by GPA, MCAT, and interview. Very simple. But we have to overthink and play puppetmaster. The reality is that spending a year building canoes in Fiji does not better prepare one to be a doctor.
Click to expand...
How do you decide who to interview, out of the 5-10,000 apps???

I'd much rather have someone in my class who spent a year in Fiji building canoes then yet another lab rat who spent a thousand hours in the lab.
 
Goro said:
How do you decide who to interview, out of the 5-10,000 apps???

I'd much rather have someone in my class who spent a year in Fiji building canoes then yet another lab rat who spent a thousand hours in the lab.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't. The lab rat can actually help the university with research projects. The guy building Fiji canoes can build himself a boat after he cries himself a river after he does worse in medical school, because he didn't focus on things more useful and relevant to medical school.
 
Robin-jay said:
I wouldn't. The lab rat can actually help the university with research projects. The guy building Fiji canoes can build himself a boat after he cries himself a river after he does worse in medical school, because he didn't focus on things more useful and relevant to medical school.
Click to expand...
But med schools aren't looking for grad students...they want people who will be good doctors. The Research Powerhouses want interesting people who can do both be interesting and do good research.

But this digresses from what the diversity prompt is really looking for, and what I mention time and again: the ability to know thyself.
 
Goro said:
But med schools aren't looking for grad students...they want people who will be good doctors. The Research Powerhouses want interesting people who can do both be interesting and do good research.

But this digresses from what the diversity prompt is really looking for, and what I mention time and again: the ability to know thyself.
Click to expand...

The school that most readily accepted me was very interested in my research experience. The admissions committee introduced me to a PhD looking for excellent researchers for clinical pursuits. I probably had top 1-2% of research experience in my accepted class this year, and so it appears that whatever research I'm willing to work on, the PhD researchers are readily accepting me.

I've had interviews at some schools with some staff that does not seem to care much about my research. But overall, my chemistry graduate research seemed to be a major plus, and was one of the main reasons my school accepted me.

But I also had almost every other major EC you could think of (non-profit health care volunteering, clinical employment, other employment, teaching many university classes, etc.). So its hard to point at any one thing and say "this is what did it". But I do think research mattered a lot for this current school.

But I agree with the diversity prompt. I put my diversity of experiences and a few family things. Definitely better to write something than to leave it blank.
 
I think making use of any opportunity to show a different facet of yourself almost always helps you. Many of my friends who were engineers or other nontraditional majors wrote about that for the diversity essay - even when they had more "obvious" (URM, LGBT, immigrant etc.) diversity hooks to write about. However, I will add the caveat that the wording of the prompt matters - some schools will specify (or strongly imply) that they are looking for a very particular kind of response, and that it won't apply to most applicants. For prompts like that, I would proceed with caution - in particular thinking about what kinds of essays you might have to "follow" (good advice in general). There will be undoubtedly be applicants who will write about being a refugee, or experiencing a hate crime: put yourself in the shoes of an adcom who reads that essay, then reads your essay about being an immigrant, albeit without facing any of those challenges - no issues there. Now put yourself in the shoes of an adcom who reads that essay, then reads your essay about deciding to major in film even though your parents really wanted you to major in engineering - a very different story.
 
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atomi said:
Med school and residency are one big game with lots of pointless hoops to jump through. The annoying diversity essay is only the first of many. If you show reluctance to play their game by answering no, you run the risk of both pissing them off and causing them to think you are a difficult individual (i.e., a free thinker) who will refuse to play the myriad number of other games that lie ahead. I have tried to take a stand on certain games I ethically disagreed with or thought were pointless and caused myself a lot of grief in the process. Play the game, tell them what they want to hear, and move on.
Click to expand...
I agree with atomi for once...
 
Goro said:
How do you decide who to interview, out of the 5-10,000 apps???

I'd much rather have someone in my class who spent a year in Fiji building canoes then yet another lab rat who spent a thousand hours in the lab.
Click to expand...
Only 1000 hours to become a lab rat? I must be a lab cat.
Goro said:
But med schools aren't looking for grad students...they want people who will be good doctors. The Research Powerhouses want interesting people who can do both be interesting and do good research.

But this digresses from what the diversity prompt is really looking for, and what I mention time and again: the ability to know thyself.
Click to expand...
Is the process of research really less valuable than the canoes? Research is the basis of clinical medicine, being able to decipher good from bad research I think can be important for making clinical decisions. Ask me in 7 years what I think though 😵
 
Robin-jay said:
I wouldn't. The lab rat can actually help the university with research projects. The guy building Fiji canoes can build himself a boat after he cries himself a river after he does worse in medical school, because he didn't focus on things more useful and relevant to medical school.
Click to expand...

If this post is indicative of the lab rat, I’ll take the boat guy.
 
Goro said:
I'd much rather have someone in my class who spent a year in Fiji building canoes then yet another lab rat who spent a thousand hours in the lab.
Click to expand...

Hahaha wooo there shots fired... 70% of a doctor's diagnosis and treatment relies on lab rats... and the rest is imagining. Lab rats make medicine "modern." Canoes make people float. 😉
 
We need a "Venting Forum", so people stop making the adcoms squirm every time someone calls BS on the identity politics in medical admissions, among other things.

And while I'm here a "Noob Forum" for all the people who want to go Caribbean or want to talk about DOs vs MD or how they aren't going to med school even though they got an acceptance. Maybe they could be the same Forum. "Venting Noobs Forum" or "Plebs Venting Forum"
 
Medical schools know that diversity is essential. When I'm looking for a doctor to treat me, I'm not just looking for the most knowledgeable and experienced person around. I want someone who used to be a professional breakdancer, or who holds the Guinness world record for most popsicle sticks inserted in one's mouth at the same time, or who was adopted and raised by a community of Eskimos.
 
lmao thanks everyone for the advice, a nice debate, and ending with some bad puns to lighten the mood. Time to go make myself sound interesting.
 
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