Opinions on answering a secondary prompt

[Jennyfishy]

Hello,

Like a couple other people, I just wanted to see what a basic consensus would be for a secondary I'm working on. The question asks to talk about a challenging/difficult situation I've dealt with to demonstrate how I coped with/handled the situation.

I was going to write about a specific incident that involved mediating a lot of confrontations and intra-student organizational conflict (I was president of a club). So I ended up getting campus faculty involved for help, which led to me getting a restraining order against a person in the end. This shows how I was able to manage a situation as a responsible student and handle it maturely/accept that I don't always have the answer.

But then I thought about how I (at one point) started to doubt whether I should pursue medicine because of how I became depressed/unmotivated about school after a friend passed away (which brought up other childhood issues of inadequacy, grades dropped etc). To get back on track, I took a performance class that confronted the very issues I was dealing with, my instructor became my "therapist", and for my final, I performed my piece/story in front of 400 people. This showed how I regained control over my school and personal life in an unexpected way.

tl;dr: both are from similar points in my life, but I don't know if the personal/depression route is overdone. I'm also a little concerned about the first scenario, which is very specific and may have confidentiality issues in regards to identifying the student in quesiton? If not, which sounds more interesting?

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[Doctor Strange]

I don't think getting a restraining order against someone would look like responsibly handling a challenging situation.. At least to me. As far as the second topic goes, it's a general rule of thumb to not talk about psychiatric illnesses. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it has to be done carefully and with a little finesse.

 

[Jennyfishy]

I don't think getting a restraining order against someone would look like responsibly handling a challenging situation.. At least to me. As far as the second topic goes, it's a general rule of thumb to not talk about psychiatric illnesses. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it has to be done carefully and with a little finesse.

Yeah, I think both situations have their drawbacks, but I learned a lot from them regardless. I could leave it at seeking help resolving the issue through campus services?

Maybe not depression, but more so a point where I really doubted whether or not this was something that I wanted because the people I had in mind to motivate me were the ones I lost touch with in the process (and stopped focusing on my studies as a result). So instead of letting it distract me and consume my thoughts, I dealt with it with that class and advising from the instructor for the performance. I dunno if that sounds any worse or better, heh

 

[milkphlegm]

This sounds like grieving, not depression or psychiatric illness. Grief is normal, so long as one learns to cope. It sounds like that's what you did. I would be interested in reading that story if you can make it about overcoming that challenge.

I think I'd avoid putting that I got a restraining order against anyone anywhere in my application. Without anyone actually knowing what the deal was with the other person (and I'm not saying they didn't deserve that restraining order!) it can come off like you actually don't know how to maturely handle conflict and instead locked it 20 feet away from you at all times. Just playing devil's advocate so you get my point.

 

[catzzz88]

Notes from LizzyM about this kind of essay:

Coping skills, people! Think short term challenges or difficulties. Have you ever had your mode of transportation (car, bike, knees) break down and need to scramble to do get things fixed and get around to places you needed to be? Have you been the object of a pickpocket and need to replace all your ID's? How did you prioritize and get through it. Double points if it happened in a country where you don't speak the language. Ever have a friend who needed but refused to seek care for a physical or psychiatric problem? What coping skills did you use to deal with the situation? How do you roll with the punches? You are going to get knocked down in medical school. What are your coping skills? Do you go in your room, close the door and cry? Do you complain to your roommate? Do you call your parents and ask them to make things better? How do you solve your problems? Inquiring minds want to know.

Hope this helps get you on the right track. Neither of your examples seem appropriate to me. Think harder!

Good Luck!

Best,
C

 

[Jennyfishy]

This sounds like grieving, not depression or psychiatric illness. Grief is normal, so long as one learns to cope. It sounds like that's what you did. I would be interested in reading that story if you can make it about overcoming that challenge.

I think I'd avoid putting that I got a restraining order against anyone anywhere in my application. Without anyone actually knowing what the deal was with the other person (and I'm not saying they didn't deserve that restraining order!) it can come off like you actually don't know how to maturely handle conflict and instead locked it 20 feet away from you at all times. Just playing devil's advocate so you get my point.

lolol, yeah, I think I made the mistake of mentioning somewhere previously, but it was just to provide an overview of the circumstances I was working with as a mediator, not to emphasize how I learned to cope with a situation. Thanks for the feedback, if I can't rework it, I may go with something slightly different though

 

[Jennyfishy]

Notes from LizzyM about this kind of essay:



Hope this helps get you on the right track. Neither of your examples seem appropriate to me. Think harder!

Good Luck!

Best,
C

That is actually very helpful, thanks! (I probably misquoted your reply in this post bc I am still a noob). Anyway, I will keep this in mind while I think some more.


So would a super stressful event be more relevant? For one of my final exams in EMT school, I was given a scenario that was totally chaotic (non-trauma patient, but he was beligerant and non-cooperative). We were being graded on a checklist of criteria we had to cover in our assessment, but since I was unable to obtain the information/vitals in the scenario, I instinctively treated the patient the same way I would cope with anxiety attacks in the situation (helping him breathe, trying to get him to focus on me and asking him unrelated questions to draw attention away from the chaos) if I were in his place.

Afterwards, the proctors congratulated me for being the only student in the entire class that had passed the scenario + received a perfect score.

What stood out the most out of that was that several of the TAs told me that they were actually surprised I was able to pull it off without freaking out because situations like these happen all the time with EMTs. Is that a little bit better even though it's not a "real life" experience?

Thanks again!

 

[Jennyfishy]

Based on the previous two replies, would it be best to only discuss the grieving and learning to cope with those deaths for my random grade drops one quarter? It happened in an awkward time, which led to me only being able to study for my MCATs for 3 weeks (can't retake bc I'm out of the country now) as well -_-..