PLEASE HELP! Greatest Personal or Academic Challenge

[aspiring20]

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So I am working on my secondary right now, and one of the questions asks for my greatest personal or academic challenge and what I learned from it etc. I have narrowed down to two topics I want to write about. One of them is academic, the other personal. The academic one is very straightforward, but the personal one can be a bit tricky. I am wondering which of the two I should write about.

#1 Academic:
I struggled with one of my prerequisite science classes, and I had to repeat the course twice (take it a total of three times, getting a W on my first two attempts) in order to successfully complete it. I can talk about how I learned the importance of perseverance and not giving up in the face of academic challenges.

#2 Personal"
I have a minor institutional action that is not on my transcript. It also has nothing to do with any form of criminal violations. If I do not disclose it on my AMCAS, it is very likely that medical schools will never find out about it. However, doing so will be a blatant lie. I can write about this moral dilemma, about how integrity and honesty is of utmost importance in medicine. And btw, I did disclose my institutional action on AMCAS.

 

[poopsicle]

I would only write things that you would be willing to talk about in interviews.

 

[hoihaie]

Would your #2 add anythign diff to what you already said in amcas?

i think you hsould go with #1 since you don't have anywhere else to explain those grades while you already explained #2 in your primaries

 

[aspiring20]

Would your #2 add anythign diff to what you already said in amcas?

i think you hsould go with #1 since you don't have anywhere else to explain those grades while you already explained #2 in your primaries

I am not really going to explain my IA again in #2. I am thinking more along the lines of: I struggled personally/morally when deciding whether to disclose my IA when there's slim chance that medical schools will find out about the incident. But in the end, I decided to disclose it because honesty and integrity are vital. In medicine, there will be similar situations where you can choose to cover things up and probably never be discovered; but should you do it?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I think you should let us on SDN know (or PM some admissions officers here) to get an idea of how the IA will mess with your application. I know it's not a huge deal, but the general opinion on SDN has been that IA's are taken seriously by med schools even if they're small ones. But I understand that yours may be very small/not directly related to you but still there or something

 

[hoihaie]

I can see where you're coming from, but IMO to say that whether to disclose or not was a big challenge for you doesn't necessarily send a comforting message. Perhaps adcoms will think "this kid needs to think about whether to do the right thing or not? hm...."

 

[aspiring20]

I can see where you're coming from, but IMO to say that whether to disclose or not was a big challenge for you doesn't necessarily send a comforting message. Perhaps adcoms will think "this kid needs to think about whether to do the right thing or not? hm...."

Yeah this is what I was thinking as well. Looks like you just convinced me to go with #1. it is generic, but 100% safe.

 

[hoihaie]

If it was a bigger or more difficult dilemma with more risks and rewards involved, perhaps that would've been a suitable topic to talk about

 

[aspiring20]

I think you should let us on SDN know (or PM some admissions officers here) to get an idea of how the IA will mess with your application. I know it's not a huge deal, but the general opinion on SDN has been that IA's are taken seriously by med schools even if they're small ones. But I understand that yours may be very small/not directly related to you but still there or something

PM'ed you.

Adcoms have looked over my IA, and the general consensus is that it'll have zero impact.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

PM'ed you.

Adcoms have looked over my IA, and the general consensus is that it'll have zero impact.

I didn't get the PM
but if it's been seen by adcoms and they don't consider it a big issue then no worries

 

[aspiring20]

I didn't get the PM
but if it's been seen by adcoms and they don't consider it a big issue then no worries

just sent to you.

 

[V5RED]

The IA thing, as worded, sounds a bit odd as something you overcame. I mean all you overcame was not lying on your application. Maybe if the IA is related to a past behavior that you have since overcome or grown out of, that would be interesting.

The academic thing might be good, it depends. How did you end up doing in the class? Was your performance in subsequent classes strong(ie went from a lower lever student to a higher level student)? That might be somewhat interesting if you can show how you learned how to be a strong student.

Neither jump out at me as particularly amazing as a difficulty you overcame, but I am sure tons of students have very generic "biggest difficulties".

 

[ThisCouldBeYou]

Aside from all the reasons to NOT mention your personal challenge, I think your academic struggle could be an interesting story. We've all had tough classes, but I doubt very many of us on sdn has had to take a class THREE times to pass it. Shows a lot of resiliency and determination.

 

[aspiring20]

The IA thing, as worded, sounds a bit odd as something you overcame. I mean all you overcame was not lying on your application. Maybe if the IA is related to a past behavior that you have since overcome or grown out of, that would be interesting.

The academic thing might be good, it depends. How did you end up doing in the class? Was your performance in subsequent classes strong(ie went from a lower lever student to a higher level student)? That might be somewhat interesting if you can show how you learned how to be a strong student.

Neither jump out at me as particularly amazing as a difficulty you overcame, but I am sure tons of students have very generic "biggest difficulties".

Thanks for your feedback.

I did get an A in that class on my third try. I also did reasonably well on the MCAT subsection corresponding to that class. But my overall sGPA is only a 3.3.

 

[V5RED]

Thanks for your feedback.

I did get an A in that class on my third try. I also did reasonably well on the MCAT subsection corresponding to that class. But my overall sGPA is only a 3.3.

That is good. I am not on an ADCOM, I am just giving my inexpert opinion, but as long as that experience led you to be a much better student, it sounds decent.

Bear in mind, I am a non trad who had a plethora of challenges and experiences to choose from for essays, so my perspective is from that life.

 

[snowflakes]

I would definitely not use #2. You had to debate about disclosing an IA (and following AMCAS rules) so much that you consider it your GREATEST challenge? That would definitely not reflect well on you.