Poll - Which do you think is a better topic?
Started by hexane19
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This has been discussed a whole lot, but basically if you feel very strongly that the different cultures of the two sides of your family have had a big impact on you, you could probably work that into an essay if it's very well written and meaningful. If you say your father is white and your mother is Indian and you visited India once and the food was good, your essay will be terrible.
Talk about what makes you, you. If being biracial has had enough of an impact on you that it has helped you define who you are and you can effectively convey that in an essay, then go for it. If photography or outdoor activities are more important to who you are, then use those. Don't use the free clinic thing unless it is something you have done for a long period of time or something you plan on doing for a long time.
There are far more aspects of diversity than just race, and most people fail to understand that because it's constantly thrown in everyone's faces. If I could go back and re-write my diversity essays I'd talk about my athletic career, as I played at a very high level that most people won't ever experience, instead of talking about how a few trips abroad helped me 'better understand the world'. Yes those trips helped me grow immensely, but they were a relatively short chapter in my life (which I truly do hope to continue) compared my passion for the sport I played and how it shaped me into who I am now.
Only you will be able to determine what makes you unique, as only you know what has really shaped you. So asking a question like that here is only going to give you superficial, and possibly misguided, answers.
There are far more aspects of diversity than just race, and most people fail to understand that because it's constantly thrown in everyone's faces. If I could go back and re-write my diversity essays I'd talk about my athletic career, as I played at a very high level that most people won't ever experience, instead of talking about how a few trips abroad helped me 'better understand the world'. Yes those trips helped me grow immensely, but they were a relatively short chapter in my life (which I truly do hope to continue) compared my passion for the sport I played and how it shaped me into who I am now.
Only you will be able to determine what makes you unique, as only you know what has really shaped you. So asking a question like that here is only going to give you superficial, and possibly misguided, answers.
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The one that is better is the one you can best explain the importance of. If you want to know what adcoms will think, Goro's comments should show you that if anything you'll have to do a much better job with the biracial essay so no one thinks "Oh great, another applicant only talking about race in a diversity essay"
You seem to be thinking about it the wrong way. Reread what @Stagg737 wrote, it's very good advice. You're too focussed on whether the topic is common, or interesting, or whatever else. The topic can be unique or mundane, what matters is how you write about it, and that will depend on whether the thing you're writing about actually had a meaningful impact on your life.
Spend an hour per topic drafting what you want to say. If you can't find a non-cringe-worthy way to say how each contributes something unique to your future medical school, then listen to that.
If I recall correctly from your other post, you're half-Japanese. There are a LOT of Asian and half-Asian students in medical school. A LOT. So that won't bring anything to your school that it won't already have LOTS of...
And a Japanese student into photography? Where I come from, that's actually a stereotype -- so yeah, not diverse either.
Loving the outdoors -- appealing, but also not unusual.
If I recall correctly from your other post, you're half-Japanese. There are a LOT of Asian and half-Asian students in medical school. A LOT. So that won't bring anything to your school that it won't already have LOTS of...
And a Japanese student into photography? Where I come from, that's actually a stereotype -- so yeah, not diverse either.
Loving the outdoors -- appealing, but also not unusual.
So if I could craft each of these equally which would you recommend since none are really "unique or diverse"
None of the above.
If that's the best you have, maybe take the flip-side argument that in looking for differences, you realized how trivial all your differences really are and that through this realization, you've come to appreciate how much we all really have in common, and how little many of the more visible differences really matter.
If that's the best you have, maybe take the flip-side argument that in looking for differences, you realized how trivial all your differences really are and that through this realization, you've come to appreciate how much we all really have in common, and how little many of the more visible differences really matter.
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Haha, I don't know about that one...
You don't like my choices either?
If pressed, I'd pick the A) choice . . . if you have a deep enough understanding of the Japanese culture and world view and can share that mindset with med school peers.
1) Yes.
2) If you are culturally competent with other cultures that most classmates will have less experience with, then you could approach the question in a less-exclusive way.
@Catalystik What do you mean in a less-exclusive way?
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You would discuss cultural competency with more than 1-2 other cultures.
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