Secondaries Adversity Question

[mountaingal]

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Hi all, I am currently pre-writing my secondaries, and am working on the adversity question. I am writing about a family medical emergency, and how I supported myself and others during this time. I realized though, that the semester this event occurred was also a semester where my GPA sank. Would an ADCOM look at this and think that it shows that I wasn't coping well, as my academics took a hit, likely because of this experience? I understand that this question is all about making sure that difficult experiences won't severely impact your medical school trajectory, so I want to make sure this won't be seen as a red flag.

 

[Catalystik]

Hi all, I am currently pre-writing my secondaries, and am working on the adversity question. I am writing about a family medical emergency, and how I supported myself and others during this time. I realized though, that the semester this event occurred was also a semester where my GPA sank. Would an ADCOM look at this and think that it shows that I wasn't coping well, as my academics took a hit, likely because of this experience? I understand that this question is all about making sure that difficult experiences won't severely impact your medical school trajectory, so I want to make sure this won't be seen as a red flag.

Adverse circumstances like this should lead to some introspection: what did you learn about your limitations, what would you do differently if it happened again to minimize the negative impact, who could you have reached out to for help, and what insights did you gain?

The point isn't to force you to reveal negative outcomes and ding you for them, but perhaps to give you an opportunity to show how you grew from the experience, whether you took responsibility, that you might have more resilience in the future.

 

[Goro]

Hi all, I am currently pre-writing my secondaries, and am working on the adversity question. I am writing about a family medical emergency, and how I supported myself and others during this time. I realized though, that the semester this event occurred was also a semester where my GPA sank. Would an ADCOM look at this and think that it shows that I wasn't coping well, as my academics took a hit, likely because of this experience? I understand that this question is all about making sure that difficult experiences won't severely impact your medical school trajectory, so I want to make sure this won't be seen as a red flag.

It's a fine topic, and yes, it would bring up both judgement and coping skills.

IF you have a nice GPA recovery, that will go a long way to allaying your (and our) worries.

SDNers need to be aware that medical students need to be somewhat selfish, and that you can't run home for every emergency.

 

[mountaingal]

Adverse circumstances like this should lead to some introspection: what did you learn about your limitations, what would you do differently if it happened again to minimize the negative impact, who could you have reached out to for help, and what insights did you gain?

The point isn't to force you to reveal negative outcomes and ding you for them, but perhaps to give you an opportunity to show how you grew from the experience, whether you took responsibility, that you might have more resilience in the future.

Thank you very much for your feedback. I will certainly keep this in mind to make sure the focus of my essay stays on track!

 

[mountaingal]

It's a fine topic, and yes, it would bring up both judgement and coping skills.

IF you have a nice GPA recovery, that will go a long way to allaying your (and our) worries.

SDNers need to be aware that medical students need to be somewhat selfish, and that you can't run home for every emergency.

That is good to hear. I do have a strong upward trend and some extra classes since graduation, which I hope will help dissuade some of those concerns. I am glad to hear the topic will also work well. Thank you for your response!

 

[Catalystik]

Thank you very much for your feedback. I will certainly keep this in mind to make sure the focus of my essay stays on track!

Sounds good.