Secondaries - balancing authenticity and repetitiveness

[annabethchase]

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Hi all! Not sure I'm posting this in the right place but I have seen a bunch of posts from this and previous cycles emphasizing the need to avoid being repetitive between primary and secondary i.e. don't become a one trick pony.

I understand the merit of this entirely but I suppose I'm finding it in conflict with being authentic. During my gap year, I lived abroad doing medical work. This was a hugely formative experience so in my opinion it would be inauthentic (perhaps even odd) to not address it in multiple places i.e. was in my PS, comprises one most meaningful activity, and it is the strongest reference for secondaries such as greatest personal achievements, what I did this past year, challenges, etc. I'm not using the same story every time at all but I wanted to understand if there is harm in using this experience multiple times in secondaries for the same school if its authentic and makes up the total of an entire gap year. Thank you!

 

[deleted1220239]

It's fine.

As long as you're not copying and pasting all 15 of your meaningful activities onto your secondaries and change the wording, you're good to go

 

[Mr.Smile12]

This is an admissions process, and to some extent, the neuroticism of comparison comes into play. Sure, we want you to be authentic, but when it comes to fitting in with others who have multiple dimensions and reasons they feel becoming a physician is their calling, it's going to be tough if you call on the same activity as the source of all of your understanding and competency... especially when you aren't a physician.