Secondaries: most rewarding experinece

[tyrsa]

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Many secondaries ask applicants to describe one most rewarding experience. Its so hard to pick just ONE experience..

As a first step, I want to pick a specific category of what to write about for this question: research experience or clinical experience. I have had rewarding experiences in both areas.

Does anyone have any advice or comments regarding writing about a research vs. a clinical experience? What are you guys writing about for similar questions?

 

[tyrsa]

*I apologize for the mistake in the title.

 

[NotASerialKiller]

*I apologize for the mistake in the title.

You were right to jump on it quickly, I didn't even see it but boy howdy if I had...

 

[steelersfan1243]

You were right to jump on it quickly, I didn't even see it but boy howdy if I had...

You're telling me, I let out a HUGE sigh seeing OP had caught that mistake before me

 

[ndafife]

For research focused schools - write about research
For clinical/primary care focused schools - write about clinical experiences

For ones that are a mix of both, pick the best one

 

[starlite911]

For the one school that asked, I wrote about climbing a mountain

 

[feather421]

Honestly, I would do neither. I would much prefer to read something that really tells me about you as a person and not further information on your research or clinical experience, which already permeates your application.

A lot of schools also specify that this should be a non-academic achievement. I had a couple fun anecdotes that I shuffled around that I thought told them something about my character. I hated the "ONE MOST IMPORTANT" phrasing, and would mutter to myself "Well my most important/rewarding achievement will be getting done with this process and going to med school...mumble grumble grumble" but then would ultimately realize that my experiences that came to mind were meaningful in their own ways. Yes, running a 10 minute mile =/= saving a child dying of AIDS using your preternatural pre-med skills, but it can still be very important to you and you can write a good essay about what you got out of the experience.