Secondary Application Trap Question

[MTRN406]

When a school asks for a response to a secondary question and words it as:

"Our values are X, Y, and Z. Which of these value(s) do you consider to be most important, and why?"

Is this a trap? The (s) after "value" in the second sentence throws me off, because it gives you the option of selecting more than one, or all of them.

So, the conundrum is, if you pick all of them and say that they are all equally important, it makes you look wishy-washy. To me, this would come across as not being able to pick a position and defend it.

However, if you pick one of the values and say that it is the most important one and explain why, it might be interpreted as you thinking that the other values are unimportant.

So, no matter how you answer, you end up looking bad.

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[Ayahuasca]

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[jm192]

I would probably just write about how you embody all 3, and that's why you can't see yourself at any other school.

 

[LizzyM]

If you place the values in a hierarchy it does not mean that those that are lower are not important but that they are not the most important. If you had two values at odds and had to choose between them, which would you choose?

 

[Goro]

When a school asks for a response to a secondary question and words it as:

"Our values are X, Y, and Z. Which of these value(s) do you consider to be most important, and why?"

Is this a trap? The (s) after "value" in the second sentence throws me off, because it gives you the option of selecting more than one, or all of them.

So, the conundrum is, if you pick all of them and say that they are all equally important, it makes you look wishy-washy. To me, this would come across as not being able to pick a position and defend it.

However, if you pick one of the values and say that it is the most important one and explain why, it might be interpreted as you thinking that the other values are unimportant.

So, no matter how you answer, you end up looking bad.

This isn't the Prisoner's Dilemma. It's only a trap to people who over think things.

Just answer the question.

 

[gyngyn]

Secondary questions are not traps.
They are opportunities to express your values.

 

[Goro]

The med school admissions process is designed to weed out people who are incapable of thinking beyond the concrete.