Secondary questions question

[DenTony11235]

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For secondaries that ask about a significant challenge I overcame and how it's come to define me, can I talk about reinventing myself? I had a 2.7 freshman GPa because I didn't know what I was doing in college and what I wanted to be, then I had an extremely sharp upwards trend which only got better. Would it be cliche to talk about reinventing myself and that I was my own greatest obstacle? Or do they want something else (more specific)?

 

[baxt1412]

If you think that was a significant challenge for you, then it perfectly fits what they are askin

 

[DenTony11235]

If you think that was a significant challenge for you, then it perfectly fits what they are askin

I agree that it fits. I just don't want to sound cliche. I guess it really depends on how I word it, because if I'm not careful it might end up sounding like this whole premed thing was difficult for only me.

Do I have any +1's for this being answer being ok'd? Can anyone else share what they wrote about so maybe I get some food for thought?

 

[baxt1412]

the whole "terrible freshman year GPA" thing is relatively pretty common.. so like you said it all depends on how you write it. was there any specific experience that really lit the fire under your butt? mine was when my research advisor/the person who i was TA'ing for/sort of personal mentor pulled me aside during my TA and asked me what was going on etc etc. if there is something similar to this that you could include to "paint a picture", that could be much more effective than just saying "I realized i couldn't achieve my dream of becoming a doctor with Cs and Ds"

 

[DenTony11235]

the whole "terrible freshman year GPA" thing is relatively pretty common.. so like you said it all depends on how you write it. was there any specific experience that really lit the fire under your butt? mine was when my research advisor/the person who i was TA'ing for/sort of personal mentor pulled me aside during my TA and asked me what was going on etc etc. if there is something similar to this that you could include to "paint a picture", that could be much more effective than just saying "I realized i couldn't achieve my dream of becoming a doctor with Cs and Ds"

I didn't know what I wanted to do in college that's why I f'd up. Then after experimenting with bio during sophomore year and doing well, I realized I could have a future if I chose to have one.

I wasn't one of those people that was born knowing what they wanted to do. It was a slow process for me beginning in sophomore year. Does that sound less cliche in your opinion or is that still a bit bland?

I could also talk about how I always wanted to be a beach lifeguard for 6 years and never made it until this year because I was so determined to make it this year. Do you think that would be better or still boring?

 

[baxt1412]

To me the lifeguard sounds more interesting.

 

[kyamh]

Lifeguard is better. There are lots of students who are able to not screw up early in college. Although no one really cares if you screw up first year, it's still not very "impressive" to overcome being unmotivated/lazy/too interested in drinking/careless...it's expected.

Edit: Also, a 2.7 first year GPA isn't that awful. You don't have many grades to balance anything out which is why the number can seem very low, so you basically got B's with a C here or there, right?

 

[DenTony11235]

Lifeguard is better. There are lots of students who are able to not screw up early in college. Although no one really cares if you screw up first year, it's still not very "impressive" to overcome being unmotivated/lazy/too interested in drinking/careless...it's expected.

Edit: Also, a 2.7 first year GPA isn't that awful. You don't have many grades to balance anything out which is why the number can seem very low, so you basically got B's with a C here or there, right?

2.7 was due to an F then a D in calculus. All other classes were B's and A's. Not that cal was hard for me, I just didn't even try. I retook calculus and got an A just this last semester. I could write about calculus being this challenge, but getting the A really was no challenge at all with my current self. Should I spin that into a challenge or still stick to lifeguarding? In your opinion.

 

[DenTony11235]

To me the lifeguard sounds more interesting.

Thanks for the input. Could you read my above comment and tell me if that might be a better story?

Again, thank you.

 

[kyamh]

2.7 was due to an F then a D in calculus. All other classes were B's and A's. Not that cal was hard for me, I just didn't even try. I retook calculus and got an A just this last semester. I could write about calculus being this challenge, but getting the A really was no challenge at all with my current self. Should I spin that into a challenge or still stick to lifeguarding? In your opinion.

I still like lifeguarding or "other, yet to be determined topic." Talking about course difficulty is not very interesting/impressive for the same reasons: plenty of people learn to study well without a lot of trouble and plenty of people get snagged along the way and find their way back.

Your essays are a chance to talk about a new side of what makes your application interesting and cool and to showcase your experiences and talents. Do you want the adcoms to read about a cool EC that means a lot to you and appreciate how you persevered or do you want them to read about how you couldn't handle undergraduate coursework/responsibility without a self-reinvention? 🙂

 

[baxt1412]

One F and one D does not justify a difficult experience in my opinion. Sure it was difficult.. i'm sure it wasn't easy peasy but I truly do think the lifeguard thing seems like it'd be way better. Almost everyone has a "bad freshman year" story.

 

[DenTony11235]

One F and one D does not justify a difficult experience in my opinion. Sure it was difficult.. i'm sure it wasn't easy peasy but I truly do think the lifeguard thing seems like it'd be way better. Almost everyone has a "bad freshman year" story.

Thank you for the input.

 

[DenTony11235]

I still like lifeguarding or "other, yet to be determined topic." Talking about course difficulty is not very interesting/impressive for the same reasons: plenty of people learn to study well without a lot of trouble and plenty of people get snagged along the way and find their way back.

Your essays are a chance to talk about a new side of what makes your application interesting and cool and to showcase your experiences and talents. Do you want the adcoms to read about a cool EC that means a lot to you and appreciate how you persevered or do you want them to read about how you couldn't handle undergraduate coursework/responsibility without a self-reinvention? 🙂

I'm sticking to lifeguarding. I actually made quite an interesting story of it. Thank you

 

[baxt1412]

I'm sticking to lifeguarding. I actually made quite an interesting story of it. Thank you

good luck. i think it has the potential to be a great story even without knowing many details.

 

[DenTony11235]

good luck. i think it has the potential to be a great story even without knowing many details.

Good man. I really appreciate you saying that. Best of luck to you as well.