Secondary Topic - Being Unsuccessful and Learning From it

[RichterScorpio]

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Secondary asks "Name a time where you were unsuccessful. What did you learn from it?"

I was thinking about writing about my first job. I worked at a fast food place, and it was overwhelming at first. Anyway, I worked this job for five months before I got fired for missing a shift. Noting the above circumstances, would this still be an appropriate secondary topic? Not planning on mentioning that I got fired.

 

[MedicineN'Jazz]

Describe a time or situation where you have been unsuccessful or failed. What did you learn from this experience and how have you applied this learning to your work and/or life?

I was thinking about writing about my first job. I worked at a fast food place, and it was overwhelming at first. The pace of work was probably the biggest obstacle for me to overcome. Anyway, I worked this job for five months before I got fired for missing a shift. Noting the above circumstances, would this still be an appropriate secondary topic? Not planning on mentioning that I got fired.

I really, really, really wouldn’t use this. Your adversity essay is supposed to be somewhat emotional (in my opinion atleast). Some questions to consider while writing your essay: What has set you back in life? When have you ever felt like giving up, but valiantly pushed through? etc.

Note: Most pre-meds used some of their harder classes as an example. This was ok....until thousands of pre-meds started using it. So, now it’s a bit cliché. However, if you have any academic red flags, this wouldn’t be a bad place to mention them. I did, and it was well recieved (multiple C’s and W’s first two years of college, crazy jump in GPA last two years). Hope this helps!

 

[RichterScorpio]

I really, really, really wouldn’t use this. Your adversity essay is supposed to be somewhat emotional (in my opinion atleast). Some questions to consider while writing your essay: What has set you back in life? When have you ever felt like giving up, but valiantly pushed through? etc.

Note: Most pre-meds used some of their harder classes as an example. This was ok....until thousands of pre-meds started using it. So, now it’s a bit cliché. However, if you have any academic red flags, this wouldn’t be a bad place to mention them. I did, and it was well received (multiple C’s and W’s first two years of college, crazy jump in GPA last two years). Hope this helps!

Thank you for your post.

I believe an adversity essay is more along the lines of overcoming an obstacle, while this prompt is more about addressing personal failure. Within the context of a mediocre GPA (~3.6), I have a VERY strong, five-semester upward trend which I would love to discuss in a secondary. I'm just worried that anything academic runs the possibility of being perceived as cliché.

 

[ciestar]

I really, really, really wouldn’t use this. Your adversity essay is supposed to be somewhat emotional (in my opinion atleast). Some questions to consider while writing your essay: What has set you back in life? When have you ever felt like giving up, but valiantly pushed through? etc.

Note: Most pre-meds used some of their harder classes as an example. This was ok....until thousands of pre-meds started using it. So, now it’s a bit cliché. However, if you have any academic red flags, this wouldn’t be a bad place to mention them. I did, and it was well recieved (multiple C’s and W’s first two years of college, crazy jump in GPA last two years). Hope this helps!

No, NOT okay and the adcoms here will tell you that. Basically they want to know your life isnt all academics and your only challenge ever shouldnt be ochem.

I did address academics a bit in few of mine, but only because i changed my major super late and i had to take a ridiculous amount of credits to graduate on time. That was hard. All part of the story though..

 

[bananafish94]

Secondary asks "Name a time where you were unsuccessful. What did you learn from it?"

I was thinking about writing about my first job. I worked at a fast food place, and it was overwhelming at first. Anyway, I worked this job for five months before I got fired for missing a shift. Noting the above circumstances, would this still be an appropriate secondary topic? Not planning on mentioning that I got fired.

May I ask why you wouldn't discuss getting fired? If the essay is supposed to be about a time you were unsuccessful, I feel like that fits well with the theme. Is there something you learned from this experience that you could write a good essay about?

 

[trobinsonmd]

Talking about fired is a gamble and it could go either two ways, depending on how you write it... either you break down why you got fired, your thought process/what you learned from it, and what new strategies you implemented to avoid it again, and they probably will respect it, or they could find it irresponsible that you were late to work and might not take it well... if you have something less risky, i would use that... preferable not an academic challenge as most people will write about that... talk about maybe having to work while also juggling school... nice mix of academic and non academic challenges

 

[LizzyM]

Chances are there will be a situation in medical school where you are unsuccessful. You'll fail a test, not make a team, run out of time, get dumped or snubbed, be admonished loudly and publicly despite doing your best, misjudge travel time and arrive late, , or any one of 100 other things, academic, professional or personal. Based on your experiences up until now, what have you learned about yourself and how you handle failure? Schools want to know that you've have enough life experience to have experienced failure and learned about yourself and developed psychologically to be able to deal with failure and disappointment.

 

[Catalystik]

Talking about fired is a gamble and it could go either two ways, depending on how you write it... either you break down why you got fired, your thought process/what you learned from it, and what new strategies you implemented to avoid it again, and they probably will respect it, or they could find it irresponsible that you were late to work and might not take it well... if you have something less risky, i would use that... preferable not an academic challenge as most people will write about that... talk about maybe having to work while also juggling school... nice mix of academic and non academic challenges

If the first job was during the teen years, I doubt that being fired for lateness would be held against them.

 

[trobinsonmd]

If the first job was during the teen years, I doubt that being fired for lateness would be held against them.

not sure when it was... IF it was during the teen years, I would definitely agree with you. If it was during 3rd year of undergrad, different story in my opinion