Should substance abuse recovery be used in essays?

[-smacked-]

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It's a fairly big part of my life and the vast majority of healthy changes that I made and adversities that I overcame are related to recovery. I won't have any visible criminal record when I apply to med school, so is it wise to bring it up? If the answer's no, should I rephrase the catalyst for these changes as depression or something in that vein?

Would it be better to use watered down essays and focus on the improvements I made where I can, or should I use legitimate stories and see how it plays out?

For reference I'll (most likely) be 29 with 4 years clean when applying, after finishing a second bachelor's. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[LizzyM]

Let me approach this a much different way: What do you hope to do as a physician? Why do you want to do that? How have you tested the waters and found that you would find joy in that work? What are some of the downsides of a career in medicine? (If you can't think of any, you haven't tested the waters sufficiently.) (These are questions for you to reflect on; I am not expecting a response.)

Although recovery may be a big part of your life, it may not necessarily be why you want to be a physician. (If it is, you might want to consider becoming an addiction counselor, clinical social worker or psychologist.)

No one cares what healthy changes you made for your own life. They want to know if you realize what your are getting into, if you want to care for the sick, injured, worried well, and healthy folks who want to stay that way (preventive services, well baby care, well woman care) for 30-40 years, if you want to be a life-long learner, and if you have the grit and work ethic to put in the many years of deferred gratification to achieve the goal.

 

[Hollow Knight]

The other thing is that honestly you'd probably be discriminated against because of this. Keep it to yourself (until you're an attending one day and can maybe encourage some people, but even then it's probably best to keep it to yourself).

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Consider framing the value of your experience, but you should run your outline/answer through trusted professionals, including your mentor physicians.

This should give you insight to the current mindset regarding substance abuse among medical school students.

How to help a fellow medical student struggling with drugs or alcohol

Medical students were already at risk of substance use disorder. The isolation and stress caused by the pandemic have exacerbated the contributing factors.

www.aamc.org

Escaping Addiction with Dignity as a Medical Student

Escaping Addiction with Dignity as a Medical Student. A thoughtful and personal essay highlighting addiction in the medical community by Luke Collins

www.aliem.com

Substance Use in Medical Students | Physician Substance Use

COVID-19 increased stress amongst physicians. Read about a recent study that looked at substance use in medical students and the effects of the pandemic.

www.providencetreatment.com

https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2024.02.2.24

Addiction and Recovery Medicine Student Interest Group | UCLA Medical School

Our mission is to support the health and dignity of persons and communities impacted by addiction. To promote evidence-based addiction education to medical students, physicians and other health trainees. To strive to sustain every person’s right to health and welfare. We recognize each...

medschool.ucla.edu

I hope you have insight from current students about how open their student body is about this topic.

 

[-smacked-]

Let me approach this a much different way: What do you hope to do as a physician? Why do you want to do that? How have you tested the waters and found that you would find joy in that work? What are some of the downsides of a career in medicine? (If you can't think of any, you haven't tested the waters sufficiently.) (These are questions for you to reflect on; I am not expecting a response.)

Although recovery may be a big part of your life, it may not necessarily be why you want to be a physician. (If it is, you might want to consider becoming an addiction counselor, clinical social worker or psychologist.)

No one cares what healthy changes you made for your own life. They want to know if you realize what your are getting into, if you want to care for the sick, injured, worried well, and healthy folks who want to stay that way (preventive services, well baby care, well woman care) for 30-40 years, if you want to be a life-long learner, and if you have the grit and work ethic to put in the many years of deferred gratification to achieve the goal.

Appreciate the insight, I'd like to clarify a bit on that. The two are largely unrelated, I just happen to have a past history of addiction and I'm also in the process of pursuing medical school. I was asking more about the admissions essay prompts, recovery's been a major part of my life but if you think I should just find something else to talk about I can definitely go that route. Any chance I could get your thoughts on that?

 

[-smacked-]

Consider framing the value of your experience, but you should run your outline/answer through trusted professionals, including your mentor physicians.

This should give you insight to the current mindset regarding substance abuse among medical school students.

How to help a fellow medical student struggling with drugs or alcohol

Medical students were already at risk of substance use disorder. The isolation and stress caused by the pandemic have exacerbated the contributing factors.

www.aamc.org

Escaping Addiction with Dignity as a Medical Student

Escaping Addiction with Dignity as a Medical Student. A thoughtful and personal essay highlighting addiction in the medical community by Luke Collins

www.aliem.com

Substance Use in Medical Students | Physician Substance Use

COVID-19 increased stress amongst physicians. Read about a recent study that looked at substance use in medical students and the effects of the pandemic.

www.providencetreatment.com

https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2024.02.2.24

Addiction and Recovery Medicine Student Interest Group | UCLA Medical School

Our mission is to support the health and dignity of persons and communities impacted by addiction. To promote evidence-based addiction education to medical students, physicians and other health trainees. To strive to sustain every person’s right to health and welfare. We recognize each...

medschool.ucla.edu

I hope you have insight from current students about how open their student body is about this topic.

I'll definitely look into talking to some physicians about it, and thanks for the links.

 

[LizzyM]

I'd avoid anything that might create a reason for an adcom member to be biased against you. Find other topics to expand on when asked about how you deal with stress, overcame difficulties, etc.

 

[-smacked-]

I'd avoid anything that might create a reason for an adcom member to be biased against you. Find other topics to expand on when asked about how you deal with stress, overcame difficulties, etc.

Will do, appreciate it.

 

[Isoval]

It would be tricky. I wouldn’t tell you absolutely not, but I think you should be very far removed from it temporally before you even consider speaking about it and exercise an abnormally high degree of caution.

If you do this, I would recommend having a very large number of people read the essay before submission to ensure everything comes off the way you want it to come off.

The safer approach is to utilize the things this taught you without actually mentioning the drug abuse or any of the overtly negative things surrounding it.

I personally would welcome this story, but it is something that is guaranteed to be divisive.

 

[ABCWRDB]

I would not mention it--unless you had a sub optimal record which dramatically improved and you need to answer "why". For example if you had a 2.0 your first year and went into recovery and shot to a 4.0--then you may wish to divulge the "why" but I would keep it quiet unless asked or important. Many people still do not understand addiction and may use it as a negative. Remember that most adcom members are not Physicians.
Edit--feel free to add things you learned in rehab/recovery such as meditation as ways to deal with stress.

 

[-smacked-]

I would not mention it--unless you had a sub optimal record which dramatically improved and you need to answer "why". For example if you had a 2.0 your first year and went into recovery and shot to a 4.0--then you may wish to divulge the "why" but I would keep it quiet unless asked or important. Many people still do not understand addiction and may use it as a negative. Remember that most adcom members are not Physicians.
Edit--feel free to add things you learned in rehab/recovery such as meditation as ways to deal with stress.

Yeah I failed out of my senior year of a computer science bachelor's in 2022, I assume the "why" is probably going to come up. Anyway, I should have 4 years clean, a biochem undergrad degree, and an expunged record at my time of application, do you think that's far enough removed to talk about it?

 

[-smacked-]

It would be tricky. I wouldn’t tell you absolutely not, but I think you should be very far removed from it temporally before you even consider speaking about it and exercise an abnormally high degree of caution.

If you do this, I would recommend having a very large number of people read the essay before submission to ensure everything comes off the way you want it to come off.

The safer approach is to utilize the things this taught you without actually mentioning the drug abuse or any of the overtly negative things surrounding it.

I personally would welcome this story, but it is something that is guaranteed to be divisive.

By the time I'm applying I should have 4 years clean, a bachelor's in biochem, and an expunged record. Do you think that's far enough removed?

 

[LizzyM]

Yeah I failed out of my senior year of a computer science bachelor's in 2022, I assume the "why" is probably going to come up. Anyway, I should have 4 years clean, a biochem undergrad degree, and an expunged record at my time of application, do you think that's far enough removed to talk about it?

Failing out of school is an institutional action (IA) that you will need to describe in your application. It is going to add an extra layer of review to your application. At some schools, this extra review is done separately from decisions about interview/admission and anyone cleared by the "IA sub-committee" is to be considered admissible in that regard. Some schools are going to take a harder line on such an IA and others may accept your explanation.

 

[Styrene]

It's a fairly big part of my life and the vast majority of healthy changes that I made and adversities that I overcame are related to recovery. I won't have any visible criminal record when I apply to med school, so is it wise to bring it up? If the answer's no, should I rephrase the catalyst for these changes as depression or something in that vein?

Would it be better to use watered down essays and focus on the improvements I made where I can, or should I use legitimate stories and see how it plays out?

For reference I'll (most likely) be 29 with 4 years clean when applying, after finishing a second bachelor's. Any advice is appreciated.

Congrats on the recovery first of all. I was nine years sober when I started medical school, now 15 years. I did not mention it in my personal statement at all. However, I mentioned it in one secondary essay and was accepted to that school. It was kind of like a screw it moment, and I just told my story. I had a DWI, also nine years prior, so it was the most straightforward explanation for that. If you don't have to mention it in those application materials, I probably wouldn't. But as was said above, if it is central to why you are going down this career path, then there may be certain appropriate ways to tell that story. Also, four years may not be that long in the eyes of adcoms, but I'm not sure. Good luck!