Showing previous immaturity in secondaries?

[Hzreio]

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Hello,

A lot of secondaries I have been writing highlight ways I have grown. Unfortunately, this means talking about some of my thought processes/actions that occurred long in the past, such as in my freshman year of college. I am a little self-conscious/ashamed to have behaved as naively as I did, but I feel like talking about this moments is beneficial to highlight the change that has occurred over time. Will talking about the errors of your old ways reflect negatively upon adcoms?

 

[M&L]

Hello,

A lot of secondaries I have been writing highlight ways I have grown. Unfortunately, this means talking about some of my thought processes/actions that occurred long in the past, such as in my freshman year of college. I am a little self-conscious/ashamed to have behaved as naively as I did, but I feel like talking about this moments is beneficial to highlight the change that has occurred over time. Will talking about the errors of your old ways reflect negatively upon adcoms?

I mean, that depends on the errors. Can you give some examples?

 

[Hzreio]

Well like for example, when someone was trying to give me criticism, I had a defensive and naive initial response but then realized the importance of asking them to elaborate, which ended up teaching me a valuable lesson. Another example I can think of is related to a difficult time. Instead of tackling it head-on, I went into the "why did this have to happen to me" mentality, which I learned was wrong. So for future examples, I learned to not think like that and proceeded with a less self-centered mindset, which made me stronger.

 

[M&L]

Well like for example, when someone was trying to give me criticism, I had a defensive and naive initial response but then realized the importance of asking them to elaborate, which ended up teaching me a valuable lesson. Another example I can think of is related to a difficult time. Instead of tackling it head-on, I went into the "why did this have to happen to me" mentality, which I learned was wrong. So for future examples, I learned to not think like that and proceeded with a less self-centered mindset, which made me stronger.

Oh yes, these are just fine. I think admitting that you have/had flaws and realizing your limitations is so important for anyone, especially for doctors (since so many of us have a bit of a superiority complex, myself including - working on it 🙂).

I asked because i was worried you would be talking about things like you taking baseball bat to neighbor's mail boxes, setting things on fire, TP'ing trees, etc, or even worse things, like being a bully, racist, sexist, or something like that. I can see how growing out of even things like this might make a good essay if properly written, but would be risky, in my humble opinion.

would be interesting to see what other members think though, since i am only a medical student, so i dont have as much experience in admissions as some of the faculty or AdCom members on the forum.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Just word it in the write way. "I have grown in the way that I receive feedback which has helped me in these ways" sounds way better than "when someone gave me feedback I disagreed with them and argued, but now I don't argue and realize the value." both say the same thing to the reader but wording can make you look worse.