"Significant challenges you have faced" Secondary Questions for someone who has grown up with a lot of privilege

[GR_applicant]

**I do not in any way mean to come across as insensitive in the following question. I grew up with a lot of privilege and am aware of it. I am so concerned about how to appropriately answer this question because I don't want to take time away from other applicants answers to these prompts who have experienced challenging and traumatic life experiences.**

Hello! I've starting to prep some of my secondary application questions and am having a bit of a moral dilemma. Lots of schools have a prompt where they want you to write about any significant challenges you have faced in your life. I'm extremely lucky to say that I have not experienced many challenges or trauma in my life, but that also leaves me with nothing of substance to write about. Do I just milk a situation that was not actually that challenging (transferring schools, conflicts at work)? I feel like application committees would so easily stiff that out and I don't want to waste their time.

Any advice on this topic would be super helpful, or if someone could point me in the direction of a similar thread. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there unsure on how to answer this question.

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[M&L]

Honestly you can write essay about exactly that - that you grew up privileged, and you saw other ppl face challenges that are life changing and you cannot relate to them . And how you are planning to address that shortcoming when you work with patients .

 

[Goro]

**I do not in any way mean to come across as insensitive in the following question. I grew up with a lot of privilege and am aware of it. I am so concerned about how to appropriately answer this question because I don't want to take time away from other applicants answers to these prompts who have experienced challenging and traumatic life experiences.**

Hello! I've starting to prep some of my secondary application questions and am having a bit of a moral dilemma. Lots of schools have a prompt where they want you to write about any significant challenges you have faced in your life. I'm extremely lucky to say that I have not experienced many challenges or trauma in my life, but that also leaves me with nothing of substance to write about. Do I just milk a situation that was not actually that challenging (transferring schools, conflicts at work)? I feel like application committees would so easily stiff that out and I don't want to waste their time.

Any advice on this topic would be super helpful, or if someone could point me in the direction of a similar thread. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there unsure on how to answer this question.

Introspection is a required trait for a doctor.

You may not have had cancer or the loss of a parent, but you haven't had a charm free life either.

 

[alm414]

Honestly you can write essay about exactly that - that you grew up privileged, and you saw other ppl face challenges that are life changing and you cannot relate to them . And how you are planning to address that shortcoming when you work with patients .

I have to strongly disagree with this. Trying to spin your privileged upbringing as a challenge you've faced because you can't relate to others sounds super disingenuous.

OP, transferring schools and conflicts at work are both fine topics to write about. Without knowing too much about your situation, I'd lean towards the transferring schools topic. I could easily see that segueing into talking about community/relationship building in a new and foreign environment.

 

[JimKimSlim]

**I do not in any way mean to come across as insensitive in the following question. I grew up with a lot of privilege and am aware of it. I am so concerned about how to appropriately answer this question because I don't want to take time away from other applicants answers to these prompts who have experienced challenging and traumatic life experiences.**

Hello! I've starting to prep some of my secondary application questions and am having a bit of a moral dilemma. Lots of schools have a prompt where they want you to write about any significant challenges you have faced in your life. I'm extremely lucky to say that I have not experienced many challenges or trauma in my life, but that also leaves me with nothing of substance to write about. Do I just milk a situation that was not actually that challenging (transferring schools, conflicts at work)? I feel like application committees would so easily stiff that out and I don't want to waste their time.

Any advice on this topic would be super helpful, or if someone could point me in the direction of a similar thread. I'm sure I'm not the only one out there unsure on how to answer this question.

Honestly, I was exactly in the same shoe as you cuz I didn’t grow up with significant challenges. Here’s what I did: I first acknowledged that I didn’t face any challenges growing up but I volunteered at XYZ and realized how privileged I was, so I invited other friends to volunteer with me to spread awareness and even started a volunteer/awareness group at school to support XYZ. Got two A’s and was able to talk about this with two of the schools I interviewed at.
Hope this gives you an idea.

 

[Goro]

Honestly you can write essay about exactly that - that you grew up privileged, and you saw other ppl face challenges that are life changing and you cannot relate to them . And how you are planning to address that shortcoming when you work with patients .

M&L, are you being facetious? Sarcasm doesn't travel well over the electrons!

 

[M&L]

M&L, are you being facetious? Sarcasm doesn't travel well over the electrons!

No I am serious! I can totally see how one can write a very very good essay out of this . I think that reflecting on life changing challenges of others, recognizing that you didn’t have that experiences growing up privileged and talking about how you are going to address that to become a better doctor is better than writing a BS essay about “adversity” of transferring to a different school or something like that (because that could be perceived as lack of insight, especially if compared to students who are immigrants, veterans, foster kids, etc).

but honestly , I feel like with good writing one can make a good essay out of many things, and you definitely can! Just dig deep into your thoughts on that, and I am sure you will come up with something that speaks to you . Write from your heart

 

[M&L]

Honestly, I was exactly in the same shoe as you cuz I didn’t grow up with significant challenges. Here’s what I did: I first acknowledged that I didn’t face any challenges growing up but I volunteered at XYZ and realized how privileged I was, so I invited other friends to volunteer with me to spread awareness and even started a volunteer/awareness group at school to support XYZ. Got two A’s and was able to talk about this with two of the schools I interviewed at.
Hope this gives you an idea.

Yeah this is sort of exactly what I am talking about !!!

 

[BeMoConsulting]

Hi there! It’s true that some students struggle with the "overcoming challenges" prompt because they feel truly fortunate in life and don't feel that they've faced adversity. So, if you haven't faced adversity, what should you write in this section? The truth is, everyone has faced adversity, the struggle that you are face in answering this question is that you are categorizing the prompt incorrectly. Adversity simply means difficulty or misfortune, but students often take this term to the most extreme and feel that it only applies to a serious situation such as the loss of a loved one, a serious disability, or a life-altering illness. While these are certainly hardships worth discussing, they are not the only hardships people face. Everyone has overcome a difficult situation, so your job is to really think about hardship that affected you personally. For instance, can you think of a time when something didn't go the way you had hoped? Have you fallen out with a best friend? Have you made a mistake that had unfortunate consequences? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you likely have a good topic for discussion, as long as you can expand the topic and think about how it affected you and what you learned moving forward. Best of luck to you!

 

[LizzyM]

As I said a day or two ago, the medical school assumes, correctly, that you are likely to face challenges in medical school. They figure that what you've learned from prior challenges in life will help you thrive when challenged in medical school. So, it is not so much about how hard you've had it in life (no prize for hardships) but rather what you've learned and how those lessons will help in the future.

The challenge you faced can be a single episode: losing your wallet or passport to a pickpocket, having to deal with loss of electric power or having a plumbing problem or a flooded basement.

 

[Fano]

As I said a day or two ago, the medical school assumes, correctly, that you are likely to face challenges in medical school. They figure that what you've learned from prior challenges in life will help you thrive when challenged in medical school. So, it is not so much about how hard you've had it in life (no prize for hardships) but rather what you've learned and how those lessons will help in the future.

The challenge you faced can be a single episode: losing your wallet or passport to a pickpocket, having to deal with loss of electric power or having a plumbing problem or a flooded basement.

Since we have all faced challenges in varying degrees in just about every facet of our lives, we have much to choose from big & small. And I would imagine most of us have faced some level of challenges in school. So would there be any benefit to write about a school-related challenge?

 

[LizzyM]

Since we have all faced challenges in varying degrees in just about every facet of our lives, we have much to choose from big & small. And I would imagine most of us have faced some level of challenges in school. So would there be any benefit to write about a school-related challenge?

Some schools will specify "non-academic" but others do not. As always, respond to the prompt.

 

[GoPenguinsGo]

Does having to carry my team in Halo 3 Team Slayer back in the day by going atleast +10 for us to have a chance at winning count as facing hardships?

 

[theendisnigh]

Does having to carry my team in Halo 3 Team Slayer back in the day by going atleast +10 for us to have a chance at winning count as facing hardships?

I would place you as a disadvantaged applicant, that's a tough burden to carry

 

[LizzyM]

Privileged hardship is cruising the islands in Daddy's yacht and discovering that you've left your earbuds in Newport.

 

[Goro]

Since we have all faced challenges in varying degrees in just about every facet of our lives, we have much to choose from big & small. And I would imagine most of us have faced some level of challenges in school. So would there be any benefit to write about a school-related challenge?

Picking an academic challenge usually is a telegraph for people who have no lives outside of academia.

 

[KnuxNole]

Privileged hardship is cruising the islands in Daddy's yacht and discovering that you've left your earbuds in Newport.

That would be a great essay, especially if someone forgot their phone during the boat trip. You can write a well thought out essay on having to cope with not having access to social media and music, interactions without the comfort of a phone