Taking care of special needs sister

[loopydoop]

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I had to take care of my severely autistic sister for essentially two years after high school while enrolled at community college and working about 30 hours a week. Anyways this included helping with showers, meds, food, day to day activities. I was wondering If i could include this under other activities. I have plenty of experiences and activities but the main reason why I want to include this is to explain some poor grades. If not in the activities section is there a place to explain this situation?

 

[LizzyM]

You can work this into your personal statement if it is related to why you are choosing a career in medicine.

You could list it with the tag "other" in the work & activities section of the AMCAS (not volunteer and not employment unless you were paid by the State or some outside entity to provide that care as an alternative to institutionalization). It is good to account for your time in that way but don't expect a lot of forgiveness of poor grades.

 

[Meerkatology]

I had to take care of my severely autistic sister for essentially two years after high school while enrolled at community college and working about 30 hours a week. Anyways this included helping with showers, meds, food, day to day activities. I was wondering If i could include this under other activities. I have plenty of experiences and activities but the main reason why I want to include this is to explain some poor grades. If not in the activities section is there a place to explain this situation?

can't comment on whether it would be a good excuse for poor grades, gut feeling is you shouldn't focus on making excuses for bad things and just focus on selling the good things.

i think this is a very good experience to bring up. certainly a unique healthcare related experience that very few others would have. i would focus on the positives of what u learned from this experience, what kind of perspective it may have given u about healthcare etc. if i was an addmission officer, things like these would make me remember you, and probably wanna talk about it in the interview.

in my mind its better than some garden variety volunteer gig that literally every applicant will have, i can't imagine admission committee going over those for the 23424344th time.

just my random thoughts.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Consider for Other Impactful Experiences in AMCAS and "what else about you" prompts for secondaries/interviews. Contemplate how to integrate into some of the secondaries you may encounter. Contemplate how the experience informed you about what you seek in a physician to care for your family and the qualities you wish to emulate once you are the physician. Consider the respect you wish to convey to those lower in the healthcare hierarchy who must take care of patients and their ADL (activities of daily living) and what distance you want away from that.

 

[loopydoop]

can't comment on whether it would be a good excuse for poor grades, gut feeling is you shouldn't focus on making excuses for bad things and just focus on selling the good things.

i think this is a very good experience to bring up. certainly a unique healthcare related experience that very few others would have. i would focus on the positives of what u learned from this experience, what kind of perspective it may have given u about healthcare etc. if i was an addmission officer, things like these would make me remember you, and probably wanna talk about it in the interview.

in my mind its better than some garden variety volunteer gig that literally every applicant will have, i can't imagine admission committee going over those for the 23424344th time.

just my random thoughts.

Hey thanks for the response 🙂 Thats great perspective thank you. I guess an excuse for poor grades wasn't a good way to word it, but like not having a a stable home situation partially due to this circumstance. I definitely want to try and portray the positives!

 

[Goro]

. I have plenty of experiences and activities but the main reason why I want to include this is to explain some poor grades.?

This will come off as an excuse, not an explanation. You're a good brother, but you won't get cut any slack.

 

[loopydoop]

This will come off as an excuse, not an explanation. You're a good brother, but you won't get cut any slack.

Gotcha! Thank you! Is there an area i can include this part and my life and my sister in my application?

 

[loopydoop]

Consider for Other Impactful Experiences in AMCAS and "what else about you" prompts for secondaries/interviews. Contemplate how to integrate into some of the secondaries you may encounter. Contemplate how the experience informed you about what you seek in a physician to care for your family and the qualities you wish to emulate once you are the physician. Consider the respect you wish to convey to those lower in the healthcare hierarchy who must take care of patients and their ADL (activities of daily living) and what distance you want away from that.

Sounds great 🙂 thank you 🙂

 

[Goro]

Gotcha! Thank you! Is there an area i can include this part and my life and my sister in my application?

Some applications ask you, anything else you want to tell us? Others will have a prompt for what has been your greatest challenge?