Talk About Health Problems in Challenge Essay?

[3rdarmageddon]

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A lot of schools ask some variation of "What has been a significant challenge that you faced and how did you overcome it?" in their secondary applications. I feel that one of the most significant challenges I faced was a health problem that affected me during college. Furthermore, I feel that I learned a lot from the experience. I want to talk about the experience in secondaries, but I'm worried that AdComs will think that the problem was linked to a chronic condition, and pass me over because of it.

Does anyone know whether overcoming health difficulties is viewed as a positive or negative thing in medical school admissions?

 

[deleted303591]

Well, you can mention the condition, but the subject matter might be best suited by what you DID with the diagnosis and how you apply it to medicine, such as with outreach.

The challenge essay should be like "while I encountered problems, I overcame them and I volunteered X,Y,Z organizations pertaining to my illness, to help influence others"

I actually have a couple of autoimmune diseases, one common, and one very rare without a known prognosis. Keep in mind this is how I would approach it to keep the subject matter looking good with Adcoms. But I recommend proceeding with caution, as writing about such subject matter demonstrates that you might have problems that are not going to go away any time soon (no offense).

 

[3rdarmageddon]

Thank you, your input was very helpful.

 

[rickyjhon]

Hi friend, I think Our health care system is complex in the way it is setup and the way it operates. There are many key issues that face the health care system in the United States today. Three of the most difficult issues include diseases, health disparities and paying for health care. As we are capable of preventing diseases through preventive medicine and advanced technology, the mortality rate of the United States will continue to decline. You can use any Health and medicine essay or library books etc to know more about the essay topic.

 

[LuciusVorenus]

A lot of schools ask some variation of "What has been a significant challenge that you faced and how did you overcome it?" in their secondary applications. I feel that one of the most significant challenges I faced was a health problem that affected me during college. Furthermore, I feel that I learned a lot from the experience. I want to talk about the experience in secondaries, but I'm worried that AdComs will think that the problem was linked to a chronic condition, and pass me over because of it.

Does anyone know whether overcoming health difficulties is viewed as a positive or negative thing in medical school admissions?

If you noticed, when submitting secondaries, there are a list of "technical standards" you have to meet to be admitted. As long as your illness does not prevent you from meeting those requirements, you have nothing to worry about.

Here they are for Mayo for example: http://www.mayo.edu/mms/programs/md/admissions/technical-standards

 

[hmockingbird]

Like moco89 said, keep the focus on what you did to cope in order to actually answer the question - beyond that, how much you want to share is up to you. I centered my PS around a surgery I had, but never actually shared what the surgery was for. I also made it very explicit in my essay that this was an emergency/acute problem, and does not affect my life at all anymore. That's an option if you're worried they will think you are too sick to go to school, etc.