talking about having a priveleged upbringing in personal statement?

[ruk2012]

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I have a question for you SDNers.

I grew up very wealthy and I know how lucky I was. all my life, i was very sheltered. my parents, especially my Dad who is a financial bigshot, emphasized a philosophy of "meritocracy" - i.e. that people who are the best/work the hardest deserve to be given the best rewards.

i never gave it much thought growing up, but after college i started to get a bigger view of the world. i had my first volunteering experience and made connections with people from poor, urban backgrounds. i became more aware of social inequality and the fact that people who are born into harsh circumstances were never given the opportunities to succeed that i was given. i did a couple more similar experiences working with the urban poor and with criminals, and i became very interested in going into medicine to help these populations. i saw medicine as the perfect way to blend my desire for a purposeful and service-oriented career with my love of biology. i've come to realize that the mentality i was brought up with is very self-serving and i truly believe that because i was lucky enough to have the resources to succeed, i should spend my adult life helping those who aren't so lucky.

is this is totally stupid thing to talk about in a PS? i don't want to sound snobbish or bratty or like i am condescending to "those sad little poor people." I truly believe that since I was given a great upbringing and education, I have a duty to use the tools I have to help others.

Is this an OK theme? What are your thoughts? Thanks.

 

[ruk2012]

I'd avoid an "I was rich, but I understand the plight of the poor from my two extra-curricular activities" theme. More than likely you'll seem insincere and naive. Stick to the standard themes of "Why medicine?" and "Why you?" for your personal statement and avoid getting tossed in the reject pile with the rest of the self-entitled applicants. I'd work on reworking your statement to reflect you as a unique individual rather than you as a member of the social class you identify with.

Mmm...I see what you are saying. I mean, ofc I oversimplified for the sake of the post... But I'm just kind of in a state of frustration and confusion at this point. Even tossing out the fact that I'm wealthy, the truth of "Why medicine" for me lies in the extracurriculars I did with the urban poor in clinical settings.I don't have doctor relatives or a sick family member. I never even considered medicine until I had these experiences in college. I don't know how to candidly express the fact that I want to go into medicine because these experiences gave me a purpose I believed in.

P.S. Forgive my candor, but "medicine as the perfect way to blend my desire for a purposeful and service-oriented career with my love of biology" is about as trite as personal statements get. You need to rethink your personal statement themes.

I would *never* use that phrasing in a personal statement. but don't most of pre-meds want to be doctors because they like science and want to use their academic passion for some useful purpose? Why the hell else would you want to be a doctor? Because you like feeling important and bossing nurses around?

I just don't know at this point. I'm at such a huge loss. Wahhh.

 

[SnowyRox]

It all depends on how you write it.

I think that talking about how you grew up surrounded by a worldview of meritocracy and how that changed in college through working with urban poor can be an okay place to start. Write it well, make sure you don't sound arrogant or condescending, and you answer the question.

Any feedback on PS topics on SDN is rarely good.

 

[charlesthethirt]

INCLUDE IN YOUR P.S.

 

[ruk2012]

@charlesthethirt

Thanks, your disdain is super-dee-duper helpful.

 

[circulus vitios]

Forgive my candor, but "medicine as the perfect way to blend my desire for a purposeful and service-oriented career with my love of biology" is about as trite as personal statements get. You need to rethink your personal statement themes.

All personal statements are trite garbage. At least this way he's being honest.

 

[kimicurtis]

+1 to Charles.

But, fun and joke aside. I think that you should talk about your experience in service. How connecting with those individuals, helping them in whatever way you did allowed you to develop an interest in underserved populations. You should emphasize how thus clinical experience made you realize that you thoroughly enjoyed the clinical environment.

But, you should never state that you were privileged. Because, the truth is that know one really likes to hear that, even privileged people themselves.

Though, you should present the experience as if it opened your eyes to the concerns of this group and made you realize how much you enjoyed working towards the alleviation of these issues.

Hope I made sense and helped. Good luck!

 

[235788]

I have a question for you SDNers.

I grew up very wealthy and I know how lucky I was. all my life, i was very sheltered. my parents, especially my Dad who is a financial bigshot, emphasized a philosophy of "meritocracy" - i.e. that people who are the best/work the hardest deserve to be given the best rewards.

i never gave it much thought growing up, but after college i started to get a bigger view of the world. i had my first volunteering experience and made connections with people from poor, urban backgrounds. i became more aware of social inequality and the fact that people who are born into harsh circumstances were never given the opportunities to succeed that i was given. i did a couple more similar experiences working with the urban poor and with criminals, and i became very interested in going into medicine to help these populations. i saw medicine as the perfect way to blend my desire for a purposeful and service-oriented career with my love of biology. i've come to realize that the mentality i was brought up with is very self-serving and i truly believe that because i was lucky enough to have the resources to succeed, i should spend my adult life helping those who aren't so lucky.

is this is totally stupid thing to talk about in a PS? i don't want to sound snobbish or bratty or like i am condescending to "those sad little poor people." I truly believe that since I was given a great upbringing and education, I have a duty to use the tools I have to help others.

Is this an OK theme? What are your thoughts? Thanks.

I feel like they kind of expect us white folk to come from this kinds of background.

 

[thlaxer]

Even tossing out the fact that I'm wealthy, the truth of "Why medicine" for me lies in the extracurriculars I did with the urban poor in clinical settings ... I never even considered medicine until I had these experiences in college. I don't know how to candidly express the fact that I want to go into medicine because these experiences gave me a purpose I believed in.

...but don't most of pre-meds want to be doctors because they like science and want to use their academic passion for some useful purpose?

I don't think you should include in your PS that you're "very wealthy" or that your dad's a "financial bigshot." I would let schools come to that conclusion by themselves (from your family income + parent's occupation info). I would also recommend not talking about your dad's "self-serving" meritocracy philosophy like that. It currently sounds critical/negative and doesn't portray your dad in the best light. You generally want to avoid saying or implying negative things about others in your PS.

You should include in your experiences volunteering for the urban poor, since that is what exposed you to medicine. Your goal is to write a genuine and sincere PS that explains your motivations well. If it happens to be "unique" (which is very unlikely), great; if not, no big loss. The whole idea of needing a unique theme is really overemphasized on here imo.. Don't fall into that trap like I initially did. I would suggest writing from the heart instead. Wanting to help others (as cliche as it is) is a good reason. You can make it personal by talking about this in the context of your experiences to explain why medicine is the best fit for you (and not something else like social work, where you can also help others, etc.). Hope this helps a bit and good luck!!

You should emphasize how thus clinical experience made you realize that you thoroughly enjoyed the clinical environment.

But, you should never state that you were privileged. Because, the truth is that know one really likes to hear that, even privileged people themselves.

Though, you should present the experience as if it opened your eyes to the concerns of this group and made you realize how much you enjoyed working towards the alleviation of these issues.

+1. Basically this.

 

[ruk2012]

I don't think you should include in your PS that you're "very wealthy" or that your dad's a "financial bigshot." I would let schools come to that conclusion by themselves (from your family income + parent's occupation info). I would also recommend not talking about your dad's "self-serving" meritocracy philosophy like that. It currently sounds critical/negative and doesn't portray your dad in the best light. You generally want to avoid saying or implying negative things about others in your PS.

Well, haha, he is an ******* and I'd never want to be like him. But daddy issues aside...

I hear you. Thanks for the thoughtful advice. I was overly concerned with the uniqueness thing but like you said... At this point, **** it, I'm just going to be honest. Thanks so much.