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leonardoson

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Hey Everyone,

I can't decide whether or not to reveal on my applications in the future about my struggle with drugs and alcohol in high-school. I will be a non trade applicant with no blemishes since then and have been on the straight and narrow for 8 years now. It was tough to overcome these struggles, and was wondering if it's seen as problems of your own making and would be risky to talk about in my personal statement and other essays of struggle.

All opinions are appreciated.

Edit: I have heard from others that you should hide these problems and never talk about them within the medical community. On the other hand I heard about a story where someone was accepted after talking about them on his personal story.

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No. Don't
 
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I'm not there yet, but I expect that any correspondence of this sort ought to be treated as a conversation with a prospective employer.


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Hello leonardoson, thanks for your honesty and I am happy you are already OK. It depends totally on people who will read your PS, some of them will appreciate your personal story but some of them might not be as open minded...So consider this..
 
I will be a non trade applicant

For some reason I was expecting better grammar from someone who is so critical of others on this forum.

Edit: Unless of course you're just not trading all your wheat because you know I have the Monopoly card to play.
 
Hey Everyone,

I can't decide whether or not to reveal on my applications in the future about my struggle with drugs and alcohol in high-school. I will be a non trade applicant with no blemishes since then and have been on the straight and narrow for 8 years now. It was tough to overcome these struggles, and was wondering if it's seen as problems of your own making and would be risky to talk about in my personal statement and other essays of struggle.

All opinions are appreciated.

Edit: I have heard from others that you should hide these problems and never talk about them within the medical community. On the other hand I heard about a story where someone was accepted after talking about them on his personal story.

Admissions committees must decide if you are a good candidate to successfully complete medical school and become a good doctor or if you are a high risk candidate who may crash and burn. Don't give them anything that may suggest that you could end up in the latter category. In some people's eyes, a former user may be at high risk of using in stressful circumstances and medical school and residency is stressful and there are temptations and opportunities to access drugs as well as alcohol.

Sure, someone has disclosed this in an application and been admitted but this is almost like saying you know someone who smoked and drank all through pregnancy and had a healthy baby. Yeah, it can happen but it is risky to chance it if you have a choice to do otherwise.
 
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I was advised to not even mention that I brew beer on my application due to potential concerns that I like to drink too much.
 
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Any struggle with any sort of addiction, depression, or other mental health issue is never a good idea for medical school applications.
 
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