UCSD supp essay: academic challenges

[senzabee]

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I'm working on my UCSD essay, and I honestly am not sure what to write about or how to write it. I wasn't the perfect student, but I honestly didn't have severe academic challenges that I would consider good material to write a whole essay on. I know that candidates can be great despite a poor academic record, but it almost seems like you'll have an advantage if your academic problem was big and makes an interesting story. It is a good way to see beyond the applicant's resume, but I think I can be just as strong of a candidate, academically and personally, despite not having any major academic problems. Are any of you guys running into this problem? How are you guys approaching this? I guess I figure I should just write about what I have to write about and just hope that a whole essay on a less-interesting problem won't hurt me 😛

 

[sdn1977]

Can you tell us exactly what the question asks???

 

[senzabee]

Can you tell us exactly what the question asks???

Please describe an academic challenge that you faced during your high school or college education. Please include how you dealt with the challenge and the lesson learned from it, if any.

 

[thaliagoo]

I had the same problem as you. I certainly had bad classes, not really bad semesters or anything notable. Talk about one bad course- how you learned from it, how you improved. They are looking for coherence: do you know how to write? are you humble or cocky? what are your attitudes toward academics? This question is perfect for people who have struggled at one point in their college careers, but if it doesn't apply to you, make the best of it. Writing about something small will not hurt you, when it's simply the truth. Good luck.

 

[sdn1977]

I gotta get to work, so I have to be brief....but, my daughter faced the same problems w/ her med school essays...she didn't have particular academic challenges.

But, I did make her think back to a course - chemistry as it turned out (which was NOT her thing at all!) in which she started the quarter with a barely passing midterm grade. She had to turn around every approach she had taken to all her previous classes & even her high school chemistry class. She had to find a new way to look at the material, handle the material & find ways to evaluate within herself when she was no longer able to understand the material. Then she had to go back....not to relearn it, but to develop new ways within herself to approach her problem.

The class situation presented her with a life situation...one in which she could translate into not just a graduate school situation, but again....a life situation. For example...you have a pt who you've explained the medication to, but the pt still doesn't understand how to use the inhaler, or how many tablets to take & when or how to measure cc.....whatever...

You have to be good at assessing a pts understanding & finding out when you've lost them & being able to go back to explain in a different way. If you can understand that process yourself in your own life, if you have an example, even small.....then you can translate that to someone else.

btw....she ended up with an A in the class & used that to demonstrate her flexibility in learning styles & realizing many folks have different ways they learn.......

pm me if you have more questions.....UCSF is looking for very particular stuff.

Thaligoo - congrats! I didn't realize you got in! As an alumni, I welcome you!!!

 

[thaliagoo]

I gotta get to work, so I have to be brief....but, my daughter faced the same problems w/ her med school essays...she didn't have particular academic challenges.

But, I did make her think back to a course - chemistry as it turned out (which was NOT her thing at all!) in which she started the quarter with a barely passing midterm grade. She had to turn around every approach she had taken to all her previous classes & even her high school chemistry class. She had to find a new way to look at the material, handle the material & find ways to evaluate within herself when she was no longer able to understand the material. Then she had to go back....not to relearn it, but to develop new ways within herself to approach her problem.

The class situation presented her with a life situation...one in which she could translate into not just a graduate school situation, but again....a life situation. For example...you have a pt who you've explained the medication to, but the pt still doesn't understand how to use the inhaler, or how many tablets to take & when or how to measure cc.....whatever...

You have to be good at assessing a pts understanding & finding out when you've lost them & being able to go back to explain in a different way. If you can understand that process yourself in your own life, if you have an example, even small.....then you can translate that to someone else.

btw....she ended up with an A in the class & used that to demonstrate her flexibility in learning styles & realizing many folks have different ways they learn.......

pm me if you have more questions.....UCSF is looking for very particular stuff.

Thaligoo - congrats! I didn't realize you got in! As an alumni, I welcome you!!!

Thanks SDN! For all you to know, SDN is a senior member of this forum and provides some of the most helpful posts all around. She was a big resource to me during my application process. So, listen to what she has to say!

 

[senzabee]

Thanks for the help thalia and sdn. I definitely didn't fly through all of my courses easily, so now that I think about it I do have something to write about. I already mailed my UCSF app weeks ago, so I'll just be working on my UCSD essay 🙂

I was also wondering what your opinions are on UCSD's pharmacy program. I know UCSD as a whole is a great school, but I'm wondering if their pharmacy program is preparing their graduates well enough. I had talked to the PI of my lab at USC about the California pharmacy schools, and he said that UCSD is relying a lot on the reputation of UCSF because they are a newer program. That's not to say that they're not a good program, but it's new and I'm wondering how their students are matching up during their clerkships as compared to other students. Any opinions?

Thanks again!

 

[xnm11]

for my ucsd academic challenge question, i didn't feel that i faced any important academic challenges, so i ended up writing about procrastination (which seems like such a petty thing to write about) - but i did it in a very humorous and slightly cynical way to sort of break up the seriousness of the rest of my application. my interviewer at ucsd said that she loved my essay, and that it actually did make her laugh when she read it.

=) good luck!

 

[creestoL]

do you think i can write a personal challenge i had at one point, which affected me academically? or is it more just focusing on a challenge i had in class?