uva secondary question

[futuremsfdoc]

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question three, the "what will be your greatest personal challenge as a physician and how will you address it" question. initially when i read this and started writing my essay i focused on a challenge that will arise during my career as a physician (ie. something along this lines of ethical dilemmas, issues involving patient care, etc.). however, now that i'm reading it again it seems like the question is more supposed to be "how will your personal interests outside of medicine (ie not enough time for family, hobbies, etc.) be challenged because of your career as a physician?"

i'm not sure if that makes sense, but maybe someone could help me out with this one. thanks.

 

[ms2209]

LOL That's so weird, I JUST posted on this question on another thread (the 2005 discussion thread). Actually, my confusion was over whether they were interested in challenges on a smaller scale (patient interaction) or a larger scale (uninsured, malpractice). I wish I could answer your question, but I guess I need advice too!

 

[futuremsfdoc]

if you hear anything about what they're asking for, please let me know. i'll do the same. 🙂

 

[Benjo]

A little background that (hopefully) lends me some credibility here. I applied last year, and will be going to UVa.
I think the question is purposefully ambiguous. Answer the question exactly how you perceive it. If you think that your most significant personal challenge would be an ethical or professional one, answer that way. On the other hand, you could approach it from a more general perspective and speak to the difficulties of balancing personal and professional obligations in a profession as time-demanding as medicine (the route I took). Either way, jsut answer truthfully, because it could come up on an interview (they ask it for a reason).
Just don't be too formulaic, I guess.

 

[ms2209]

Much thanks, Benjo. I always appreciate your posts! 🙂

 

[futuremsfdoc]

thanks benjo!

 

[Benjo]

no problem--good luck to you both!

 

[doc luv]

just to add to what benjo said... i wrote about the other side and about dealing with ethical stuff. what's important here is not how u interpret the question, but the content of your response. as long as you're not taking a totally unrelated essay from another app just follow benjo's advice and respond to the question the way you feel.

 

[rgporter]

question three, the "what will be your greatest personal challenge as a physician and how will you address it" question. initially when i read this and started writing my essay i focused on a challenge that will arise during my career as a physician (ie. something along this lines of ethical dilemmas, issues involving patient care, etc.). however, now that i'm reading it again it seems like the question is more supposed to be "how will your personal interests outside of medicine (ie not enough time for family, hobbies, etc.) be challenged because of your career as a physician?"

i'm not sure if that makes sense, but maybe someone could help me out with this one. thanks.

I talked about how the time requirements of medical practice will affect my family life since I am married and my wife was pregnant at the time I was filling out secondaries. There is no right answer though. It is whatever you think your greatest personal challenge will be.

 

[futuremsfdoc]

thanks for all your advice guys, i submitted the application today. after looking into uva a little closer i would definitely rank it as one of my top choices, so i'm hoping i did a good job on those essays.

on another note, their submission form and post-submission page didn't mention anything about rec letters. do they ask for those at a later point in time?

 

[futuremsfdoc]

bumpin for a new day

 

[Benjo]

I don't know about the rec letters--my pre-med committee took care of all that for me. I would contact the admissions office directly (or find somebody on here without a pre-med committee). Or just send them in.