What kind of answers are adcoms expecting for certain secondary questions?

[LuluLovesMe]

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A lot of questions can be answered succinctly or in depth. Should I just use the word/character limit as a guide to how much depth I should go into?

Also, what are different approaches people have taken to the diversity question?

 

[ndafife]

1.A lot of questions can be answered succinctly or in depth. Should I just use the word/character limit as a guide to how much depth I should go into?
2. Also, what are different approaches people have taken to the diversity question?

1. That is the point of the word/character limit
2. Either describe something unique about yourself that will allow you to contribute to diversity or your interactions with diversity

 

[LizzyM]

Shoot for not less than 70% of the word limit. Under no circumstances should you go with less than 45% as it shows a lack of interest in answering the question.

If I took a random sample of 9 students in the class, what life experience would you contribute to the discussion.

 

[nwts]

Shoot for not less than 70% of the word limit. Under no circumstances should you go with less than 45% as it shows a lack of interest in answering the question.

Is there an exception to this for optional questions? For example, if the question is: "Is there anything else you would like the committee to know?" and the character limit is 10,000, is it acceptable to submit a 2,000 character response?

 

[spade92]

Shoot for not less than 70% of the word limit. Under no circumstances should you go with less than 45% as it shows a lack of interest in answering the question.

If I took a random sample of 9 students in the class, what life experience would you contribute to the discussion.

I still wonder what would be the type of experiences they are looking for. I know for undergraduate admissions, schools will pride themselves in saying in our class, we have students who have beat cancer, beat homelessness, lived in 10+ countries, won Intel, Siemens, etc. but what happens if you've never dealt with anything like that?

If you had to say, LizzyM, what are some of the most unique life experiences your students have had and you feel added to your own school's diversity?

 

[Goro]

What would your best friends say about you if I asked them what's cool about you?

Also, what are different approaches people have taken to the diversity question?

 

[IlyaR]

Shoot for not less than 70% of the word limit. Under no circumstances should you go with less than 45% as it shows a lack of interest in answering the question.

If I took a random sample of 9 students in the class, what life experience would you contribute to the discussion.

Might be a silly question, but would this apply to short answer questions? My Downstate secondary had a "what are your plans for the year" with a 200 word limit and I answered it in a little over a 100. Wouldn't want to throw in fluff

 

[Holmwood]

Might be a silly question, but would this apply to short answer questions? My Downstate secondary had a "what are your plans for the year" with a 200 word limit and I answered it in a little over a 100. Wouldn't want to throw in fluff

I think that'd be the exception, lol. That's more to see whether you have an dates where you won't be able to interview.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Might be a silly question, but would this apply to short answer questions? My Downstate secondary had a "what are your plans for the year" with a 200 word limit and I answered it in a little over a 100. Wouldn't want to throw in fluff

I actually think they want to see you being productive (working/volunteering/continuing activities). This may be to ferret out box checking (Meaning you quit everything when you submit app).

Definitely want to be productive, just in case, god forbid, we are the unlucky 10-15% that need to be a reapplication with stats that should get us in. You don't want to be playing video games and/or sitting at the beach (maybe for a couple of months, but not a whole year!!). That is for AFTER YOU GET YOUR ACCEPTANCE!! Good luck to you.

 

[G.NA]

Shoot for not less than 70% of the word limit. Under no circumstances should you go with less than 45% as it shows a lack of interest in answering the question.

If I took a random sample of 9 students in the class, what life experience would you contribute to the discussion.

is this the case even if we're like really done saying what we want to say? e.g., Columbia gives 300 words to ask what I've done since graduation. I've used 150 words now to describe my job and 2 other activities that I'm doing this upcoming year. Should I be writing more? I could give more description on the projects at work but it says "briefly summarize" and I've already done that

 

[LizzyM]

is this the case even if we're like really done saying what we want to say? e.g., Columbia gives 300 words to ask what I've done since graduation. I've used 150 words now to describe my job and 2 other activities that I'm doing this upcoming year. Should I be writing more? I could give more description on the projects at work but it says "briefly summarize" and I've already done that

150 is more than 40% of 300 so it is not too little.

Might be a silly question, but would this apply to short answer questions? My Downstate secondary had a "what are your plans for the year" with a 200 word limit and I answered it in a little over a 100. Wouldn't want to throw in fluff

Ditto.

The plans for the coming year could, perhaps, be one essay where you use just a bit of the allotted space. If the question is more substantial (challenges/coping skills, what do you like about the school, etc) then writing a single short paragraph might be too little.

 

[G.NA]

150 is more than 40% of 300 so it is not too little.

Ditto.

The plans for the coming year could, perhaps, be one essay where you use just a bit of the allotted space. If the question is more substantial (challenges/coping skills, what do you like about the school, etc) then writing a single short paragraph might be too little.

I see, thanks. it wouldn't be superfluous, then, to explain a bit more about my plans? I'm figuring since i have the space i'll write it haha, if they don't care to read then they can skip it..

 

[LizzyM]

I still wonder what would be the type of experiences they are looking for. I know for undergraduate admissions, schools will pride themselves in saying in our class, we have students who have beat cancer, beat homelessness, lived in 10+ countries, won Intel, Siemens, etc. but what happens if you've never dealt with anything like that?

If you had to say, LizzyM, what are some of the most unique life experiences your students have had and you feel added to your own school's diversity?

Not UNIQUE but something that might be unique in a random sample of 9 medical students. Perhaps you are a member of a religious minority, or you speak a language that is not one of the more common, you worked as a teacher for 2 years, you worked full-time in a blue collar industry for at least 10 weeks (fishing boat, road construction, factory floor, cocktail waitress), you are a professional musician or some other career changer, you are LGBT, you are adopted or were in foster care or have family members who adopted or foster children. You are a military veteran (may not be that rare at USUHS ).

 

[LizzyM]

I see, thanks. it wouldn't be superfluous, then, to explain a bit more about my plans? I'm figuring since i have the space i'll write it haha, if they don't care to read then they can skip it..

Write up to the limit if you wish. Sometimes writing just a small amount has been interpreted as a lack of interest in the school.

 

[G.NA]

Write up to the limit if you wish. Sometimes writing just a small amount has been interpreted as a lack of interest in the school.

lol ok it looks like i'm incentivized to write more about myself then...great! 😀

 

[Almighty Saguaro]

Not UNIQUE but something that might be unique in a random sample of 9 medical students. Perhaps you are a member of a religious minority, or you speak a language that is not one of the more common, you worked as a teacher for 2 years, you worked full-time in a blue collar industry for at least 10 weeks (fishing boat, road construction, factory floor, cocktail waitress), you are a professional musician or some other career changer, you are LGBT, you are adopted or were in foster care or have family members who adopted or foster children. You are a military veteran (may not be that rare at USUHS ).

1. Would healthcare-related topics be a good diversity topic, or are ad coms strictly looking for non-healthcare experiences (e.g. would a personal background as an allied health professional be a good topic?)
2. Would you recommend:
a. Covering multiple aspects of diversity (e.g. I speak X; I worked as carpenter for 2 years; I belong to religious minority Y) or...
b. Picking one or two and then expatiating on how it/they would actually be relevant in medical school and practice? (e.g. I speak X: learning a language provided me insights into the challenges faced by patients who navigate a society in which they don't speak English; this understanding will allow me to be more empathetic with these patients, and tips/tricks I use when learning X will allow me to communicate better with people who don't speak English)

Granted, the example for the latter is not very well thought-out since I just came up with it on the spot, but I'm wondering if that's the depth of response that's expected.

 

[LizzyM]

1. Would healthcare-related topics be a good diversity topic, or are ad coms strictly looking for non-healthcare experiences (e.g. would a personal background as an allied health professional be a good topic?)
2. Would you recommend:
a. Covering multiple aspects of diversity (e.g. I speak X; I worked as carpenter for 2 years; I belong to religious minority Y) or...
b. Picking one or two and then expatiating on how it/they would actually be relevant in medical school and practice? (e.g. I speak X: learning a language provided me insights into the challenges faced by patients who navigate a society in which they don't speak English; this understanding will allow me to be more empathetic with these patients, and tips/tricks I use when learning X will allow me to communicate better with people who don't speak English)

Granted, the example for the latter is not very well thought-out since I just came up with it on the spot, but I'm wondering if that's the depth of response that's expected.

I think that the diversity essay can address just one thing well rather than a scattershot approach as described in 2.a.

If you worked full time as a licensed or registered health professional (you are a career changer who had previously been employed full-time as an RN, LCSW, paramedic, etc), then that might be contributing to the diversity of viewpoints in the class. Ditto if you are a non-health professional but a career changer (firefighter, teacher, journalist).

Merely learning a language in a classroom might not contribute to diversity but if you lived abroad for at least 6 months in a country where you were not a native speaker, then your experience in that environment might have given you a point of view that would be unusual among a small group of students. Another approach is having a familiarity with another culture and the immigrant experience through getting to know grandparents who were an immigrants and who speak or do not speak the language of their new country.

 

[Almighty Saguaro]

I think that the diversity essay can address just one thing well rather than a scattershot approach as described in 2.a.

If you worked full time as a licensed or registered health professional (you are a career changer who had previously been employed full-time as an RN, LCSW, paramedic, etc), then that might be contributing to the diversity of viewpoints in the class. Ditto if you are a non-health professional but a career changer (firefighter, teacher, journalist).

Merely learning a language in a classroom might not contribute to diversity but if you lived abroad for at least 6 months in a country where you were not a native speaker, then your experience in that environment might have given you a point of view that would be unusual among a small group of students. Another approach is having a familiarity with another culture and the immigrant experience through getting to know grandparents who were an immigrants and who speak or do not speak the language of their new country.

Thanks for the clarification!
Yeah, the depth approach was what I was leaning towards, but I just want to make sure that explicitly tying it back to medicine won't elicit ad com eye-rolling

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[LizzyM]

Thanks for the clarification!
Yeah, the depth approach was what I was leaning towards, but I just want to make sure that explicitly tying it back to medicine won't elicit ad com eye-rolling

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You don't have to tie it back to medicine. That gets a bit tedious for the person reading 10 of these essays in an afternoon. We are smart enough to draw the conclusion or see the relevance to the classroom or to medical care.

 

[evansh]

Is there an exception to this for optional questions? For example, if the question is: "Is there anything else you would like the committee to know?" and the character limit is 10,000, is it acceptable to submit a 2,000 character response?

I'm also curious about this. I submitted a 2,000 character for a 4,000 character optional "additional comments" prompt; if <45% is the bare minimum then is 50% playing with fire? Thanks!

 

[Almighty Saguaro]

I think that the diversity essay can address just one thing well rather than a scattershot approach as described in 2.a.

If you worked full time as a licensed or registered health professional (you are a career changer who had previously been employed full-time as an RN, LCSW, paramedic, etc), then that might be contributing to the diversity of viewpoints in the class. Ditto if you are a non-health professional but a career changer (firefighter, teacher, journalist).

Merely learning a language in a classroom might not contribute to diversity but if you lived abroad for at least 6 months in a country where you were not a native speaker, then your experience in that environment might have given you a point of view that would be unusual among a small group of students. Another approach is having a familiarity with another culture and the immigrant experience through getting to know grandparents who were an immigrants and who speak or do not speak the language of their new country.

Actually....
Regarding your last paragraph, I dedicated a paragraph of my PS to this topic and how it relates to one of my motivations for medicine. Would you suggest I talk about something else for the diversity essay or it's OK to "reiterate" stuff from the PS?

 

[LizzyM]

I'm also curious about this. I submitted a 2,000 character for a 4,000 character optional "additional comments" prompt; if <45% is the bare minimum then is 50% playing with fire? Thanks!

Your above what I consider the minimum and it is an optional essay, anyway.

Actually....
Regarding your last paragraph, I dedicated a paragraph of my PS to this topic and how it relates to one of my motivations for medicine. Would you suggest I talk about something else for the diversity essay or it's OK to "reiterate" stuff from the PS?

You start to sound like a one trick pony when you use the same thing in response to every essay. I recall one adcom member saying, "We get it! He's gay. Is there anything else he wants us to know??" It wasn't that there was anything wrong with being gay (queue Jerry Seinfeld) but that one singular response to every question makes you appear somewhat uni-dimensional. Is there anything else you can share or any other angle to come at it from?

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Is this more an opportunity to speak to adversity/obstacles overcome or more towards diversity/unique experiences?

 

[Almighty Saguaro]

Is this more an opportunity to speak to adversity/obstacles overcome or more towards diversity/unique experiences?

I suppose it would depend on if the specific prompt asks about "adversity" or "diversity."

Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding your question...
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[CaliforniaDreamer]

I suppose it would depend on if the specific prompt asks about "adversity" or "diversity."

Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding your question...
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I am talking about the open ended "Anything else you would like us to know" questions.

 

[Almighty Saguaro]

I am talking about the open ended "Anything else you would like us to know" questions.

Gotcha...
I'll let the omniscient ad coms tackle this one 😛

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