Other Impactful Experiences Essay Question

[applicant349]

So I've been debating on whether or not I should write the OIE essay, and I'm currently leaning towards "no" at the moment but wanted to get some feedback. For a bit of background, my dad had to work in a separate country during high school, which meant I had to pick up on a lot of stuff around the house. I also had to spend a lot of time taking care of my sister (ex. bringing her to PT/doctor's appointments, helping with PT, etc) because of a chronic disability. This was also only during high school since I obviously wasn't at home during college. I've already talked about my sister in my primary essay too.

On the other hand, my parents aren't divorced/separated and my dad came to visit a couple of times every year. It's not like I grew up in a completely single parent household. I'm worried that if I do choose to write the OIE essay, my reflections won't seem super nuanced and it'll seem like I'm looking for pity points.

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[Mr.Smile12]

Other Impactful Experiences Essay: Exploring Your Unique Story - SDN

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[LunaOri]

It sounds like an impactful experience to me—having to take on adult responsibilities at a young age because one parent was absent. What did you learn from this experience, and how did it affect you?

 

[winniedapoop]

hi i have a similar question:

I've written a short and to the point statement about a parent's alcoholism/gambling and how it was disruptive to my childhood and led to financial instability. i wrote about them (not me) because i was so young when it happened and i was in a bubble - i didn't understand that not all families were like ours and did not do anything about the situation. i am simply glad my family is in a better place now.

i did mention that i have an appreciation for the strength it takes to overcome addiction - parent found religion has been sober for 7 years !!

just wondering if 1) this is an appropriate topic and 2) if I need to make a narrative out of it (this makes me feel icky)

 

[LizzyM]

I'd take it from a different angle. You sacrificed some of your time in HS that you might have spent in extracurricular activities or employment to care for a disabled sibling. Clearly this gave you many insights into the care required of a person like your sister and what families go through in caring for a person with special needs. You can look at this, and pitch it, as what you bring to the table that contributes to the diversity of the class as most med students don't have this type of life experience. The fact that your dad was working abroad is almost inconsequential to the story, just that between yourself and your mother, you had responsibility for this person whose circumstances were a great demand on your time.

 

[applicant349]

I'd take it from a different angle. You sacrificed some of your time in HS that you might have spent in extracurricular activities or employment to care for a disabled sibling. Clearly this gave you many insights into the care required of a person like your sister and what families go through in caring for a person with special needs. You can look at this, and pitch it, as what you bring to the table that contributes to the diversity of the class as most med students don't have this type of life experience. The fact that your dad was working abroad is almost inconsequential to the story, just that between yourself and your mother, you had responsibility for this person whose circumstances were a great demand on your time.

Thanks for that insight. I talk about caring for my sister pretty extensively in my personal statement since that's a huge reason for my motivation of pursuing medicine. Do you think it'd be too repetitive in this instance to also talk about it in the OIE essay?

If that's the case, maybe talking about the experiences of learning how to care for a person with special needs would be better in a secondary essay on diversity?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thanks for that insight. I talk about caring for my sister pretty extensively in my personal statement since that's a huge reason for my motivation of pursuing medicine. Do you think it'd be too repetitive in this instance to also talk about it in the OIE essay?

If that's the case, maybe talking about the experiences of learning how to care for a person with special needs would be better in a secondary essay on diversity?

My opinion: Don't repeat your caregivers story. Pick either PS or OIE. Don't play the one note samba.

 

[LindaAccepted]

Thanks for that insight. I talk about caring for my sister pretty extensively in my personal statement since that's a huge reason for my motivation of pursuing medicine. Do you think it'd be too repetitive in this instance to also talk about it in the OIE essay?

If that's the case, maybe talking about the experiences of learning how to care for a person with special needs would be better in a secondary essay on diversity?

If you spoke more about the demands of caring for your sister in your PS, you can talk about the impact of the parent's addiction issues and recovery and the mature appreciation you've developed for the strength required of someone overcoming addiction.

You want the essays to complement each other, but you certainly have what to write about.

I was listening to a podcast having nothing to do with admissions (marketing actually) and the speaker was saying you want to focus on the scar, not the scab. The point being how you have grown or are a better person as a result of a difficult experience. When the scab is on, you're still wounded. When it's scarred over, you have healed.

It seems like you can do it in both essays.