How To Write Diversity Essay Med School

When I was answering questions on diversity in my secondary statements, I would catch myself unconsciously interpreting the word ‘diversity’ as a difference in race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. I urge everyone to not be limited in their approach to portraying their own diversity. What sets me apart is not my skin color, religion, or how much money my parents make. What sets me apart is that I worked within the same marine safety department for 7 years. I got permission to obtain my EMT license earlier than most other California residents. I’ve been personally involved in saving lives and losing lives. I love the ocean. I once paddled 41 miles down the Southern California coast in one day.I helped to found a social fraternity at UCLA. I value community, camaraderie, compassion, and service. I attempted a day hike of Mount Whitney in the snow, and knew when to turn back. I’m a hard worker, but I strive to never work so hard that I lose my grounding. There are many qualities and characteristics I possess that I share with others, and some that may be unique to just me, but the constellation of what I’ve done is a fingerprint that I feel defines me and makes me diverse. This is how I chose to answer questions on diversity- by focusing on the active aspects of my character, instead of passive identifiers.

Weekly Weigh-in: The Diversity Secondary Essay

Welcome to PDr’s Weekly Weigh-in! Each week, we ask medical students and physicians to weigh in on some of our most frequently asked pre-med questions.
This week’s question: How did you approach “the diversity secondary essay” on your secondary applications?

Edward Chang, DGSOM MS3

Honestly I had a pretty tough time with the diversity question. I didn’t know how far I could go with this question and I had a difficult time putting what I thought made me unique on paper without sounding arrogant or cliche. At the time I was applying, I also thought this question was very ethnically charged (I felt that I couldn’t be “different” as a typical Asian American from a middle-class family) but looking back, I realized that I was approaching the question very narrow-mindedly. If I were to answer the question now, I would emphasize the unique aspects of my personality and the specific instances that demonstrate those unique qualities. I personally wouldn’t talk about race but rather focus on how my uniqueness would contribute to the student body overall. I think a few things that make me who I am are:

3. My desire to bring different kinds of people together

Obviously many people have those qualities but I think its the combination of those characteristics that make me unique.

Evan Laveman, DGSOM MS3

When I was answering questions on diversity in my secondary statements, I would catch myself unconsciously interpreting the word ‘diversity’ as a difference in race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. I urge everyone to not be limited in their approach to portraying their own diversity. What sets me apart is not my skin color, religion, or how much money my parents make. What sets me apart is that I worked within the same marine safety department for 7 years. I got permission to obtain my EMT license earlier than most other California residents. I’ve been personally involved in saving lives and losing lives. I love the ocean. I once paddled 41 miles down the Southern California coast in one day.I helped to found a social fraternity at UCLA. I value community, camaraderie, compassion, and service. I attempted a day hike of Mount Whitney in the snow, and knew when to turn back. I’m a hard worker, but I strive to never work so hard that I lose my grounding. There are many qualities and characteristics I possess that I share with others, and some that may be unique to just me, but the constellation of what I’ve done is a fingerprint that I feel defines me and makes me diverse. This is how I chose to answer questions on diversity- by focusing on the active aspects of my character, instead of passive identifiers.

Brandon Brown, UCSF MS2

I approached the diversity question by just writing about what made me a unique individual that would provide new perspectives to the incoming medical school class. Diversity doesn’t merely mean diversity in how you look or where you came from, but how your experiences have shaped you as an individual and how your experiences provide a valuable addition to a group. I wrote about about my family, my upbringing, and some of the skills I’ve acquired (e.g. programming) and how those inform my decisions, thought process, and contribute to improving team work.

Evan Shih, DGSOM MS3

As a heterosexual Asian-American male from an immigrant family with aspirations of applying to medical school, I wasn’t exactly jumping to the top of anybody’s diversity checklist, at least not in the classic sense of “racial background, sexual identity, and social background”. However, I wanted to show medical schools that despite growing up in an “cookie cutter” suburban community, I still possessed experiences that provided me with both an enriched background and an open-minded outlook. With my diversity essay, I sought to exhibit the fact that I was eager to learn more about the diverse patient population that I was going to serve in the future. I wrote about my experiences volunteering with a homeless clinic and the multitude of patient backgrounds in the Greater Los Angeles area: recently displaced families, chronic cocaine addicts, veteran war heroes, Latino immigrants, and countless individuals of the LGBT community.

Working with the homeless clinic showed me two things: 1) I knew very little about the world around me and 2) If I wanted to practice medicine in Southern California, I needed to hone my Spanish skills. These two realizations compelled me to plan a summer trip to Cusco, Peru with a friend. For 3 weeks we took medical Spanish, learned to salsa dance, and hiked the Inca Trail. My multicultural experiences in both Peru and inner-city Los Angeles provided me with an understanding of the many different patient backgrounds that I would encounter as a physician, and I wanted to show schools that I was confident that I could contribute the same enthusiasm and capabilities in medical school.

The ‘Diversity’ Essay

The topic of diversity in medicine is a very important subject and it would be hard to apply to medical school without writing a secondary essay on this topic or talking about diversity in an interview. All applicants need to articulate on their application what diverse or distinct qualities they bring to the medical school community.

Diversity is an inclusive vocabulary word and can encompass a broad spectrum of backgrounds, qualities, attributes, and life experiences that you bring to the medical school community and can in turn help you become a more inclusive, compassionate medical professional. Medical schools want to enroll a diverse class of students with unique attributes but they can’t necessarily tell from your application what life experiences have shaped you so it is your responsibility to incorporate your authentic self into your stories and entries. This is a hard essay to write but step back and reflect on what life experiences have shaped who you are today.

• Think about your life experiences that have given you a diverse perspective. Moving a lot. Growing up speaking another language. Growing up on a farm. Growing up homeless. Growing up with two Dads. Having a transgender sibling.
• Talk about your ethnicity. How has this community shaped you and the values your embrace?
• When have you worked alongside people who were different from you? What did you learn from this experience?
• Do you speak another language? How have you used this language to connect with people?
• What qualities or talents do you bring to a medical school class? Sports, art, music?
• Grit? Perhaps you had to work your way through school and didn’t have the time to gain as much volunteer work.
• Have you ever felt like the outsider in a community? Have you been discriminated against based on the color of your skin, or sexual orientation? Tell us your story of resilience in the face of adversity.

Maybe your major is unusual or your life circumstances are unique. Perhaps you have an autistic brother and this taught you about patience and tolerance. Perhaps you grew up in Sandy Hook, CT and experienced the aftermath of a school shooting in your community and understand well the dialogue surrounding gun violence and control. Perhaps you are the first in your family to go to college. Perhaps you had a family or personal medical challenge that shaped your thinking about the field of medicine. Maybe your family raised guiding eyes for the blind dogs and that inspired you to be a notetaker in college for a blind student. Even if you have not grown up in a diverse community, have you pushed yourself outside your comfort zone and worked alongside people who don’t look or think like you? Did you volunteer in your community at the urban community garden and learn about food deserts? How did this experience shape your thinking and actions going forward? These are the topics you will have to address to adequately answer the ‘diversity’ essay on the secondary application.

Visit the Diversity and Inclusion office websites of each medical school you are interested in applying. This will give you a good understanding of the school perspective and priorities. They will also highlight research and summer opportunities.

Take for example Stanford University School of Medicine and their goal to create a more inclusive and diverse community. They created a “Diversity Cabinet” that seeks to coordinate communication and strategies across the school of medicine:

“Diversity activities at Stanford University School of Medicine are widespread and integrated into medical education curriculum, graduate education and graduate medical education student activities, as well as career development opportunities for trainees and faculty. We developed an approach to an integrated communication strategy to identify opportunities to leverage diversity partnerships.”

“By creating a more inclusive Stanford Medicine community and working to eliminate health and educational inequalities everywhere, we act not only on the side of justice, we fulfill our vision of bringing hope and healing to all people around the world.”

Reflect on these statements. Think about the distinct qualities that you bring to a community. How will you contribute your perspectives to the discussion? What communities have you been a part of? Everyone has something to contribute to the discussion about diversity, but just ‘having’ this distinct experience is not enough. You need to reflect on the takeaways and ‘why’ this experience was transformational to you. Then bridge this story to how you will contribute to the community at this particular medical school and in turn be a valuable asset as a physician contributing to the community.

Let’s say ‘growing up in a military family’ was one of your diverse qualities. What have you learned from growing up in a military family? Where have you lived in the US and abroad that has introduced you to different people, different communities, different ways of thinking and solving problems? Perhaps changing schools every two years required you to be adaptable and talkative. Perhaps you lived in Germany and had to navigate meeting friends without a common language. Maybe your Mom was deployed and you had to step up and take on more responsibility with your younger siblings. Perhaps you moved to rural Alabama for college and experienced racism on your first day of school but you joined the debate team and eventually became vice president of the student body and initiated a campus dialogue about inclusive vocabulary. How would these experiences and perspectives contribute to the diversity of a medical school community? How would these experiences make you a better doctor?

Tell your unique story, but ground it with evidence of your journey. It’s ok not be perfect. We are all a work in progress but stepping outside our comfort zone, confronting our own biases, and creating an inclusive space for people to learn from one another’s perspectives is the goal.

Sample Secondary Essay Questions on Diversity – Many questions are by design…broad in nature.

• Please specially discuss how, if admitted to our program, your admission would contribute to the diversity of the Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science community.
• How will you contribute to the diversity of the Loyola Stritch student body and community? Specifically, what unique traits, identities, experiences, skills and perspectives will you contribute?
• At the University of Michigan Medical School, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community?
• Please tell us about your identity. How has your identity impacted the development of your values and your attitude toward others, particularly those with values different from your own? How will this impact your future patients through the practice of medicine? University of Minnesota.
• New in 2020/2021, the University of Miami asks an even more direct secondary essay as follows, What have you done to help identify, address and correct an issue of systemic discrimination? You can also check out this article for more details: New Secondary Essays to Be Prepared for in 2021-2022, Part II (Miami Miller) When deconstructing this question, make sure you keep you political opinions in check. This is not the time, nor the appropriate place to take a political stance. For more background, check outthis article from the University of Miamiwhere a panel discusses diversity and the need to confront racism.

Resources and Links

The American Medical Women’s Association seeks to increase “the participation and fostering the leadership of women and minorities within the organization and in the broader medical community.”

AMSA (American Medical Student Association) provides an excellent historical context to understand the challenges facing the field in an effort to try and achieve more diversity in medicine.

At a Glance: Black and African American Physicians in the Workforce is an excellent article highlighting the 2017 data on Black and African American medical school applicants, students, graduates, and active physicians.