Academic inconsistencies essay

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Essay: Please explain in more detail (in less than 1500 characters) anything that would help us understand any gaps or delays in your education, academic missteps, or personal challenges not listed elsewhere.

Should I discuss the fact that I am a career changer here and that my early (10+ years ago) academic credentials no longer apply? I don't want to appear that I'm making an excuse about my previous mediocre grades, but I would like to try and explain the extent of relevant work activities that I was doing outside of class.

I graduated with a mediocre 3.26 uGPA in 2014 because I was pursuing a path in video gaming and esports; I chose a liberal arts degree so that I could focus more of my time on this without failing out, haha. I was working on design and technical skills outside of class in addition to managing weekly national events for amateurs and even was invited to attend a national conference by one of the largest gaming companies to participate in a piloting committee for the direction they would take for collegiate esports. As a direct result of this conference, a national collegiate bracket was developed with significant ($20k+) scholarships for prizes. I didn't discuss any of this in my main app since it was so long ago and somewhat irrelevant. I subsequently finished a MS (4.0) from the #1 program in the country and became a game designer as my first career. I've recently performed at a ~3.7 GPA in my pre-req coursework as well.

Thoughts if this is an appropriate discussion?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Rachapkis]

My $0.02: I suspect that it will be fairly obvious to adcoms that you have reinvented yourself since 2014. However, given that the school has an essay that goes directly to this issue, you could certainly write about how you've evolved since then. That said, I am not sure that I would emphasize your accomplishments in the video gaming space, but instead would write about how you caught fire after you discovered that medicine and serving others are your true passions.

 

[Saxappeal1]

Just out of curiosity OP, what is your goal with pursuing medicine?

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Just out of curiosity OP, what is your goal with pursuing medicine?

My ultimate goal is to provide gender-affirming and primary or psych (undecided) care with a special emphasis on LGBTQIA+ folks. My fiance does billing and admin stuff and we hope to eventually start a private practice.

I went from game design => software => teaching engineering => now hopefully medicine over the past 10 years or so; working in health tech and having a lot of eye-opening personal and professional experiences surrounding the health of important people in my life initially made me consider medicine. My interest was confirmed by pretty much every experience I've gained toward the end of applying.

 

[LizzyM]

Essay: Please explain in more detail (in less than 1500 characters) anything that would help us understand any gaps or delays in your education, academic missteps, or personal challenges not listed elsewhere.

Should I discuss the fact that I am a career changer here and that my early (10+ years ago) academic credentials no longer apply? I don't want to appear that I'm making an excuse about my previous mediocre grades, but I would like to try and explain the extent of relevant work activities that I was doing outside of class.

I graduated with a mediocre 3.26 uGPA in 2014 because I was pursuing a path in video gaming and esports; I chose a liberal arts degree so that I could focus more of my time on this without failing out, haha. I was working on design and technical skills outside of class in addition to managing weekly national events for amateurs and even was invited to attend a national conference by one of the largest gaming companies to participate in a piloting committee for the direction they would take for collegiate esports. As a direct result of this conference, a national collegiate bracket was developed with significant ($20k+) scholarships for prizes. I didn't discuss any of this in my main app since it was so long ago and somewhat irrelevant. I subsequently finished a MS (4.0) from the #1 program in the country and became a game designer as my first career. I've recently performed at a ~3.7 GPA in my pre-req coursework as well.

Thoughts if this is an appropriate discussion?

I'm not sure why you aren't discussing any of this in your main application. Did you include any jobs or activities that you engaged in from 2010 to the point at which you began exploring medicine as a career?? I think it would be helpful to show your initiative and leadership in your previous field and shed some light on what you were doing during and after you earned your liberal arts degree.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

I'm not sure why you aren't discussing any of this in your main application. Did you include any jobs or activities that you engaged in from 2010 to the point at which you began exploring medicine as a career?? I think it would be helpful to show your initiative and leadership in your previous field and shed some light on what you were doing during and after you earned your liberal arts degree.

I have, I just have done a lot of stuff since 2014; I had to pick and choose with several important things left out of my 15 slots. I listed my work experience and discussed it in a couple W/A entries, including a MME. It seemed like a general consensus to not discuss gaming stuff because ADCOMs view it as a lazy waste of time activity. I didn't discuss the collegiate gaming bit specifically for that reason, and since it was much older than the rest.

My W/As were:
- MA #1 MME
- MA #2
- Hospital Volunteer
- Paid respite care worker
- Summer camp for epileptic kids
- LGBTQIA+ crisis line MME
- Equestrian therapy for kids with autism and msk issues
- Lumped a bunch of various food bank/homeless outreach/soup kitchen stuff into one
- Designer/Engineer work
- Engineering instructor MME
- Shadowing
- Research #1
- Research #2
- Small scale agriculture and foraging hobby
- Singing artistic endeavor

 

[LizzyM]

OK. At least we can see what you did with that college degree for starters.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

OK. At least we can see what you did with that college degree for starters.

I forgot to mention also that both research experiences are linked to gaming and simulation. Med tech/device research via sim for one, another was a VR physiology/ergonomics paper.