Dyslexia in a diversity essay

[mck1234]

Hi everyone!! I need advice on whether or not its too dangerous to mention having dyslexia in my secondary application. I was diagnosed in elementary school and it was the pillar challenge that I faced as I grew up. As I start to write my diversity essay I cant help but want to write about it, I feel like through the challenges it presented me with I developed my communication skills and my personality (because i sucked ass at elementary school so i had to find other ways participate in the classroom), an extremely strong sense of perseverance, and most importantly i know the importance of being able to explain things in diverse ways and have developed ways to convert complex information into something that is more easily palatable. I think my grades in collage and my MCAT are competitive (3.8, 513) and prove that I can hold my own academically speaking, but im afraid that having dyslexia will always be viewed as a negative at the end of the day. What do you think, is dyslexia too dangerous to mention?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[honeybee87]

Hi everyone!! I need advice on whether or not its too dangerous to mention having dyslexia in my secondary application. I was diagnosed in elementary school and it was the pillar challenge that I faced as I grew up. As I start to write my diversity essay I cant help but want to write about it, I feel like through the challenges it presented me with I developed my communication skills and my personality (because i sucked ass at elementary school so i had to find other ways participate in the classroom), an extremely strong sense of perseverance, and most importantly i know the importance of being able to explain things in diverse ways and have developed ways to convert complex information into something that is more easily palatable. I think my grades in collage and my MCAT are competitive (3.8, 513) and prove that I can hold my own academically speaking, but im afraid that having dyslexia will always be viewed as a negative at the end of the day. What do you think, is dyslexia too dangerous to mention?

Take my comments with a grain of salt as I too am merely a humble premed, but your essay sounds more like a (great) challenge or adversity essay. I don’t see any aspects of diversity though.

 

[Moko]

My thoughts:
- Not too dangerous to mention in my limited experience.
- Revealing medical issues like these will expose your application to some additional scrutiny (similar to other more common medical issues such as depression, generalized anxiety disorder, etc). However, your struggles have also demonstrated many admirable qualities, and your experiences will no doubt enrich the learning of your future peers (many of whom will likely have misperceptions, as you've no doubt faced).
- You have the option of disclosing this to none, some, or all of the schools you are applying to.
- In the limited cases that I've encountered of this, none of my peers saw this as being a red flag in itself, provided that it did not affect the applicant's academics and work. While successful applicants generally have good GPA/MCAT and error-free applications, this becomes particularly important should you choose to disclose your dyslexia (see below).
- Your GPA/MCAT shows that you are academically capable. I would also look for evidence that you can handle a heavy course load (much like I would for any other candidate) to ensure that you can handle the rigors of medical school.
- Whether the potential reward is worth the risk is a personal decision.

If you do choose to talk about this, I would recommend the following:
- Don't overplay the severity of your dyslexia (not that I think anyone would). The "benefit" that you gain from disclosing your dyslexia would be the same regardless of whether the dyslexia was mild or severe.
- Ensure that your application is absolutely free from errors. Have a friend / advisor proof-read it for you. Spellcheck is not infallible. For example, you used "collage" instead of "college". A mistake involving something as little as a single number or letter in medicine can have disastrous consequences. So any errors on your application may reinforce the subconscious biases that people have.

Just my thoughts. I think that it would be worth putting into a diversity or adversity essay. I would also wait to see what other adcoms' experiences have been to ensure that my experiences can be generalized to other institutions.

 

[CaptainWEMT]

I’m going to disagree with @Moko here. Last year I attended a talk by an Adcom at one of the SUNY schools and she said do not discuss things like learning disabilities in an essay, but you should discuss them in an interview if you are comfortable. As someone with dysgraphia I agree that this makes it more challenging to write an adversity essay, but it is better safe than sorry.

 

[mck1234]

My thoughts:
- Not too dangerous to mention in my limited experience.
- Revealing medical issues like these will expose your application to some additional scrutiny (similar to other more common medical issues such as depression, generalized anxiety disorder, etc). However, your struggles have also demonstrated many admirable qualities, and your experiences will no doubt enrich the learning of your future peers (many of whom will likely have misperceptions, as you've no doubt faced).
- You have the option of disclosing this to none, some, or all of the schools you are applying to.
- In the limited cases that I've encountered of this, none of my peers saw this as being a red flag in itself, provided that it did not affect the applicant's academics and work. While successful applicants generally have good GPA/MCAT and error-free applications, this becomes particularly important should you choose to disclose your dyslexia (see below).
- Your GPA/MCAT shows that you are academically capable. I would also look for evidence that you can handle a heavy course load (much like I would for any other candidate) to ensure that you can handle the rigors of medical school.
- Whether the potential reward is worth the risk is a personal decision.

If you do choose to talk about this, I would recommend the following:
- Don't overplay the severity of your dyslexia (not that I think anyone would). The "benefit" that you gain from disclosing your dyslexia would be the same regardless of whether the dyslexia was mild or severe.
- Ensure that your application is absolutely free from errors. Have a friend / advisor proof-read it for you. Spellcheck is not infallible. For example, you used "collage" instead of "college". A mistake involving something as little as a single number or letter in medicine can have disastrous consequences. So any errors on your application may reinforce the subconscious biases that people have.

Just my thoughts. I think that it would be worth putting into a diversity or adversity essay. I would also wait to see what other adcoms' experiences have been to ensure that my experiences can be generalized to other institutions.

Thank you so much for the extensive reply. My "collage" mistake is beautifully ironic but my applications get a lot more proof reading than this post (thank goodness). I was a chemistry major so I took a pretty heavy corse load every semester but I agree in that it definitely seems like a "what you make it" situation. As of now it kind of seems like its not worth the risk.

 

[Moko]

Thank you so much for the extensive reply. My "collage" mistake is beautifully ironic but my applications get a lot more proof reading than this post (thank goodness). I was a chemistry major so I took a pretty heavy corse load every semester but I agree in that it definitely seems like a "what you make it" situation. As of now it kind of seems like its not worth the risk.

Bringing out the cat signal since I'm curious what others' experiences have been on this topic.
@Goro @LizzyM @gonnif @gyngyn @Catalystik

 

[Goro]

Bringing out the cat signal since I'm curious what others' experiences have been on this topic.
@Goro @LizzyM @gonnif @gyngyn @Catalystik

Only because you asked, wise Moko.

OP, I think it's a very fair topic. I have a relative with severe dyslexia.

 

[gyngyn]

Bringing out the cat signal since I'm curious what others' experiences have been on this topic.

You covered it nicely.

 

[LizzyM]

Do look at each prompt and try to figure out what they are asking. If the story of how you overcame a difficulty IN CHILDHOOD seems to fit, then go for it but for some of the prompts it might be a stretch.