Provide A Specific Example Of, And Describe, A Time Or Situation In Which You Demonstrated Resilience

[UFT2021]

Do you guys think we need to focus more on the before and after, OR, the process (i.e the how) of resilience is developed? 

[Fresh fry]

If I was the one evaluating responses to this question I would be looking for:

 

1) What the respondent thinks resilience is, a definition or very clear example would be ideal

 

2) The example situation to qualify what they think is a stressful situation or trial that requires resilience. IE if they respond something along the lines of "one time my coach yelled at me but I took their advice and we won the game" I would think that they are naive and have had a pretty easy life versus "my dd lost his job and I needed to drop out for a few semesters to pay the bills but was able to go back and get a 4.0 while working full time". I should clarify that it probably doesn't matter how "tragic" or "severe" the situation is versus how the person perceives it and the impact it has on their life and how they navigate through it.

 

3) Pragmatism. The one thing that sets people apart on their applications (IMHO) is realism. As soon as I read  some BS boilerplate standard premed answer I lose interest. Show some humility, show some honesty, and not in a humble brag way I'm talking real honest experience. "When I was picked on in high school I took it very hard, I was very depressed and I had very negative thoughts of myself. My grades suffered and that further added to my decreased sense of self worth". Here's where you can have two totally different narratives (tell me which one is better) 1) "but I managed to convince myself I was worth it and I persevered because I am a self starter and really talented" 2) "I sought help from my friends and counselling, it was a long difficult journey but with some assistance I gained new insight and I learned from that experience that it is OK to seek help and I should be on the look out to help others".

 

4) What you learned and how you will do things differently to avoid the situation or to be able to bounce back quicker.

 

 

GL