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NOSM application essay question help


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Hello, 

Hoping we can use this thread to support each other with our essay questions. 

I am currently working on this question:

"Describe an incident in your adult life when you had to deal with failure or error and what you learned from the experience."

What would be the best way to target this question? I am a mature applicant and have a few example of failures. But I am not sure if I should use one that is academic in nature or personal (financial, professional, relationship, etc...)? Or do you think we should keep it closely related to health care?

Thanks

 

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I think this question stumps a lot of people because failure can be uncomfortable to talk about and people aren't sure what type of answer NOSM is looking for (for the record I don't think there is a magic answer). I think the important thing is to demonstrate that you recognize you are not perfect, but that you have been able to learn from your mistakes moving forward. I changed my response to this question several times over the years, from very personal answers to experiences I had at work where I felt I let others down. If you can also demonstrate leadership, communication, collaboration, etc. into your response then that's even better!

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I agree with bornandraised. When I was working on that question last year, I had typed out three different answers because I wasn't sure which one to talk about. I ended up choosing the one that was most personal, and was hardest for me to talk about. Out of all three, I had learned the most from that "failure". 

I would try to stay away from academic failures, because I could see a lot of applicants having similar answers. Choose one based on the effect it had, and one that you learned a lot from. Good luck :)

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I also had a more academic response to this question for my first four applications. I changed to a more clinical answer on my fifth attempt from advice from a friend and fellow applicant. My fifth attempt was successful. 

Now, other parts of my app also improved significantly, but I believe my changed response to this question also helped. 

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