What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Your values. What you pick matters more than how impressive it is.
How to structure your answer
- 1Name it
- 2What made it hard
- 3What you did
- 4Why this one over the others
- Pick something you actually care about over something that sounds prestigious
- Explain the difficulty so the achievement has weight
- Say explicitly why this one
- Credit anyone who helped
A strong answer
What lands
One of my proudest accomplishments is founding the pre-dental club at my university. During my freshman year, I noticed there wasn’t a club for students interested in dentistry. I spoke with our pre-health advisor and learned that several other students were also looking for resources and guidance. So I posted in our class Facebook group to see if anyone would be interested in starting a club, and 15 students responded! I took the initiative to register the club with the university, reserve a meeting space, advertise, and organize our first meeting. Four years later, I’m still the president, and we’ve grown to 40 members, with 10 of us applying to dental school this year. What makes me most proud isn’t just that I started the club, but that I created a community where students can support one another in pursuing dentistry. Knowing that the club will continue helping future pre-dental students long after I graduate makes it especially meaningful to me.
Builds something that outlasts her, with the member count and the reason it matters to her.
A weak answer
What most people say
Probably graduating with honors while I was teaching full time. I finished my prerequisites at night over four years and still kept my GPA above a 3.7, which took a lot of discipline and a lot of very late nights. It's the thing on my application I'd point to first.
The highest-status line on the file, offered with no feeling attached to it.
The trap
⚠Choosing the highest-status item on your CV without any emotional connection to it. A small thing you fought for beats a big thing that came easily, every time.
Reading it isn't the same as saying it.
Most people can explain a good answer and still fall apart saying one out loud. Admitted asks you all 100 questions in a faculty voice, records you, and scores your pace and filler words.
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