Such a loaded term, "success".

[flexagon]

Over at bluechromis's watching gymnastics last night, I found out that (for med school applications) she has to write a 1-page essay on "How will you evaluate your success as a doctor?"

I think it would be a really fascinating exercise to do the same for other careers that might happen to apply. For example, how will I evaluate my success as a software engineer? How do you evaluate yours? (At least 4 people on my friendslist are also software engineers.) How do you evaluate your success as a teacher? How do you evaluate your success as an admin? How do you evaluate your success as a copy editor?

Obviously these questions beg a lot of other questions, but that's part of why it would be interesting. I don't know if I could even DO it without going all meta. I think the word "success" is intrinsically linked to my favorite word in the English language, "enough". I also wonder if success as a whatever is worth anything at all, beyond the meaning we give it.

Comments

[mangosteen]

I tend to use "being acknowledged by smart people as smart," which has a small danger of external validation, but can usually be quantified in ways that avoid directly and personally seeking approval (e.g. publications in referreed journals, having my work cited as "good practice" on mailing lists, etc.).