Do I need to change my Personal Statement as a reapplicant for AMCAS?

[Dr. Stalker]

Do I need to change my Personal Statement as a reapplicant for AMCAS? I applied in the 2015-2016 cycle and am currently just sitting on waitlists and most likely, not going to get accepted. Ergo, I'm preparing to reapply. Is it alright if I use my old personal statement? I graduated May 2015 (so I've taken 1 year off since I applied) and can I input the old personal statement into my AMCAS? Thanks .

Sincerely,
Dr. S

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[Aubrey Graham]

I used my old one as a template for my new one...but I would not just copy and paste it...add new activities and stuff that you have done...

 

[femmegoblue]

Personally, and advice given to me from several AdCom's on here and at my local school, I would change it. I completely scrapped mine and started over, with the last year at the forefront. You want to convey that you are a better applicant this time around, and I think using the same one is lazy tbh.

 

[Dr. Stalker]

I should clarify:

My old personal statement took about 14 drafts to perfect, and I'm pretty happy with it. I received a 29 on my MCAT (balanced) and graduated with a 3.7...so my advisor told me to apply to medical schools cause I was "borderline." The only major difference between this upcoming application cycle and last cycle (2015-2016) is that I am retaking my MCAT. My activities/extracurriculars were all above and beyond (several med school advisors at my home school [my college also has a medical school] told me my only red flag is my MCAT score), so I didn't really "develop" or do anything new other than more research in my undergrad lab lol. Given that I've kind of maximized my old PS, should I rewrite it? I'm happy to tweak the end of it (last paragraph can be molded into my perseverance/dedication to medicine and how this year taught me not to give up in the face of rejection), but other than that I didn't really do anything new cause, well, I covered all my bases. Thanks - any advice now given I inputted some more details about yours truly?

 

[femmegoblue]

I should clarify:

My old personal statement took about 14 drafts to perfect, and I'm pretty happy with it. I received a 29 on my MCAT (balanced) and graduated with a 3.7...so my advisor told me to apply to medical schools cause I was "borderline." The only major difference between this upcoming application cycle and last cycle (2015-2016) is that I am retaking my MCAT. My activities/extracurriculars were all above and beyond (several med school advisors at my home school [my college also has a medical school] told me my only red flag is my MCAT score), so I didn't really "develop" or do anything new other than more research in my undergrad lab lol. Given that I've kind of maximized my old PS, should I rewrite it? I'm happy to tweak the end of it (last paragraph can be molded into my perseverance/dedication to medicine and how this year taught me not to give up in the face of rejection), but other than that I didn't really do anything new cause, well, I covered all my bases. Thanks - any advice now given I inputted some more details about yours truly?

Ok that's a little different then. However, to me I would be a little wary about not showing ANYTHING new from one year to the next. What have you been doing this past year? Have you done any new shadowing or volunteering or anything you can squeak out into a new section in your PS? I still firmly believe you should a least re-develop the PS a little, but I would be curious to see what someone like @Goro has to say.

 

[femmegoblue]

I re-wrote my story and my angle, and my new PS turned out a million times better than the one last year that I truly believed at the time was perfect.

 

[Goro]

Agree 100%. One applies last year and got shut out. That says there was need for improvement.

How has the OP improved????

Ok that's a little different then. However, to me I would be a little wary about not showing ANYTHING new from one year to the next. What have you been doing this past year? Have you done any new shadowing or volunteering or anything you can squeak out into a new section in your PS? I still firmly believe you should a least re-develop the PS a little, but I would be curious to see what someone like @Goro has to say.

 

[gyngyn]

If we get the same PS on a re-application, it ends right there.

 

[Shockwave991]

I had a similar question. What about some of the work/activities descriptions and summaries? Obviously new experiences/work would need to be added, but for some of the previous activities would their descriptions need to be changed?