"Name dropping" appropriate in Personal Statement?

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death2cancer

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I am working on drafting a personal statement. I had a member of an admissions review committee at VCU Medical check out my newest draft. He directly suggested that I "name drop" in my personal statement.

I feel an aversion to this, especially since I will already be listing my PIs in my work/activities section. I also feel that naming someone can either be good (if the reader recognizes the name), or it can waste space (if the reader doesn't recognize the name). Tell me what you think I should do. If the advice came from anyone other than an admissions person, I would simply go with my gut. But in this case... I just don't know what to do.

The possible names I could "drop" are all Harvard and/or MIT people I have worked with, one of which I will be getting an LOR from.

I am not worried about privacy because these people have so many people working for them that this list of names does not matter. The dates of working with these people are all different too, anyway. Please let me know what the general consensus is.... I would particularly like to hear from Lizzy M. I have been browsing these boards for a while and then this issue came up so I decided to post. Pretty much, should I name drop any or all of these names in my personal statement? I am a research heavy applicant with several publications and all of these names were relevant to my studies, but I can just as easily say "My PI at such and such was critical to my growth because blah blah..."

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Regardless of whether or not you put these names in your personal statement (which I would suggest you not do), I certainly wouldn't put their names down here.
 
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I am working on drafting a personal statement. I had a member of an admissions review committee at VCU Medical check out my newest draft. He directly suggested that I "name drop" in my personal statement.

I feel an aversion to this, especially since I will already be listing my PIs in my work/activities section. I also feel that naming someone can either be good (if the reader recognizes the name), or it can waste space (if the reader doesn't recognize the name). Tell me what you think I should do. If the advice came from anyone other than an admissions person, I would simply go with my gut. But in this case... I just don't know what to do.

The possible names I could "drop" are all Harvard and/or MIT people I have worked with, one of which I will be getting an LOR from.

Eric Lander
George Church
Todd Golub

I am not worried about privacy because these people have so many people working for them that this list of names does not matter. The dates of working with these people are all different too, anyway. Please let me know what the general consensus is.... I would particularly like to hear from Lizzy M. I have been browsing these boards for a while and then this issue came up so I decided to post. Pretty much, should I name drop any or all of these names in my personal statement? I am a research heavy applicant with several publications and all of these names were relevant to my studies, but I can just as easily say "My PI at such and such was critical to my growth because blah blah..."
IMO it is tacky.
 
Regardless of whether or not you put these names in your personal statement (which I would suggest you not do), I certainly wouldn't put their names down here.

If their names are on Wikipedia, I certainly don't have a problem putting them on here.
 
Name dropping for the sake of name dropping is not subtle and is incredibly offputting.
 
Wait what???

What if I am writing about a doctor I shadowed? Should I not put their name down or is this more specific to actual name dropping just for the sake of name dropping?
 
I am working on drafting a personal statement. I had a member of an admissions review committee at VCU Medical check out my newest draft. He directly suggested that I "name drop" in my personal statement.

I feel an aversion to this, especially since I will already be listing my PIs in my work/activities section. I also feel that naming someone can either be good (if the reader recognizes the name), or it can waste space (if the reader doesn't recognize the name). Tell me what you think I should do. If the advice came from anyone other than an admissions person, I would simply go with my gut. But in this case... I just don't know what to do.

The possible names I could "drop" are all Harvard and/or MIT people I have worked with, one of which I will be getting an LOR from.

Eric Lander
George Church
Todd Golub

I am not worried about privacy because these people have so many people working for them that this list of names does not matter. The dates of working with these people are all different too, anyway. Please let me know what the general consensus is.... I would particularly like to hear from Lizzy M. I have been browsing these boards for a while and then this issue came up so I decided to post. Pretty much, should I name drop any or all of these names in my personal statement? I am a research heavy applicant with several publications and all of these names were relevant to my studies, but I can just as easily say "My PI at such and such was critical to my growth because blah blah..."

Are you getting LORs from these folks? If not, then don't name drop. If you are, then you don't need to drop their names in your personal statement.
 
Wait what???

What if I am writing about a doctor I shadowed? Should I not put their name down or is this more specific to actual name dropping just for the sake of name dropping?

Unless the doctor you shadowed is "famous" in the medical/science world, it is not considered "name dropping."

You can say "I began shadowing with Dr. Cho in February of 2004 when ..." etc. because nobody knows who the heck Dr. Cho is.

I would normally put these PIs names on my PS, but I have specifically been steering clear of this so as not to sound like I am trying to brag or name drop. But then, this admissions guy specifically told me to put them in so I got confused.

Thanks for all of the comments people! Helpful stuff... I should just go with the gut and leave the names out.
 
I used names in my Personal statement especially of a very well known Physician I volunteered and shadowed with. I think it's a good idea to "name drop" if you actually had a very close relationship with these individuals and mentioning their name is a necessity in order to explain your activities or life.
 
I named one of the doctors I shadowed on my personal statement only because it felt more natural and warmer than to keep refering to her as "the physician I shadowed." I wouldn't name drop just for the sake of doing it though, it does seem tacky and could potentially be off-putting. Just my thoughts :)
 
Sometimes its not name dropping. If you are talking about this person more than once, then its easier just to write the name then vaguely mentioning "a supervisor" or "an oncologist" etc. This also makes it easier for the reader to follow this person's importance to your path to medicine, even if they don't recognize the name.

If it is a random sentence put in just to drop the name then no, don't do it. Good luck.
 
Sometimes its not name dropping. If you are talking about this person more than once, then its easier just to write the name then vaguely mentioning "a supervisor" or "an oncologist" etc. This also makes it easier for the reader to follow this person's importance to your path to medicine, even if they don't recognize the name.

If it is a random sentence put in just to drop the name then no, don't do it. Good luck.
Well said :thumbup:
 
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Thanks all, I wont be putting the names in.

:)
 
Everyone is saying not to do it, and I would agree, except for the case that it sounds like someone MUCH more qualified than any of us advised for name dropping. Comments? Why would an admissions person directly recommend this? Just wanna hear some pro's.

My take: you can name drop in a pretentious way, or an appropriate way.

Pretentious: "After working with Dr. Famousman, who won the nobel prize in 1995, I learned that blah blah blah"

Appropriate: "Last summer I had the honor of working with Dr. Famousman. During my research blah blah"

or something? Seems worth talking about given the positives this VCU admissions guy gave for it.
 
Don't do it. The names can and should be listed among the authors when you cite in the Experience section the papers you've published together. Their names can be the contact persons if you worked in their labs. You have mentioned a LOR which is another discrete way to let it be known that you have a VIP in your corner.

Remember though that no one is universally loved and admired and although you may be impressed by your association with these big wigs there well may be people, even people at their own schools, who find them to be insufferable windbags or worse. (Sometimes it is the people who know them best that like them least.) Being associated with someone who is a "well known name" can cut both ways so be careful.
 
Don't do it. The names can and should be listed among the authors when you cite in the Experience section the papers you've published together. Their names can be the contact persons if you worked in their labs. You have mentioned a LOR which is another discrete way to let it be known that you have a VIP in your corner.

Remember though that no one is universally loved and admired and although you may be impressed by your association with these big wigs there well may be people, even people at their own schools, who find them to be insufferable windbags or worse. (Sometimes it is the people who know them best that like them least.) Being associated with someone who is a "well known name" can cut both ways so be careful.

:thumbup: Well said. I've always thought this as well--name dropping is stupid and will not get you in just because you know someone "famous", whatever that means.
 
Don't do it. The names can and should be listed among the authors when you cite in the Experience section the papers you've published together. Their names can be the contact persons if you worked in their labs. You have mentioned a LOR which is another discrete way to let it be known that you have a VIP in your corner.

Remember though that no one is universally loved and admired and although you may be impressed by your association with these big wigs there well may be people, even people at their own schools, who find them to be insufferable windbags or worse. (Sometimes it is the people who know them best that like them least.) Being associated with someone who is a "well known name" can cut both ways so be careful.

I was criticized in my med school feedback for name dropping. I have a few questions LizzyM. How, then, would you describe a shadowing experience in your PS without stating the physicians name? To me, it wouldn't flow as nice. Also - is it considered name dropping if you use patient names?

Thank you!
 
I was criticized in my med school feedback for name dropping. I have a few questions LizzyM. How, then, would you describe a shadowing experience in your PS without stating the physicians name? To me, it wouldn't flow as nice. Also - is it considered name dropping if you use patient names?

Thank you!

Definitely don't use patient names. Very bad idea because it suggests you don't understand the basic tenants of patient privacy. If you want to say Dr. so and so, that isn't so much name dropping as what the OP was referring to, because presumably you have the name of that physician in your application elsewhere. The point is don't name someone in your PS who is famous just out of hope it is going to sway people. I don't think it just saying "while shadowing a cardiologist" is any less flowing than "Dr. so and so, a cardiologist".
 
Don't use patient names!

You can say, "While shadowing Dr. Oz in the operating room, I saw ...." Of course, you may also list the doctor by name in the experience section as someone you shadowed or worked for, etc.


Where it might be obnoxious would be if you were to play it up: "I had the honor of shadowing the acclaimed Dr. Oz in the operating room. I saw Dr. Oz perform... and I was impressed with Dr. Oz's ability to ..." Don't be that guy.
 
Don't use patient names!

You can say, "While shadowing Dr. Oz in the operating room, I saw ...." Of course, you may also list the doctor by name in the experience section as someone you shadowed or worked for, etc.


Where it might be obnoxious would be if you were to play it up: "I had the honor of shadowing the acclaimed Dr. Oz in the operating room. I saw Dr. Oz perform... and I was impressed with Dr. Oz's ability to ..." Don't be that guy.

So then saying stuff like "While working in Dr. Doom's lab I..." would be fine, right? I just want to be sure after reading GomerPyle's post about getting rejected because of perceived name dropping. The people I've worked with definitely aren't name drop worthy (save for maybe one guy) so it definitely isn't my intention to do anything other than clearly indicate which research or shadowing experience I'm talking about without having to give a sentence long qualifier.
 
Just all around, I think mentioning a name when you're describing an experience is alright. IF you're doing it because you think it'll give you a leg-up, then no.
 
So then saying stuff like "While working in Dr. Doom's lab I..." would be fine, right? I just want to be sure after reading GomerPyle's post about getting rejected because of perceived name dropping. The people I've worked with definitely aren't name drop worthy (save for maybe one guy) so it definitely isn't my intention to do anything other than clearly indicate which research or shadowing experience I'm talking about without having to give a sentence long qualifier.

Yes, just giving the name as if he's any PI is just fine. Using a identifier such as, "Nobel prize recipient, Dr. Yallow ..." is where it begins to seem like name dropping.
 
Don't use patient names!

You can say, "While shadowing Dr. Oz in the operating room, I saw ...." Of course, you may also list the doctor by name in the experience section as someone you shadowed or worked for, etc.


Where it might be obnoxious would be if you were to play it up: "I had the honor of shadowing the acclaimed Dr. Oz in the operating room. I saw Dr. Oz perform... and I was impressed with Dr. Oz's ability to ..." Don't be that guy.

Not even just a patients first name? I used a patient experience in my personal statement in a lengthy paragraph, so I guess I should just refer to her as "the patient" rather than by her first name. Doesn't seem like it would flow as good, but I will give it a shot.

I was assuming they were talking about my physician experiences, but I guess I was name dropping then too. So is it okay to state that "My experience shadowing Dr. Stone during a coronary bypass surgery reaffirmed my desire to blah blah blah.....I was impressed by the teamwork display...blah blah blah". So is this name dropping?
 
Not even just a patients first name? I used a patient experience in my personal statement in a lengthy paragraph, so I guess I should just refer to her as "the patient" rather than by her first name. Doesn't seem like it would flow as good, but I will give it a shot.

I was assuming they were talking about my physician experiences, but I guess I was name dropping then too. So is it okay to state that "My experience shadowing Dr. Stone during a coronary bypass surgery reaffirmed my desire to blah blah blah.....I was impressed by the teamwork display...blah blah blah". So is this name dropping?

Most people will use a short name (save characters) and add (pseudonym) after the first time the name is used.

Just saying "Dr. Stone" is likely to be ok. If the person is a household name (Dr. Oz, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, etc) then it might be a better idea to substitute, "the cardiology team" for "Dr. Stone". Or use "Dr. S-" <-that saves characters.
 
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Yes, just giving the name as if he's any PI is just fine. Using a identifier such as, "Nobel prize recipient, Dr. Yallow ..." is where it begins to seem like name dropping.

That's a relief. Thanks.
 
Regardless of whether or not you put these names in your personal statement
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I know this is an old thread but I have come across a similar question. I am applying to OT schools and in my personal statement I mentioned the first name of the OT I shadowed. I mainly did it bc I didn't want to keep saying "THe OT I shadowed.." She wrote me a reference so it is no secret what her name is. Is this ok?
 
I know this is an old thread but I have come across a similar question. I am applying to OT schools and in my personal statement I mentioned the first name of the OT I shadowed. I mainly did it bc I didn't want to keep saying "THe OT I shadowed.." She wrote me a reference so it is no secret what her name is. Is this ok?
It's fine but use the last name and professional title instead of their first name.

Additionally, try posting this in the PT/OT sub forums.
 
Didn't really think it was a big deal considering this forum already addressed the topic I was looking for while no such topics existed in the PT/OT forums.
 
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