Personal Statement "Too Perfect?!"

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Almighty Saguaro

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Fear not, this is not some ridiculous arrogant premed post!

I had one of my friends read my PS and he thought it was really good, perhaps "too perfect."
He was concerned that because I lived half my life an African country - albeit a country where English is the lingua franca - people reading my PS might suspect that I actually had an essay company write it for me. I know him enough to know that he was being completely sincere, and he's not ignorant either.

First of all, even if I had done that, I don't recall seeing anything suggesting that that would be against "the rules." Secondly, I think it's an incredibly safe assumption that no ad comm could possibly be that ignorant. Even if someone was ignorant enough to seriously entertain that suspicion, I would assume that there are more reasonable alternatives than rejecting the applicant pre-interview, alternatives like interviewing the applicant to see if his/her English abilities are as suggested by the PS or checking the applicant's English grades.

But, I try not to completely dismiss ideas even if I think they are ludicrous, so do any of you think that there is even remote validity to my friend's concern?

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I don't even know way you're trying to say here. Are you implying that nobody in this world could possibly write as well as one of those paid writing services? I'm going to go ahead and guess somebody who is capable of getting into medical school is also capable of writing a phenomenal personal statement. Those guys are just people too, they're not the second coming of Shakespeare. You shouldn't worry.
 
don't worry about it. if that's the only concern he could raise, you're probably in good shape
is he the only person who read it? it's a good idea in general to get as many eyes on the PS as you can, and you'll get more feedback from people you know/trust (vs strangers like me). unless it's extremely flowery i.e. you used a thesaurus for every other word, chill
 
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Like I said, there are too many things wrong with that statement that we could probably criticize it ad nauseam. The essay writers, like premed, are human beings too LOL.
I just wanted to be able to say that I objectively considered my friend's concern.
 
I had my English professor read it and she made minor suggestions here and there but overall thought it was "a strong statement." I incorporated the suggestions I agreed with but most of them were things that I think most people without PhD's in English probably wouldn't even notice.
 
LOL, not throw in typos but he was suggesting that I add in some comment to "explain" why I can speak English LOL.
 
Yeah...no. You want to present yourself in the best manner possible. No applicant should be submitting anything with typos or awkward diction. It's supposed to be as perfect as possible.
 
if the rest of your appliation matches your PS english level, and during interview, your English matches your writing capabilities, you'll be fine.
 
There's no such thing as a perfect essay, so chill.

Fear not, this is not some ridiculous arrogant premed post!

I had one of my friends read my PS and he thought it was really good, perhaps "too perfect."
He was concerned that because I lived half my life an African country - albeit a country where English is the lingua franca - people reading my PS might suspect that I actually had an essay company write it for me. I know him enough to know that he was being completely sincere, and he's not ignorant either.

First of all, even if I had done that, I don't recall seeing anything suggesting that that would be against "the rules." Secondly, I think it's an incredibly safe assumption that no ad comm could possibly be that ignorant. Even if someone was ignorant enough to seriously entertain that suspicion, I would assume that there are more reasonable alternatives than rejecting the applicant pre-interview, alternatives like interviewing the applicant to see if his/her English abilities are as suggested by the PS or checking the applicant's English grades.

But, I try not to completely dismiss ideas even if I think they are ludicrous, so do any of you think that there is even remote validity to my friend's concern?
 
If you can speak perfect English in your interview, you'll be fine!
 
Haha, if I could NOT speak perfect English, it would be pretty sad since it's my mother tongue and the only language I speak with native fluency...as long as ad coms can get past my Canadian accent, eh.
 
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Haha, if I could NOT speak perfect English, it would be pretty sad since it's my mother tongue and the only language I speak with native fluency...as long as ad coms can get past my Canadian accent, eh. :p

Heh. I have the same issue and background as you, except that they might struggle with my Texan accent :p
 
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