2006-2007 Personal Statement Help Thread

I copied some of this from last year's thread, so I hope Phil or CobraKai won't get me for plaigerism! 😉

This is a thread to help those of us applying for the 2006-2007 application cycle. There are a lot of really qualified people on SDN to help you out with your PS. You can get help with grammar and punctuation, with organization, with ideas, or with just about anything else. I find it helpful to copy the statment into Microsoft Word (if someone PMs it to you) and turn on Track Changes so the person can see what you changed. It's also nice to use the Comments feature, if you have something else to say.

If you're willing to help read and critique other peoples' personal statements, please add your name to the list and a few details about yourself if you want to. It might be helpful to include your (1) username
(2) position (not yet applying, current applicant for entering c/o 2006, applying AMCAS/AACOMAS this summer, 1st/2nd/3rd/4th year MD student, 1st/2nd/3rd/4th year DO student, resident, other (specify), etc.)
(3) qualifications/short description

As this goes on for the next few months, please let us know if you're no longer able to help, and you will be removed from the master list.

Some guidelines for getting your statement critiqued, if you're curious:
1) When you PM them, it would be nice if you said please and asked if they have time. If they can't get back to you, that's a good clue that they're too busy.

2) If they say they'll read your PS, and you don't hear from them in a few days, it's okay to send a polite PM asking if they're going to have time to get to it. No guilt trips here, please!

3) When they've sent you a critique, thank them! Remember that readers are giving a lot of their time to look over your essay, and that you aren't entitled to this. Last year some people got offended if their statements weren't read right away, but I remember some days I'd get 10 requests in one day and there's no way a person can give the amount of time that's deserved to that many statements in one day. Good things come to those who wait. 😀

4) If you send your PS by private message (PM), it might be a good idea to also include your email address. As a reader, I didn't really want to post my email in this thread, but if they give you theirs first then you can email them back using any of your accounts that you want (Note to mods: SDN email would be so sweet!) and you don't have to broadcast your email to the world.

Good luck with the application process, everyone!

Here's the list so far:

blee: I'd love to help a few applicants with their PSs this year. I went through this lovely process last year, applied to 15 schools, and was accepted into five. I'm confident that my PS had a role in my acceptance, because my grades sure didn't.Oh, yeah -- non-traditional, had an IT career for five years before quitting.

chilon85: I just wanted to say that I would be glad to look over personal statements as well. I am in the process of writing mine right now so I am in the mindset of editing and revising already. Let me know if anyone needs help.

CTGI am starting med school in the fall, and writing has always been one of my strengths (e.g. S on MCAT writing section). I may make suggestions on content, but I will especially be able to help with effective writing: flow, wording, grammar, etc. PM if you need help and I'll respond as soon as I can. G’luck everyone!!!

dillanger: I am entering an MSTP program this summer mostly likely at UPenn although I was accepted at WashU and Cornell MSTPs as well. I interviewed at most of the top schools. I'm planning to do the PhD in computational neuroscience or biomedical engineering. I would be happy to read personal statements until May 31st. I am a pretty tranditional MD/PhD applicant -- lots of research, less emphasis on volunteering etc although I did some of that. If anyone needs help on the MD/PhD personal statement I'd be happy to read that as well.

diosa428: I will be unavailable until June 5 or so. I will be entering medical school in the fall. I'm currently getting my Master's degree in Neuroscience (no English major background here) but I got a lot of compliments on my personal statement. I tend to offer very honest opinions when I edit essays, so if you are a sensitive person you may not want to send it to me.

discus: Just wanted to let you know, I'm also available to read personal statements. I'm starting medical school this Fall, and love reading/writing. If you need another person's opinion on your statement, feel free to PM me with your email address. I'll read mostly for content/flow. Good luck!

gdbaby: Please be patient as I'm recovering from strep and am a little behind. I have a PhD in anthropology and am currently an anthropology professor. I will be attending medical school in August (haven't decidied which one yet). I am happy to help look at PS through August this year. I may be especially helpful for the non-trad applicant who has had many lives before deciding on medicine. Also, if you need advice and assistance with interviews, I am happy to help there, too. I had a relatively low MCAT, but a good GPA and I have been accepted everywhere I have interviewed (so far! I am still waiting to hear from one school).
Good luck everybody!

Goose-d: I will be starting medical school in the fall (destination: uncertain). I was a 'traditional' applicant; but I worked in EMS while I was an undergraduate. Although I was not an english major, I have always enjoyed and excelled in english classes. On the interview trail, I received alot of complements on my amcas and secondary essays. PM me and I would be glad to help with your essay.

Gujudoc: I'm not yet applying to medical school, but I do have personal experience helping others critique their personal statements. Although I didn't get to them all, I did manage to help quite a few students last year both on SDN and off. I'm pretty good at getting the words to flow once an initial draft is made and looking over the grammar aspects too. Although it takes me a while to get started, I tend to do pretty well once I get my thoughts flowing and usually get compliments by professors on any essays I have to write like when I was in English class or any exit requirement liberal arts courses and what not.

hanjoko: I am willing to help as well. I will be entering med school this coming fall (vanderbilt at least for now). I probably won't be able to help with the grammar since I am not good at that but otherwise, I think I can tell you pretty honestly what to write and what not to write. Just PM me for my email address and then I will get back to you within a day. I do not have MDapplicant profile but I have applied for a good number of schools and got several interviews so if you want to know about a specific school, I am happy to share my experience with you. Good luck, everyone!

happydays: removed for the month of May per request of happydays

Hoberto: 30yr old non-trad BME BS, ChemE MS...entering medical school this fall. Just send me a PM.

idealist: i will be attending medical school in the fall (hopefully tulane). i have been teaching math and english to 5th and 6th graders and doing research. i was a neuroscience major and computer science minor in college (wellesley '03), but i got a lot of compliments on my ps and secondary essays from my editors. just trying to return the favor since so many helped me out with mine. and dont worry, i choose not to use caps and to omit some punctuation in my casual typing, but i do know the rules of grammar. (arent i sooo edgy with my anti caps and punct?)

javertI'm temporarily unavailable while I catch up on my backlog of PSs. I'll read PS's for anyone out there...
Just finishing up my first year at Penn Med
Graduated from Rutgers in 2005
Don't really know what qualifies me but I'm happy to read and comment.

jbrice1639: I'll be available from now until June 26. Accepted in the 2006 application cycle to Loyola and UIC, also waitlisted post-interview at Pritzker.I have a degree in rhetoric/professional writing and have worked for 2.5 years in public relations and advertising, so my writing knowledge is fairly extensive. I can help with content, sentence flow, punctuation, final editing, or whatever else people may be interested in.

Learfan: Please add me to the list of editors. I just finished the MS1 year. Qualifications include BA in biology and chemistry, PhD in chemistry and an MBA so I can relate to people emerging from a variety of backgrounds. I edited personal statements for people in the 2006 application cycle.

Lorrayne: If anyone would like some assistance, feel free to PM me. I hold degrees in English and journalism and was a writing tutor in college. After graduation, I worked as a professional copy editor for a major metro newspaper.

luckyme: I was accepted to Havard Medical School last year. Later I was told by someone at the admission office that my PS was one of the best personal statements which they received last year.
I was accepted to 6 schools out of 12 schools I applied. I'm also lucky to have a mother who is a counselor at the university. She helped me a lot.
PM me if you need help.

Lyricist: I'm starting medical school in the fall. I have a BA in a foreign language with a literature concentration and have also done some work copy editing for a publishing house.

megaman1xI might be of some help to you guys who are in the process of applying. I just found out last week that I got accepted into medical school and I will be starting my first year of med in August, 2006.

I would definately love to read your guy's personal statements. I get really bored at work sometimes and I wouldn't mind readin these to help pass the time.

Some background info about myself:
I have completed a 3 year B.Sc with a major in Biochemistry however, I also have a minor in English (I'm a good writer, or so that's what my english prof's say). Also I might offer a different perspective because I am a Canadian student and I have been accepted into a Canadian Med School. I don't want to get into any discusions about if it's harder or easier to get into Candian or US med schools (I have only applied to Canadian schools), I'm just here to offer my services from a different perspective. I had also been told that I had a fabulous personal statement from my Ad. Comm.

So definately PM me and I can always give you a speedy response!

nosugrefneb: I'm happy to read over personal statements as well. Feel free to email yours to me at bdf-at-uchicago-dot-edu; I'm studying for boards at the moment and need all the distraction I can get my hands on. I can typically get back to you within a few hours. Or drop me a line on IM at nosugrefneb. Hot.

ohlalaI have extensive experience abroad and I have experience with non-traditional extracurriculars. I've helped people last year and I'm willing to help this year. Just don't send a rough draft please. Thanks. PM me or email me at [email protected].

omgwtfbbq?: I'm starting medical school in the fall, and have a degree in english (and biochem) I've worked as a science writer for a newspaper and freelance and am a published fiction writer. I'm a good person to see when it comes to structure, content and flow, and have a knack at good openings (all the fiction). I'm not the person to see if you need something copy edited, as i'm not good at garaunteeing your commas, semicolons and such are in the right place and used correctly. I'm all about voice, content and flow.

potato51: I'll be starting med school in the fall at UT Southwestern. I graduated with a science degree some years ago and have been doing research ever since. But as I work with a lot of foreign grads and docs, I've been asked for help (a ton of it) in writing personal and business letters, including a successful scholarship essay that landed one of them a huge award. And a recommendation letter I wrote for immigration services helped a friend get a green card. I can't admit to being the most creative person out there, but I'm very good with grammar and the technicals of writing, as well as overall flow.

prana_md:Hello! I am a non-traditional applicant headed for the University of Pittsburgh in the fall. Before I went back to school for post-bacc, I worked as a journalist for several years in the Bay Area. I've applied to medical school twice and journalism school twice! I learned a lot during both processes, and I'd love to pass on any experience, for what it's worth, to the class of '11. Best of luck!

Princessd3 I will be attending the University of Michigan Medical school in the fall of 06. I minored in Journalism, wrote various articles for the school newspaper and am considered to have a natural writing ability. Punctuations aren't my forte. When analyzing an essay I am more concerned with substance, feeling/tone, cohesiveness and sentence wording..

Robotsonic: I'm a fourth year med student, going into general surgery. I have a bit of free time right now, and I like reading personal statements, so feel free to send me yours. As I don't have a ton of free time, I won't be able to make lots of comments throughout the text or focus too much on grammar and spelling. I will mostly comment on the content and on overall writing style, and I promise to be completely honest. If I don't respond, it means I'm busy or unavailable; it doesn't say anything about your personal statement

Schaden Freud: Hello all! I am willing to read and offer an unabashed critique of your personal statement. I consider myself to be an above-average writer and have read The Elements of Style (Oooh! Ahhh!) I got an R on the MCAT writing sample, a 730 on the SAT II writing (a long long time ago...) and a 760 on the SAT I Verbal Section (an even longer time ago).
PM me if interested.

singh02:I'll offer to read PS as well since some people have been so kind to help me. PM me. Give me two due dates. One which you really would like it by (be 'greedy' here). Two, which is the latest you want it by (lie a bit here). Also, include an estimate on when you are going to turn in your application.

Resume:
Why you would:
I'm a good writer and read alot. I also am a better editor than a writer.

I like to think I get it when it comes to writing. I like concise and inspirational.

I write poetry.

And ok, wth, I got second place in my spelling bee in 6th grade. WTF is a whippoorwill and how does a fifth grader know how to spell that stupid word of a bird?

takara: M1 mayo med school

TI89: Entering Med school in the fall. Not an english major or anything but got plenty of compliments about PS from interviewers at interviews. Have had tutoring experience and read many essays.

vtucci: non-trad, lawyer, legal writing professor at college level.

weezer230:i am entering medical school this fall and i would love to help someone with their personal statement if they want help. my scores were very average and i got accepted at over 5 schools. i think the personal statement (and your secondary essays) is/are as important as your gpa and mcat score. i was an athlete in college and came from a different country and both of those topics were covered in my statement and essays. if you want me to look over your essays, please pm me and i will gladly do that (weezer230). Thanks and good luck

I'm checking in for just a second. Thanks for the new replies! I'll update the list later tonight (supposed to be working right now!)

nekrogg said:

can i post a quick question? 🙂 I am working on my PS right now and is it a good idea to use medical terms, and specific cases in my personal statement? Or is it a waste of space, and a bit showy?

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I think it depends on what you are talking about. I mean, it would be kind of insulting to use terms that are below your education level (that commercial for the show Sons and Daughters comes to mind: "Grandma hurt her na-na."). You might want to PM some of us with the specific information and see what the consensus is. It really depends on what kind of medical terms you are referring to.

I like how this thread is turning into a discussion. Keep up the good work! 😉

superman1969 and quantummechanic, my best advice is to simply start writing. Fill up four or five pages, then put it away for a few hours/days. When you take it out again, cut out the stuff that isn't really important, and add anything else you think of.

I did this many times for both of my PSs. Sometimes writing like you have no character limit helps you to get more ideas out than trying to keep it short. I'll have to find my PS from last year, but I wouldn't mind sharing it through PM or email, but you have to remember that I didn't get in so obviously it's not really spectacular or anything.

trp2006 said:

Please dont flame me on this, but I had a question(seriously)? I don't know how to phrase it, but should I be concerned about sending my PS on SDN to someone I dont know(I understand most of you are here to help genuinely, but just in case what if just one person is not honest?) I am not trying to criticize anyone, but just want to be satisfied before I send anyone my PS. Thanks all!

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I understand your apprehension. I thought about this a lot last year, but a lot of people sent theirs to me and I never felt compelled to do anything inappropriate 😉 . I wondered what would happen if someone stole someone else's statement and passed it off as their own.

I think things like that are rare and won't be found on SDN. Why would you spend so much time reading other people's statements if you were just doing it to get something out of it for youself?

I know this isn't really fair, but some of us who did this last year can offer "references" of people who had their PSs read by us last year. But honestly, I don't think that's necessary.

nekrogg said:

yea it has to do with my research project, but how many sentences should i dedicate to it? i have alread 924 words just on my research. with the 3000 word requirement, that may be a bit lengthy. i guess i have to chop down on the technical aspects (even though it makes me very sad to do so)

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Is AMCAS going to use words instead of characters for their requirement this year (I haven't looked at the site yet). Last year and the year before it was done by character, so even spaces counted. On all the essays I did last year I only put one space after each period, just to save room.

That's something else I should have mentioned in my intro post. I got a lot of PSs last year that were very long and I think I'm good at cutting them down to the most important highlights. Don't be afriad to send me (or any of us!) something that's very rough, too short, too long etc. We're here to make suggestions and help you out, even if it takes 10 or more drafts.