* * 2010 - 2011 * * Personal Statement Thread

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I was wondering how different your MD and DO statements were, or rather, how much did you include in your DO statement that is directly correlated to OSTEOPATHIC medicine.

I mentioned wholistic approach and how it was exemplified by the osteopathic physician that I shadowed and that it was superior patient care (2-3 sentences). Other than that my statement is identical to my MD statement.

Have I done enough with it or should I mention it more and other aspects of it, tie it in conclusion, etc?

What did you do?

Thanks!
 
From personal experience...
my AACOMAS personal statement was exactly the same as my AMCAS personal statement... which addressed in general why I wanted to be a physician..

and my secondaries were where I talked about specifically why I wanted to be a DO.

I think it's good to talk about the holistic approach... but it's equally important to talk about OMM (which also sets DO aside from MD)

anyways.. just my 2 cent..
GOOD LUCK!
 
I have seen people say to explain why doctor in the primary essay and why D.O in the secondaries. I disagree with this. Research the schools you want to apply to, if LECOM or DMUCOM are on the list than there is NO essay for the secondary. For those instances if you didn't express why D.O in your statement, then they might be wondering why. Even a small section pertaining to why D.O would be helpful in my opinion. Considering i'm not on any admissions committees i'm sure my opinion is not worth all that much. I did however base a large portion of my personal statement on why D.O, because honestly after all the research i've done, I truly prefer D.O.
 
chicago88 said:
I mentioned wholistic approach and how it was exemplified by the osteopathic physician that I shadowed and that it was superior patient care (2-3 sentences). Other than that my statement is identical to my MD statement.
Click to expand...

That's exactly what I did, and it worked well for me!
 
I submitted my PS to readers on the MD side of SDN because I don't see a thread on the DO side and got GREAT feedback. Just keep in mind that the MD PS is longer, so readers may be looking for more words.
 
I used the same one for both. The secondaries are usually where you tell why you wanted to do osteopathic medicine.
 
Not necessary to include "why DO" in ur PS. You will be asked in the secondary and if there is no secondary, you will be asked during the interview... and if you didn't get that interview, it's not because you didn't include "why DO" in the PS.
 
FWIW I took my AMCAS essay and copied it word for word into the AACOMAS application. I did have to remove a paragraph, though, since the PS space holds fewer characters on AACOMAS. I did not say anything specific to being a DO and I have an interview at LECOM. I actually did not know LECOM would not have any secondary essays. They did last year and I assumed they would have the same ones and I did plan to discuss Why DO? in the secondaries.
 
I just wanted to mention that I will no longer be reading PSs. It's been a real privilege to read them and hear everyone's personal stories but I just don't have the time anymore.

For those of you that have sent me your DO statements, I am happy to read them and send them back to you and if I have already been working with you, I will continue to do so. I just can't accept any new PSs.

I wish everyone much success through the application cycle and a very happy 4th of July! 😍
 
So I pasted my PS into AACOMAS from AMCAS (minus about 700 characters). Anyway I had heard that it is fine to use the same PS, and for DO schools just to mention why DO in the secondaries.

But do you people think it would be a good idea to mention osteopathic medicine at all in my primary? For instance, I talk about pre-medicine, should I change this to pre-osteopathic medicine? Or when I mention the field of medicine should I say the field of osteopathic medicine? I was thinking I could mention the word atleast once in the beginning, and then from there on just say medicine

Thanks
 
i would not say pre-osteopathic medicine.

unless you have some real reason that is driving you to become a specifically osteopathic physician, i wouldnt sweat putting it in your PS. maybe just say something like "this is what drove me to become an osteopathic physician."

but most schools have a question in the secondaries about "why osteopathic" or "how you will apply osteopathic principles."
 
I agree with the above poster. Don't put pre-osteopathic medicine. Like it is said above, if you really need to put the word "osteopathic" in your PS, then do something like osteopathic physician.
Don't worry, though, if you don't even mention osteopathic medicine at all in your personal statement. I didn't say a single thing about it in my personal statement when I applied. You will have plenty of opportunities to explain why you want to do osteopathic medicine. You'll see it on secondaries and in interviews.
 
Now i know it is very hard to rank anything in any manner because there are many varying opinions. However i wanted to know if you guys had the choice which do school would you pick? regardless of the location and convenience to you? I just want to get a seance of the dream school everybody thinks of when it comes to Osteopathic Medicine. 👍
 
DMU or CCOM. Loved both schools when I visited.
 
CCOM or PCOM. VCOM is up there too but I wouldn't mind a change of scenery from Blacksburg...
 
after being there as a master's student........



ccom hands down


thankfully in a little less than a week and a half i get to do it!! 🙂
 
I plead da fif. :laugh:

Honestly, I haven't seen every school so I'd prefer to see my options first. Like Jagger said, a school like KCOM wasn't even near the top of his list but as soon as he interviewed there it was beyond any other school by far. I'll see where the cycle takes me.
 
1) TCOM
2) Any other Texas medical school
3) Any US MD/DO school
 
At the moment, my top 2 are LMU-DCOM just based on what current students say about it, and Nova.

Of course, this will probably change after I visit/interview other schools.
 
CCOM and NSU are probably at the top of my list right now
 
lol ktown im right there with you bcz i live in texas. my top three would be ccom, tcom and pcom in that order. I would love some more input guys keep it coming. 😀
 
I'm putting them into tiers, but for now
1st tier :TUCOM-CA, CCOM, Western
 
NSUCOM just because I live about 50 miles from the school, but I will be happy to get into any school even Rocky Vista.
 
LECOM-Bradenton. Whats not to like about sunny weather, PBL, and studying on the beach.
 
arfandada said:
lol ktown im right there with you bcz i live in texas. my top three would be ccom, tcom and pcom in that order. I would love some more input guys keep it coming. 😀
Click to expand...

If applying in 2012-13: I hate you, you should take the easy way out and not try medical school. It's too hard, reimbursements are going down. NP's are encroaching on doctor turf! 😀

If applying any other year: Good luck when applying man, every medical school I've toured/seen has been fantastic/clean/newish/ and from what I can tell pass or fail classes.
 
ktown dont worry we are good 😎.... i hope you guys are mentioning these schools without taking in to the concideration of how far it is from home. :xf:
 
TUCOM-CA would be my dream DO school. I wouldn't mind Western (really want to stay in CA if possible). If I didn't have a strong CA preference, a school like Nova really appeals to me.
 
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oar2386 said:
LECOM-Bradenton. Whats not to like about sunny weather, PBL, and studying on the beach.
Click to expand...

It really confuses me how people think they are going to be studying on the beach. I suppose if you can do it then more power to you, but in my opinion, any studying happening on the beach would be far from productive.
 
PureMotivation said:
It really confuses me how people think they are going to be studying on the beach. I suppose if you can do it then more power to you, but in my opinion, any studying happening on the beach would be far from productive.
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I'm predicting much of the beach studying would turn into study of the external anatomy...
 
I want to go to PCOM (PA resident) but I am really afraid I am not competitive.
 
I guess I am totally alone on this one, but my top two are LECOM-E and WVSOM. (Granted I have never seen many of the other schools)
 
Lokhtar said:
I want to go to PCOM (PA resident) but I am really afraid I am not competitive.
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Well, I think I've seen your stats. You are VERY competitive for PCOM, plus you are a PA resident. So don't worry. 🙂
 
UMDNJ-SOM. I love this school!
 
HockeyDr09 said:
I guess I am totally alone on this one, but my top two are LECOM-E and WVSOM. (Granted I have never seen many of the other schools)
Click to expand...

WVSOM is up there for me too, it's definitely top notch for education. I want to go somewhere in a major city though and if not I want to go to a program for rural medicine, which will boil down to VCOM and WVSOM. Unfortunately WVSOM out of state tuition is through the roof...
 
the cheapest one... if only i lived in tx
 
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