Yes. In all honesty I sat down one afternoon and wrote mine. Took a week or so to revise and what not.
Haha, I'll give you one better. I wrote mine in a couple days, spent another couple days reading over and revising it on my own, then spent another day having 2 other people revise it. It was done in a few days.
😉 I guess I just like writing about myself.
I thought about it before I started writing though.
Here are some tips that I have been giving out to people sending my their personal statements:
PAINT EVERYTHING IN A POSITIVE LIGHT.
Think about what qualities an amazing doctor would possess, then touch on experiences of your own that show you possess those qualities. Don't outright say "I AM COMPASSIONATE" as that sounds pretty conceited, but use anecdotes or visual imagery ("..as I held the cancer patient's wrinkled hand"). You want the person reading your personal statement to think, "man, this person doesn't know it yet, but they're going to make a great doctor one day."
Try and tell a story.Start the essay off with a bang or with a good scenario. Get the reader involved instead of listing a string of positive qualities that sounds conceited and unproven.
With the stories/experiences you write down, make sure you are showing what you took away from them.
Don't use the word "fascinated". Everyone uses it. (I did, too, sadly.)
Learn how to transition between paragraphs and ideas.
Ask yourself; does this particular word and sentence strengthen my personal statement? Obviously, there's limited room and you want to make sure your story brings out the best in you.
Good list. I'll add to it:
1. Please, please, PLEASE do not try to forcefully tell adcoms what you think they want to hear. Of course you gotta play the game, as in making everything a positive in your PS. But don't throw osteopathic medicine into the PS just because it's AACOMAS, unless it actually makes sense as part of what you're saying.
2. Like Dude said, make sure you spend more time describing what your experiences meant to you and spend less time discussing what your job was.
3. Avoid cheesy drama.
4. If a sentence doesn't add anything useful or different, don't add it. Repetition makes reading really boring for anyone, and less memorable too.
5. A common problem I see is people tend to make their introductions super long. It's nice to set the scene, but keep it short. You want to make the body of your PS (which contains all your experiences, skills, etc. you have to offer) the long part.
