A few questions about the AMCAS/PS

[jonessoda]

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1. Regarding the PS: I know everybody always says to avoid clichés. But consider, there are something along the lines of 30-40,000 applicants each year, and the AMCAS personal statement has been around for years. I'd wager that almost everything that can be written on it has been written. I suppose this is more of rhetorical question, but how are we to avoid being cliché when just about anything we could write has undoubtedly been read by each adcom member dozens, if not hundreds, of times?

2. Still regarding the PS, and as a possible answer to the above question, would writing it in the style of an epic poem (assuming, of course, that you could actually pull it off), detailing the decisions that led to your desire to practice medicine as though they were heroic deeds, be helpful or harmful? It'd probably be relatively original, but I'd rather not do it if it'll just end up with my applications being tossed into a trash can. I probably wouldn't do it anyway, but it's just a thought I had.

3. As far as activities, is it normal/acceptable to list ones that are more of a hobby rather than anything official, but still take up a good portion of your time? E.g., "I've been playing bass guitar since X, primarily Y and Z genres" or "I've been a runner since X and have participated in Y races, including the Z 10K and the Q 5K, and have worn out N pairs of friggin' expensive shoes." Well, maybe not that last bit after the comma.

 

[olemissbabydoc]

A poem version PS would certainly be original and grab some attention. As long as it wasn't total "dr seuss" style, I think it could work.

And yes, important/time consuming hobbies can be used. be sure your clinical and research stuff gets in there first.

 

[jonessoda]

Bump for more opinions plus a couple questions:

4: LORs: I was intending on getting one from at least one of my supervisors; one is my former supervisor, for whom I worked for a year and a half, until I was promoted to my current position. One is my current supervisor, for whom I've worked about four months, but who had some contact with me previously. Both would be willing to give me letters of recommendation. Would it be a bad idea to have letters from both, for some reason, so long as I also had professor and doctor LORs? If it isn't a good idea to have both, which would be preferable?

5. Courses: I took an EMT course through an academy that doesn't grade or anything. Should this be listed under course work, or work/activities?

 

[vinniekan]

2. Still regarding the PS, and as a possible answer to the above question, would writing it in the style of an epic poem (assuming, of course, that you could actually pull it off), detailing the decisions that led to your desire to practice medicine as though they were heroic deeds, be helpful or harmful? It'd probably be relatively original, but I'd rather not do it if it'll just end up with my applications being tossed into a trash can. I probably wouldn't do it anyway, but it's just a thought I had.
.

When I asked my pre-med advisor about writing the PS, she told me in the past, she had a student wrote a poem, just a poem, and got in

Take that with a grain of salt I guess, hopefully you're a good poet haha