aacomas personal statement

[NREMTP]

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i was wondering what everyone put in this section of their application. they really don't give you any space at all to talk about much, so what did you talk about in the electron sized space given? i'm also takin the Aug MCAT, can you tell. anyway, any feedback would be much appreciated.

B

 

[OnMyWayThere]

I think these are important to address:

Why you want to be a physician
What drew you to medicine
What experiences caused you to choose this pathway and how these experiences made you sure of that medicine is indeed the correct path
***Why Osteopathy***don't leave this out

Optional:
Brief explanation of old bad grades if applicable (very applicable in mine!)

 

[dulcinea]

did anybody else notice that you could type in more than the allotted 500 words (or whatever it is exactly)? is there any way to find out exactly how many characters you are putting in your application- b/c i know that AMCAS counts them differently than MS word. just wondered-thanks for the help!

 

[irishlaydi]

I think these are important to address:

Why you want to be a physician
What drew you to medicine
What experiences caused you to choose this pathway and how these experiences made you sure of that medicine is indeed the correct path
***Why Osteopathy***don't leave this out

Optional:
Brief explanation of old bad grades if applicable (very applicable in mine!)

hi. ok, so everyone keeps saying to mention low grades, etc... but how exactly do u put that into the PS and make it flow?! I have a failed grade from a semester before i took medical leave in grad school. So, i have a reason for it, i was really ill and at Dr's every day, but how do i throw that into my lovely essay about why i want to be a D.O, etc...? My expereince with that illness did confirm my desire for D.O. education, but how do I relate an F to that and not just have a random few sentences? THANKS for listening, i would appreciate any advice.
🙂

 

[uclabruin2003]

hi. ok, so everyone keeps saying to mention low grades, etc... but how exactly do u put that into the PS and make it flow?! I have a failed grade from a semester before i took medical leave in grad school. So, i have a reason for it, i was really ill and at Dr's every day, but how do i throw that into my lovely essay about why i want to be a D.O, etc...? My expereince with that illness did confirm my desire for D.O. education, but how do I relate an F to that and not just have a random few sentences? THANKS for listening, i would appreciate any advice.
🙂

maybe you can say somethingabout you realized that everyone is human. that your aspirations to become a doctor was not impeded due to your humanness of being sick. that you realize that not everyone is perfect and that has made you want to go into DO even more....hope that helps!

 

[JohnDO]

did anybody else notice that you could type in more than the allotted 500 words (or whatever it is exactly)?

You can have more than 500 words, just not more than 3,000 characters.

I actually didn't mention my freshman year mishaps, other than "...and overcome the struggles of my freshman year". I didn't fail anything, but I suspect I'll be asked during interviews. I can really only that year to a lack of maturity. I wasn't sick or anything, I just had horrible priorities (partying vs. studying), some of you may know how that goes 🙂.

Nonetheless, you can always make a negative into a positive. If you don't have an excuse, don't make one up. If you do have a reason, state it simply, be honest and tell them what you learned from the experience.

 

[doc3341]

😕 I think this wrting sample section by far the hardest part of the application process!

 

[dulcinea]

actually, i was using an old ps and it was over 5, 000 characters and it let me put it in there but i'm not sending it that way, oh well 😕

anyway, here's what i'm writing about in case it helps anybody. i discussed my desire to practice medicine (it starts with a story from my time in India), then who introduced me first to osteopathic medicine (a story from a mission in the Dominican Republic), my interest in working with underpriviledged people which is another reason why I'm interested in osteopathic medicine, and the fourth and short paragraph explains my internships and current job situation (i'm in research), and then i had a closing paragraph.

i don't know if this will help but it's good to have an idea of where to start. good luck!

 

[MsEvolution]

hi. ok, so everyone keeps saying to mention low grades, etc... but how exactly do u put that into the PS and make it flow?! I have a failed grade from a semester before i took medical leave in grad school. So, i have a reason for it, i was really ill and at Dr's every day, but how do i throw that into my lovely essay about why i want to be a D.O, etc...? My expereince with that illness did confirm my desire for D.O. education, but how do I relate an F to that and not just have a random few sentences? THANKS for listening, i would appreciate any advice.
🙂

I threw it into a paragraph that told in general why I delayed application to medical school for 7 years... I put all my negatives in that one paragraph and at the end I tried to turn it into a strength by saying that: "I focused on graduating and decided to postpone application to medical school in order to regain some financial footing, to stabilize and care for my family, and to care for my mother."

This made it sound less like I was a victim of circumstance, and more like I realized I was in control and this was the best direction for me to take at this time.

Hope this helps...

 

[ArcherM2]

I've been told by several people not to mention bad grades in your PS. The personal statement is your one chance on the application to express your desire and drive to become a physician. Talk yourself up, give them something memorable. There are thousands of these personal statements going through the admissions office's. You should make yours stand out. Good luck!

 

[NREMTP]

thanks a lot everybody for your input so far. i think i have my first paragraph written, but i am not sure if all of what i want to say will fit. be brief, concise, and stand out. hmmm i also think this is the hardest portion of the application. anyway, thanks again everybody.

B

 

[Peace&Health]

My PS was under 3000 characters but when I pasted it onto the application, it kept telling me that I was over the limit. If you are over the limit, it won't let you save. However, I don't know why when mine is only about 2980. Then I deleted one sentence and it saved it. Weird. But I decided that I could do without that sentence.

anyone had this problem?

 

[irishlaydi]

I threw it into a paragraph that told in general why I delayed application to medical school for 7 years... I put all my negatives in that one paragraph and at the end I tried to turn it into a strength by saying that: "I focused on graduating and decided to postpone application to medical school in order to regain some financial footing, to stabilize and care for my family, and to care for my mother."

This made it sound less like I was a victim of circumstance, and more like I realized I was in control and this was the best direction for me to take at this time.

Hope this helps...

Hi, and thanks so much for your input. that's exactly why I was hesitant to mention my poor MCAt grade and failing grade, because they were both by far because of my illness, but i don't want to focus on blaming that. I want to focus on how everything i went thru as a patient has made me realize even more how much I want to be a doctor, and how much more i value osteopathic medicine and everything it encompasses. So, do you think I should forgo specifically mentioning the grade and perhaps focus on how during the medical leave everytyhing that happened really confirmed my wanting to be a DO???
THANKS again 🙂

 

[JasmineMD]

Hello:
I wanted to see if any of you guys could help me out. I found out about Osteopathic Medicine about a couple of weeks ago, and since then I been reading books and trying to get more info about this field. I have loved every thing that I read so far. I have already filled out most of the application and, my only problem area is the PERSONAL STATEMENT. I been unsuccessfully looking for a DO to shadow in the Sacramento area( BTW if you know of any good ones pls let me know). I want to sent in my application as soon as possible, should I sent in my application with my AMCAS personal statement which does not at all answer the question about why osteopathic medicine, but answers the question why medicine. How much should I dwell on the " Why Osteopathic Medicine question as compared to Why Medicine?" Also I have three letters of rec from MD's do you think that would hurt me?
If anyone could provide me with some input I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance
Jasmine

 

[Maxmuscle27]

thanks a lot everybody for your input so far. i think i have my first paragraph written, but i am not sure if all of what i want to say will fit. be brief, concise, and stand out. hmmm i also think this is the hardest portion of the application. anyway, thanks again everybody.

B

I agree with ya. The Personal statement was the hardest part of the whole application process. It is also the most important. I have heard of folks having low gpa's, and mcat scores, but because they submitted a rock hard PS, they were accepted..... The ps is the most crucial part of the application. IMO.

 

[box29]

When I applied and was writing my PS, I was usually given the advice to stay away from anything NEGATIVE in the PS. It is your opportunity to shine and play up the POSITIVES in your life. If these positives were a result of learning from negatives, you may BRIEFLY write a sentence or two to mention them, but EMPHASIZE the positives and turn it around. Again, play up the positives. Anything on your application (grades, MCAT, EC's), PS or essays can come up during an interview so you can better explain them there. I did have questions about my PS from my primary application and secondaries, so be careful and tread lightly when and if you decide to mention anything negative. Rethink those negative "explanations" and reword them to sound "better."

In case you are all wondering, I did not explain any grades or MCAT on any PS or secondaries. I figured they would see it and if they wanted to question me about it, they would. Grades and MCAT are all on the application. I graduated with my BA in 1996 and BS in 1997, and had an embarassing physics I grade, 5 W's, and not so hot gen chem grades and none of that, nor my MCAT came up in any interviews. I just emphasized my life experiences and interest in medicine.

Good luck to you all!

I threw it into a paragraph that told in general why I delayed application to medical school for 7 years... I put all my negatives in that one paragraph and at the end I tried to turn it into a strength by saying that: "I focused on graduating and decided to postpone application to medical school in order to regain some financial footing, to stabilize and care for my family, and to care for my mother."

This made it sound less like I was a victim of circumstance, and more like I realized I was in control and this was the best direction for me to take at this time.

Hope this helps...

 

[kaikai128]

My PS was under 3000 characters but when I pasted it onto the application, it kept telling me that I was over the limit. If you are over the limit, it won't let you save. However, I don't know why when mine is only about 2980. Then I deleted one sentence and it saved it. Weird. But I decided that I could do without that sentence.

anyone had this problem?

I had the same problem. However, mine seemed to be problems with formatting that were eating up extra characters. There would be several spaces at the end of the sentence of the last sentence of each paragraph. This along with a few other things threw mine up about 25 characters--so I just had to fix the formatting very carefully.