AMA Personal Statement Editor/Writer/Reader

[caffeinemia]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Guess I'm bored and it's appears to be all the rage... I've written for college, medical school, residency and written well. I've also advised, revised, devised essays for so so so many people. For those of you starting out and troubled by the task at hand. Ask away?

 

[tea guzzling traveler]

What mistakes do you see most often (beyond grammar)?

 

[caffeinemia]

What mistakes do you see most often (beyond grammar)?

I'd say the one I come across most often is the lack of a strong thesis. Writers who fail to develop a thesis tend to write very unfocused essays. They quickly lose the attention and interest of the reader.

 

[breakintheroof]

How come you didn't respond to my PM requesting your help on my PS last spring, @caffeinemia? I even referenced your blog. 😉

Okay, serious question. I sent my PS to many people (too many) and got a bewildering range of advice. What do you think makes you a good editor? What kind of feedback have you gotten from the people you've helped? Now that I have gone through the process, would you recommend that I follow up with the people who looked at my essay, and if so, how?

 

[caffeinemia]

Dear Breakintheroof,

I apologize for not responding to your request last year. I was inundated with several hundred requests in a matter of weeks. Though I truly enjoyed working with motivated writers, it became overwhelming to try to overhaul some truly disastrous statements.

I am curious if you got in! Please let me know. If you are already in med school, then the statement has achieved its purpose and there's really no need to revisit, unless you are truly curious. I would suggest messaging/emailing your readers.

Unfortunately, I did not receive feedback from many of the people who received my assistance. They were not of the reciprocating sort. Those who did responde were generally of two camps: pleased by my extensive analysis and edits of their statement...or distressed by the "toughness" of my critiques. The most memorable feedback came from a few applicants who donated to the American Cancer Society on my behalf and one whose mother wrote to thank me. All were totally unsolicited and the latter was hilarious.

How do I know I am a good editor? I have successfully transitioned to doing this on a freelance basis and my clients have been satisfied. Their results have also been pretty dang good too. I am happy with that. If you want the type of objective data that many SDNers tend to value, I can only offer you the following tidbit (but how do you truly quantify a subjective art... I guess we should make all readers disclose their MCAT verbal and essay? I don't even remember mine):

But here goes: I never got anything less than A- on a writing/liberal arts course as a Harvard undergrad. I wrote and wrote and wrote on topics ranging from Greek and Roman sculpture to the Warring States period of Chinese history to the anthropology of HIV in Brazil to the discovery of the structure of antibodies. Ironically, I was a biology major. But guess what, I wrote an honors thesis too. I still write for first author papers and for fun these days. I guess practice makes perfect?

Finally, the blog/guide -- thank you for mentioning that! I am actually in the process of revising that blog for more professional purposes. The first version was very sarcastic and tongue in cheek, but was still more comprehensive and specific than almost all other resources freely available on the internet.

Hope that answers your questions!

 

[breakintheroof]

I apologize for not responding to your request last year. I was inundated with several hundred requests in a matter of weeks.

Ha ha, I didn't mean to make you look bad. I know that PS editors are swamped and I probably got fewer than 50% of them to respond to me.

I am curious if you got in! Please let me know.

I did, thank you! Everything went better than expected.

As for what makes you a good editor, your experience sounds good. I'm just reflecting on the process I went through with my personal statement. I took the shotgun approach to asking people to read it, and I believe it was a mistake. Sure, most people had something useful to say, positive or negative. But in retrospect, I feel like every time I worked in another person's perspective, I risked diluting my own. I later talked to an admissions dean and a premed adviser and they both recommended having no more than four or five carefully selected people read it. I would endorse this based on my own experience. What do you think?

I am actually in the process of revising that blog for more professional purposes. The first version was very sarcastic and tongue in cheek, but was still more comprehensive and specific than almost all other resources freely available on the internet.

Darn, I liked the sarcastic version, but I get that you need to spruce it up. I remember the big takeaway I got from one of your posts was that while everyone writes about a relative or a patient who was important to them (I think you used Timmy the hypothetical sick kid as an example), the essay isn't about that person. It's about you, the writer. A big chunk of my editing went toward reorienting my essay in that direction.

 

[caffeinemia]

Breakintheroof,

Congratulations!

I agree that less experienced writers can be easily distracted by critics . It is hard be balanced in heeding criticsm -- some people veer towards being too defensive while other acquiesce too easily. Working with a few trusted and knowledgeable individuals is likely to be more beneficial. I personally believe that you should not ask friends or family. Their emotional connection and pre-knowledge of you biases their opinion and will not reflect how a stranger (ie. adcom) will respond to your statement.

Anyway, I am pleased that you found my musings helpful. You absolutely get my point regarding Timmy! He may be truly memorable to you, but YOU need to be memorable to the reader. If anyone wants to take a look at the revised guide, please PM me. As it is now attached to a commercial site, I don't think I am allowed to post it in this section of the forums anymore.

 

[organesha]

Is there a particular "type" of personal statement that you think is best? Like sharing an anecdote, telling a story, etc. As a latecomer to the decision to apply to medical school, I'm having a hard time not writing mine as a sort of chronology of the events leading me up to the decision to pursue medicine and I'm unsure whether or not this will help or hurt my application.

 

[caffeinemia]

I would advise you to consider the subtle but vital distinction between explaining WHY you want to be a doctor and HOW YOU CHOSE to apply to medical school.

The latter is essentially story telling, and it lends itself to boredom, especially when most approaches as fairly formulaic.

The adcoms have already heard about how you and every other candidate did X extracurricular ...and then another ... and another... a million times over. (I gladly admit that a truly amazing story does come up occasionally.)

The former approach is about you. It is about your thoughts and your motivations. What compels you to be a doctor. The experiences just give you some BRIEF context to really get into your own thoughts. I rarely see anyone scratch the surface of this, but when they do, I find them much more mature and compelling.

 

[QuirkyDoc19]

Could I PM you my personal statement, caffeinemia?

 

[caffeinemia]

Could I PM you my personal statement, caffeinemia?

Hello QuirkyDoc19,

Thank you for you interest. Feel free to PM me to discuss what I'll be able to help you with before you actually send me the personal statement.

Thanks!