Are you serious?... How can I describe myself if I have done so extensively in AMCAS?

[Futuredoc1364]

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Hello all,

I have one more secondary left to go, and it is Albany. The Albany essays seem kind of odd though, and I was trying to get some help using the search program but with no success.

They have an essay that asks you to describe yourself with a 1000 character limit. Well, I spent some parts of my PS in AMCAS talking about that, and I think I have told them enough that they should know about me. So should I just say something like: "I am a senior biochemistry, psychology double major at such and such university involved in such and such activities....." OR should I just kind of repeat what I have discussed in AMCAS about my history and my life, etc. I think I can still modify what I say to avoid being repetitive though.

Also, in the other essay they ask you to mention one life experience which you deem significant enough to talk about in an interview. So do you think it should be health-care or service related or it can be any experience? Because I was going to say how my life changed as I came to the U.S. 5 years ago, but again I might have to talk about this to answer the first question.

Your feedback will be very helpful.

 

[ADeadLois]

<<cough cough>> Feinberg's distinguishable characteristics essay <<cough cough>>

 

[Futuredoc1364]

lol...

 

[deleted102545]

I hated doing the Feinberg essays but damn I'm glad I did them. I can use so much of that stuff for other schools. Thank you Feinberg even though I won't even get an interview!

 

[Lolita624]

If it's any help, I decided to take a more creative approach to the Albany questions, since they already know all the factual stuff from your amcas. As in, I described myself by talking about idiosyncratic aspects of my personality and sense of humor. Also, for the experience part, I would say a non-health care one is def more interesting, even if you mentioned it already somewhere else. 🙂

 

[future_dr_house]

start with... "i was born on" and end with "now I am sitting here typing this stupid essay"

that should be enough for a complete picture

 

[HumbleMD]

OHSU had a similar thing. I ended up talking more about my family background and upringing, etc., whereas my AMCAS PS was more focused on my high school and college life.

 

[maestro1625]

start with... "i was born on" and end with "now I am sitting here typing this stupid essay"

that should be enough for a complete picture

Pritzker's "mission statement" essay trumps Feinberg's...

and Ohio State's "describe your motivation for medicine" was the biggest head-scratcher... I basically paraphrased my entire AMCAS essay. Later I find that one of my friends with an identical MCAT/nearly identical (slightly lower) GPA just copied and pasted the first half of her AMCAS and got an interview 3 months before I did...

...perhaps she was more "altruistic" than I was. 🙄

 

[future_dr_house]

Pritzker's "mission statement" essay trumps Feinberg's...

and Ohio State's "describe your motivation for medicine" was the biggest head-scratcher... I basically paraphrased my entire AMCAS essay. Later I find that one of my friends with an identical MCAT/nearly identical (slightly lower) GPA just copied and pasted the first half of her AMCAS and got an interview 3 months before I did...

...perhaps she was more "altruistic" than I was. 🙄

I'm not sure how Feinberg's or Pritzkers was, but one question in particular for Vandy was quite the bear "Write a brief autobiography. etc.... (2000 word limit)"

As for OSU, I dropped the ball on their essay, b/c I said everything I wanted to in my personal statement.