Citing quotes in personal statement

[PNWExplorer]

I submitted my primary a few hours ago, and noticed that they stipulate that you are allowed to use quotations as long as you cite them. I briefly quoted a famous physician in my personal statement from memory (it was a famous quote that I heard in person, and did not get from a book or website), and I did not leave a formal citation in APA or another style (I couldn't anyway since I had no written source). I did clearly mention the name of the famous physician who said the famous quote and I did put quotation marks around the quote, though. Is this sufficient to count as a citation? I called AMCAS and they basically told me it's up to the medical schools to decide what qualifies as a citation, but it's hard to imagine that they would actually require applicants to make a formal bibliography, etc. Also, does anyone know whether a quote like that would show up as plagiarism in a check?

I really hope I'm over-thinking this.

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[UnassumingToad]

I generally think famous people quotes in essays are kind of an ill-contrived effort to ascribe yourself some credibility you don't have. I've been told a number of times you should use your own words to describe your own experiences.

This all said, I haven't even submitted yet, so what do I know? It's also your statement so do you.

Otherwise, I am sure just citing the name informally would be fine. A personal statement is a creative piece of writing.

 

[PNWExplorer]

I generally think famous people quotes in essays are kind of an ill-contrived effort to ascribe yourself some credibility you don't have. I've been told a number of times you should use your own words to describe your own experiences.

This all said, I haven't even submitted yet, so what do I know? It's also your statement so do you.

Otherwise, I am sure just citing the name informally would be fine. A personal statement is a creative piece of writing.

Thank you - that's what I needed to hear. It was a moderately famous doc (William Osler) whose quote I briefly weaved in to one of my last sentences. Hopefully stylistically it works out.