Class of 2014!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Hey Jolt21,

I know you can buy a book of "succesful Personal Statements." But I havent found anything else other than askings someone on SDN to proof theirs and have them proof yours.

I will say that everyones PS should be different. What will make a great PS is that it represents you and your why's for medicine. Its your chance to sell yourself and your maturity and dedication to Medicine.
 
:laugh:

After previously joining the c/o 2013 thread, it feels a little bit strange to be joining this one. But, hey, I'm here anyway 😀
 
Ahhh personal statements. I don't even want to begin worrying about that 🙁

Here on SDN you can find a lot of information about them and maybe a few samples. The thing is though that every sample is different because it's unique to the person... so you don't really get much out of that. I think when I decide to get started on it I'm just going to write what I feel... & then refine it to make it sound "more better"... lol
 
Woah TRN. Welcome 🙂 But I totally just got done looking at your MDApps and am so confused? What's going on with that! Your stats are really good....
 
Woah TRN. Welcome 🙂 But I totally just got done looking at your MDApps and am so confused? What's going on with that! Your stats are really good....

Yeah, agreed. This process is a ***** sometimes. But you still have a waitlist. I know someone who got off a waitlist in July, so there's still plenty of time. :xf:
 
welcome everyone! so if any of you are still in school, or affiliated with one, you can go to your advisor. My friend went to mine and told her her story and she kinda guided her on what to write. For my school, we're required to write 7 3-page essays for the committee, which is supposed to get us thinking about what to write, but i havent actually started the PS. I was thinking of doing it spring break before my mcat review starts. But as long as you get a few drafts out over the next few months and write a good one by june, you'll be fine.
 
welcome everyone! so if any of you are still in school, or affiliated with one, you can go to your advisor. My friend went to mine and told her her story and she kinda guided her on what to write. For my school, we're required to write 7 3-page essays for the committee, which is supposed to get us thinking about what to write, but i havent actually started the PS. I was thinking of doing it spring break before my mcat review starts. But as long as you get a few drafts out over the next few months and write a good one by june, you'll be fine.

That's insane!! Do they really read all of those???
 
omg i know! yeah, they read them to get to know you so that they can write your letter, along with other LORs. They were due a few weeks ago, and it was like filling out amcas lol...they wanted all these forms on you and what your parents do, list of classes, work and activities, waivers ..everything! but at least its all done for the amacas! they also require us to submit amcas by june 30 or else they dont guarantee your letter will be ready by sept 1st..so much to think about!!! but that parts over at least
 
I guess that is nice to have all that done. And they'll know a lot more about you to write a nice letter. I'm sure it also weeds out those people who aren't really passionate about medicine either. At my school, we have to write 1 other essay, but nothing is due until June 1. But I'm going to try to get it all done super early so I can get everything else done early too.
 
Another 2014'er here! I held off on applying during the last cycle, so I have a personal statement and all of the AMCAS app filled out, but I'll still need to do quite a bit of editing. I haven't started asking for LORs yet, or even looking through the MSAR. 2010 AMCAS application opens in early May!
 
Another 2014'er here! I held off on applying during the last cycle, so I have a personal statement and all of the AMCAS app filled out, but I'll still need to do quite a bit of editing. I haven't started asking for LORs yet, or even looking through the MSAR. 2010 AMCAS application opens in early May!

Here is some good advice from someone who has already been through this...

GET YOUR LORS NOW!!!!!!!!!

One of my professors screwed me over by taking 4 months to write the LOR, which is why I was complete really late at a few schools....
 
dear everyone reading this thread:

save some money (upward of 5k.. MCAT prep, mcat, primary app fee, secondary fees, travel expenses, beer...)

get your letters ready (not joking, ask them NOW. Have them sent to interfolio so you can distribute on your own time)

APPLY EARLY (like in July)



and... ::trumpets:: HAVE FUN TRAVELING AROUND THE COUNTRY LIKE A POOR ROCK STAR! It has been really fun, you will meet people from everywhere. I mean look at me, I'm from Iowa and went to LA for the first time for an interview -- where we had kids from Russia, NY, California and Florida in my group... pretty fun!
 
When do the med schools need your LORs? At the same time as they receive your secondaries? So I won't be considered "complete" until med schools have everything, including LORs, right?

At this point, I can ask for a LOR from one science professor, one humanities, and my P.I, but I'm still short on the science LORs. And I probably will be short on the science LORs until this summer...
 
When do the med schools need your LORs? At the same time as they receive your secondaries? So I won't be considered "complete" until med schools have everything, including LORs, right?

At this point, I can ask for a LOR from one science professor, one humanities, and my P.I, but I'm still short on the science LORs. And I probably will be short on the science LORs until this summer...

Correct. To be complete at a school they need to have your primary application, your secondary application, your LORS, and most importantly YOUR MONEY (secondary fee).

LORs are requested at the same time as the secondary. If you are still in undergrad, ask your pre med committe or advisor if they partiicpate in VirtualEval. My school did, and its a great system. I didnt have to worry about anything. You just submit all of your letters to your school, they upload them on to VirtualEval for you and the schools upload them when they want them. Its really easy on you b/c once you collect all of your LORs your job is done. Another common system used is Interfolio, but i'm not sure about the details on how that works b/c i didnt use it.

On another note, if anyone wants to read a PS, i have no problem sending mine as an example. Ive received nothing but positive feedback about it and spent a long time revising and editing (7+ drafts) so i put a lot of time into it. If you want an example to read, just PM me with your email address and ill send it over.
 
Regarding timeline for LORs, what if I were to wait until taking a summer course to ask for another science LOR? The summer course would be over around late July. I know this is not the best situation, not just in terms of the timing, but also because a 5 week summer course is not the best way for a professor to really get to know a student. But at this point, I'm kind of stuck.


Anyways, here's my experience with using Interfolio last year if anyone's interested: I printed out a LOR request form off of Interfolio account, handed over request form to letter writer (plus stamped envelope addressed to Interfolio), letter writer mailed his/her letter along with the request form to Interfolio. Once Interfolio received and uploaded the letter, I was notified via email. At that point, once I had all the letters, I could have sent them off to each school at a cost of $4. (Just to clarify - it doesn't cost $4 per letter, it's $4 to send the bundle of letters to one school.) Anywho, even though overall it's somewhat pricey ($4/school, plus about $20/year for the account), I thought this process was most convenient for my letter writers. I didn't get any complaints or "what the hell do I do with this" from them, so I'll probably use this method again for this cycle.
 
anyone have committee writers/composite writing through your schools? I have a group who collects the various letters and makes a composite and sends that to amcas. Does interfolio mostly apply to people who do not have a composite writer?
 
anyone have committee writers/composite writing through your schools? I have a group who collects the various letters and makes a composite and sends that to amcas. Does interfolio mostly apply to people who do not have a composite writer?

My school has a committee, and they use VirtualEvals. I do believe that some schools' committees use Interfolio, though.
 
anyone have committee writers/composite writing through your schools? I have a group who collects the various letters and makes a composite and sends that to amcas. Does interfolio mostly apply to people who do not have a composite writer?

In my case, yes. I graduated from undergrad in '07 and have been taking CC courses, so I don't have access to a committee that you're referring to. And if your school does have a committee, aren't you required to get the LOR from them anyways?
 
yeh my school usues virtual evals too and its supposed to make things pretty easy. Ive heard LOR horror stories, so im trying to get them in now as well..have about 4-5 in already.

mmagnett..congrats on case!! i met the dean (or maybe assistant dean) at the med school fair at m school the other day and he was great! prob my favorite person there- super funny and just seemed like a nice guy. Not sue where your going but congrats!!!!
 
im starting princeton review on Tuesday night! this is basically my last day or two that I can call 'freedom' before i have actual homework and stuff to do for classes.

im sort of psyched to be honest, ive grown bored at home.
 
I'm trying to fit in some time for the MCAT this quarter, but it's not exactly working out like I had intended. My regular classes are taking up all my time. Anyways, good luck w/ that PR course
 
Studying for the MCAT is anti-lame. I actually enjoyed it. Studying for school is lame though. 🙁

Are you just using this semester to focus on the MCAT and EC's and stuff?
 
I'm trying to fit in some time for the MCAT this quarter, but it's not exactly working out like I had intended. My regular classes are taking up all my time. Anyways, good luck w/ that PR course
yup. i didn't take the MCAT in undergrad just for that reason. never found the time when it came down to it. had to wait till i graduated.

i just gave my 2 week notice at my PART time job (geek squad at best buy). gonna get my life back and enjoy whatever free time i have left. pretty excited.
 
Last edited:
yup. i didn't take the MCAT in undergrad just for that reason. never found the time when it came down to it. had to wait till i graduated.

i just gave my 2 week notice at my full time job (geek squad at best buy). gonna get my life back and enjoy whatever free time i have left. pretty excited.


Aw! I love the Geek Squad! lol.

But yeah.... I don't blame you for wanting to quit and get your life back. I wish I could quit my job... but I need the moneys for my applications... 😱


BLAH! I'm taking Animal Physiology right now and am so over studying. I would much rather be studying for the MCAT. It was my life for the past two months... I never thought I would say something like that!

As for LORs... we have a HPAC committee at my school that wants us to submit our LORs so they can combine it into one really amazing letter. I dont really know if that's a good idea or how that works... but I'm doing it anyway? lol
 
im filing out HPAC forms right now for my writers. 5 of em in total go to a central or composite writer which i think is really good.. they will make it shine by using the good parts. I never really understood why five different letters were necessary when they could combine it into a single one..

but i guess im getting exactly what i wanted.
 
good morning 2014ers!

anyone else suffering complete, 100% PS writers block?? i forget who said this, but like someone, i also had to write a bunch of stuff for my school's pre-health committee. so i technically have a bunch of stuff started, but i am getting NOWHERE! blah.
 
good morning 2014ers!

anyone else suffering complete, 100% PS writers block?? i forget who said this, but like someone, i also had to write a bunch of stuff for my school's pre-health committee. so i technically have a bunch of stuff started, but i am getting NOWHERE! blah.


that was me lol..yeh I know the feeling- you have so much done yet you really have nothing done! You should talk to your advisor and tell them ur "story" and let them guide you. Theyre solid on what a good PS is. Im sure theres also some samples out there to give you ideas
 
haha tell me about it. my job involves tons of medicaid stuff, so i spent a solid two weeks learning all those acronyms in september (CHP A, MA, SSD, SSI, PA, FS, FH, AC, FPL, FHP... you get the idea). now i've got a whole other set to worry about.
 
Aw! I love the Geek Squad! lol.

But yeah.... I don't blame you for wanting to quit and get your life back. I wish I could quit my job... but I need the moneys for my applications... 😱


BLAH! I'm taking Animal Physiology right now and am so over studying. I would much rather be studying for the MCAT. It was my life for the past two months... I never thought I would say something like that!

As for LORs... we have a HPAC committee at my school that wants us to submit our LORs so they can combine it into one really amazing letter. I dont really know if that's a good idea or how that works... but I'm doing it anyway? lol

oops. i def meant geek squad was my PART time job. no way I can quit my full time job. i signed a contract. haha

is the combined letter you speak of the composite letter? my college requires every med school applicant to have a composite letter. they wont allow you to apply otherwise.
 
i just got my 2 year member sticker...man, thats sad. all those times I was almost in the application cycle. hopefully it finally happens.

does anyone know the AMCAS timeline? When it opens/when we can start sending stuff in/any other date that is important?

on a completely different note, I did my taxes today. pretty cool feeling. will get a nice check in a few weeks.
 
oops. i def meant geek squad was my PART time job. no way I can quit my full time job. i signed a contract. haha

is the combined letter you speak of the composite letter? my college requires every med school applicant to have a composite letter. they wont allow you to apply otherwise.

How can your school stop you from applying?? The only thing they really have control over is your transcript, but I doubt they can withhold that from you.
 
i just got my 2 year member sticker...man, thats sad. all those times I was almost in the application cycle. hopefully it finally happens.

does anyone know the AMCAS timeline? When it opens/when we can start sending stuff in/any other date that is important?

on a completely different note, I did my taxes today. pretty cool feeling. will get a nice check in a few weeks.

Official AMCAS website says AMCAS 2010 will open in May. That's probably when we can start filling out the app, but I don't know when we can start submitting it. Hmm...I'm also not sure when is the earliest we can have transcripts sent in by. If I recall correctly, I believe some past applicants may have had problems with sending in transcripts too early.
 
How can your school stop you from applying?? The only thing they really have control over is your transcript, but I doubt they can withhold that from you.
our letters of rec go through the school's own "interfolio" type system, and then the pre-med advisors release them to the composite writer, and then when the school gets the composite, they send the whole thing to AMCAS themselves...and all the profs comply, so it would be reaaaalllly iffy to try and go around that.
 
but I need the moneys for my applications... 😱

i got another CC just for this purpose. the debt has already begun...

where in texas are you from? my mom just moved out there to Katy (from South FL). i tried to claim Texas residency, but alas, my plans were foiled.
 
our letters of rec go through the school's own "interfolio" type system, and then the pre-med advisors release them to the composite writer, and then when the school gets the composite, they send the whole thing to AMCAS themselves...and all the profs comply, so it would be reaaaalllly iffy to try and go around that.

I see, well it's better to use the composite letter anyway, but I think it's messed up that they force y'all to use it. Do y'all have any requirements to use it? At my school we have to have a 3.0, I think. So if that were the case, then people with a 2.99 at your school couldn't even hope to apply. But I guess if it's open to everyone, it's not so bad.
 
I see, well it's better to use the composite letter anyway, but I think it's messed up that they force y'all to use it. Do y'all have any requirements to use it? At my school we have to have a 3.0, I think. So if that were the case, then people with a 2.99 at your school couldn't even hope to apply. But I guess if it's open to everyone, it's not so bad.
nope, no requirement like that. they may highly discourage one from applying, but that's it.
 
Ahhh personal statements. I don't even want to begin worrying about that 🙁

Here on SDN you can find a lot of information about them and maybe a few samples. The thing is though that every sample is different because it's unique to the person... so you don't really get much out of that. I think when I decide to get started on it I'm just going to write what I feel... & then refine it to make it sound "more better"... lol
This is just a suggestion, but you should have an outline or a rough draft of your own personal statement before looking at samples. Otherwise, your ps might not seem genuine and may even be eerily reminiscent of someone else's ps.
 
i like reading memoirs and short tiny stories from various places (def check out the last page in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine) which is the best way to understand what a personal statement could be.

Never liked the sweeping grand generalization types of essays, and so I focused on one small tiny incident in my life and really fleshed it out. Turned out great I think, and it speaks a lot more about my character than having said that I spent my life around doctors, blah blah blah.
 
i like reading memoirs and short tiny stories from various places (def check out the last page in the NYTimes Sunday Magazine) which is the best way to understand what a personal statement could be.

Never liked the sweeping grand generalization types of essays, and so I focused on one small tiny incident in my life and really fleshed it out. Turned out great I think, and it speaks a lot more about my character than having said that I spent my life around doctors, blah blah blah.

Yeah, that's kinda what I'm trying to go with. But I feel like I am missing some pieces. Oh well, I still have time. 😀
 
Official AMCAS website says AMCAS 2010 will open in May. That's probably when we can start filling out the app, but I don't know when we can start submitting it. Hmm...I'm also not sure when is the earliest we can have transcripts sent in by. If I recall correctly, I believe some past applicants may have had problems with sending in transcripts too early.

Last year we could submit on June 6th.

I sent my transcript requests the last week of May, they arrived and were processed almost in sync with my AMCAS app. I was complete within a week.
 
Top