Clichés to avoid in PS?

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Ismet said:
I really hate when people obviously have a thesaurus open next to them while writing. Keep it simple. This isn't an English essay, you get no points for style. You might get negative points for really really bad style though. 😛
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That being said, don't be too informal either. I read a PS that said "I really enjoyed research because I learned a bunch of scientific stuff."
 
Lamel said:
That being said, don't be too informal either. I read a PS that said "I really enjoyed research because I learned a bunch of scientific stuff."
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Haha of course. It's still a piece of professional writing. "Stuff" does not have a place in professional writing in general. But you don't need to be searching for big fancy words to use in every sentence so you sound impressive. If I have to look up a definition of a word you use, you've gone too far. Find a happy medium.
 
Omppu27 said:
Are people actually this plain in their essays?...
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I used "Since I can remember I have always wanted to be a doctor so I can help people."

Gotta make those characters count.
 
imadome said:
Disclaimer: I'm going through the application process right now so my opinion may hold little to no weight for a lot of people. This is just what I have heard from people familiar with the admissions process.

It is very, very difficult (if not impossible) to have a completely unique reason for going into medicine. Chances are, admissions committee members have seen it all due to the large volume of applicants each year. Although your reasons (applying science, helping people, studying human body) may not be unique, your experiences ARE unique. Every applicant (presumably) has shadowed a physician. What happened during your shadowing experience and how it impacted you is unique to YOU. You hear a lot on these forums to avoid the cliche "grandma passed away and I was so fascinated by care provided by health care professionals" story. If your grandmother passed away and it played a role in your interest in medicine, go for it. What happened during her death and what you witnessed at the hospital is unique to you. What makes the grandmother story cliche is the dramatic description of her death and the exaggerated details that are, often, simply a call for pity. Briefly describe her death and focus on how it impacted you and your decision to pursue medicine.

If you personalize each sentence to explain your reasons through your own experiences, then there is a high possibility that you don't have to worry about cliches. You don't need to reinvent the wheel when writing your PS. Make it about you and make it about your motivations for pursuing medicine. That's it.
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Completely agree. I'm a big believer in show, not tell.
 
I personally think that it's not about having a unique/cliche reason or not. It's about REALLY portraying WHY you need a MD/DO as opposed to becoming a nurse practitioner/PA/other allied health member.

Also, I don't know if I would say that it's "impossible" to have a unique reason to wanting to go into medicine. That's quit a bit of a generalization. I do know what I want and have actual plans/goals with my MD/DO that would not be possible in any other health profession.
 
imadome said:
This is n=1 but I asked an admissions committee member at my home school how to approach the question of "Why do you want to become a physician vs PA/nurse/etc.?" and she said it is unlikely you that you will need to answer this question and a simple "nurses care for patients while physicians cure and alleviate pain" will suffice. I am sure there are schools out there that ask this question though. I don't think the PS is a good place to defend your reason for wanting to be a physician versus another health care professional as this is quite specific and somewhat off-topic from the prompt of the PS. Just my opinion though and each PS is unique.

Also, you imply that you have reasons that are unique to being a physician versus another health profession. That is not the same as having unique reasons within the scope of becoming a physician.
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we can agree to disagree
 
LizzyM said:
When someone reads 100+ per year, it can get old fast. The points being made: I rode in an ambulance with an EMT, I talked to a patient's family member, I saw a sick/injured/dead person, I felt helpless because I have no training are cliched.
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So if it is NOT in screenplay style, would it be too cliché to mention specific experiences in the clinical setting that made an applicant realize that they felt too constricted by their future role as a nurse? This wouldn't be framed as an epiphany moment, but something that made someone who was already interested in medicine deciding to really pursue it.
 
I always wanted to be a doctor, eer since i was a little kid and my parents were doctors and were pressuring me to be a doctor how very odd.
 
I'd make it more of a positive than bashing the nursing profession, which is what some people might perceive your suggestion as. Keep it as, "these experiences inspired me to...'

Annabell Lee said:
So if it is NOT in screenplay style, would it be too cliché to mention specific experiences in the clinical setting that made an applicant realize that they felt too constricted by their future role as a nurse? This wouldn't be framed as an epiphany moment, but something that made someone who was already interested in medicine deciding to really pursue it.
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So, how does a person convey in their personal statement that one reason why they want a career in medicine is to help people without sounding cliché?
 
Monika12 said:
By talking less about loving people and writing more about what you did to help people
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So basically showing instead of telling?
If I give examples of ways I have helped people and then say that based on those experiences, I wanted a career that allowed me to serve people, would that be ok?
 
My theme for my essay was YOLO... I actually ended with "YOLO."
 
kk123 said:
So basically showing instead of telling?
If I give examples of ways I have helped people and then say that based on those experiences, I wanted a career that allowed me to serve people, would that be ok?
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Yes. Anyone can say that they want to help others, etc. etc. The proof is in the pudding. No one will believe you if you have nothing to show that you did, in fact, help people. Same goes for research and just about any reason you might come up with for wanting to be a doctor.

This is why experiences are important. Not only do they back up your claims, but they give you insights into whether you actually like or don't like those things.
 
Goro said:
I'd make it more of a positive than bashing the nursing profession, which is what some people might perceive your suggestion as. Keep it as, "these experiences inspired me to...'
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Thanks for the feed back! Definitely don't intend on bashing anyone, but since you mentioned it I'll be extra careful to avoid giving that impression.
 
I hope this isn't a stupid question but...how do we expand on "what we did to help people"? Our (usually boring) volunteer experiences? Maybe some clinical experiences during which you were given responsibility?

It seems like EMT-ing or doing mission trips are the only experiences that can answer that. I'm panicking, I realize I don't really have any experiences that can attest to "helping people" 🤔
 
PakiMDDreamer said:
I hope this isn't a stupid question but...how do we expand on "what we did to help people"? Our (usually boring) volunteer experiences? Maybe some clinical experiences during which you were given responsibility?

It seems like EMT-ing or doing mission trips are the only experiences that can answer that. I'm panicking, I realize I don't really have any experiences that can attest to "helping people" 🤔
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Oh plz. ANY volunteer activity helps people.

Just answer this: how did a person's day brighten because of YOU?
 
LizzyM said:
You and 30,000 other applicants. If it was grounds for tossing the application, we couldn't fill all of our seats.
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How about when the feeling of helplessness comes from limited knowledge/sharing capabilities rather than a savior complex? Meh, perhaps this is too nuanced without a clear example, but I'm a clinical lab tech with a LOT of knowledge and no ability to share it in a medical advisory capacity.
 
"Any unusual formats: Do not submit artwork, photographs, collages, videos, etc. in lieu of a written essay. Likewise, do not write your personal statement in verse, limerick, haiku, etc"
and here i was dusting off my iambic pentameter
 
EvenStevens said:
"Any unusual formats: Do not submit artwork, photographs, collages, videos, etc. in lieu of a written essay. Likewise, do not write your personal statement in verse, limerick, haiku, etc"
and here i was dusting off my iambic pentameter
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I don't think anyone would actually be stupid enough to try something like that.
 
EvenStevens said:
"Any unusual formats: Do not submit artwork, photographs, collages, videos, etc. in lieu of a written essay. Likewise, do not write your personal statement in verse, limerick, haiku, etc"
and here i was dusting off my iambic pentameter
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Damn, and I was going to make a 13' by 9' charcoal realist portrait of a woman laying languidly in her bed due to dengue fever and with myself and the medical staff all holding her up high like Rafiki with Simba in The Lion King.
 
gyngyn said:
Not for unsolicited haiku. Many of them are quite talented in the arts, but they also know how to behave.
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Are there really solicited haikus in secondaries?

Anyone ever sent in videos? 🙂
 
kthxbai said:
Are there really solicited haikus in secondaries?

Anyone ever sent in videos? 🙂
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My brain just conjured this random group of college students dressed in rags and with full facial makeup from Cats and one of them is singing a parody of "Memory":

"Midnight, not a siren sounding loudly,
Has the patient lost her memory? She is smiling alone...

I remember, the time I knew what undergrad was
Let the memory, live again..."

"Burnt out ends of smoky days,
We treat on forth, till morning,
Someone mutters, and the streetlamp gutters,
Who knows if she'll see morning..."

"Accept me! It's too easy to leave me!
All alone with my memory, of my days as a gun..."

EDIT: Wow, I thought of that to add too. Huh.
 
EsotericAlchemy said:
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God... that video! I remember when it went viral years ago, I was too embarrassed for the guy to watch the entire thing. Then, the guy proved to be as big of a douchenozzle as he came off as in the video by trying to sue people and write books about his 'expertise'. That, and he claimed to have had the Dalai Lama write his letter of recommendation to get into Yale or wherever he went. To the surprise of no one, he was trying to work for an investment bank.

And... a google search has made me feel like an asshat... guy died from a drug overdose suicide at 29.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ossible-Nothing-r-sum-star-dead-overdose.html
 
Last edited:
I was told to start writing my ps a year in advance. Funny thing is, alot changes in a year. Especially for a pre-med just diving in.
 
dr.1Day@Atime said:
I was told to start writing my ps a year in advance. Funny thing is, alot changes in a year. Especially for a pre-med just diving in.
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wooahhh, a whole year? Yeah I dunno about that. I certainly am constantly thinking about what I might write though (I'm a rising junior going to apply next summer). Keeping a journal is a really great idea I think, epiphanies were meant to be recorded.
 
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