did you write a great personal stmt?

[ambaduchi]

if you did write a good ps (and the evidence would be that you got into a couple med schools), and especially if you're doing some sort of joint degree, i'd love to hear your opinion on a couple things:

do you think adcoms want to your PS to be simple? like tidy and straightforward, reducing to how you love medicine and really feel the need to serve in a clinical capacity? (it seems like many statements are like this, and they are very good, successful statements.)

or do you think there's room to be more nuanced, like if you are interdisciplinary and want to do more that practice clinical medicine, can you talk about that? do you think it's too risky to try to explain that you are driven by something other than your clinical experience or desire to practice clinically?

people have warned me away from that sort of thing, saying it's better to stick with the warm and fuzzy stuff. opinions?

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[jeffsleepy]

I'm actually wondering about that too. I'm also interested in academic medicine and wonder if mentioning that will go against me in more community based organizations.

 

[Shredder]

hey good question, as an aspiring md/mba this is very relevant to me as well. too bad nobody here really knows how adcoms think. im hesitant to stick to the standard format since that wouldnt take advantage of unique interests and plans and therefore it would be a squandered PS.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

I've received advice from a few sources, and here is the general consensus:
- The whole point of the personal statement is to tell the ADCOMs why you want to be a doctor, how you've prepared to be a doctor, and why you'll be a good doctor. Be straightforward. You can tell a story, which is often beneficial, but don't try to include hidden nuggets of wisdom in your statement - get to the point. If an ADCOM member is reading his 150th personal statement of the evening at 3am, he doesnt want a bunch of trivial cliches about medicine. Forget the warm and fuzzy stuff, unless it ties in well to the rest of the story.
- Don't focus too much on what you want to do, but rather focus on what you've done; anyone can talk about serving the poor and yadda yadda yadda, but If you haven't done anything to back up your statements, then don't focus on it in the statement, or you'll come across as a phony. For example, don't talk about your overwhelming desire to work with abuse victims if you can't talk about your experiences doing so in the past.
- Even if you've wanted to be a physician ever since you were 3 years old, possibly for reasons you don't understand, you better give the ADCOMs a better reason than that. Childhood desire isn't enough to get you through an 80hr/week residency, or even a first year biochem class for that matter.

I'd go on, but I gotta run. Hope this helps a little.

 

[gujuDoc]

If you all want, the adcoms for our school, University of South Florida gave a powerpoint at one of the premed workshops on how they view the personal statement. They spoke of the do's and don'ts. Actually, the guy whom sits on the admissions committee every year and whom teaches biochm at our med school, often is the one who speaks about this stuff. he even reviews the ps for students applying to our school.

So back to what I was saying........

I have the powerpoint in email. I can find some way to email it to anyone if they want to send me a pm and let me know if they want it.

 

[LT2]

i think there might be a way to post the powerpoint into the forum (if you find it) but i'm not sure how to do it...

 

[gujuDoc]

i think there might be a way to post the powerpoint into the forum (if you find it) but i'm not sure how to do it...

Here let's see if this works.

Ok looks like that worked. The attachment here has the slides cut into a word file. There are four slides. Hope that helps you all.

 

[LT2]

cool, thanks!

 

[gujuDoc]

cool, thanks!

No problem. Never even thought about putting it as an attachment til you mentioned it. This is the second time someone has told me something technical related to computers and the internet today that I didn't even think about. Thanks for point it out.

 

[Haybrant]

if you did write a good ps (and the evidence would be that you got into a couple med schools), and especially if you're doing some sort of joint degree, i'd love to hear your opinion on a couple things:

do you think adcoms want to your PS to be simple? like tidy and straightforward, reducing to how you love medicine and really feel the need to serve in a clinical capacity? (it seems like many statements are like this, and they are very good, successful statements.)

or do you think there's room to be more nuanced, like if you are interdisciplinary and want to do more that practice clinical medicine, can you talk about that? do you think it's too risky to try to explain that you are driven by something other than your clinical experience or desire to practice clinically?

people have warned me away from that sort of thing, saying it's better to stick with the warm and fuzzy stuff. opinions?

you need to differentiate yourself first and foremost; so the warm fuzzy thing is ok, but it really is just the first step. As far as mentioning what field you are interested in, that would need to be integrated with who you are as a person and significant evidense of why. I think people are generally skeptical of others who decide on their field in medicine without having much exposure to it. Good luck

 

[wendywellesley]

Here let's see if this works.

Ok looks like that worked. The attachment here has the slides cut into a word file. There are four slides. Hope that helps you all.

thanks! you're awsome

 

[gujuDoc]

thanks! you're awsome

No problema

 

[DrPain]

I would love that powerpoint

If you all want, the adcoms for our school, University of South Florida gave a powerpoint at one of the premed workshops on how they view the personal statement. They spoke of the do's and don'ts. Actually, the guy whom sits on the admissions committee every year and whom teaches biochm at our med school, often is the one who speaks about this stuff. he even reviews the ps for students applying to our school.

So back to what I was saying........

I have the powerpoint in email. I can find some way to email it to anyone if they want to send me a pm and let me know if they want it.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

It's good to see that powerpoint slide from an actual adcom. Thanks.

 

[gujuDoc]

Um just to reiterate, go to my post on the first page. One of the posts below LT2 has an attachment with the contents of the powerpoint. I cut and paste the powerpoint to word and attached it.

 

[Hindiana_Jones]

Don't give mealy mouthed excuses

What exactly is a mealy mouth excuse? A weak one?

 

[gujuDoc]

What exactly is a mealy mouth excuse? A weak one?

It means that you should explain your weaknesses and admit to it, not blame it on someone else. For instance with your class that you didn't pass, just explain truthfully that though you didn't do to well at first, you worked hard to regain your focus and do better and have since done better. That is what you would say in the future, provided you do much better in all your future classes. They don't want the b.s. like I blame it on the bad professor whom gave way too hard tests kind of excuses. They want to see that you are upfront with your weaknesses and worked to improve them.

Hope that makes sense.

They want to see what you did to improve and prove yourself too. Don't try to make up lies either. Just be truthful with why you didn't do as well at first.

 

[LadyBulldog]

thanks, that powerpoint was awesome!....although I swear I've seen some of the same stuff before, maybe on an internet site somewhere?...........

 

[deuist]

If your school has a subscription to Net Library---and I bet it does---you might want to look for the book Essays That Will Get You Into Medical School. It's pretty cliche, but there are some example essays.

As far as the OP's comment goes---gauging a good personal statement by the number of acceptances---I think that he is making a major mistake in assuming that a single essay is the greatest determining factor as to whether or not someone gets in. Adcoms consider a lot of things before sending an applicant the thick envelope

If you want to read my personal statement, see the web site.

 

[AxlxA]

No results for that book using netlibrary.com accessing through UC berkeley's network.

 

[45408]

What exactly is a mealy mouth excuse? A weak one?

"I didn't do well in the class because the professor was really hard."

Don't say that. Say something brutally honest like, "I was unprepared for the teaching style of my organic chem professor, and my grades reflected my poor preparation at first. I forced myself to focus more on studying for that course, and eventually, I brought my grade a bit higher. By second semester organic, I knew what to do to prevent that from happening again."


Thanks, guju, that should be really helpful.


SanDiegoSOD - what if my future plans are supported by previous actions? I took a lot of Spanish courses because I'd like to do some kind of Latin American medical missions in the future (once I have an MD). Is that even worth mentioning? I hadn't even thought of mentioning a future plan like that, but they would be able to see from my past that I'm involved in church-related activities and that I speak Spanish.

 

[deuist]

hmmmm.... if searching for Essays That Will Get You Into Medical School on netlibrary produces no results, try a search for "medical school" in the title search. I got three hits, including a very, very old Barron's Guide.

 

[uproarhz]

I'm actually wondering about that too. I'm also interested in academic medicine and wonder if mentioning that will go against me in more community based organizations.

I will comment on this since no one else has. In my amcas personal statement I did talk about how I want to pursue research while at medical school. First I have to mention that I was applying for joint MD/PhD programs, but nonetheless I think if you are interested in academic medicine mentioning it will only help. Now it may be true that in more community based and heavily primary care oriented schools this may be viewed with a raised eyebrows, but that is only becaues the school will be questioning whether you will be a good candidate for THEM. I would suggest you ask the same question, if your focus is really academic medicine, should you even be spending the time, money and effort on a school whose mission doesn't match yours exactly?
Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions about this and I will be happy to answer if I can.
Best of luck!

 

[scrappysurfer]

if you did write a good ps (and the evidence would be that you got into a couple med schools), and especially if you're doing some sort of joint degree, i'd love to hear your opinion on a couple things:

do you think adcoms want to your PS to be simple? like tidy and straightforward, reducing to how you love medicine and really feel the need to serve in a clinical capacity? (it seems like many statements are like this, and they are very good, successful statements.)

or do you think there's room to be more nuanced, like if you are interdisciplinary and want to do more that practice clinical medicine, can you talk about that? do you think it's too risky to try to explain that you are driven by something other than your clinical experience or desire to practice clinically?

people have warned me away from that sort of thing, saying it's better to stick with the warm and fuzzy stuff. opinions?

if you are applying to joint programs, you MUST include something that discusses your desire for both degrees. i believe that the prompt even mentioned this

yes, it may turn off MD commitees at community based institutions but the corresponding joint degree adcoms will be specifically looking for evidence of your motivation for both degrees

if you want more details, PM me

Scrappy
UCI MSTP entering class 2005

 

[nicholonious]

I've received advice from a few sources, and here is the general consensus:
- The whole point of the personal statement is to tell the ADCOMs why you want to be a doctor, how you've prepared to be a doctor, and why you'll be a good doctor. Be straightforward. You can tell a story, which is often beneficial, but don't try to include hidden nuggets of wisdom in your statement - get to the point. If an ADCOM member is reading his 150th personal statement of the evening at 3am, he doesnt want a bunch of trivial cliches about medicine. Forget the warm and fuzzy stuff, unless it ties in well to the rest of the story.
- Don't focus too much on what you want to do, but rather focus on what you've done; anyone can talk about serving the poor and yadda yadda yadda, but If you haven't done anything to back up your statements, then don't focus on it in the statement, or you'll come across as a phony. For example, don't talk about your overwhelming desire to work with abuse victims if you can't talk about your experiences doing so in the past.
- Even if you've wanted to be a physician ever since you were 3 years old, possibly for reasons you don't understand, you better give the ADCOMs a better reason than that. Childhood desire isn't enough to get you through an 80hr/week residency, or even a first year biochem class for that matter.

I'd go on, but I gotta run. Hope this helps a little.

SanDiego SOD, good advice!

 

[jeffsleepy]

I will comment on this since no one else has. In my amcas personal statement I did talk about how I want to pursue research while at medical school. First I have to mention that I was applying for joint MD/PhD programs, but nonetheless I think if you are interested in academic medicine mentioning it will only help. Now it may be true that in more community based and heavily primary care oriented schools this may be viewed with a raised eyebrows, but that is only becaues the school will be questioning whether you will be a good candidate for THEM. I would suggest you ask the same question, if your focus is really academic medicine, should you even be spending the time, money and effort on a school whose mission doesn't match yours exactly?
Feel free to pm me if you have any specific questions about this and I will be happy to answer if I can.
Best of luck!

Thanks for your comment. To tell you the truth, however, at this stage I'm still not quite sure which schools are academic and which are community based. At the moment, I'm planning on applying to Top 20 + California since I don't really care about location and don't have any other method for differentiating between schools. I would generally think that those schools are mostly research oriented, but maybe exceptions (such as University of Washington and UC Davis) exist. No PhD for me by the way.

As a note, I know that UofW is pretty much impossible for out-of-staters and will not apply there.

 

[gujuDoc]

"I didn't do well in the class because the professor was really hard."

Don't say that. Say something brutally honest like, "I was unprepared for the teaching style of my organic chem professor, and my grades reflected my poor preparation at first. I forced myself to focus more on studying for that course, and eventually, I brought my grade a bit higher. By second semester organic, I knew what to do to prevent that from happening again."


Thanks, guju, that should be really helpful.


SanDiegoSOD - what if my future plans are supported by previous actions? I took a lot of Spanish courses because I'd like to do some kind of Latin American medical missions in the future (once I have an MD). Is that even worth mentioning? I hadn't even thought of mentioning a future plan like that, but they would be able to see from my past that I'm involved in church-related activities and that I speak Spanish.

The Prowler,

First off, I wanted to say that your example to Hindiana was exactly what I was trying to convey to him in my previous post. So thank you. That was a good example.

Secondly, I'm not SanDIegoSOD, but I'll go ahead and give my input anyhow to your question. If you feel having a certain amount of spanish classes or ability to speak the language pertains to your future interests, I would probably put it in there and explain how it relates to your future goals. Also mention how it pertains to what you've done up to now. A woman I know in the Miami Class of 2008, was a spanish major and talked a lot about that in her inteview. She actually has a profile on the interviewfeedback.com part of this website. She told me that in her interview, they actually talked a lot about why she chose spanish as a major and what not, and that it helped her in getting in Miami med school, because it showed diversity from the usual bio majors.

You mentioned that you were an EMT somewhere. If you were able to show how Spanish classes and ability to speak helped in patient interaction through your jobs or extracurriculars, I would go ahead and use that as an example of how it may pertain to the other stuff. Also, a lot of premeds go to medical mission trips for a month or so in the summer. If you can afford time or money to go on one, you might even want to consider doing that this summer. A lot of people I know have gone to Belize or Nicaragua during June.

 

[uproarhz]

Thanks for your comment. To tell you the truth, however, at this stage I'm still not quite sure which schools are academic and which are community based. At the moment, I'm planning on applying to Top 20 + California since I don't really care about location and don't have any other method for differentiating between schools. I would generally think that those schools are mostly research oriented, but maybe exceptions (such as University of Washington and UC Davis) exist. No PhD for me by the way.

As a note, I know that UofW is pretty much impossible for out-of-staters and will not apply there.

I would say pretty much all the top 20+ schools in the research ranking (which is the one most people refer to when they talk about top 10 or top whatever) are pretty research oriented. By that I don't mean that you HAVE to do research while there (thought at some you do, i.e. Staford, Yale and Duke I think have mandatory thesis which can be really in anything medically related) but that research is a strong component of the school's mission.
And you don't have to do a PhD to be interested in research or to talk about it. I think to show that you are interested in research will only help to attract more research oriented schools. And even UW and UC Davis have pretty strong interests in research...
So I would emphasize again that if your interest truly does lie in academic medicine make that known from the beginning. Represent yourself honestly, because they can tell the difference. You may get less responses, but we aren't worried about batting averages here (i.e. how many schools did you hear back from or get into), but rather your emphasis should be on finding the few schools that are interested in you and you are interested in their mission in return!
That being said... obviously don't spend your entire essay on your research or the academic medicine goal, but try to tie those in with the question of why MD! It is a hard balance, but you can find it. For example, even as an MD/PhD candidate, I didn't spend more than a third of my essay talking about research.
But you can ask more people about their opinion on this. I only can talk about what worked for me, which may or may not work for you and others.

 

[jeffsleepy]

Got it, thanks a lot. And yeah, I should've caught that top RESEARCH rankings thing but that's what all niters do to you. Good news is, no more of those till med school.

 

[BeatArmy]

if you did write a good ps (and the evidence would be that you got into a couple med schools), and especially if you're doing some sort of joint degree, i'd love to hear your opinion on a couple things:

do you think adcoms want to your PS to be simple? like tidy and straightforward, reducing to how you love medicine and really feel the need to serve in a clinical capacity? (it seems like many statements are like this, and they are very good, successful statements.)

or do you think there's room to be more nuanced, like if you are interdisciplinary and want to do more that practice clinical medicine, can you talk about that? do you think it's too risky to try to explain that you are driven by something other than your clinical experience or desire to practice clinically?

people have warned me away from that sort of thing, saying it's better to stick with the warm and fuzzy stuff. opinions?

Absolutely mention research if it interests you. Every med school is, by definition, academic. Obviously certain schools are more research-oriented than others, but there is research going on at every school in the country. It won't hurt you anywhere, and omitting it might hurt you at top research schools. Those schools are loking for future leaders in medicine. So definitely show some ambition.

As for your question of nuance, I would be careful. Whatever you write about, be straight forward. Don't assume your reader will connect any dots. Do it explicitly.

By the way, I think my PS was bad. The connecting thread, or "thesis," was not actually stated. The result was that one interviewer actually stated my thesis to me as though it were his contribution to my PS. It is rather unconvincing at that point to say, "Yeah, that's what I meant." I thought it was an obvious conclusion, but the interviewer thought he was pretty clever to come up with it. Maybe other readers didn't connect the dots. Either way, I didn't get the credit in their minds.

Also, my PS didn't really convey the ambition I mentioned above. I got no interviews at top schools. Maybe the reason, maybe not.

In retrospect, though, I think I'm going to the one school where I'd be happiest. As someone mentioned, you and the school ultimately are searching for the same thing... a fit. My PS succeeded toward that goal because, despite the things I did wrong, I did one thing right. I made the statement PERSONAL. That is the most important rule.

 

[LadyBulldog]

so i've heard quite a few people mention having a thesis for the PS.....but i don't really get that...what kind of thesis? what are some examples? wouldn't the thesis for them all just be that "i want to be a doctor because of my life experiences" or "i'll be a good doctor because i'm compassionate/dedicated/etc"??