Different personal statement for DO/MD?

[Prncssbuttercup]

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I hope I'm not duplicating a question someone else asked somewhere, but I didn't see it...

I will be applying to DO and MD schools. I have written my personal statement to meet the AMCAS specifications, and my personal school of choice... I am wondering to those of you who applied or are applying to both, did you change your personal statement to reflect the DO philosophy or not? Also, if anyone would be willing to read my current one, I'd appreciate it...

 

[MightyMoose]

I hope I'm not duplicating a question someone else asked somewhere, but I didn't see it...

I will be applying to DO and MD schools. I have written my personal statement to meet the AMCAS specifications, and my personal school of choice... I am wondering to those of you who applied or are applying to both, did you change your personal statement to reflect the DO philosophy or not? Also, if anyone would be willing to read my current one, I'd appreciate it...

(I'm guessing this question has been addressed, but I'll bite).

When I write a personal statement, it's about me, who I am, and what I hope to give/get out of medicine. That statement will not change whether I'm applying to MD or DO (I applied both), so I used the same essay.

Now the one problem you might face is the character limit, so my solution to this problem was to remove my paragraph about research, because let's face it, DO Schools don't offer a lot in terms of research.

Anyway, there used to be a Personal Statement review thread where people offer their time to review your PS, if you find that thread you'll find plenty of people interested in helping you review your PS.

Good luck.

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

So, based on what you said, that there is only 4500 for AACOMAS, I will likely have to reformat my statement from 5300... Not sure what I'd remove... Glad I asked now instead of waiting until closer to when I apply...

 

[MightyMoose]

So, based on what you said, that there is only 4500 for AACOMAS, I will likely have to reformat my statement from 5300... Not sure what I'd remove... Glad I asked now instead of waiting until closer to when I apply...

Yeah, that is about an average paragraph. When you write it you could either keep it at 4500 and submit that to both or just keep your research, etc. to a paragraph and remove that for your AACOMAS app, but that's all up to you. 😉

 

[murfettie]

had to take off some stuff for DO.
not sure if i want to apply to DO anymore, where am I going to find a DO to write me a letter...

 

[Prncssbuttercup]

I thought that many schools would take letters from MDs but maybe prefer DOs... I know many schools accept letters from either, and some specify, but you should contact them and discuss your situation. I am lucky, I have a friend, whom I've known since 2nd grade that is a DO, and he and I were on Ski Patrol together for years, so I have a letter from him.... Not everyone is as lucky as that, and the schools would have to realize that I would think... Do you not have any DO's in your area? I would think they would accept an MD letter in that type of situation.... Anyway, best of luck, and don't give up on DO school... Look through the info book, it has all the requirements of all the schools, and I know AT Still, Midwestern and DMU all take letters from either... that's 1/5 of all the DO schools right there 🙂

 

[Ditto1114]

(I'm guessing this question has been addressed, but I'll bite).

When I write a personal statement, it's about me, who I am, and what I hope to give/get out of medicine. That statement will not change whether I'm applying to MD or DO (I applied both), so I used the same essay.

Now the one problem you might face is the character limit, so my solution to this problem was to remove my paragraph about research, because let's face it, DO Schools don't offer a lot in terms of research.

Anyway, there used to be a Personal Statement review thread where people offer their time to review your PS, if you find that thread you'll find plenty of people interested in helping you review your PS.

Good luck.

That's exactly what I did.

 

[Old Grunt]

I hope I'm not duplicating a question someone else asked somewhere, but I didn't see it...

I will be applying to DO and MD schools. I have written my personal statement to meet the AMCAS specifications, and my personal school of choice... I am wondering to those of you who applied or are applying to both, did you change your personal statement to reflect the DO philosophy or not? Also, if anyone would be willing to read my current one, I'd appreciate it...

The word limit is a little different so you'll have to pair it down for one or stretch if for the other (assuming you are at the word limit and not saying you have to be).

Also, if you are applying DO, you should address "why osteopathic medicine". It might just require some minor tweaking, but you should throw in the usual buzzwords (i.e. "Whole body approach to medicine", "focus on primary care", etc.)

 

[Helen Wheels]

Yep, I used the exact same PS for both, just cut a paragraph out to fit the smaller space on the DO application.