do i have to completely redo my PS?

[kateycat]

please tell me i don't have to...

the way i see it, what got me interested in medicine is still the same story. obviously, there will be some updates with other things i've done and removal of a few things which probably don't apply anymore. so is just simply "tweaking" it ok?

another thing- does anywhere like kaplan or something offer advice/help on writing the personal statement, and how much would that cost?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[NightnDay79]

please tell me i don't have to...

the way i see it, what got me interested in medicine is still the same story. obviously, there will be some updates with other things i've done and removal of a few things which probably don't apply anymore. so is just simply "tweaking" it ok?

another thing- does anywhere like kaplan or something offer advice/help on writing the personal statement, and how much would that cost?

Not necessarily. As you already can tell, you do want to change and update it and remove what is not relevant. If you like your essay, keep it and just "tweak" it. A caveat though, have other people read it. In your mind- you know what you mean to say and you know your own experiences. Other people may or may not, but from my essay reviews, the people that could relate to my situation without knowing me personally were the better critiques.
Now, as far as services for personal statements... indeed there are profuse amounts of them out there. You can try essayedge.com, http://www.petersons.com/mcgrawhill/mcat.asp?sponsor=9398, and yes, even kaplan has some (http://www.kaptest.com/Kaplan/3/Pre...;jsessionid=SLJKZSTZ33YNDLA3AQJHBNVMDUCBG2HB). *Not endorsing anyone, but just comes to mind* Or, you can-- if you are still going to school or keep in touch with advisors/old professors, & have one of them critique it (assuming they have critiqued before... plus it's free ) Cost of the other services-- $$ I think. $100+
Best of luck in your applications!

 

[silas2642]

please tell me i don't have to...

the way i see it, what got me interested in medicine is still the same story. obviously, there will be some updates with other things i've done and removal of a few things which probably don't apply anymore. so is just simply "tweaking" it ok?

another thing- does anywhere like kaplan or something offer advice/help on writing the personal statement, and how much would that cost?

Well, it didn't exactly work for you the first time, what makes you think that it will work for you the second time? Also, if you're going to reappy to the same schools, it might not look so great to send in what is pretty much the same ps to the adcoms-- they're not stupid and they'll probably remember your application. It's not going to make you look good if you basically didn't change anything from last year; in fact it may just make you look lazy and as though you don't really care. Good luck with next year.

 

[aleksap]

I think you should keep the details the same, at the very least. If your essay talks about why you want to be in medicine and how that desire came about, then you shouldn't change that! But you may want to change the style of the essay. I used Kaplan for mine, they were great but expensive, much more than $100!

I wouldn't lisen to people who say "it didn't work for you the first time around." That is rediculous, unless you know that your statement was a major factor as to why you weren't admitted. If you got interviews, your statement probably WAS working for you. Did you go to any interviews and get interview feedback? That's a good thing to find out about. If they say the problem is that you applied late or have low scores, or etc, but don't mention your statement, then it's probably NOT a problem. I would only re-write it completely if you have gotten negative feedback on it.

That being said, it always is a good idea to have someone else take a look at it and give you advice! Good luck!

 

[nlax30]

I agree, unless you've been told that your PS was weak the first time you shouldn't necessarily need to completely redo it. Does you school have some sort of pre-health advisor/department? If so I'd have them read it over or at least a professor or physician that's familiar with med school essays.

 

[turtle1014]

I'm having the same sort of problem. I applied early but I had a 25 on my MCAT, offset by a 3.75 gpa. I am on the upper 1/3 of the alternate list at my state school but am starting my worse-case scenario plan in case I don't get in. I am obviously retaking the MCAT and starting to refill out my AMCAS (I assume this is the best plan of attack...). Problem is, I really love my personal statement... it says everything I want it to say in the exact manner that I want to say it. I've gone through and pulled out some stuff that I feel is a little irrelevant now and added about a paragraph of things I've done since graduation but is it okay if over half of it is word for word?