Do I need stellar essays?

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I keep hearing that it's worse for a strong application to have bad essays than for it to be improved by extremely memorable essays. However, I don't have a strong application (low gpa, high MCAT). Should I make sure that my essays are stellar? (or just focus on making my entire application cohesive?) In general, how do I convince adcoms that I'm a worthy applicant to interview?

 

[Blueprint Med School]

Be well rounded, write good essays, and explain how you overcame your weaknesses. If you got a C in Bio, talk about how you got better and crushed it on the MCAT.

Good writing will help, but it's ultimately the rest of your resume that gets you the interview.

David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[GreenDuck12]

Your personal statement is the biggest space you have in your written application to convey who you are and why you want to pursue a career in medicine. Strong personal statements are well written and go deeper than stating they “want to help sick people.” Start with wanting to help people and then go deeper: why do you want to help people, what skills do you have that will make you a successful physician, what are you goals in medicine and what impact do you want your work to have, etc. if you can tell your story and delve into the heart of the reasons for why you want to be a physician, you will have put your best foot forward and it’s up to the committee to determine if they want to get to know you further through an interview.

There is a false notion that goes around on forums that a personal statement needs to be memorable. Remember, admissions committees will read thousands of these. Adcom members have highlighted on here that maybe 3-5% of essays are memorable for good reasons, 5-10% are memorable for bad reasons, and the rest tend to be forgettable. Your goal is to best present your story and to avoid being in the bottom percentage of essays that are memorable for being bad or problematic.

 

[Goro]

I keep hearing that it's worse for a strong application to have bad essays than for it to be improved by extremely memorable essays. However, I don't have a strong application (low gpa, high MCAT). Should I make sure that my essays are stellar? (or just focus on making my entire application cohesive?) In general, how do I convince adcoms that I'm a worthy applicant to interview?

You should always strive to have good essays. But please do thin indulge int he fantasy that they have magical powers. they don't. Most of them are pretty much are the same, and all gel after awhile.

Service to others less fortunate than yourself is better.

How low is your cGPA? On SDN, too many people think 3.6 is low.

 

[Goro]

@Goro Thanks! My AMCAS cGPA is 3.5, sGPA 3.3X.. top undergrad that I think was too difficult for me until I figured out how to study if that matters.

Is it true that a strong application is one that's cohesive? I feel like I have a lot of randomish activities because I was looking for on-campus employment during the school year.

You're fine for DO right now.

It's hard to answer your question without seeing your app. But good applicant tend to weave a story