Experiences v. Personal Statement?

[hopefulinva]

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Hey guys,

So I find that some of the information on my experiences section overlaps what I say in my personal statement. Since the PS prompt asks you to talk about activities and experiences in veterinary medicine, there's a lot of stuff in there that I've also listed under my clinical experiences.


For example, my PS talks briefly about my tasks as a vet assistant, running cytologies, blood chemistries, CBC's, etc, and how these skills have helped shape my professional attachment to the field - but they can also go under my 'description of duties.'

This happens a few times in my PS - work with animals at zoo, and research experiences.

Any suggestions?

 

[bbeventer]

One of my critiques last year from CSU was that I included to my information in my PS that could be found else where on my application. Your PS is not just another area to list your experiences but it is a way to allow the adcoms to get to know YOU.

Don't talk about your daily tasks in the clinic, that should be covered in your VMCAS application. Instead talk about a moment in the clinic that was influential to you: the day you pulled 120ccs of puss out of fluffy. Talk more of life changing moments then day to day work. What shaped you to want to take this path? etc.

 

[LetItSnow]

Don't talk about your daily tasks in the clinic, that should be covered in your VMCAS application. Instead talk about a moment in the clinic that was influential to you: the day you pulled 120ccs of puss out of fluffy.

I've read a lot of PS's and too many of them start with the day they pulled a lot of puss out of fluffy (or whatever).

People are way too preoccupied with VETERINARY related things in their PS. On the one hand, if you have a lot of really interesting clinical/research experience, then sure, it makes sense. But people would do well to draw on the rest of their life.

Most people have interesting things about them: interesting hobbies, crazy hard jobs, weird life experiences, whatever. Use those! What you learned from them can probably in some way apply to veterinary medicine.

 

[drwildlife]

I really hope the adcoms don't see my personal statement as one of those cliche ones. I did talk about some of my experiences which were listed in the experience section. However, instead of just listing them, I talked about certain aspects at those clinics which made me who I am.

Everyone who read over my PS really liked it but, I'm still really nervous about it. I feel like the PS section is our last chance of "wooing" admissions.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Yep, that it is. Don't worry too much though. I think it helps if you have a great PS, and I think it hurts if you have a horrible PS... but I have a feeling in most cases, a mediocre PS doesn't make much of a difference. So, as long as you're pretty positive you didn't do a horrible job, then there's not much to worry about. I mean, yes, definitely strive to write the best PS that you can because I think it can make a difference if you're an applicant that is teeter-tottering at the cusp, but once you've submitted it, there's no reason to fret.

And LIS, I'm totally with you. I think a lot of people forget who the audience is. Namely that adcom members are people who read PS's from hundreds of pre-vet students who have done similar things as you. So the stories that get a kick out of your non-veterinary family/friends (the ooooh, ahhhhs) are not always the best to use for your PS. Grandma knows you're the biggest animal lover and knows your compassion for animals will make you a standout vet... but so does everyone else's grandma. I think it's okay to talk about your vet experiences, but the focus shouldn't be on the experience so much as how that experience makes you who you are. You want to use stories that will differentiate you from the 6000 other applicants. And for a lot of people (esp people with very generic animal/vet experiences), they would be doing themselves a favor by incorporating non-vet things that illustrates qualities they have that would be great for the vet profession.

 

[twelvetigers]

And if you do want to mention it for some strange reason, call it "purulent discharge"... or at least spell it right. PUS. One s.

 

[jalyndani]

Lol That drives my boss crazy- a tech calling it "puss" instead of "purulent discharge" when filling out patient records. 😛

 

[jalyndani]

On a separate note, that blasted 5000 character limit pisses me off to no end. Those of us that are older and have "explored alternate career paths" may have a little more to say than your typical 21 year old, first time applicant who never once faltered in their path to vet school. As much as a pain in the butt some of the supplemental apps are, at least they give you the opportunity to discuss your background a little more in depth than the VMCAS essay...

 

[yann]

I totally agree with jalyndani!! I had an extremely frustrating experience writing my PS. I went through a different before switching my career to vet med, and my PS was mostly based o WHY I chose this path instead of what I was originally going for, and How. I didn't have much space to write specific vet experience, because explaining why I'm doing it felt so much more critical...or else the adcom would read it and end up with too many ? marks. If I had maybe 10,000 characters I'd be able to fill it so much more in depth with the specifics of my vet experience.

Ah well, it's already submitted so no point in fretting. Cutting it down to 5,000 was still extremely hard and my outcome was not as in-depth as I wanted it to be.
But I guess reading thousands of PS is exhausting if they're more than 5,000 characters long...sigh..

to all applicants.

 

[hopefulinva]

I wanted to thank you guys TREMENDOUSLY for your advice on this thread; I ended up scrapping my original personal statement entirely and starting over anew, and I think I ended up with a much better product.

@jalyndani and yann: I can't imagine! I had a hard enough time exploring the depths of my understanding/attachment to the field, and I'm a regular old 22-year-old-came-into-UG-knowing-this-is-what-I-want-to-do applicant... hope it went well!