Extremely frustrated by personal statement

[Thego2guy]

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I've been trying to work on my personal statement for the past 4 months. I searched all the sticky threads here, googled around, and used up maybe 50 pages of scrap paper. I'm a decent writer but the moment I even attempt to articulate why I want to be a physician or make medicine my career I get flustered, ridiculously frustrated, and even slightly violent. I've wanted this for so long, I've done so many things, I've been through so much that the mere question as to why I want to be a physician pisses me off. I desperately search for English word combinations which can attempt to convey my feelings and desires, and every time I write out sentences they seem not good enough.

Anyone else goes through similar feelings? I used to have a clear idea in my head. Now everything is backwards and upside down. Cluttered and ineffable. I feel overwhelmed. I don't know if I should speak of the negative truth, or take the optimistic idealistic approach. So many opportunities to express myself, so few words to actually describe my thoughts. Ugh!

I need to join my pre-health committee so that I can start dispersing LOR forms to my professors. I can't even write a mini personal statement for that. I keep delaying myself.

Please help. I need someone with whom I can bounce ideas back and forth. My adviser is useless and my friends are clueless.

 

[yehhhboiii]

if you look hard enough you can find some mdapps where people posted their personal statements

http://www.mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=19291
http://www.mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=6325

two really good ones that helped me out a lot when i was applying

 

[terp720]

Don't worry so much about how it sounds at first or getting the right words, that will definitely make you flustered and lead to writer's block IMO. I definitely experienced this at first because I focusing more on making it a good personal statement than being introspective. So instead, I just wrote out everything, kind of a stream of consciousness journal entry (no limit on how much you write), and then figured out from that what I wanted to use. Eventually I got it to a place where others could look at it to give feedback. Also you could try talking it out with someone you feel really close to. That could help get your ideas flowing.
Hope that helps.

 

[wiloghby]

I struggled a lot when it came to my personal statement. In actuality, I was overthinking everything. At the very least, schools want to hear a story about how you discovered you were interested in medicine, and how you tested that interest and realized you were in the right place.

I wrote a rather touching and beautiful story at first, but it ended up reading like the beginning of a novel as opposed to a med application personal statement. And it ate up all the room I had to talk about the path that actually led to medicine. I had two current medical students read my PS and give me notes on each draft.

I ended up completely re-writing my personal statement at their behest. I still wrote it myself and told my story, but with their notes in mind.

The final product is the most predictable, straightforward personal statement on the planet. It completely blends in with other personal statements that answer the question "Why medicine?" reasonably well. The trick is to learn to be okay with that. The best advice I ever got about the personal statement is that "for 90% of applicants, a personal statement that stands out is probably a bad thing. Just having shown you've thought about your decision, tested your decision, and are in it for the right reasons is good enough." There are only so many valid reasons to go into medicine, so a lot of personal statements will show a similar path. That's ok. Just tell your story and highlight the experiences that were pivotal in confirming your desire to pursue medicine.

A common format is to start with a vignette based on one of your ECs that best represents your reasons for going into medicine. Then you step back and give an overview of how you got to that point, and how you're ready to tackle the long road ahead and blah blah blah. I hear the Columbia post-bacc program recommends this format to people who are stumped. I did not attend, however, so don't hold me to it. Yes, it's hackneyed. But who cares? If your story is truly inspirational and moving, dare to be different. If not, dare to be conventional.

Honestly, if you got one of those cold readers on this thread, they could probably predict 75% of what I said in my personal statement.

 

[Thego2guy]

if you look hard enough you can find some mdapps where people posted their personal statements

http://www.mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=19291
http://www.mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=6325

two really good ones that helped me out a lot when i was applying

Thanks, I read NickNaylor's post back when it was first posted in '10 and he was still active in pre-allo. The second link is useful, thank you. I came across it a while back. That letter of intent is beautifully mastered.

Looking for more advice and more tips. If anyone is willing to private message me so that I can chat with you one on one, that would be great too.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I feel you man. I have been working on mine and it is very challenging. Free writing has helped me. I have free written a few different versions and it turns out that a viable final personal statement is actually forming from chunks and pieces taken from all of them. I think its challenging to just sit down and in one paper crank out everything you've ever felt. But if its in separate places and then you take the goods parts from each paper and add them together. It tends to form a decent essay, at least so far with me

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

disregard

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Would you be interested shooting personal statement ideas back and forth over email? I am sort of in the same boat. Free writing has helped spring some good ideas but I am honestly not wanting to show anyone I know my personal statement until its like really set



Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

This is what I get for trying to be fancy and use my phone haha... go with the second message I sent

 

[muddyduck7]

You are going to write so many iterations of your personal statement, and will agonize about word choices and how to make your ideas more concise without sounding stiff by the time you are finished your personal statement. Don't worry about the word count yet. Just put your ideas out there and play with the idea structure. How do all of those things you did fit together into a narrative? Once you have all of your ideas out there, then you can begin to worry about the smaller stuff.

I also found it helpful to type brief notes into my phone whenever I thought of an idea that I wanted to incorporate. I ended up with a long list of ideas / phrases, and from there I whittled down...

 

[sobored]

Whatever you do, just don't be flowery.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I struggled a lot when it came to my personal statement. In actuality, I was overthinking everything. At the very least, schools want to hear a story about how you discovered you were interested in medicine, and how you tested that interest and realized you were in the right place.

I wrote a rather touching and beautiful story at first, but it ended up reading like the beginning of a novel as opposed to a med application personal statement. And it ate up all the room I had to talk about the path that actually led to medicine. I had two current medical students read my PS and give me notes on each draft.

I ended up completely re-writing my personal statement at their behest. I still wrote it myself and told my story, but with their notes in mind.

The final product is the most predictable, straightforward personal statement on the planet. It completely blends in with other personal statements that answer the question "Why medicine?" reasonably well. The trick is to learn to be okay with that. The best advice I ever got about the personal statement is that "for 90% of applicants, a personal statement that stands out is probably a bad thing. Just having shown you've thought about your decision, tested your decision, and are in it for the right reasons is good enough." There are only so many valid reasons to go into medicine, so a lot of personal statements will show a similar path. That's ok. Just tell your story and highlight the experiences that were pivotal in confirming your desire to pursue medicine.

A common format is to start with a vignette based on one of your ECs that best represents your reasons for going into medicine. Then you step back and give an overview of how you got to that point, and how you're ready to tackle the long road ahead and blah blah blah. I hear the Columbia post-bacc program recommends this format to people who are stumped. I did not attend, however, so don't hold me to it. Yes, it's hackneyed. But who cares? If your story is truly inspirational and moving, dare to be different. If not, dare to be conventional.

Honestly, if you got one of those cold readers on this thread, they could probably predict 75% of what I said in my personal statement.

Thanks for this post. Seriously, as you know there is for sure a push to "push yourself out there" or "make yourself unique." Even among my pre-med committee its like, you have to make yourself an exciting applicant otherwise they wont see you! And its like, I am, and my personal statement gives a tiny bit of that. But realistically should not a bigger portion of it present itself as you had stated? i.e. a logical progression of you testing other fields, growing, and finding this path. I mean realistically THAT is what drove me to medicine... not some epiphany moment that was touching and made young people and old people alike burst into tears instantly. It was the years of working in a lab, hating it, then trying medicine and loving it...

 

[wiloghby]

Thanks for this post. Seriously, as you know there is for sure a push to "push yourself out there" or "make yourself unique." Even among my pre-med committee its like, you have to make yourself an exciting applicant otherwise they wont see you! And its like, I am, and my personal statement gives a tiny bit of that. But realistically should not a bigger portion of it present itself as you had stated? i.e. a logical progression of you testing other fields, growing, and finding this path. I mean realistically THAT is what drove me to medicine... not some epiphany moment that was touching and made young people and old people alike burst into tears instantly. It was the years of working in a lab, hating it, then trying medicine and loving it...

I am a non-trad who had two different careers before medicine. Not that you would make this mistake, but I would advise against talking about how you tested other fields in detail, but instead focus on what you enjoyed about it / learned about yourself from it and how that led to medicine.

I would not advise conveying that you "worked in a lab and hated it" (even indirectly) unless you really hated everything about working in a lab. If that's the case, go ahead and say it. Did you hate figuring out what was wrong when your experiments didn't work? Did you hate analyzing your results? Did you hate trying to explain an unexpected result? Did you hate working with other people on the same project? Did you hate using your knowledge of underlying science to solve problems? If I were to read in a PS that you used to be a researcher in a laboratory but you left because you didn't enjoy it -- and that's all that you tell me -- I'm going to wonder why medicine is different. And I'm going to wonder if you disliked the aspects of lab research that can help make a good physician.

Whatever path you communicate in your personal statement, it's not about what you didn't like. It's about what you loved -- or at least really enjoyed. And maybe, just maybe, medicine is the best place to find everything you love in one place?

You don't want to give the impression that you're going to medical school because it's the only non-sh*tty career you can pursue with a science degree. I'm not saying you actually think that or that you would even write up your story that way. Just something to keep in mind.

i.e. a logical progression of you testing other fields, growing, and finding this path. I mean realistically THAT is what drove me to medicine... not some epiphany moment that was touching and made young people and old people alike burst into tears instantly.

^^ That right there is your ticket. That was my exact philosophy. Just don't make the mistake I did in my first draft; tell your story, but make sure the majority of your story is the part where you test medicine, and that your discussion of your previous career(s) focuses on the parts that will make you good at medicine.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I am a non-trad who had two different careers before medicine. Not that you would make this mistake, but I would advise against talking about how you tested other fields in detail, but instead focus on what you enjoyed about it / learned about yourself from it and how that led to medicine.

I would not advise conveying that you "worked in a lab and hated it" (even indirectly) unless you really hated everything about working in a lab. If that's the case, go ahead and say it. Did you hate figuring out what was wrong when your experiments didn't work? Did you hate analyzing your results? Did you hate trying to explain an unexpected result? Did you hate working with other people on the same project? Did you hate using your knowledge of underlying science to solve problems? If I were to read in a PS that you used to be a researcher in a laboratory but you left because you didn't enjoy it -- and that's all that you tell me -- I'm going to wonder why medicine is different. And I'm going to wonder if you disliked the aspects of lab research that can help make a good physician.

Whatever path you communicate in your personal statement, it's not about what you didn't like. It's about what you loved -- or at least really enjoyed. And maybe, just maybe, medicine is the best place to find everything you love in one place?

You don't want to give the impression that you're going to medical school because it's the only non-sh*tty career you can pursue with a science degree. I'm not saying you actually think that or that you would even write up your story that way. Just something to keep in mind.



^^ That right there is your ticket. That was my exact philosophy. Just don't make the mistake I did in my first draft; tell your story, but make sure the majority of your story is the part where you test medicine, and that your discussion of your previous career(s) focuses on the parts that will make you good at medicine.

I mean obviously even in my rough drafts I state it more eloquently than saying "I hated it." Because realistically I dont hate it, I have done it for years and have gotten so much out of it. I just could not do it for the rest of my life/ it does not bring the joy that I found I had when I was working in medicine and shadowing etc. My very first drafts absolutely drew to the fact that I wanted to get out of it in a more negative way. However, after revisions over the past few weeks that section has gotten down to really only a couple of sentences, and really only to provide an introduction to why I wanted to try something else (medicine). However I absolutely do not think that I have focused enough on the part that will make me good at medicine and it is still not as eloquent as you had stated it, so I have more work to do haha!

One thing that I am REALLY having trouble with is showing how some of these experiences will make be better for medicine. I mean I am able to decently phrase why medicine and how these experiences have directed me to medicine, but I know for sure that I am having a hard time expressing why the experiences make me a strong for medicine and particularly why they make me a good applicant! That is very challenging for sure...

 

[wiloghby]

Pretend like you are interviewing for a job, or (medical school I guess). You're interviewing to be "hired" as a physician right now (if only!!!!). What would you say to an interviewer who says "Tell me how your research will help you as a physician" ??

Fun fact...I was asked a nearly identical question in one of my interviews ("Tell me how majoring in science/engineering is going to help you as a physician.")

Do the same for all of the activities you have participated in over the years. Take a look at the answers (DON'T worry about being eloquent or how it sounds). The answers that seem the most convincing? Those might be the activities you highlight in your PS.

If you have trouble with that exercise, how about you start by listing what skills or qualities make someone a good doctor. You could take that list of qualities and try to match them up with a list of your activities. That might help you frame your story a little bit.

Don't worry about what your PS sounds like yet. Just try to get some of this stuff nailed down first.

 

[Davida]

I know exactly what you're going through. I pre-wrote and "finalized" my personal statement multiple times a full year before I applied. Then, when the time came to apply, I re-read it, hated every word, completely scrapped the concept, and went through two more ideas before finally writing one that I actually liked (and, miraculously, continue to like to this day).

So that's my suggestion - write one you hate first. Accept that the first iteration (and possibly the first 100 iterations) will suck. Sit down, write it, figure out why you don't like it, and focus on fixing those issues. At least you'll have something on paper, and it probably won't be as bad or irreparable as you would expect.

A common format is to start with a vignette based on one of your ECs that best represents your reasons for going into medicine. Then you step back and give an overview of how you got to that point, and how you're ready to tackle the long road ahead and blah blah blah. I hear the Columbia post-bacc program recommends this format to people who are stumped. I did not attend, however, so don't hold me to it. Yes, it's hackneyed. But who cares? If your story is truly inspirational and moving, dare to be different. If not, dare to be conventional.

This is exactly what I did, with perhaps a little bit of an adaptation. I actually decided to use a meaningful experience that was not related to medicine, and then tied it back to how I used that knowledge while working in a clinic and how I predicted that experience would be useful. For me, it was less a straight up "this is why I want to go into medicine" than a "this is how my experiences will make me a good doctor." I tied in the "why medicine," but I didn't find that story very compelling, so I chose not to make it the direct focus of the essay. Not sure how risky it is to not write the "why medicine" essay. It doesn't seem to have affected me negatively in the application cycle (yet), at least from my own perspective - I'm happy with the number of interviews I'm getting, and they're generally at schools I'd like to go to.

Hope this was helpful. Feel free to message me if you want editing help.

 

[Jennyfishy]

I think I rewrote my personal statement five times (I tend to just pump out entire papers in one setting, so I would write, go to sleep, look at it the next day. If I hated it, I wrote a different one). When I started, all I knew was that I wanted whoever came across my PS to know (after reading it) to know that my childhood experiences eventually led me to medicine, my lifelong experiences reinforced them, and that I want to go into medicine to serve the underserved and address the disparities and issues I came across in my own community. After writing endlessly on each topic to detail/explain each component, the personal statement started to fall into place, and multiple edits/reductions to fit the word limit helped it become more concise, but the final product still has that skeleton/I fulfilled that original goal. I would still change it if I could go back, but the places I've interviewed seemed pretty pleased with it and often brought it up/mentioned that it was a great story/easy to read/they felt like they had a good idea of who I am and what is important to me before I even walked in the room.

I found it a lot easier to not focus so much on finding the "end product" of what the personal statement will be, but just writing everything that came to mind and wanted to say to someone if they were to ask me "why do you want to be a doctor/what interests you about the medical field." Multiple revisions later, what I almost submitted looks nothing like what it is today (and even after 15 edits, I still caught errors AFTER submitting). Maybe something that's important to remember before you submit is that the earlier part of your paper should be "interesting" enough (not cliche or dramatic to the point that they would roll their eyes) so that a busy AdCom wouldn't toss it after a quick 30 second skim (Dean of admissions at UCDavis SOM told us that at an AMSA conference).

You can also always have friends and professors read over your paper to help you catch logical flaws or areas that don't seem to flow as well as you go through the stages of your PS.

Whatever works for you, but the more you stress about what your final personal statement will be, the more of a "block" you'll run into. And like others have said, don't write like how you wouldn't naturally. If you're not a fancy person, don't write like a fancy person. And more importantly, if you can't read what you wrote out loud without awkwardly pausing and jumbling, you need to fix what you wrote. At least you've got plenty of time 😀

 

[CyberMaxx]

Don't worry so much about how it sounds at first or getting the right words, that will definitely make you flustered and lead to writer's block IMO. I definitely experienced this at first because I focusing more on making it a good personal statement than being introspective. So instead, I just wrote out everything, kind of a stream of consciousness journal entry (no limit on how much you write), and then figured out from that what I wanted to use. Eventually I got it to a place where others could look at it to give feedback. Also you could try talking it out with someone you feel really close to. That could help get your ideas flowing.
Hope that helps.

I strongly agree with this and with what wiloghby has said. I spent a long time trying to find a unique and compelling story for the focus of my PS, and write it in a way which was very stylish. Ultimately I realized that I was making up stories rather than just telling mine. At some point everyone who goes into medicine has experiences which have put them on that path. Take the time to reflect on what those experiences were for you and then put it together.

 

[karayaa]

Maybe tell it as a story - a rambling, discontinuous story if you have to. Record it and transcribe it and use that as your rough draft.

 

[Pacna]

I found the best advice was to tell your story like a movie. You're the hero/heroine. Make it interesting, have a conflict, resolve the conflict, and make the hero/heroine look as good as possible.

"It was a dark and stormy night when I saved the orphanage..." (just kidding. Not this dramatic)

 

[eizeral]

I know how you feel. I ended up just writing 3 single-spaced pages of everything I'd done and my thoughts and why I wanted to be a doctor. It read like a journal entry, lol--total POS. BUT, from that, I was able to discuss parts of it with my friends (1 of whom I helped to write her PS for vet school), and that was a major help. All it took was one good idea to inspire me, and then I had a PS 3 hrs later. I began mine with a personal anecdote about what first inspired my interest in medicine, and how that lead me to declare a major in Pre-Veterinary Medicine. Yes, I first began wanting to be a vet, so I had to write about that and my shift to human medicine. I spent about a paragraph and a half on that, and then wrote about my experiences in the medical field for about a paragraph or two, and then wrote about why I wanted to be a doctor and why I would make a good one. I feel like it was harder for me because this isn't something I've wanted to do my entire life, and pursued many other interests, so I had to write about how those pursuits would benefit me as a doctor to make up for it. I had to convince them that this isn't just another one of those pursuits, but is "it" for me. My suggestion to you is to take some time away from it and to just bump ideas off of your friends, see if they help you find a little bit of clarity. All you need is that one idea. You can do it!