Gettin Started on that Personal Statement

[Acoustica]

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Currently "trying" to get started on my PS but I have no idea where or how to start.

Anyone else in the same boat or have advice on how to get started?

 

[scarshapedstar]

For me, and I suspect most, the intro and conclusion are the hardest parts. So skip them for now. Just write down any old random thoughts about why you want to be a doctor and tie them together over the next few months.

I do my best work lying in bed scribbling things down on paper; there's something discouraging about staring at a completely empty Word document

 

[hmainn]

Basically, the trick is to get a crappy start... free write like crazy. Just book yourself a solid hour to write as many pages as you can from what is on your mind when you think of a personal statement.

Once you got that, you can assess what to keep and discard. You should always have more than the limit and have to trim away a lot of the fat as you keep editing. Someone posted an amazing example personal statement on here a while ago. Take a look at it. Don't copy the exact structure, but you'll see what kind of qualities you want to have in yours.

Good luck 🙂

 

[NeuralNetwork]

Don't underestimate the power of brainstorming. For me:

First, I spent a good time going through different styles of personal statements and figuring out how I wanted to convey a story and information about myself. Then, I jotted down MAJOR things that I had to communicate across my personal statement. I spent a long time casually thinking about how to integrate the major things into a nice cohesive story, and attached a certain theme and feel to it as I progressed through the story line. Then, I revisited the major items and connected them together to make a rough outline.

As far as writing goes, that's very much dependent on your style of writing. I personally start with making a strong opening and then make the rest of my writing flow along with it. The hardest part is thinking of what to say and how to say it in a way that's fun to read. The second hardest part is writing down those first couple lines. Good luck!

 

[jf1987]

Make it not like this:

I want to be a doctor because I am interested in science and I enjoy helping people. I know this because I am always trying to look for ways to help other, whether it is in the supermarket or the airport. I think medicine is a very challenging career, but the hard work pays off, literally! I explored other healthcare option, but medicine was right for me, because the joy of diagnosis and treatment intrigues me.
I have gained a lot of work experience, including working at a hospice for 18 months, a special needs school for 6 months, shadowing a doctor for 3 days and taking part in many medical conferences such as medisix, medilink, Kaplan course and online courses. Al these experiences gave me the opportunity to enhance my communication, teamwork, honest, listening, learning, caring and compassion attributes which I will use in my medical career.
I have very interesting extra-curricular activities such as scuba-diving, archery and male pole dancing. I have achieved the highest level certificates in all these sports and was even able to meet with Boris Johnson about taking part in the 2012 London Olympics in the archery team. This was a great experience as I was able to speak with confidence to a high rated member of society and as a doctor I would like to place the same effect on people.
I was a school prefect and member of the archery committee at my school. These positions of responsibility have helped me to become a more mature student. Other sports I play are football squash (not the drink!), swimming, cricket, table tennis, fencing and rugby. I play as captain for all these teams and have been picked consistently for all teams throughout my school career.
I feel medicine is right for me because of all the good attributes I possess and I know this because I have read tomorrows doctor and good medical practice and I fit into the right criteria. I also enjoy reading medical journals and websites such as BBC - Health, Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology and others. From this I have gained a very good interest in the effects of smoking leading to TB. I feel I am very confident in this area and will be able to challenge professor at your school! Overall I am right to be a doctor and am looking forward to start my studies this year!
Thank you for reading this Very Personal Statement (for yours and my eyes only!) and hope to please you at the interview and around the lecture theatres and hospitals in a city near you!

 

[NeuralNetwork]

Make it not like this:

I want to be a doctor because I am interested in science and I enjoy helping people. I know this because I am always trying to look for ways to help other, whether it is in the supermarket or the airport. I think medicine is a very challenging career, but the hard work pays off, literally! I explored other healthcare option, but medicine was right for me, because the joy of diagnosis and treatment intrigues me.
I have gained a lot of work experience, including working at a hospice for 18 months, a special needs school for 6 months, shadowing a doctor for 3 days and taking part in many medical conferences such as medisix, medilink, Kaplan course and online courses. Al these experiences gave me the opportunity to enhance my communication, teamwork, honest, listening, learning, caring and compassion attributes which I will use in my medical career.
I have very interesting extra-curricular activities such as scuba-diving, archery and male pole dancing. I have achieved the highest level certificates in all these sports and was even able to meet with Boris Johnson about taking part in the 2012 London Olympics in the archery team. This was a great experience as I was able to speak with confidence to a high rated member of society and as a doctor I would like to place the same effect on people.
I was a school prefect and member of the archery committee at my school. These positions of responsibility have helped me to become a more mature student. Other sports I play are football squash (not the drink!), swimming, cricket, table tennis, fencing and rugby. I play as captain for all these teams and have been picked consistently for all teams throughout my school career.
I feel medicine is right for me because of all the good attributes I possess and I know this because I have read tomorrows doctor and good medical practice and I fit into the right criteria. I also enjoy reading medical journals and websites such as BBC - Health, Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology and others. From this I have gained a very good interest in the effects of smoking leading to TB. I feel I am very confident in this area and will be able to challenge professor at your school! Overall I am right to be a doctor and am looking forward to start my studies this year!
Thank you for reading this Very Personal Statement (for yours and my eyes only!) and hope to please you at the interview and around the lecture theatres and hospitals in a city near you!

Was this just made on the spot? I'm impressed

 

[scarshapedstar]

Make it not like this:

I want to be a doctor because I am interested in science and I enjoy helping people. I know this because I am always trying to look for ways to help other, whether it is in the supermarket or the airport. I think medicine is a very challenging career, but the hard work pays off, literally! I explored other healthcare option, but medicine was right for me, because the joy of diagnosis and treatment intrigues me.
I have gained a lot of work experience, including working at a hospice for 18 months, a special needs school for 6 months, shadowing a doctor for 3 days and taking part in many medical conferences such as medisix, medilink, Kaplan course and online courses. Al these experiences gave me the opportunity to enhance my communication, teamwork, honest, listening, learning, caring and compassion attributes which I will use in my medical career.
I have very interesting extra-curricular activities such as scuba-diving, archery and male pole dancing. I have achieved the highest level certificates in all these sports and was even able to meet with Boris Johnson about taking part in the 2012 London Olympics in the archery team. This was a great experience as I was able to speak with confidence to a high rated member of society and as a doctor I would like to place the same effect on people.
I was a school prefect and member of the archery committee at my school. These positions of responsibility have helped me to become a more mature student. Other sports I play are football squash (not the drink!), swimming, cricket, table tennis, fencing and rugby. I play as captain for all these teams and have been picked consistently for all teams throughout my school career.
I feel medicine is right for me because of all the good attributes I possess and I know this because I have read tomorrows doctor and good medical practice and I fit into the right criteria. I also enjoy reading medical journals and websites such as BBC - Health, Science Daily: News & Articles in Science, Health, Environment & Technology and others. From this I have gained a very good interest in the effects of smoking leading to TB. I feel I am very confident in this area and will be able to challenge professor at your school! Overall I am right to be a doctor and am looking forward to start my studies this year!
Thank you for reading this Very Personal Statement (for yours and my eyes only!) and hope to please you at the interview and around the lecture theatres and hospitals in a city near you!

Sooooooo fix the run-on sentences?



😎

 

[jweezy225]

While brainstorming, also keep in mind who you're writing this for and what they'll be looking for. Try to convey why you're interested in medicine, what you've experienced to prove that you're interested, what this interest does for you personally, etc. Get anecdotal, too! One of the deans of admissions at my medical school recently said to me that she looks for students who can articulate ways in which they've challenged themselves by considering other career pathways yet still ended up with wanting to do medicine.

Hope this helps!

 

[NickNaylor]

I agree with others' advice on trying to get SOMETHING written down. You have plenty of time to edit your PS or even write up another one from scratch. This isn't an uncommon issue. Just start putting pen to paper and see what happens.

 

[StudyShy]

Listen to something inspiring like a TED talk. That is what I did. 🙂

 

[EBTrailRunner]

First, I'd brainstorm what it is about yourself that you want to communicate through your PS. You're sculpting a story that sells you and your motivation for medicine. When you've thought that through, start writing and see where it takes you.

 

[kexy]

Something that really helped me was reading some sample personal statements: http://www.amazon.com/Essays-That-Will-Medical-School/dp/0764142275

Obviously, yours will be (and better be) very different from anyone else's, but through reading those, I found what I liked and what I didn't like in other people's essays. Some things I found that I liked:
-Essays with a theme that runs from beginning to end
-Unique essays--after reading a few, I realized how quickly they all start to sound similar. I found that I liked essays that discussed a person's non-biology major or minor, a person's unique research or volunteer experience, a unique hobby, etc.
-Essays with a hook that isn't stupid or desperate. I think this can be done very well if you launch immediately into a story (about a volunteer experience, research, a certain patient). I know opening with quotes is perhaps cliche and kind of frowned upon, but I did it anyway. I opened my essay with a short, simple, and bold quote by a famous philosopher, and I think it worked out well--several interviewers commented on it, and it led to some very interesting discussions during my interviews. Plus, this quote provided a unifying theme that tied together/summed up all of my motivations for a career in medicine. Warning though: don't do anything too flashy ("It was a dark and stormy night and there was a pool of blood on the floor of the ER..."). There is a fine line between interesting hook and extremely cliche, "interesting" hook.

Maybe one good place to start is with your activity descriptions--you'll have to fill them out anyway. Make a list of all of your activities, write a short paragraph about what you did in each one, what you learned, and what it meant to you, and so on. Figure out if you can see a theme emerging from a few of the most important activities. If you can, great! Try to expand on it. Alternatively, make a list of all of the reasons you want to be a physician. Say, helping people, intellectually stimulating, collegial profession, the impact of health on happiness, etc. Choose the single best, most original one and make it your theme. Expand on why its personally important to you and back up your claims with concrete examples from your experiences.

A word of caution--make sure your PS isn't just a list of your activities. Those essays are boring and not very persuasive.

 

[DrMcHindi]

The traditional 'brainstorming methods' did not work for me. Here's my take. I knew what life event(s) brought me to science/ medicine but really didn't know how to frame them in a unique and cohesive way. I tried the 'write down everything' approach and all output from that was pure crap. Luckily I started early enough that oneday I kind of happened upon an idea, got up late night from bed and wrote my first draft. It took many iterations from there, but don't pressure yourself to write if its not going to be fruitful. Start the mental process early and you'll have plenty of time to come up with some stroke of genius.

May not work for everyone, but worked for me. Every interview I've been on, I've had atleast one interviewer complement my PS.

 

[SBR249]

I basically just outlined (or maybe just listed) the major concepts/ideas/themes that I wanted to include in the PS then sat on it for a week or two. During that week, I'd think up random sentences and thoughts while I'm doing other stuff that fleshed out those concepts and jot them down. After a while, I'd have a list of concepts/themes/ideas and some sentences and details under each and I'd try to piece those together into paragraph frameworks and then completely flesh them out. Then I finished a conclusion and wrote an anecdote for the intro.

 

[Nibbly]

When I found myself in your exact predicament, I was perusing the medicine section at Barnes and Noble and came across this little gem: http://www.amazon.com/Essays-That-M...2275/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330547496&sr=8-1

It's got a bunch of sample essays from successful applicants, as well as suggestions for getting started and working through the writing process. This might help get those creative juices flowing.

 

[Bro Dude]

3. Are you a good match for their school?

This is probably something that OP should keep in mind for secondary applications, rather than the PS.

 

[exquisitemelody]

Answer the following questions:

1) Why do you want to be a doctor? Everyone goes into medicine because they want to help people. But how exactly do you want to help people and how will medicine allow you to do that? What have you done that already shows this desire?
2) How have you tested your desire to go into medicine? Did you think about other careers? Why did you come back to medicine?
3) What qualities do you have that you think will make you a good doctor? What have you done that shows these qualities?

Your reader needs to know the answers to these questions by the time they're finished reading your PS. It helped me to sit down and free write answers to these questions. When you get down to really writing your PS, make it personal. Use stories and experiences. Show don't tell!

Only choose 2 or 3 experiences to talk about. You don't have to fit your whole resume into your PS - that's what the rest of your AMCAS is for (and they give you plenty of space to talk about even more stuff). Limiting what you talk about forces you to really flesh out those ideas.

Try to plan ahead - you need to do descriptions for activities on your AMCAS and you'll need material for secondary essays, and you don't want to repeat information that's already found elsewhere. Go to the school specific threads and check out the questions for the secondaries and get an idea for the types of questions they ask and then maybe organize your experiences some how. If you organize your experiences from the beginning, then you can pick and choose what you want to talk about and you'll already have ideas for when you need to do secondaries. You'll also be able to make sure that your PS, AMCAS activity descriptions, and secondary essays don't overlap and talk about the same stuff.