Good Books for Personal Statement Writing/PS General Questions

[deleted244469]

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Anyone have any suggestions for books/articles to help with writing my personal statement? Also, what am I looking to write in my personal statement? Something that heavily influenced my life/life choices? Or is it simply "what made me want to be a doctor"? For example, the sport of Hockey has had a gigantic influence on my life, from childhood to now. Is that something I can write about and find a way to tie into medicine?

 

[songl4a]

.

 

[deleted244469]

You could use hockey as the overall theme, then segue into how it has taught you characteristics conducive to being a physician, and then back up those points with examples from your ECs and academic career.

Just what I was looking for! Great advice!

 

[s5260205]

There is a few articles on SDN on how to write your personal statement. You could additionally google some sample or past applicants' PS (there are a few posted to mdapplicants.com). When I was drafting my PS, I skimmed through a lot of sample PS to get a gist of how to approach writing it. For my PS, I tried answering the two central questions of "why I want to be a doctor" and "why I am capable of becoming a doctor" by tying in my personal experiences. There are also many tricks you could use to make your PS more interesting (such as the use of narratives/personal anecdote/etc. as the opening paragraph), so pay attention to those when reading sample PS.

 

[IslandStyle808]

Yeah this is a tough one. There are samples on the internet you can search for. However, the majority I have seen in books and even on the web seem over the top. It can be real tough to find something that is down to earth. If know a medical school faculty member, you can ask them for advice. I was lucky to know a few at my state school who have been more than helpful in guiding my personal statement.

 

[SpaceBuff12]

I used these awesome threads:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/depakotes-personal-statement-guide-tips.536199/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...uide-and-ps-readers-list.375844/#post-4830607

 

[Nesmall2]

Its weird, but when I was writing my personal statement, I also listened to a lot of graduation speeches. This helped me gain a lot of motivation. Not really sure if its helpful, but good luck!

 

[alexibluezz]

This book helped me out a ton:
Amazon product ASIN B002LE84VA