hey guys need some help..

[zempa]

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i've posted about this several times but I just don't know how to do it at all it seems, I'm probably having more trouble writing a letter of interest then my personal statement - i've wasted at least a week trying to write it. Every time I write something it seems stupid..I would really appreciate if someone could direct me to a site where they have samples or could offer a sample letter

this is really killing my vaca

 

[kbshah]

Just write something/anything. What ever comes to your mind on why you want to go to medical school and what has influenced you to become a physician.
This will at least get you started. You will probably end up not using it at all, but then you will be able to re-read it and ask yourself, what is the admissions team not getting from this statement. This will offer you guidance on your next and real personal statement.

My first PS was crap, I took the advice from my buddy in med school to just write anything and refine later on. You will refine your topic and ideas later, but if you are stuck, just write! Forget grammer, forget trying to make it perfect and just write.

Sorry if this msg is not clear, I am tired and sick.
PM me if you have more questions, i'm more than happy to help.

 

[Parts Unknown]

this is really killing my vaca

You should seek professional veterinary help immediately.

 

[zempa]

- parts unknown i didn't get your joke

-kbshah thanks for trying to help..but please reread the question I'm trying to write a letter on interest and i said it's been harder then writing my PS (I already wrote it), I hope you feel better

 

[zempa]

anyone?

 

[GoSpursGo]

Definitely just write whatever comes to mind. It's GOING to sound cheesy, because you're basically saying, "I love your school, please please please let me in!" A website wouldn't help you, because you're supposed to talk about aspects of the school that are unique to it. All I can really say is find ways that you can say that those unique aspects would fit perfectly with what you want in a med school, and how your life experiences show you would be a perfect fit for their mission.

Then hit send and forget about it. This letter is NOT going to get you into med school. In fact, there is probably a >90% chance that it has no impact at all in their decision. If anything, it MIGHT give you a slight bump because they have to pull your file up to put the letter in; in reality, what lies in your grades/MCAT/PS/interview/etc will definitely be the major determining factors.

 

[sustentacular]

- parts unknown i didn't get your joke

-kbshah thanks for trying to help..but please reread the question I'm trying to write a letter on interest and i said it's been harder then writing my PS (I already wrote it), I hope you feel better

vaca means cow in spanish i think.

As for the point of this thread, I haven't written any LOIs yet but I imagine you could start by drafting a sort of mad libs version of a LOI and then filling in different info and elaborating for each school.

something like :

I'm writing to express my interest in attending (whatever medical school). While attending my interview/tour I was struck by (something unique about campus or location of the school) and really appreciated (something about student body or particular faculty you met with).
To update the admissions committee on my activities since we met for my interview (include 1st semester grades, continued volunteer experience, new position at work, accepted publication, new research experience etc).
I feel not only that (whatever medical school) is a perfect fit for me given my interest in (something) and desire to (blah blah blah) but also that I would contribute to the student body by/because of (something unique about you).



Now, again, I haven't written any LOIs of my own so I can't really attest to that outline, but I certainly know how much it sucks to have a writers block of sorts and drafting an outline like that and then taking a bit of a break, or sending it to a friend to edit, tends to help.

 

[sumstorm]

Something that worked better for me was to write single sentences that I liked, rather than trying to write coherent paragraphs.

I started out with bullet points of what I wanted to include in the essay. Then I wrote single sentences that encaspulated that point. Then I selected the best of those, and wrote paragraphs to support them. It felt really disjointed, and isn't how I normally write, but it really worked better for me. It still sounded cheesy, but not nearly as gushing or melodramatic.

 

[CapnCrunch]

I refer to both of those when writing your PS:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=536199

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=375844

As far as samples... I only found a few of them on google (searching medical school personal statement), but I avoid looking at them because my writing becomes formulaic from what I just saw.

Good luck, PS writing is a tough endeavor, but it's good that you're starting so early!

Also, refer to:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=683792

if you want other people's inputs! Good luck!

 

[CapnCrunch]

Here is one of my favorites:

"I felt fortunate to awaken from my weeks-long life-threatening coma in the Zimbabwe orphanage in which I was raised from infancy, until I realized the building was ablaze. After evacuating all the inhabitants including any stray insects who were drawn to the flames, I doused the fire with a water pump I had improvised from an old accordion bellows (on which I often played Bach fugues a la Albert Schweitzer) and a bamboo-like plant I had discovered in the jungle. I named the plant Medusa Abandona after my now forgiven American born mother, who forsook me in my cradle, only after it turned out to be an unknown genus and promised to have exciting anti-cancer medicinal qualities as well. When I was convinced that everyone in the orphanage was safe, I escaped the holocaust in the solar powered wheel chair I had developed to give myself more mobility after the unfortunate accident I had as a child, breaking my seventh vertebra while wrestling a lion that had terrorized the village.

When I was seven, the only doctor within a 300 mile radius took me under his wing. I shadowed him for ten years, which was quite difficult when you consider the dense jungle foliage and lack of sunlight at ground level. The fact that he was a witch doctor should in no way denigrate his skills nor the efficacy of his spells. If you accept me into your next medical class, I intend to teach my fellow students a series of hexes that will eliminate the need for Viagra, Allegra, Grecian Formula and Formula 409.

Most of my adolescence I spent draining swamps, eliminating mosquitoes and generally reducing the malarial plague in three contiguous countries in equatorial Africa. It was only after saving the lives of ten's of thousands of people that I decided to become a doctor in hope that over the course of my career I might be able to save just a few more. The journey to medicine was difficult. It was a choice between being a doctor and being a shoemaker, but after I taught everyone in my village how to make their own shoes there was no need to pursue this noble profession.

Harvard was reluctant to let me go after I got straight "A"s as the first graduate in their new correspondence bachelors degree program but with five majors and 12 books to my credit they finally acknowledged (see attached letter) that they had nothing left to teach me. My economics honors thesis was entitled "Grade Inflation at Harvard: The Great Hoax."

Given my academic prowess, imagine then how mortified I was to receive only a 44 aggregate AMCAS score. Those of you at AMCAS reading this, who may have contributed to writing the April exam, should be ashamed of yourselves. In the passage on "Halitosis" you referred to the sufferer as having "bad breadth". The patient could certainly be circumferentially challenged but I assumed a typo had been committed and that you meant he had "bad breath" and answered accordingly. My fellow hapless examinees' incorrect answers to question 39 should be stricken and the exam be recalibrated accordingly.

In short, becoming a doctor may seem humdrum and a come down compared to my life so far, but I am willing to unlearn a few things so I won't be so far ahead of my fellow medical classmates. And don't worry about my disability; I can still perform an angioplasty and thread several needles while doing 500 one-armed finger pushups."

In reference to:

http://www.accepted.com/medical/sampessay10.aspx

 

[zempa]

thanx for all the help guys