How did you start your personal statement?

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gentile1225

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Hey guys, i'm applying for the 2010 cycle, i'm trying to start my personal statement but i don't know what the hell to talk about. i have some ideas, but i'm nervous i won't be able to say everything i want to in as little as possible. does anybody have any opinions? how did everyone else start their personal statement.

i switched my major a couple of times from freshman year because i was nervous i wouldnt be able to make it through as a pre-med/pre-dent student because i had horrible teachers that knew nothing. once i transferred schools i felt i was wasting my potential and again switched to pre-dental and have stuck it out since then. however, i'm not sure if i want to mention this because i dont want schools to think im easily discouraged or influential. HELP ME PLEASE! Did anyone use resume and essay writing services?

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Your scores are great, first of all. When I did my personal statement I set it up this way:

1) short anecdote about my experiences as a patient
2) short anecdote about my experiences during shadowing
3) tied them together
4) explain weakness on my application and the skills learned from this experience (for me, orgo... for you, switching schools, etc.)
5) how these skills have helped you in extra-curriculars (talk about leadership?)
6) how this translates to you as a dentist

I know it's hard to get set-up, but read a few PS and it will help. Also, make an outline like the one above. It will help you move from topic to topic and will make sure you said everything you wanted.
 
^That was a really helpful response. What does Gentile mean? If I were you I would start out with an anecdote like the post above mentioned. Relate that to why you want to be a dentist. Peanut butter and jelly..smooth sailing from there homie.
 
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lulu- thx for your info. nice breakdown.
 
My PS had a similar outline to Lulu's. I think the most important thing is that you relate everything back to why you want to be a dentist, and using that to show them that you're dedicated to dentistry. In your case, you can talk about how you were unsure what you wanted to do early on, but then you started learning more about your options, matured more, etc, and started yourself down the road of making dentistry your current goal in life.

Find a moment or experience that really made you inspired about dentistry and talk about that. That's what I did, and I felt I was able to drive home the point about my dedication to dentistry very well with all of the things stemming from that one single point. Then, come back to it in the end and tie it in together with the rest of your experiences or something like that. Also, if you have any striking weaknesses or problems, you probably should bring them up in the PS because they're going to come up sooner or later, and you want to be the one to mention them first - that shows that you may have learned from the experience.

For example, I got a D in Ochem, and that and a bunch of C's here and there really lowered my GPA (sciGPA 3.04). I was able to talk about situations that were going on in my life at that point which took away from my academic performance, as well as showing that I did well on that area of my DAT, and stated that I thought my DAT scores were a better indication of my potential than my GPA was. I was asked about my wavering grades at one interview, and I was able to use this to clearly talk about it, and even making it a positive point about myself showing that I did learn the material well even if my grade didn't represent that.

So anyways, sorry to ramble on, but just be honest, and start with an anecdote from dental shadowing or something, and if you don't have one, start with one particular experience that made you want to become a dentist.

Good Luck!
 
thanks a lot for your input guys, definitely very helpful. i really appreciate the feedback. i think i might actually start tonight since you guys gave me such good tips.

the whole gentile thing is a bit of an inside joke. i went to tutoring for orgo and dats over the past year with basically all jewish kids. my dat class was 28 kids and i was the only non-jew so we used to joke around with each other, they called me jesus bear, so in their honor i made my sdn name gentile 1225 (for christmas for those of you who didn't put the two together).
 
Also, if there is one more piece of advice I could give you, it would be: revise, revise, revise. Let as many people look at it as possible. There will be tons of different adcoms members looking at it--so the more eyes that look at it beforehand, the better chance you will have to be able to answer any questions/concerns the adcoms may have regarding your essay before they actually see it.
 
Also, if there is one more piece of advice I could give you, it would be: revise, revise, revise. Let as many people look at it as possible.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: This is excellent advice.

When I go back and read my PS now, it just seems pretty cheesy, but hey, it got me into a few schools, so I guess it worked. Regardless, I wish I had more than just my brother read it before submitting it. There are a few sentences I would now have worded differently and I kicked myself afterwards for not rephrasing them. I have a handful of corny jokes thrown in there that I thought would work in my favor to make my application stand out from the boring "I want to be a dentist to help people" ones (even though all personal statements, even mine, boil down to just that.) Now going back and re-reading it, I have to forehead slap myself. I think the jokes make my PS just scream 'nerd alert!' LOL

I started mine by explaining the event that got me interested in dentistry (I had to get an RCT as a teenager), followed up by a corny joke. Then I discussed qualities that I have which will help me out in the dental field ... then I discuss my shadowing experiences and how I aspire to be like the dentists I shadowed. I talked about my full-time job as a dental assistant and what it has taught (followed by another corny joke). In my closing paragraph I tried to tie all of the ideas together -- how my experiences as a patient, shadow, and assistant have fueled my desire to become a dentist.
 
this is a great thread! thanks for all the responses.
 
i agree
this thread is very helpful
 
i think either...

"It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents--except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness."

or

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ..."

can suffice
 
Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away...
 
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