How do you prevent a "Re-Hash Resumé" Personal Statement when talking about your activities and personal experiences?

[993444]

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I feel like I have several activities that I would like to talk about in my personal statement and explain what I learned from them and how they impacted my desire to become a physician. However, because I am bringing up several activities in my personal statement, I also feel the need to introduce my role in my activities and what I did. So I'm worried that my personal statement may come off as resume re-hashing.

 

[Moko]

I feel like I have several activities that I would like to talk about in my personal statement and explain what I learned from them and how they impacted my desire to become a physician. However, because I am bringing up several activities in my personal statement, I also feel the need to introduce my role in my activities and what I did. So I'm worried that my personal statement may come off as resume re-hashing.

Your personal statement should highlight important events that sparked and reinforced your desire to pursue medicine, with the ultimate goal of telling a story about who you are. You are right in that it should NOT be a summary or rehash of your work/activities section. Talking about your role and the specifics of what you did should be left for the work/activities section. If you only had one sentence to summarize why an activity was important in your journey, what would you say? That's what should go in the personal statement.

 

[993444]

Talking about your role and the specifics of what you did should be left for the work/activities section.

The only concern I have about this is that several ADCOM members on here have stated that the PS must be written stand-alone because the person reading it may not have access to your W/A section, so I have to explain the activities I write about. Especially since I have a few EC's that are outside the normal pre-med scope.

 

[Moko]

The only concern I have about this is that several ADCOM members on here have stated that the PS must be written stand-alone because the person reading it may not have access to your W/A section, so I have to explain the activities I write about. Especially since I have a few EC's that are outside the normal pre-med scope.

Can you give an example? Your 'explanation' in the personal statement does not, and should not, be comprehensive. You only need to tell enough for the readers to understand the main takeaways.

 

[993444]

Can you give an example? Your 'explanation' in the personal statement does not, and should not, be comprehensive. You only need to tell enough for the readers to understand the main takeaways.

One of my non-clinical experiences is working for a company where I had to work closely with clients and co-workers to come up with creative solutions to problems to enhance our product. In my personal statement I want to talk about teamwork and creativity as it relates to my position. But it feels like I have to give details about what I did and give examples of how I used teamwork in order to make it seem more powerful.

 

[907914]

One of my non-clinical experience is working for a company where I had to work closely with clients and co-workers to come up with creative solutions to problems to enhance our product. In my personal statement I want to talk about teamwork and creativity as it relates to my position. But it feels like I have to give details about what I did and give examples of how I used teamwork in order to make it seem more powerful.

Just pick one teamwork anecdote, highlight what you did, what you learned, how it ties to medicine. Do that for each topic you want to emphasize in your PS. Then, when you have all the topics, weave them together in to on story. It starts out choppy based on a formula, but by the end flows nice and smooth

 

[907914]

Just pick one teamwork anecdote, highlight what you did, what you learned, how it ties to medicine. Do that for each topic you want to emphasize in your PS. Then, when you have all the topics, weave them together in to on story. It starts out choppy based on a formula, but by the end flows nice and smooth

This also starts the introspection process. What doesn’t make it to the PS can be in MME. What doesn’t make it to MME can be in secondaries. What doesn’t make it to secondaries is leftover for interviews. Boom!

 

[993444]

This also starts the introspection process. What doesn’t make it to the PS can be in MME. What doesn’t make it to MME can be in secondaries. What doesn’t make it to secondaries is leftover for interviews. Boom!

I'm sorry, what's MME?

 

[907914]

I'm sorry, what's MME?

Most meaningful experience in the work activities section

 

[993444]

Most meaningful experience in the work activities section

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I totally knew that 😏

Lol jk, now I feel dumb.

 

[Moko]

One of my non-clinical experiences is working for a company where I had to work closely with clients and co-workers to come up with creative solutions to problems to enhance our product. In my personal statement I want to talk about teamwork and creativity as it relates to my position. But it feels like I have to give details about what I did and give examples of how I used teamwork in order to make it seem more powerful.

So the first question I'd have is whether this should even be in the personal statement (only you can answer this question).

The personal statement's primary goal is to answer "why medicine". It should give a strong sense of who you are as a person, your motivations behind pursuing medicine, and the important events in your journey thus far that have reinforced these points. How does this experience answer these questions? I agree with @MemeLord that this seems like it should be in the work/activities section. The personal statement should tell a story, and not be a table of content for your application.

If you feel that this is an important part of answering 'why medicine', then you can always combine the two sentences above, e.g "Through my work with clients and colleagues at X, I learned the importance of teamwork and being creative when..."

 

[993444]

So the first question I'd have is whether this should even be in the personal statement (only you can answer this question).

The personal statement's primary goal is to answer "why medicine". It should give a strong sense of who you are as a person, your motivations behind pursuing medicine, and the important events in your journey thus far that have reinforced these points. How does this experience answer these questions? I agree with @MemeLord that this seems like it should be in the work/activities section. The personal statement should tell a story, and not be a table of content for your application.

If you feel that this is an important part of answering 'why medicine', then you can always combine the two sentences above, e.g "Through my work with clients and colleagues at X, I learned the importance of teamwork and being creative when..."

So you are saying that I should focus on the impact rather than the details?

 

[907914]

So you are saying that I should focus on the impact rather than the details?

This is the exact focus you should have.