Does anyone know how long Adcoms keep our application? I wrote a personal PS that I would feel uncomfortable if it was kept in some archive somewhere..
How long do they keep our applications?
- Thread starter Garshelis
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2009
- Messages
- 2,115
- Reaction score
- 498
They archive them, as do colleges. My undergrad has record of the essay I submitted with my application in Sep 2000 when I was applying. The physician I worked who is now retired with (went to UPenn) was able to retrieve his entire medical school application recently (30 yrs later).
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2009
- Messages
- 2,115
- Reaction score
- 498
Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. No one is going to ever look at it again unless you request it or something comes into question. They archive it just in case the authenticity of any part of your app comes into question in the future of if you may need it.
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2009
- Messages
- 2,125
- Reaction score
- 5
I don't mean to sound rude, but I have no idea what in the world you could possibly put in a personal statement that you would not feel comfortable having archived...unless it was a lie or something that might come back to bite you in the butt one day.
If removing it will weaken your PS, don't do it...
If removing it will weaken your PS, don't do it...
I am very self-conscious about my writing. Especially when I am writing about myself. My PS is about a difficult period in my life that I endured but am still emotionally affected by.
And because I am not a great writer, I know that in the future I'm going to regret writing this PS and obsess about how cliched/pompous/self-entitled it could be perceived.
And because I am not a great writer, I know that in the future I'm going to regret writing this PS and obsess about how cliched/pompous/self-entitled it could be perceived.
2
235009
now with electronic applications you have to assume that it would be extremely easy to archive records without much hassle
i don't understand how you can be comfortable having dozens of people read your PS and evaluate you based on it for admission to med school but not comfortable having it archived. i think your primary concern should be how you come off to the adcom members ...i find it very strange that that's not your priority or what you are worrying about
i don't understand how you can be comfortable having dozens of people read your PS and evaluate you based on it for admission to med school but not comfortable having it archived. i think your primary concern should be how you come off to the adcom members ...i find it very strange that that's not your priority or what you are worrying about
It's a bit hard to explain but I feel it is easy to write it now and have it read because this is the best I can write at this point in my life. In my eyes, I feel I am doing justice to my experience and my reasons to go into medicine. But in the future, since I hope I become better at writing, I'm sure I'm going to be embarrassed with how I wrote it when I remember it.
If I am rejected, I assumed my application will be discarded and adcoms would most likely forget about my essay as they read hundreds more. If I get in with my essay, I can assume I came off well in my PS and wont need to worry. I hope these adcoms would most likely forget my PS or just remember the important points and not how I wrote it. But the fact that it would be up somewhere for anyone to read, no matter how unlikely, is a bit disconcerting to me.
I guess this isn't so much about whether I get in or not with it, but about the thought of me writing about my experience with less than perfect skill. With this PS I was trying to move out of my comfort zone, and write something very heartfelt, but the perfectionist introvert in me doesn't like the thought that my expressed emotions will be kept somewhere in it's entirety.
I'm sorry if this is hard to understand, but it is hard to explain since it is more rooted in emotion than logic. 😳
If I am rejected, I assumed my application will be discarded and adcoms would most likely forget about my essay as they read hundreds more. If I get in with my essay, I can assume I came off well in my PS and wont need to worry. I hope these adcoms would most likely forget my PS or just remember the important points and not how I wrote it. But the fact that it would be up somewhere for anyone to read, no matter how unlikely, is a bit disconcerting to me.
I guess this isn't so much about whether I get in or not with it, but about the thought of me writing about my experience with less than perfect skill. With this PS I was trying to move out of my comfort zone, and write something very heartfelt, but the perfectionist introvert in me doesn't like the thought that my expressed emotions will be kept somewhere in it's entirety.
I'm sorry if this is hard to understand, but it is hard to explain since it is more rooted in emotion than logic. 😳
- Joined
- Oct 20, 2009
- Messages
- 2,115
- Reaction score
- 498
Remember that applications are confidential. The school should NOT be randomly reading PS from years pass UNLESS something is brought into question about the application.
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2003
- Messages
- 688
- Reaction score
- 1
the school that you eventually matriculate at will likely make your application and supporting materials part of your med school educational record and can turn to it as needed -- for example, if you are bombing academically in which case someone will ask "is there anything in the transcripts or letters that we missed where we could have predicted something like this" or as some background material used in creating your medical student performance evaluation ("dean's letter").
this is a file accessible only on a "need to know" basis. you don't have to worry about it being posted publicly somewhere.
this is a file accessible only on a "need to know" basis. you don't have to worry about it being posted publicly somewhere.
Similar threads
