How many PS revisions did you go through before finally submitting?

[starspells]

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Can't decide if having as few people as possible read it over or having as many people (physicians, english profs, peers) tear it apart is better?

I'm just curious how many people/how many revisions you all went through before finally hitting submit!

 

[Moko]

Can't decide if having as few people as possible read it over or having as many people (physicians, english profs, peers) tear it apart is better? I'm just curious how many people/how many revisions you all went through before finally hitting submit!

I think the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. Asking too few people and you risk glaring omissions being looked over, and asking too many and you'll just get the same suggestions over and over. The key is to identify people who will not hesitate to give honest critiques of your PS. Preferably they will be familiar with what schools are looking for, so you can trust their advice. I went with four mentors and probably about five major revisions (and countless minor ones). Now's the time to start writing if you haven't already!

 

[Mad Jack]

Your personal statement isn't nearly as important as you think it is. Just make sure it isn't full of errors and is coherent and not terrible. As adcoms have noted in the past, 98% of personal statements are bland affairs that don't matter, while 1% are truly great and 1% are truly terrible. Have a couple people look it over, but don't stress it so much.

 

[raiderette]

I started with my med school advisor to make sure the theme was appropriate, then had my most honest friends read it. After I felt I got my voice I sent it to my mom to rip it apart, then my English professor. Back to advisor and done.

Sent from my QTAQZ3 using SDN mobile app

 

[spiffysteve]

I had two people read over mine: my wife (who is a talented writer) and my dad (who works with medical fellows and reads PSs a lot). So only a few drafts total. Honestly, admissions people will probably only take three or four minutes tops reading it. Like Mad Jack said, they're not hugely important for the majority of applicants, so don't obsess over it.

 

[takeurmeds02]

I had a PS done in like Nov/Dec of the year previous to submission. Completely scrapped it and started another the following Feb. Maybe did a handful of revisions with some oversight from others before I was satisfied.

 

[URHere]

Write something you're comfortable with, then send it to the people writing your LORs. This serves two purposes: (1) it gives your LORs a bigger sense of who you are and why you want to go to medical school so that they can write a better letter and , (2) it gives you the chance to ask your mentors if your PS makes sense and states your goals clearly.

If they like your PS and you like your PS, you're done. Honestly, if your motivations are clear, whatever else you write will be fine (as long as it's not so cliche that it induces PTSD, laughter, dry heaving, etc).

 

[mimelim]

This all depends where you start. Some people need a lot of help. Others not so much.

Your personal statement isn't nearly as important as you think it is. Just make sure it isn't full of errors and is coherent and not terrible. As adcoms have noted in the past, 98% of personal statements are bland affairs that don't matter, while 1% are truly great and 1% are truly terrible. Have a couple people look it over, but don't stress it so much.

I'd say closer to 5% help, 10% hurt and 85% don't affect anything. There are a lot of abysmal writers and people who simply don't understand basic logic.

 

[drdking]

I don't want to list the actual amount of people I had look over it because I know I went a bit overboard, however my philosophy was to make sure to have enough different types of people look at it for different things.

Close friends/family who can tell you if it's a good reflection of you.
English pros who can help with spelling/grammar and flow, while not needing to worry about deeper messages.
Complete (or near) strangers who can give you an honest opinion of it without any prior knowledge of who you are.

 

[Cookie04]

I went through about 4-5 revisions total. I started my essay in March and finished it in May and I took 4-7 day breaks in between where I didn't even look at my essay. My parents, my sister-in-law, a med student, and a psychiatrist that I was shadowing at the time all read my essay. Even if the PS isn't the most important piece of the puzzle it is still powerful enough to push your application to the next level. All of my interviewers (18 total) with the exception of one, commended me on my PS and optional/secondary essays.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Does it really not matter that much?? I thought this part of the app was a major factor in selecting students other than grades much like a LOR. But I can totally see how most (not all) PS start looking the same after the first 50

 

[spiffysteve]

Does it really not matter that much?? I thought this part of the app was a major factor in selecting students other than grades much like a LOR. But I can totally see how most (not all) PS start looking the same after the first 50

Actually, I seem to remember smart people on this site saying that LORs aren't hugely important either. I think it goes GPA>MCAT>ECs>>>>PS and LORs.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Actually, I seem to remember smart people on this site saying that LORs aren't hugely important either. I think it goes GPA>MCAT>ECs>>>>PS and LORs.

Ive been lied to 🙁 . I talked to a MD/PHD ADCOM and he said the first thing he looked at was LOR because everyone who applies have a good enough GPA, MCAT so I guess its a good tie breaker but not a big deal on its own. I seriously stop trying to quantify the value of different aspects of my app. I just keep telling myself ace the MCAT and do my best in everything else because everyone values things differently. Was planning on start writing my PS now and cut back on MCAT studying since my exam is May 20th but if it isnt such a big deal I can write it in the month while I wait for my scores to come back.

 

[Cookie04]

Ive been lied to 🙁 . I talked to a MD/PHD ADCOM and he said the first thing he looked at was LOR because everyone who applies have a good enough GPA, MCAT so I guess its a good tie breaker but not a big deal on its own. I seriously stop trying to quantify the value of different aspects of my app. I just keep telling myself ace the MCAT and do my best in everything else because everyone values things differently. Was planning on start writing my PS now and cut back on MCAT studying since my exam is May 20th but if it isnt such a big deal I can write it in the month while I wait for my scores to come back.

Your PS is a big deal, but obviously the MCAT weighs more heavily. While an avg PS may not help you tremendously, a bad PS will surely harm you so make sure to give yourself enough time to construct a well written, passionate, and convincing PS.

And every adcom is different. I had a few adcom interviewers that weigh LOR's and essays more heavily then others. Generally if you are invited to an interview your stats are good enough for the school so the next step is essays, LORs, ect...

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

It's less the number and more the quality of the revisions. I had my PS looked over by my mom (lawyer), a linguistics professor, my MD mentor/boss , my pre-med advisor, and a med student who was on his schools adcom. So five revisions from 5 distinct and helpful points of view.

Each person had some very valuable input that, taken together, helped me write a very strong PS

 

[JessebenBenjamin]

It's less the number and more the quality of the revisions.

My best friend, my PI, and SDN. In the end I was very happy with it.

 

[Munty]

I rewrote mine 5 times before I went through the editing process. I remember when I finished that last draft everything felt right with the world. I then had my friend who just went through grad school application give me a few good content and flow overviews. Then I sent it to my English PhD student friend to rip it apart 3 or 4 times over.

Overall I've had a handful of interviews bring up how much they enjoyed my personal statement and how it stood out. So if you do it right, it will catch their eyes.

 

[wagonwheel23]

As a non-trad I struggled quite a bit with my PS. It went through 3 major overhauls and several revisions for each. I picked the following people to help edit:

My father - Lawyer
Friend - MD Faculty at UCSF, served on admissions for residency programs
Friend - Neuroscience PhD, Post-doc at Stanford, liberal arts degree
Friend - Biochemistry PhD, Post-doc at UCSF, served on admissions for PhD program, liberal arts degree
Pre-med Adviser

I would say this was almost too many people, but each person brought an extremely valuable perspective to my writing. Overall I am quite pleased with how it turned out. At every open file interview I had the interviewer gave me praise for it, but I think the praise was more geared toward my interesting path to medicine. I'll take it though, because that means I managed to present my story in an interesting/compelling fashion!

 

[Jimberlane]

When I applied (many years ago) I had 2-3 revisions and had my older brother, a medical student and a doctor review it. They all gave good feedback. Took like a month?

 

[CHoge25]

Sorry to change the subject a little bit but I am getting ready to start writing my PS statement for next cycle so I can have time to perfect it/at least give a solid copy to LOR writers..... My question is what is the average word length?? or I guess what do adcoms look for because I am sure they do not want to read 10 pages but probably want more than a couple paragraphs.

 

[starspells]

Sorry to change the subject a little bit but I am getting ready to start writing my PS statement for next cycle so I can have time to perfect it/at least give a solid copy to LOR writers..... My question is what is the average word length?? or I guess what do adcoms look for because I am sure they do not want to read 10 pages but probably want more than a couple paragraphs.

The AMCAS limit is 5300 characters. The AACOMAS limit is somewhere around there.

 

[phuynh94]

I think I started drafting it in Feb/Mar, then chopped it down to max word count by early April. I then sent it to a friend (accepted MD student at the time), who ripped it apart and told me that it sounded too "laundry list-y." Rewrote it again, and sent it back for approval. Then I sent it to a close friend who knew me well to screen for the voice and style of the essay. Received 2nd approval, with minor corrections. At that point, I had liked what I wrote so much (and wanted the editing process to be over) that even though my Premed Adviser essentially told me to re-write it (citing weak themes, poor anecdotes, and insufficient examples of why I would be a great doctor), I completely ignored him. I edited minor things like word choice and syntax until I was able to get it down to the character limit, which didn't happen until the first day of submission.

For what it's worth, I received a lot of comments on my PS from interviewers. At one particular school, both interviewers each spent 10-15 minutes talking to me about my PS alone, saying that it was "refreshingly bold and candid." I'll hear back from this school soon, so I'll let you know if the PS actually did anything beyond granting me the interview 😛

 

[wagonwheel23]

even though my Premed Adviser essentially told me to re-write it (citing weak themes, poor anecdotes, and insufficient examples of why I would be a great doctor), I completely ignored him.

Yasss qween. This is awesome.

 

[starspells]

This all depends where you start. Some people need a lot of help. Others not so much.



I'd say closer to 5% help, 10% hurt and 85% don't affect anything. There are a lot of abysmal writers and people who simply don't understand basic logic.

In what ways does a PS help? Is it the excellent writing or the experiences and how they flow coherently that stands out? I've always been curious in what ways a PS would stand out. My guess is that the applicant with amazing experiences would get in regardless even if they just had a "mediocre PS."

 

[sharkbyte]

I went through 3-4 major revisions. I had my mom, a close friend (who's an English pro + had been accepted the previous cycle) and a doctor I know read it and edit it. The version I submitted looks drastically different from where I started.

 

[XxThaDoggxX]

It's less the number and more the quality of the revisions. I had my PS looked over by my mom (lawyer), a linguistics professor, my MD mentor/boss , my pre-med advisor, and a med student who was on his schools adcom. So five revisions from 5 distinct and helpful points of view.

Each person had some very valuable input that, taken together, helped me write a very strong PS

This seems like the perfect lineup to me.

 

[mimelim]

In what ways does a PS help? Is it the excellent writing or the experiences and how they flow coherently that stands out? I've always been curious in what ways a PS would stand out. My guess is that the applicant with amazing experiences would get in regardless even if they just had a "mediocre PS."

You have to communicate your experiences to the committee. You have the EC description, your PS and LOR to do this. If you as an applicant are nothing to brag about, your PS and LOR have a lot less importance. But, for borderline stats candidates trying to get in and strong stats applicants trying to increase their options, if they have strong ECs, it goes a long way to have more avenues to express themselves. The most obvious example is research. I have been heavily involved in research for more than a decade. I still have a hard time really understanding the level of involvement that a student has and what they got out of their experience just based on the description of the activity and their publication history. But, there are some PS and even more LOR that really put those experiences over the top and get the applicant flagged (in a good way).

 

[ReadyforMed]

First draft was crap. Pre-med advisor read it. Said I had a lot of work to do.
Brought it to my university writing center that is staffed by English grad students. They helped rip it apart and synthesize my points.
Then severe editing.
3 more drafts (each highly edited)
3 bffs (one accepted MD student, one accepted MD/PhD student and the other was an accepted PhD student in clinical psych).
Final draft.
Sent to English major friend. She helped with some of my weird stuff. There was one sentence that was needed but didn't make sense and she helped me fix it.
Final trip to university writing center
Mother. (minor edits).
2 of the previous 3 bffs.
AMCAS

Overall, I had 4 "drafts" which were probably actually about 10 because they were all so highly edited. I thought it was ok. I am not a writer. Writing kills my soul and all values I hold dear as a person. However, one of my interviewers said it was extremely well-written and one of the better ones he had read this cycle.
All in all, you do you, boo. I had a lot of people read it but that's because I am an external processor. They all get to celebrate with me if/when I get accepted.

 

[hypericum]

My PS turned out pretty well and was brought up in every single interview. Many interviewers commented that it was good and some even read parts of it back to me so we could discuss it further. While adcoms probably have read a billion statements and are not impressed by them, your interviewers have probably read way less and can be impressed!

I essentially wrote my PS, revised it myself first, and then sent it out to five friends and my parents. My parents and four of those friends gave great advice. One friend, who I love, gave awful advice (lol). I had a new wave of revision after each friend, so about 7 revisions total.

 

[Lost in Translation]

I must have gone through over 5 versions (aka central theme/story), with the final version being at least 8 revisions.

 

[texan2414]

I talked about swimming in one of my optional essays. That was how my interview started because my interviewer was a swimmer himself.
This school also gave me my first acceptance - so essays are definitely important and can highlight you as someone who really does stand out in a crowded field.

 

[carpediem22]

Does "let me stare at this one sentence for 20 minutes and change one word to a direct synonym 5 separate times" count as a revision? If so, I probably had at least 100.