How much influence do the personal statements have on an applicant's admission

[SolarPistachio]

I've been curious about this for a long time. When compared with other admissions processes where the statement is often given less value, with regards to med admissions how much qualitative value do the statements actually have? F.E. which way would an admissions committee lean if someone, with low GPA, high MCAT, amazing statement vs high GPA, mid MCAT, ok statement were to apply?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[cranberrylimeade]

i think it varies by school & how they do applicant scoring!

 

[Goro]

I've been curious about this for a long time. When compared with other admissions processes where the statement is often given less value, with regards to med admissions how much qualitative value do the statements actually have? F.E. which way would an admissions committee lean if someone, with low GPA, high MCAT, amazing statement vs high GPA, mid MCAT, ok statement were to apply?

90% of the time, no influence.

5% of the time, they're good enough that I mention it in my comments.

5% of the time, they're bad enough that I mention it in my comments.

Suffice to say, PS's do not have the magical qualities premeds think that they have.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

It also doesn't help that everyone in the admissions industry (noting my vocabulary here) loves to inflate its value as if there were some magic behind it. One should be very skeptical of mock admissions case studies at prehealth conferences. I remember being on a panel being the one person to shoot down the case, and I was honest that my decision reflected how similar applications were reviewed under our process. It was a decent application, but there wasn't a strong sense of fit for my program. Everyone else raved over the personal statement and wanted to admit the person. We didn't see any secondary essays or interview feedback. The selectivity at certain schools is exclusive for good reason.

But that said... My analogy: the personal statement is the overture to an opera. A very long opera with multiple scenes. If the overture is bad, I am that less enthusiastic to spend 4 hours of my life listening to bad opera... which often I do reviewing the application. Good personal statements set up the rest of the opera and it's easy for everyone to get engaged as if we were at the 3-hour Taylor Swift Eras Tour marathon.

Holistic review. Everything matters, in a way that is weighted to maximize what the school expects. What do they expect: professional language and presentation.

P.S. Until programs begin to award full-COA scholarships to the best PS's they read each cycle, I will say that the value of the PS is overrated. We don't give out gold medals for the best essays.

That said, I have had one case where I know the PS made a difference in giving the candidate an offer, and it was someone I advised for entry to medical school. But I wrote the candidate a committee letter to highlight the candidate, and they read the PS to make their final decision. (The director of admissions would tell me this later, and the candidate graduated without a problem.)

 

[theoceanman]

I don’t believe a “fantastic” PS will save your low MCAT/GPA, unless you won a Olympic Gold medal, Nobel Peace Prize, or served in Iraq within a life-or-death situation to get a distinguished honor, but it may potentially help schools decide your mission-fit based on the experiences and values you reflect upon throughout what you wrote.

Others may disagree but having an average PS with higher stats is much more preferable than having a higher rated PS with below average stats. There’s only so many things people can discuss in a PS that it’ll get redundant eventually so as long as you come off as a good person, I’m sure that’s fine.

 

[chilly_md]

The personal statement should clearly answer why medicine/why you want to be a physician. A surprising number of them fail to do this.

 

[cj_cregg]

YMMV by school, but my impression: A really bad one will keep you out. A really good one is not enough on its own to get you an interview, but can help overcome other (minor) deficiencies. For most people, they don't swing the pendulum in either direction.

 

[Moko]

I've been curious about this for a long time. When compared with other admissions processes where the statement is often given less value, with regards to med admissions how much qualitative value do the statements actually have? F.E. which way would an admissions committee lean if someone, with low GPA, high MCAT, amazing statement vs high GPA, mid MCAT, ok statement were to apply?

I agree with everyone else that most personal statements have a neutral effect on their overall application.

One caveat that I have (as purely an interviewer and adcom member and not a screener) is that the actual number of 'bad' PS's is probably much higher but are simply never seen by interviewers/adcom members as they are screened out early on. So non-screeners' views (such as mine) are prone to survivorship bias.

Anecdotally, I've previously helped edit numerous supposedly-polished/"application-ready" personal statements, many of which were poorly written and required additional revisions to properly showcase their story. This meant that they did not submit their application on the first day possible, but ended up having success likely because of their decision to delay their submission by a couple weeks (with a much better 'product'). Just my thoughts.

 

[cj_cregg]

I agree with everyone else that most personal statements have a neutral effect on their overall application.

One caveat that I have (as purely an interviewer and adcom member and not a screener) is that the actual number of 'bad' PS's is probably much higher but are simply never seen by interviewers/adcom members as they are screened out early on. So non-screeners' views (such as mine) are prone to survivorship bias.

Anecdotally, I've previously helped edit numerous supposedly-polished/"application-ready" personal statements, many of which were poorly written and required additional revisions to properly showcase their story. This meant that they did not submit their application on the first day possible, but ended up having success likely because of their decision to delay their submission by a couple weeks (with a much better 'product'). Just my thoughts.

I mostly screen and verrrrry rarely fill in to interview these days - I reviewed probably ~100 apps this past season for my school.

Off the top of my head I can think of two personal statements that were bad enough that I recommended not to interview regardless of the rest of the application (deficiencies apparent in PS also held up in secondaries/activity descriptions, so it was not just a fluke). One probably would not have gotten an interview anyway due to other application deficiencies. Maybe a few more that were bad, but not bad enough to reject pre-interview based on that alone.

There was one personal statement that was compelling enough that I recommended interviewing despite a significant weakness in another area of the app, but the other reviewer disagreed so I believe the candidate did not get an interview. There were also a handful of really good personal statements that supplemented a really good rest of the application, and the candidate would have probably gotten an interview even with just an average personal statement. The rest were not memorable.

 

[gyngyn]

As a screener, about 85% are unmemorable.
10% are awful (but this has no effect because the rest of the application is also bad).
4% are good (but this has no effect because the rest of the ap is good, as well).
1% (or less) will influence an outcome (one way or another).

 

[eigen]

I think a lot of people confuse "having a strong narrative" with "having a strong personal statement".

IME, the narrative (why you want to be a doctor, what you've done to prepare, what kind of a physician you will be) has to shine strongly throughout the entire application. That includes the personal statement, but also work and activities, secondaries, and interviews.

I do notice from the advisor side of things that the most predictive thing for me about whether my students get in or not is how strong their overall narrative is. It may not just be a great personal statement, but it comes across in how activities build on each other to reach a central goal, in how the applicant spends their time, and how they talk about medicine throughout their written material and interviews.

Since the personal statement is the most obvious bit of that, I think a lot internalize "I need to have a strong narrative" with "I need to have an excellent personal statement".

 

[gyngyn]

Since the personal statement is the most obvious bit of that, I think a lot internalize "I need to have a strong narrative" with "I need to have an excellent personal statement".

Yup.
Most successful candidates have an unmemorable PS that nevertheless fits with their narrative.
"Swinging for the stars" can result in a PS that seems fanciful, frivolous or just strange.

 

[LindaAccepted]

I agree with

i think it varies by school & how they do applicant scoring!

Here are a few quotes from Admission Straight Talk interviews with med school admissions deans and directors that point out the importance of the PS and the written materials:

Dr. Linton Yee, Associate Dean of Admissions at Duke Medical

It’s a holistic review, we look through everything. So there’s no cutoffs and we’re going to go through the entire application. What we primarily do though is we focus on the essays and the experiences. That’s going to be the key determinant there. Again, you’ve got to put something valuable into the essays and you have to have relevant experiences – clinical research, community involvement, investment in others are the key components of your application that we’re going to be looking for.

Dr. Jane Machi , Assistant Dean of Admissions and Recruitment at the Medical College of Wisconsin

What makes an applicant jump off the page for you in a positive way? [25:04]​

I think one of the things, at least for me, is I peruse just through the experiences is some of the breadth and the depth. What have they done? If I’m reading their personal statement, do I get the sense that they’re truly passionate about medicine, not just helping people, but about medicine in specific? Can they communicate that? Looking at their road traveled, all of the other attributes that they bring to the table, those are the sorts of things that I tend to pay attention to. How have they prepared themselves? Is this really the career for them and have they really thought it through?

Dr. Leila Amiri, Assoc. Dean for Admissions at UVM Larner

What is a common mistake that applicants make in approaching the primary and secondary applications? [11:22]​

I think a common mistake that I’ve seen over the years that I’ve done this kind of work is that the applicant doesn’t treat the personal comments as personal comments. It becomes a space for them to revisit experiences and tell us why they’re a good choice to be a physician and recount their degree, research, and volunteer experience. That’s just a waste of 5,300 characters because it doesn’t give us any additional information. We’ve already read that in the experiences section.

The challenge with the personal comments is that some schools don’t read them, and some schools read them very thoroughly. I think applicants need to think about the school that reads it thoroughly. If the school isn’t going to look at it, that’s fine. I mean, it doesn’t hurt your application in any way if they ignore that. Where it hurts is if a school looks at it and if they haven’t done a good job there.

It’s important to help schools understand something about you. I know, generally, students feel they need to explain why they want to pursue medicine, and it could be that or why you’ve done all the things that you’ve done. Collectively, there should be understanding that a person has from having volunteered and having done the research, and having had leadership in all of those things.

The second one is oftentimes really strong candidates get lost in the stories. It’s story after story of things that they’ve experienced in the clinical setting, and there’s none of themselves in it. It’s all about Mr. Jones and Mrs. Smith and the little girl whose hand they held, which is all really sweet and touching, but at the end of the day we don’t know anything more about them other than these experiences that they’ve had. Personal comments are going to be really important. That’s a mistake that we often see when the personal statement doesn’t add anything to their application.

Dr. Valerie Ratts, Associate Dean for Admissions at Washington University School of Medicine

What do you think is a common mistake in approaching the medical school application, be it the primary or the secondary? [16:13]​

I think that the application is about why one wants to go into medicine. What are the activities that have been most meaningful to you? That’s really important. I think the one common mistake people make in their personal essay is just rehashing all of the things they’ve done. You don’t need to do that. Be a little more creative in that personal commentary than just rehashing the activities. I have all of your experiences because you told me about them. What is the motivation?

It’s okay to tell me about the first time you decided you wanted to be a doctor. I think those are interesting stories. That motivation for medicine is key. If you’ve done other things, tell me why you persisted. People who apply to medical school are incredibly talented. They could do a lot of different things. Sometimes you see students doing all sorts of different things and you’re like, “Why are you going to med school?” Making sure that comes across is incredibly important.

There are more, but this is a sample.

Also, in my view, the personal statement does not "make up" for flaws in basic qualifications, like academic numbers, desired experience, etc; it helps to distinguish the author among other qualified and similarly (on paper or based on the numbers) competitive candidates.

Finally, "everything matters" as @Mr.Smile12 said above.