how personal is personal

[jiggaman]

---

Members don't see this ad.

question about the personal essay. just wondering how personal you should get when writing the essay. for example..when im talkin about experiences that affected me emotionally or academically in college should i talk about negative things that occurred such as harrassment or something like that. or do you think the adcom will question your own character and the person you are. just faced some hard times and i didnt do anything for those who are wondering. let me know what you guys think.

 

[brats800]

i'd put things in that will make them see you as more than just your GPA and MCAT score...they see lots of very similar apps and the one thing that will set you apart from the others is your personal statement (until the interview at least). i wouldn't want to include anything that might make them think less of me. but including things that show you can overcome hardtimes or whatnot...that's good stuff.

 

[jiggaman]

no i totally agree with that. i mean it had a great impact on me and i was able to over come that. like it really killed my self-confidence and self-esteem. so that's why i was wondering how i should include this in. i know its a very touchy subject. do you think then i should just mention it but not delve further into the matter. and just say that it really affected me...but i overcame it...along those lines maybe?

 

[carrigallen]

I'm probably old-fashioned, but I would say, in general, no. I don't know how including it could help you (that depends on you use it), but I do know how it could potentially hurt you. Things like lawsuits or harassment (you're male, correct?) can make your readers antsy.

For example, would you like to hire an airline pilot who in interview explained how he has narrowly avoided multiple crashlandings by the skin of his teeth? Or a pilot who just didn't mention it?

Sure, the one with lots of "experience" with almost crashing may have a lot of skill to deal with a near-death situation, but something got him in all those situations to begin with. Readers are looking for trends, and may be more interested in negative information than the positive side of it.

 

[jiggaman]

you guys have good points. i agree wit you. but then what do i do in explaining the poor grades. im not tryin to use that as an excuse to say i did bad. but bottom line is that i worked really hard but when things happen to you, its very tough to focus on things especially school. and i feel obligated to explain these grades because i dont want the adcom to think that i didnt try or was messin around. cause maybe that's the difference between me gettin an interview and not. i dont know im very confused as to what i should do. anyone else got any ideas.

 

[jiggaman]

by the way, the focus of my essay is not explainin my grades. i have tried to tie these experiences into why i want to be a doctor and how i overcame my obstacles

 

[labangel]

Without knowing your exact situation, it's hard to say, but I think it's all in how you put a spin on it. I think people respond to honesty...I got positive responses from adcoms when I included in my essay about how the death of someone close to me caused me to postpone my application the first time. I was completely honest about how this situation affected me and changed my life and I think people respect that kind of frankness.

 

[omarsaleh66]

the more personal the better

the admission office reads hundreds of these, if u write some wack ass generic letter, they wont really feel u

This is ur time to shine and let them know why u are differnt than everybody else, that means the more personal the better....

My personal statement, i assure u was like nobody elses...and admissions people respected it becuase it was my story to tell.... u get what i'm trying to say??

g'luck

 

[Jillianrae]

I had one semester that my GPA was not very good due to various things going on in my life at the time. I refered to this time as a rocky start (it was my 1st semester at this particular school). Each of my interviewers asked me about it, and I got to explain what happened (mono, grandpa dying,...) without sounding like I was making excuses on my personal statement. Plus, I got to demonstrate how I overcame those obsticles both by discussing what I learned and how I coped as well as through the improvement of my GPA in later semesters. I wouldn't have been able to fit all of that in my PS.