How personal is the PS really?

[AznSeal]

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I'm just going to go ahead and say that with so many applicants, how personal can one really make the personal statement?

I figured that the majority of you are going to write about how you tried research, decided you needed more personal contact but still liked science, decided on medicine. Maybe throw in how you met someone while volunteering that "showed" you why you needed to go into medicine. Perhaps the Asians can include about how they're "diverse" and practice medicine with different perspectives. For the few unlucky people, their personal statement is going to be about how they/someone they know had this disease/cancer and it motivated them to go into medicine. Perhaps if you grew up poor, you can say something about how you want to return to your old neighborhood and try to make a difference.

I just feel like short of being a war refugee from the Sudan, it's just hard to make a personal statement and not make it fall into one of the cliche topics.

Opinions?

 

[NickNaylor]

You would be exactly right IMO. The personal statement is still personal - it's just that your personal story is likely similar to the stories of many/most applicants. That doesn't mean that your PS is going to suck. Instead, it just means that it's not going to be one of the things in your app that causes you to stand out.

You should still write the best answer you can to the question regardless of how "cliche" it might be. Your only other option is to either lie or risk writing a terrible PS, none of which is really ideal.

 

[punkedoutriffs]

Agree w/ Nick. Don't worry about it being cliche. Just worry about whether it resonates with you. It helps at first to write like nobody else has ever written a personal statement and that you are blazing the trail for everyone. Then step back and look at what you've written and correct for things like political/social radicalism, excessive sentimentalism, things like that.

But before anything else, just write about exactly what motivates you to go into medicine. If it's science, write about that. If it's people, write about that. If it's money, write about that. If it's job security in an increasingly unpredictably economy, write about that. If it's prestige, write about that.

Don't leave anything on the table for your first draft. You have to dig up the clay before you begin sculpting. Your clay will probably look ugly and distasteful. That's okay, but you have to have enough raw material to start with. Otherwise, the sculpture at the end will look deformed.

 

[iatros13]

Although it is a few years away, I have been contemplating the angle of my own PS and reading others that I have found posted online.

So many people are able to write that, since they were very young, they have dreamed of being a doctor. This is not true for me. While I am completely in love with the idea now, and pursuing it with all of my effort and attention, I cannot honestly say that I even really considered it when I was younger. (I wanted to be a writer or an FBI profiler - too much Silence of the Lambs when I was in high school!).

After many years in a good career that I sort of fell into, I decided I wanted a change... I started looking around at options, and decided to return to Psychology and learned that a medical degree is required to become a psychiatrist. So, at that point, I first considered medical school. THEN, I started spending time researching the idea, watched a documentary about some Harvard med students that greatly affected me and went on a medical mission trip to provide medical aid to Haitian people living on bateyes in the Dominican Republic. It was life changing. There were other factors, having to do with my beliefs and faith, that greatly influence me as well.

So, my question is, am I going to alienate myself with complete transparency by saying that I did not always want to be a doctor and is mentioning faith and spiritual reasons behind my desire likely to be looked on negatively by some?

 

[0919mmk]

I'm just going to go ahead and say that with so many applicants, how personal can one really make the personal statement?

I figured that the majority of you are going to write about how you tried research, decided you needed more personal contact but still liked science, decided on medicine. Maybe throw in how you met someone while volunteering that "showed" you why you needed to go into medicine. Perhaps the Asians can include about how they're "diverse" and practice medicine with different perspectives. For the few unlucky people, their personal statement is going to be about how they/someone they know had this disease/cancer and it motivated them to go into medicine. Perhaps if you grew up poor, you can say something about how you want to return to your old neighborhood and try to make a difference.

I just feel like short of being a war refugee from the Sudan, it's just hard to make a personal statement and not make it fall into one of the cliche topics.

Opinions?

I think it IS hard to write something original, and starting from a "pour your heart out" place is good advice. I would also to advise you to write about something you actually care about. If that happens to be your research or volunteering, then fine. But more likely it will be about some hobby, or just something completely different. Try starting there, and then using that to see what motivates you in life, and how you can apply that to medicine.

 

[Snuke]

Although it is a few years away, I have been contemplating the angle of my own PS and reading others that I have found posted online.

So many people are able to write that, since they were very young, they have dreamed of being a doctor. This is not true for me. While I am completely in love with the idea now, and pursuing it with all of my effort and attention, I cannot honestly say that I even really considered it when I was younger. (I wanted to be a writer or an FBI profiler - too much Silence of the Lambs when I was in high school!).

After many years in a good career that I sort of fell into, I decided I wanted a change... I started looking around at options, and decided to return to Psychology and learned that a medical degree is required to become a psychiatrist. So, at that point, I first considered medical school. THEN, I started spending time researching the idea, watched a documentary about some Harvard med students that greatly affected me and went on a medical mission trip to provide medical aid to Haitian people living on bateyes in the Dominican Republic. It was life changing. There were other factors, having to do with my beliefs and faith, that greatly influence me as well.

So, my question is, am I going to alienate myself with complete transparency by saying that I did not always want to be a doctor and is mentioning faith and spiritual reasons behind my desire likely to be looked on negatively by some?

While I can't comment on faith, I will say that my personal statement touched on the fact that I didn't want to be a doctor (for personal reasons) and how my journey to medicine was partly in overcoming that initial rejection. You don't have to have always known that you were going to be a doctor from birth. It's an organic process in 99% of us.

 

[Microglia]

There have been a few posts on this topic lately. During my interviews, I had a similar conversation with an adcom. They told me that the reason they care about the personal statement was to see if the person is able to understand their own story. If you can understand what brought you to this point, why, and where you're moving towards, you're more likely to understand the stories of your colleagues and patients and to relate to them, even if you don't share a background. I thought that was an interesting perspective. Just thought I'd share haha.