How to handle the mixed reviews of my personal opinion?

[drewmighty]

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So I had my premedical adviser glance over my personal statement and she said it was good and gave me some edits. I then had a friend in med school look it over and they said it was garbage and that it needs a lot of work, but they are willing to help me with it and we are going to sit down and work on it. I have heard it is good and OK as well as some others have said it needs a lot of work (but mostly positive things, but I think people are just being nice.) How do you go about approaching mixed opinions on your personal statement? Should I sit down with my friend and rewrite this? Just worried as I plan on submitting ASAP and hearing this recently has definitely caused me to be hesitant. Should I try to show it to more people and see what they think? Just feeling a bit lost, thanks.

 

[Moko]

So I had my premedical adviser glance over my personal statement and she said it was good and gave me some edits. I then had a friend in med school look it over and they said it was garbage and that it needs a lot of work, but they are willing to help me with it and we are going to sit down and work on it. I have heard it is good and OK as well as some others have said it needs a lot of work (but mostly positive things, but I think people are just being nice.) How do you go about approaching mixed opinions on your personal statement? Should I sit down with my friend and rewrite this? Just worried as I plan on submitting ASAP and hearing this recently has definitely caused me to be hesitant. Should I try to show it to more people and see what they think? Just feeling a bit lost, thanks.

Take the help and see what happens. If you like it better, great. If not, you always have the option to use your current version. Your application will be read by many folks who have different backgrounds, expectations and opinions. The ideal personal statement should represent who you are and also not turn anyone away. Your current version seems to have already elicited a fairly visceral reaction, so interpret that how you may. The fact that a med student is willing to take time to review this speaks volumes to me.

 

[drewmighty]

Take the help and see what happens. If you like it better, great. If not, you have the option to use your current version. Your application will be read by many folks who have different backgrounds, expectations and opinions. The ideal personal statement will not turn anyone away. Your current version seems to have already elicited a fairly visceral reaction.

Thanks. I think it is best to sit down with my friend and go over it. She is really caring and a great friend and I know she has my best interest in heart so I think I will see how it goes. Just hard when I have had some very high praise and some OK praise now with this very negative view. Thanks!

 

[ApplyingThisCycleBurner]

I'd love to read it if you want more eyes on it!

 

[Peter Pan.]

Is your friend generally a critical person? If everyone else has high praise and says its ok I wouldn't worry too much about their opinion.

 

[faerie62]

In general I feel like med students have more informed opinions than premed advisors. In general...

 

[drewmighty]

Is your friend generally a critical person? If everyone else has high praise and says its ok I wouldn't worry too much about their opinion.

She is definitely very critical of me, but is also really smart and a very dear friend. I trust her opinion most times, even if it clashes with my ego.

 

[drewmighty]

In general I feel like med students have more informed opinions than premed advisors. In general...

I have found that my adviser is very good, but then again I am bias. She is also the head professor of the bio department as I am a post bac and she has been teaching for 25 years, so I highly value her opinion. My friend said she is very busy and was probably only able to glance at it, although my adviser did send me a google doc with changes to make and I did make them all.

 

[RufDoc]

So I had my premedical adviser glance over my personal statement and she said it was good and gave me some edits. I then had a friend in med school look it over and they said it was garbage and that it needs a lot of work, but they are willing to help me with it and we are going to sit down and work on it. I have heard it is good and OK as well as some others have said it needs a lot of work (but mostly positive things, but I think people are just being nice.) How do you go about approaching mixed opinions on your personal statement? Should I sit down with my friend and rewrite this? Just worried as I plan on submitting ASAP and hearing this recently has definitely caused me to be hesitant. Should I try to show it to more people and see what they think? Just feeling a bit lost, thanks.

Mixed messages with your personal statement are SUPER common. It can be deeply frustrating and confusing. I'm an M2 and member of admissions at my med school, so I know more or less what they consider "garbage" and what they like. PM me and I'll look over your personal statement.

 

[AnMDtoB]

Everyone will have a different opinion about a piece of writing - just the nature of the beast. Best you can do is to think really carefully about who's opinion is the most informed. If anyone thought something was a red flag or similar I would address that no matter what

 

[shark bait hoo ha ha]

I had a good amount of conflicting opinions from people who read mine. As I continued to edit it I started to pick and choose what I felt was best Out of the feedback. You would be wise to meet with her and decide how you feel about her comments afterwards.

 

[chlorocruorin]

It is a HUGE mistake to rush your personal statement. And it will be the death of your application if you do prematurely submit it. Take the advice from everyone closest to you, but YOU must decide at the end of the day what is the best representation of YOU.