Is any telling and not showing appropriate in the personal statement?

[mrh125]

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it's 5,300 characters. I try to dabble briefly in everything I do but it ends up being a lot more telling/summarizing and I only usually have time to show one compelling story. If I had like 3 pages I'd be able to do a lot more showing. I'm wondering though if any telling is acceptable?

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Obviously you cant back every single thing with examples. But in the end showing is just such a more interesting and compelling read. I found success when I started to take stuff out. I focused on several things which gave me more room to "show." It hurts taking stuff out, but in the end you will find that you have a better essay.

 

[prettyNURSEtoMD]

@Awesome Sauceome is exactly right. I literally just finished mine 20 minutes ago after several drafts over 2 years (yeah I know, I started hella early), and it's still pretty close to the maximum at 5,140 characters, but once you keep rereading, you can say to yourself, I really don't need THAT sentence, and it'll still be an awesome read. Good luck.

 

[mrh125]

Obviously you cant back every single thing with examples. But in the end showing is just such a more interesting and compelling read. I found success when I started to take stuff out. I focused on several things which gave me more room to "show." It hurts taking stuff out, but in the end you will find that you have a better essay.

Thanks for the advice. I will see what I can do. Since my 10th draft if I've had less trouble cutting things out. I'm wondering though are there any easy ways you found to show and not tell quickly or offer support?

I still have difficulties telling the difference between showing and not telling. I think showing is more like giving an example and using words that described how I felt

 

[mrh125]

@Awesome Sauceome is exactly right. I literally just finished mine 20 minutes ago after several drafts over 2 years (yeah I know, I started hella early), and it's still pretty close to the maximum at 5,140 characters, but once you keep rereading, you can say to yourself, I really don't need THAT sentence, and it'll still be an awesome read. Good luck.

I admire you're dedication. I've done many drafts as well. I'm wondering do you have any advice on how to show and not tell on personal statements and how you did it? I thinking of showing as giving examples and talking about how I'm feeling but obviously that takes up more space a lot of the time

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Thanks for the advice. I will see what I can do. Since my 10th draft if I've had less trouble cutting things out. I'm wondering though are there any easy ways you found to show and not tell quickly or offer support?

I still have difficulties telling the difference between showing and not telling. I think showing is more like giving an example and using words that described how I felt

Yea what it took was like scrapping the whole thing and making a new one. I ended up doing like 3 or 4 different versions with like 5-10 drafts each. Like I tried to take each version from a completely different angle.

The best way I found to show rather than say was to use examples. So lets say you have a passion for kids/pediatrics. Instead of saying, I want to be a doctor because I love working with kids. It would be better to express you emotion/feelings that you had while working with kids that through an example.

 

[prettyNURSEtoMD]

I admire you're dedication. I've done many drafts as well. I'm wondering do you have any advice on how to show and not tell on personal statements and how you did it? I thinking of showing as giving examples and talking about how I'm feeling but obviously that takes up more space a lot of the time

I broke mine down into sections. The introduction was about basically saying I know what I'm getting myself into..or thought long and hard..blah.

Second paragraph was the meat and potatoes. So you really need to pick one moment for you that most solidified your reason for applying and why you want to be a doctor. I didn't have ONE solidified moment. So I talked about myself and my life experiences how being a mother taught me x,y,z and what nursing taught me and how I can use that and how that will make me successful.

Last paragraph I talked about what I believed to be a physician and what they do and how I will continue that.

 

[pietachok]

I try to dabble briefly in everything I do but it ends up being a lot more telling/summarizing and I only usually have time to show one compelling story.

You aren't supposed to dabble briefly in everything you do. Your ECs are in AMCAS & your PS is not intended to regurgitate your CV -- doing that is just stylistically awful and wastes your opportunity to show who you are as a person. You have limited space in AMCAS, so make the most of all of it rather than rehashing content found elsewhere. If an EC is brought up in your PS, you should be using it to disclose something (about you) that's not in the description of the EC.

 

[mrh125]

You aren't supposed to dabble briefly in everything you do. Your ECs are in AMCAS & your PS is not intended to regurgitate your CV -- doing that is just stylistically awful and wastes your opportunity to show who you are as a person. You have limited space in AMCAS, so make the most of all of it rather than rehashing content found elsewhere. If an EC is brought up in your PS, you should be using it to disclose something (about you) that's not in the description of the EC.

fair enough.I meant dabbling into many things I did and how they shaped my interest in medicine.