Is it bad to be funny in your personal statement?

[Bammy]

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Of course I want to show them I'm serious about wanting to go into medicine but is it bad if add in 1 or 2 funny lines in my personal statement? Not funny the whole statement! Just 1 or 2 lines.

Is that a turn off or will they like that I have a sense of humor?

 

[ndafife]

Its a bad thing to think you are funny when you are not.... Humor is in the eyes of the beholder.

I caution you to use humor without verifying it is funny from a large number of people.

EDIT:
Just to go one step further, there are a lot safer and easier ways to show your personality in your PS. It just takes one reader having a bad day to lead to a negative impression of your application.

 

[DrHart]

My sense of humor comes across better in person... in writing.... not so much.
That said, it's a risk that may make you stand out. Risk vs. reward ya know?
If you do throw in a joke or two, make sure you have plenty of people read it. I'd say if half your readers either don't get it or don't think it's very funny, it would probably be worth cutting.

 

[Bammy]

Thanks to everyone who replied above!! I appreciate it!

 

[PantherPride]

I think in most cases it's better to be risk averse when writing your PS. You never know if the person reading it is in a bad mood and isn't amused by your jokes. As with any comedy some people will like it and others may not

 

[DrHart]

Even if someone gets the joke, how do they interpret what that style says about the applicant?

Depends on the reader and other content/context

 

[el_duderino]

No, it's not, but chances are that you're not actually funny. Keep it serious.

 

[22031 Alum]

The odds aren't in your favor.
1) The odds that you're not as funny as you think you are: high
2) The odds that what you wrote will be interpreted as funny in the context of your PS: low
3) The odds that whoever reads your app will appreciate your attempt at humor: low. (Remember, lots of adcom members are what you would call "stodgy".)

That's three chances to screw yourself over.

 

[DrHart]

Yeah, but there is no way for an applicant to predict that so therefore dont do it

I don't know I still think it depends on the context. If an applicant has a great essay, it's well structured and written, they write modestly about their experiences (aren't too proud, or too humble) - but poke fun at themselves and make a joke in passing - giving off a modest vibe... I have trouble believing any reader would see it in a negative light.
Don't think you can say all jokes are a bad idea. Most, maybe... but not all.

 

[22031 Alum]

I don't know I still think it depends on the context. If an applicant has a great essay, it's well structured and written, they write modestly about their experiences (aren't too proud, or too humble) - but poke fun at themselves and make a joke in passing - giving off a modest vibe... I have trouble believing any reader would see it in a negative light.
Don't think you can say all jokes are a bad idea. Most, maybe... but not all.

If you think most are a bad idea, can you in good conscience tell someone to do it? Just thinking about people I know who read med school apps, I can say the odds aren't good. Remember, what a 20 year old thinks is funny self-deprecation may come off strange and jarring to a 55 year old reading essays for PROFESSIONAL school admission.

 

[DrHart]

I'll take your word for it as I'm really in no place to make an argument.
But I still hold to the belief that all work and no play does indeed make Jack a very dull applicant.
Wishful thinking, biased from my own position I suppose

 

[Doug Underhill]

There's one poster here who claims that their humorous personal statement helped them get noticed at a "low-yield" program that got tens of thousands of apps.

I guess the best thing to do would be to have people who make up adcoms (attendings, professors, etc.) vet your personal statement first and determine if it's appropriate. Goro always says that robots are a dime a dozen in this field. Maybe you could PM him and see what he thinks of the joke.

 

[22031 Alum]

@gonnif No offense meant to 55 year olds. As an 80s baby I've seen some of my own jokes fall flat with older colleagues.

@DrHart There is a distinct difference between being all work and no play in life, and knowing what may not be appropriate in the setting of applying to professional school. Pre-interview may not be the best time.

 

[mimelim]

Good writing stands out in personal statements. I think that this is a sad reflection of our primary education in the US, but it is what it is. Humor is always appreciated, but again, in the context of good writing. The goal is not to entertain people. The goal is to effectively communicate with people reading your application. Part of that means not boring them to death or making them want to claw their eyes out. If humor is part of that, then yes it should be in there. Should it be worked in for the sake of working it in? Absolutely not.

I'll take your word for it as I'm really in no place to make an argument.
But I still hold to the belief that all work and no play does indeed make Jack a very dull applicant.
Wishful thinking, biased from my own position I suppose

The vast majority of adcoms that I know are value 'interesting' applicants. I don't think that a personal statement is how you figure out who is interesting and who isn't.

 

[ndafife]

This thread is going to eventually boil down to an argument between A) Humor shows personality and can help you stand out and show that you are not a robot, and B) You are not as funny as you think and bad jokes are bad.

So OP - please provide the joke or at least the context of the joke if you want more personalized advice. There will be enough people on this thread to critique the joke and give more definitive advice.

 

[DrHart]

The goal is to effectively communicate with people reading your application. Part of that means not boring them to death or making them want to claw their eyes out.

thats all I meant by my comment. sticking out from the other 10,000 applicants is half the battle. personality will come through in full during an interview... but only if you're invited to one.

 

[mimelim]

thats all I meant by my comment. sticking out from the other 10,000 applicants is half the battle. personality will come through in full during an interview... but only if you're invited to one.

In general your personal statement will not be the deciding factor in offering an interview or not. Most people use it as background reading prior to an interview and rarely for final decision making. The odd person with a very different background/story may have a different experience, but for the most part that comes through in their ECs which augment their personal statement.

 

[Neutropix]

This reminds me of the thread when a girl was asking if it's okay to interview with pink hair or something.

 

[NickNaylor]

Don't include a joke for the reasons mentioned above, namely that you likely aren't as funny as you think you are and jokes generally come across poorly in writing. If you want to demonstrate your humorous personality, save it for the interview.

 

[Neutropix]

On a serious note I would never use humor in an application. For example, my friends think I'm pretty damn funny; I can make them die with laughter. However, a lot of people I know in medically related areas, for lack of better words, have a very different sense of humor (if they even have one 🙄).

 

[emraldragon]

Is it bad to be funny? Probably not the worst thing in the world. Is it bad to try to be funny and fail? Absolutely. As the others have said, it's probably better not to try to go down that road.

From my own anecdotal evidence: I was interviewed by a septuagenarian at one school and an octogenarian at another. Even if your brand of humor makes it past the readers on the adcom, it may not fly with your interviewers.

 

[Deranged Medic]

This was the advice given to me by one of my physician friends:

"Ten percent of personal statements are outstanding and make the reviewer want to meet the applicant. Eighty percent are average, and these neither add or subtract from the application. The final 10% come off as freaks, and these are instantly thrown out."

I think it's easier to stay safe and fall into the 80% versus gambling on which 10% category the reviewer will place you in.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Of course I want to show them I'm serious about wanting to go into medicine but is it bad if add in 1 or 2 funny lines in my personal statement? Not funny the whole statement! Just 1 or 2 lines.

Is that a turn off or will they like that I have a sense of humor?

Don't do this. You are trying to not come off as crazy in your PS. It can barely help you most of the time but can always hurt you.

 

[LizzyM]

This was the advice given to me by one of my physician friends:

"Ten percent of personal statements are outstanding and make the reviewer want to meet the applicant. Eighty percent are average, and these neither add or subtract from the application. The final 10% come off as freaks, and these are instantly thrown out."

I think it's easier to stay safe and fall into the 80% versus gambling on which 10% category the reviewer will place you in.

Alas, my school only interviews the top 10% (with a few exceptions) ... you've got to dare to be great.

 

[LSD-25]

I wouldn't. You never know what sort of stodgy old adcom you'll piss off. It's very easy to generalize applicants based off of anything you say or even don't, so you don't want to stand out in that way.

 

[rek34]

I once read an personal statement online where the applicant talked about buying lunch for a patient during a volunteering experience or something. At the end of the essay he/she said something along the lines of, "I've learned that medicine requires compassion, sacrifice (insert other relevant attributes here), and sometimes a Big Mac."

For me, it was a really elegant and lighthearted way to wrap up the essay and personalize the writer. Unless you have something along those lines, I'd leave the jokes out.

 

[nervosigeneris]

Alas, my school only interviews the top 10% (with a few exceptions) ... you've got to dare to be great.

You put that much weight on the PS?

Or is the PS "greatness" generally correlated with the quality of the rest of the app?

 

[IHaveABigHeadNLittleArms]

My PS had a what I believe to be witty play on words. In all fairness though, I'm not sure if it worked or was overlooked....

 

[NickNaylor]

You put that much weight on the PS?

Or is the PS "greatness" generally correlated with the quality of the rest of the app?

I really wouldn't worry about the PS that much. Make sure it doesn't suck and do the best you can with it, but beyond that I wouldn't overly worry about it. Most of the PSs that I've seen as an interviewer and as a committee member (i.e., after interview invites have been awarded) were decided bland and formulaic. Not bad - just boring. Rare was the PS that truly stood out in terms of excellence.

 

[NachoPlatter]

I had a humorous part of my activity description that nearly every interview mentioned positively. In a nutshell I told a story of how I worked in a research lab, and I had to collect stool samples from children. And when I didn't explain the process clearly enough to one kid, they just squatted over the cooler, and pooed directly onto the dry ice. Ignoring the collection container set up on the toilet. I round it up with a humorous spin on learning the value of being clear and direct to patients.

In the long run I think it worked because it wasn't forced, and it was way more interesting than a full description of how I simply ran around with a cooler for half my job and entered a lot of data.

 

[LizzyM]

You put that much weight on the PS?

Or is the PS "greatness" generally correlated with the quality of the rest of the app?

Taken holistically, we interview the top 10%.

 

[treschic124]

There's one poster here who claims that their humorous personal statement helped them get noticed at a "low-yield" program that got tens of thousands of apps.

I guess the best thing to do would be to have people who make up adcoms (attendings, professors, etc.) vet your personal statement first and determine if it's appropriate. Goro always says that robots are a dime a dozen in this field. Maybe you could PM him and see what he thinks of the joke.

That was me with the PS. I took a risk though. I basically decided that if a school was turned off by the lens of humor through which I see the world then haters gonna hate and I wasn't going to go there. So you just have to decide if you are going to be who you are or vanilla yourself out a little bit for the widest appeal. I don't think either strategy is wrong - just different philosophical approaches to applying.