Is this a bad idea?

[Ari1584]

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I have been having a lot of trouble with my PS keeping it under 4500 characters, but still putting in enough detail to make each experience complete. As of now, i open with an EC, disucss it as my passion, then move to two medical experiences I had that reaffirmed my passion for medicine and end with something that describes the skills i learned from my EC and how they tie into medicine.

Do you think it would be a BAD idea if I cut out of the the experiences and just elaborated more examples from just one experience? I have been working in a surgeon's office for four years, but i also recently just shadowed a DO so i included both of those experiences. The problem is, after four years of working at a doc's office, i have SO MUCH to discuss that i cant seem to narrow down the important things and have enough room to discuss my shadowing experience. I wanted to leave that in bc it was a DO I shadowed and maybe that would appeal more to DO schools?

Do you guys think if I just discuss one major experience (working wtih doc) and discuss the many aspects of medicine i encountered, that it would be enough? thanks!!

 

[dangit]

I have been having a lot of trouble with my PS keeping it under 4500 characters, but still putting in enough detail to make each experience complete. As of now, i open with an EC, disucss it as my passion, then move to two medical experiences I had that reaffirmed my passion for medicine and end with something that describes the skills i learned from my EC and how they tie into medicine.

Do you think it would be a BAD idea if I cut out of the the experiences and just elaborated more examples from just one experience? I have been working in a surgeon's office for four years, but i also recently just shadowed a DO so i included both of those experiences. The problem is, after four years of working at a doc's office, i have SO MUCH to discuss that i cant seem to narrow down the important things and have enough room to discuss my shadowing experience. I wanted to leave that in bc it was a DO I shadowed and maybe that would appeal more to DO schools?

Do you guys think if I just discuss one major experience (working wtih doc) and discuss the many aspects of medicine i encountered, that it would be enough? thanks!!

I think you're in the same boat as other people and I think it would be fine to discuss one major experience. As long as you think it's the best experience and most profound experience, you should definitely write about it.

You can talk about the other experiences during the interview. That way, don't feel you'll never get to talk about it. In fact, maybe you'll write about your other experiences on your secondary.

Also, premeds tend to be ambitious and do many many activites (i'm guilty as well 😛) so it can be tricky trying to fit everything in your Personal statement. You can also list activities you did on your application and write a brief description.

Last, I would try to mention osteopathic medicine in my personal statement if I were you. Many secondary prompts ask questions such as "why do you want to enter an osteopathic school?". in that case, you should elaborate about DO, but for your primary statement, just mention it in a short paragraph just so you let adcom know that you're very interested in osteopathy. good luck!

 

[CardioPlus]

I have been having a lot of trouble with my PS keeping it under 4500 characters, but still putting in enough detail to make each experience complete. As of now, i open with an EC, disucss it as my passion, then move to two medical experiences I had that reaffirmed my passion for medicine and end with something that describes the skills i learned from my EC and how they tie into medicine.

Do you think it would be a BAD idea if I cut out of the the experiences and just elaborated more examples from just one experience? I have been working in a surgeon's office for four years, but i also recently just shadowed a DO so i included both of those experiences. The problem is, after four years of working at a doc's office, i have SO MUCH to discuss that i cant seem to narrow down the important things and have enough room to discuss my shadowing experience. I wanted to leave that in bc it was a DO I shadowed and maybe that would appeal more to DO schools?

Do you guys think if I just discuss one major experience (working wtih doc) and discuss the many aspects of medicine i encountered, that it would be enough? thanks!!

Yeah, I think that would be great. And at the same time you will be saving your DO experience for all of those secondary promps like: why DO? why this osteopathic medical school? etc.

 

[justh0ang]

For sure you should mentioned the DO experience. ALL DO schools want to see your understanding of the osteopathic philosophy because that shows you're interested in it and not just as a back up. Make sure to mention some critical points about osteopathic medicine.

 

[Rollo]

Yes, please stick to describing 1 (the 4 year surgeon) experience in your PS.

Majority (in fact, I think all) secondaries ask you, "Why DO?" This is where you describe your experience with the DO.

Hope that made sense.

 

[AdemTD]

My PS had no ECs in it as I had already detailed them in that part of the application. On the most basic level, I answered the why medicine question tied in with my life's experiences that led me to this point. Refer to Depakote's PS tips in the Pre-Allo forum.