Is this okay to mention in a PS?

[Ari1584]

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I wrote about a patient i met that was raped in a different country. I quickly just mentioned it as to why she was at the office, but didnt dwell on it or describe anything else. it was like this "this patient was raped, scared and tattooed and was seeking a surgeon to..."

is that okay?

 

[flip26]

I wrote about a patient i met that was raped in a different country. I quickly just mentioned it as to why she was at the office, but didnt dwell on it or describe anything else. it was like this "this patient was raped, scared and tattooed and was seeking a surgeon to..."

is that okay?

Does the PS lead to where you comforted her or something? If not, leave out the rape stuff...I think it is dicey...what the hell do the tats have to do with it, too? Was it surgery to remove them? Or just an oddity?

What does the anecdote have to do with you?

 

[pharaoh88]

I wrote about a patient i met that was raped in a different country. I quickly just mentioned it as to why she was at the office, but didnt dwell on it or describe anything else. it was like this "this patient was raped, scared and tattooed and was seeking a surgeon to..."

is that okay?

If it had an impact on your decision to be a doctor I don't see why it shouldn't be included.

 

[Depakote]

Just from a writing stance, it seems like an unnecessary distraction from what you're trying to discuss. If you introduce that and then fail to develop it, it leaves the reader wondering why you brought it up in the first place and makes your statement jumpy.

 

[Ari1584]

Just from a writing stance, it seems like an unnecessary distraction from what you're trying to discuss. If you introduce that and then fail to develop it, it leaves the reader wondering why you brought it up in the first place and makes your statement jumpy.

i wrote about a patient that came to the office where i worked with a plastic surgeon who wanted the extensive scars removed that covered her body. she was from africa and was captured by the militia and was raped, scarred and tattooed...thats basically what i said in the PS. i talked about how they physician changed her life etc etc

 

[flip26]

i wrote about a patient that came to the office where i worked with a plastic surgeon who wanted the extensive scars removed that covered her body. she was from africa and was captured by the militia and was raped, scarred and tattooed...thats basically what i said in the PS. i talked about how they physician changed her life etc etc

Maybe it is just me, but this sounds very dramatic, or over the top, like so many of the PS statements I have read...but if it is the best you can do, it will probably be OK...you know, 99 percent of medicine is not that dramatic, in terms of changing someone's life...an adcom might question if you will be disappointed when every case is not such an adrenaline rush for you...

Honestly sounds like the kind of experience that someone who wants to become a social worker in Africa would write...

Good luck.

 

[LizzyM]

Watch out with scared and scarred. It can be confusing.

I think you could put a different spin on it and say that you discovered that plastic surgery was not just about making people more attractive but repairing the damage done by violence. It isn't so much about a rush, as mentioned earlier, as a satisfaction at helping someone heal. In that context, you could boil it down to "had been brutalized" and we'll get this picture.

 

[iheartsnow]

Its difficult to say not knowing the entire context and how it fits into your reasoning for becoming a physician, but I think it's ok to include it. You clearly were involved in a part of plastic surgery that most people don't think about, which I think is interesting. As long as you don't make it sound too dramatic, it should be fine. Rape is something many of us will have to deal with as physicians, especially if you are interested in international medicine (just a guess, given the Africa reference). May as well get used to talking about it.