Lots of Personal Experiences Related to Medicine- PS Issues?

[whomikejoneswhomikejones]

Hey SDN,

I'm experiencing confusion in terms of writing my PS. I have a lot of shadowing experience/clinical experience (~500 hours looped all together). Being somewhat extroverted, I've dealt a lot with patients (not at shadowing though) that's touched me in a way.

Personally, I come from a family with an onset hereditary disorder. I was a child when I saw one family member pass away from complications due to this disease, my mother has it, and another close family has it. The other family members and my mom are fine, but have had to do operations. I remember the scariest moment ever was going in for my tests at 18 years old to determine if I had it, I lost a lot of sleep. I don't have it, and was relieved, but it really a scary moment that confirmed my desire to do medicine.

I have a lot of ECs that relate to volunteering/research in this disorder.

At the same time, I come from very underserved areas and have had experiences in jobs (not clinical jobs) dealing with a diverse range of people. And no, I don't mean just black and Hispanic, I mean everyone in the spectrum of socioeconomics, religion, etc.

I have a lot of experiences that have converged for me wanting to do primary care, but I don't know what to write about exactly.

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[Goro]

Concur 100% with my sage colleague. I wish to add the the PS is also to answer the question "Who am I"?

I dont care about your shadowing experience in a PS. That belongs in your EC. What the PS should be is WHY YOU want to be a doctor. What is your motivation, commitment, etc to do so. If dealing with the hereditary disorder and clinical is part of the path then yes it can be there

 

[whomikejoneswhomikejones]

Concur 100% with my sage colleague. I wish to add the the PS is also to answer the question "Who am I"?

Sweet. So, I'm self aware that worrying about others isn't going to improve my chances, but I can't help but think that if I write about a personal medical experience within my family, adcoms will roll their eyes so hard thinking

Even though it was a legitimate life experience that influenced me heavily.

 

[italiancowgirl]

I wrote this in another thread with a similar concern about how to express experience.

The key concepts that helped my PS go from the more cliche side to the very real sort of PS were all focused on how to take my experience and gain insight for other people. My medical experiences were significant in my life both for my health and also for my interests and career focus. The way that becomes significant to the medical schools is to talk not about what happened in detail, but rather to show clearly how the experience helped lead to better connections with medical information, with patients, and better understanding of my own strengths and weaknesses. The first time I applied my PS was incredibly focused on what I had experienced. After that I spent a fair bit of time learning how to clearly express it better as the jumping off point that changed my perspective to help me be a better person and physician.

Saying my experience shaped who I am in medicine is cliche. So it was crucial for me to not tell them but rather to help them see the ripple effect illness had on my life and how that had helped me grow stronger and wiser. If you use your own experience this way it can be very powerful in my opinion, but as everyone else says it is shifty ground. Walk the line well my friend and good luck!

 

[Toutie]

Of the firm Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (lets see how many get that)

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

 

[caffeinemia]

You should try reading your statement objectively and really quantify how much is "storytelling" and how much "insights about myself." You know all those dramatic scenes that everyone opens with -- the excruciating accounting of every single drop of blood shed in the ED trauma bay -- that is storytelling and effectively useless. Leave it Michael Crichton. Instead look for content that explains how you've grown in perspective, how your thinking has evolved, what you feel/felt. That might be more useful. I'd say the balance should be 25/75.

 

[Rainbow Zebra]

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

Tell her to make me a Cambray shirt!!