Love/Hate Relationship with my Personal Statement

[whyme]

I wrote my personal statement last weekend and I thought it was wonderful--simply amazing. Now that I'm reading it over again this week, it seems like a piece of s**t. How many people do you usually recommend to read your essay? is 3-4 and essay edge good enough? i can't imagine finding 10 worthwhile people to read the essay..and I don't want to dwell on it that much.

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[chak_de_phatee]

Hi,
Dont worry about not being happy with your statment. I wrote mine a few weeks ago and have been changing it everyweek. Make sure you are happy with it before you get it read though. I am only going to get mine read by three people buy I guess it depends on the person.

 

[Street Philosopher]

don't worry that happens to me too, and I think it's pretty common.

 

[Laura JC]

The person or people who help you with your essay should be people who clearly understand the objective of the essay, who are extremely well educated and can spot problems like grammar, spelling and flow, who are honest and blunt, and who can put themselves in the position of a hypothetical member of an admissions committee. That said, even if you only have ONE person help you with it, that's okay, if it's the right person.

 

[deva]

whyme,

Don't worry too much about hating your essay. I have had the same thing happen. You are going about it the right way by writing it, letting it sit for a few days, and then going back and rereading.

You don't need ten people to read it. Just a few is fine, as long as you know those people will be honest. Try to find someone who is normally brutally honest - his/her critique may be painful, but it will help your essay.

Good luck! I remember how stressful that essay was when I wrote it. Just be glad you don't have to say what you will be doing in ten years - I had absolutely no idea what to put for that one

 

[haughty]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by whyme:
•I wrote my personal statement last weekend and I thought it was wonderful--simply amazing. Now that I'm reading it over again this week, it seems like a piece of s**t. How many people do you usually recommend to read your essay? is 3-4 and essay edge good enough? i can't imagine finding 10 worthwhile people to read the essay..and I don't want to dwell on it that much.•••••DeJaVu here, I had the same issues last year at this time when I was finishing up my PS. In my case, in the 2-3 weeks that I was intently working on the PS, I must have changed it at least 50 times. It ended up completely different in the end than what I had in mind in the beginning. This was definitely a good thing because a few of my interviewers mentioned what a well-written and original PS it was (as I pat my own back ). Just have someone that you trust to be brutally honest read your PS many times. Luckily I have a wonderful boyfriend who was willing to read it 50 times and send me back to the drawing board 49 of those times until it was perfect.

 

[Cdc28p]

You don't need many people to read your statement; just 1 or 2 good ones are enough. I had only 2 people read my essay, but both were excellent medical students and really knew what admissions committees were looking for. And it's normal to re-read your essay and totally hate it.

 

[relatively prime]

I hated my essay too... but then I sent it to my mom and she said it was so moving it made her cry!!... ? Well, she is MY MOM... but still! I think I'll have to get some other more objective opinions.

 

[Patiently Waiting]

At least for me, my premed advisor's comments were most helpful. He kinda tore my first draft apart, so I was very discouraged and hated the whole idea of rewriting the essay, but in the end, it was all worth the pain and trouble.

 

[CosciHasher]

I found the best success in editing my personal statements/essays when I showed them to someone who knew me really well. The people closest to you can tell if your real voice is coming through in your essays, which is your ultimate goal, right?

My strategy: I had them tell me WHERE things didn't make sense and let me fix the the verbage. That way it was less painful for the proofreader (they didn't have to sit and think up different ways to say stuff) and less painful for me that I didn't have to reject their suggestions.

These essays are to show them that you're a real person. If you are a real person (and hopefully you are) someone close to you can best spot your success in conveying that. Now if you were only best friends with someone who worked at EssayEdge...

 

[dynamic02]

I agree with some of the similar comments that other people made about who should read your essay. I think you should definitely show it to your pre-med advisor... my premed advisor helped me out so much-- it was tough seeing all of his red marks and rewordings, but in the end it was worth it!
Also, maybe you could ask a couple of the people who wrote your recommendations, close friends, and family... I think whoever you decide to choose, make sure they know you well and can give you encouragement but also be honest about the strengths and weaknesses of your personal statement. Remember you are representing who you are as a real person and why you want to go into medicine....

Good luck to ya!