MD/PhD Essays + PS Help

[drdreyman]

Hi all,

I'm applying to both MD and MD/PhD programs, and am having some trouble while writing my essays. Since I am also applying to a handful of MD programs, I feel like it would be foolish to leave out any word of my research in my "why MD" personal statement, since it is such an integral part of my career thus far.
At the same time, I don't want to sound repetitive between my MD and MD/PhD essays, since of course the MD/PhD essay will be focused almost exclusively on my research and what I gained from it.

Any tips or suggestions on how to go about this would be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks so much.

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[vaticrunner]

For the personal statement, I used one paragraph to talk about research, one paragraph for shadowing, and one paragraph for volunteering among other things. For the why mdphd essay, I had one paragraph about research, one paragraph about a clinic experience reaffirming the need for research, and then a family disease that needs more research.

Everyone has their own way in which they like to convey their thoughts. If you are splitting your school list for MD and MDPHD, I highly recommend writing research as a smaller part of the MD personal statement. I wrote only one paragraph there and tried to focus more on who I am as a person and what I enjoy about clinical medicine. For the why MDPHD essay, I wrote it more as an autobiography that detailed how/why I was considering the career. Each experience (volunteering or bench research) helped reinforce the need to become a physician scientist was pretty much the central thrust of that essay. Even in that essay, research experience was still only 1/3 of the substance because I wanted to use the research essay to detail why I liked research and what I did/learned. Hopefully, this helps and feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

 

[drdreyman]

For the personal statement, I used one paragraph to talk about research, one paragraph for shadowing, and one paragraph for volunteering among other things. For the why mdphd essay, I had one paragraph about research, one paragraph about a clinic experience reaffirming the need for research, and then a family disease that needs more research.

Everyone has their own way in which they like to convey their thoughts. If you are splitting your school list for MD and MDPHD, I highly recommend writing research as a smaller part of the MD personal statement. I wrote only one paragraph there and tried to focus more on who I am as a person and what I enjoy about clinical medicine. For the why MDPHD essay, I wrote it more as an autobiography that detailed how/why I was considering the career. Each experience (volunteering or bench research) helped reinforce the need to become a physician scientist was pretty much the central thrust of that essay. Even in that essay, research experience was still only 1/3 of the substance because I wanted to use the research essay to detail why I liked research and what I did/learned. Hopefully, this helps and feel free to PM me if you have more questions.

Thanks for the reply!
I can't PM you for some reason..

 

[vaticrunner]

Thanks for the reply!
I can't PM you for some reason..

Not quite sure how to fix that

 

[drdreyman]

Not quite sure how to fix that

Me neither, i'll just reply in here if that's cool.

I was considering having a short blurb at the end of my MD essay describing how my research in X and Y labs expanded my scientific interest..etc etc, while focusing on my volunteering, clinical, and tutoring experiences for the majority of the essay.

Then as far as the MD/PhD essay, go far more in depth with my research experiences and what I gained from them, while also discussing a shadowing experience that reaffirmed the need for research in medicine - it should align at least somewhat to one of the labs that I worked in.

Does that structure seem viable?

 

[vaticrunner]

Me neither, i'll just reply in here if that's cool.

I was considering having a short blurb at the end of my MD essay describing how my research in X and Y labs expanded my scientific interest..etc etc, while focusing on my volunteering, clinical, and tutoring experiences for the majority of the essay.

Then as far as the MD/PhD essay, go far more in depth with my research experiences and what I gained from them, while also discussing a shadowing experience that reaffirmed the need for research in medicine - it should align at least somewhat to one of the labs that I worked in.

Does that structure seem viable?

Sounds good to me. Like you said make sure to keep the focus on what you gained from each experience.

 

[Lavabawl]

I am alittle bit out of the league, but I still have a credential for essay writing services site. Hope it helps as it helped me with my term paper.

 

[faerie62]

For my PS I only talked about my research experience in broad terms and how I thought research related to medicine. For my MD/PhD essays I went more into depth about what I liked about research and broadly how I foresaw integrating clinical practice/research into my career.
Im happy to review PS/MD PhD statement if you want to PM me.

 

[ClimbsRox]

Personal statement should detail your intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for pursuing medicine. The reader should feel like they know you a bit as a person after reading it. Why mdphd should do the same towards research. Neither should read like a rehashing of your application. Both should get to a bit of you behind the numbers.