mention hard working in personal statement

[huihui]

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I know it's important to have some anecdotes in one's personal statement to make a memorable essay for the Adcom, or at least not let them fall asleep. However I do not have a lot of impressive ancedote from my volunteer experience or other EC activities.

Another thing is that I think I'm an extremely hard working person. Should I mention that in my personal statement? Maybe hard working is something that most people applying to med school possess and not worthwhile mentioning. Also maybe that does not show why I am interested in medicine. But can I write that to show that I have the stamina to endure the demanding work of a physician? I asked the opinion of one guy and he told me no need to mention since I had my phd in biochem from a top school, it is expected that I am hard working person.

But maybe the thing about my hard working can be used to have some memorable ancedotes for my personal statement. And this is also the impression most people on me. (I may have reference letter mentioning that).

My former labmate joked that whenever he came to the lab, he would always see me there. I used to work like 12 hours a day 7 days a week. I worked till the last moment during both my pregnancies that my labmates joked that they were afraid that I would give birth to the baby in the lab. When I had my first baby on my due date, I went back to the lab to finish some experiments while I was having a 5 min-interval contraction. (The hospital is very close to the lab I was working at. With my second baby, it was an unexpected arrival and I had to go back to the lab wrap up some stuff on the day when I was discharged from hospital. (Not sure it’s interesting).

 

[TheMightySmiter]

I think the best way to approach the PS is simply to explain why you are interested in medicine. This is where the anecdotes come into play. You don't want to tell stories just for the sake of telling stories, you want just a couple anecdotes that illustrate your passion for medicine without having to say, "I'm passionate about medicine." Surely you've had experiences where you've thought, "This is why I want to be a doctor." Those are the ones you should use! It's pretty obvious when your essay is contrived, so you want to only use stories that you can tell with passion and sincerity.

As for the hard-working aspect, I would try addressing that without mentioning that phrase at all. Can you tell, say, a story about your research that shows how hard you work? Things like that will make an essay interesting and engaging. Still, I recommend that you make sure everything you write in your statement addresses the question of "why medicine?" Some people do write about why they believe they would make a good physician, I think these types of essays are easily taken as arrogant. You don't know yet what it truly takes to be a good physician, and you don't want to sound like you're bragging. So just tread carefully with this topic.

 

[huihui]

Thanks for your inputs. I just though that maybe Adcoms will have a more personal feeling about me if I write this kind of acedotes.

 

[huihui]

The comment on being arrognant and bragging is true. I certainly want to avoid those.

 

[huihui]

The problem is how can I do it correctly?

Write about your experiences and let adcoms draw their own inferences about your personal character. If you do this correctly your hardworking personality will shine through. 🙂

 

[vayntraubinator]

Your vignettes in the personal statement should portray your soft qualities to the adcomm. But be careful of making your stories appear melodramatic. Be cautious because every applicant is probably hard working.

 

[huihui]

There is certainly some cluture difference here. In my home country, it is unimaginable that a woman will work till their due date. They usually take off months early and after delivery, they will have at least 6 months-1 year vacation. But after I came to the States, I see most woman come to work today and give birth tomorrow.

 

[LizzyM]

Interviewers aren't supposed to ask questions about race, sex, marital status, parenthood, etc but if you bring it up in the application, some people think that it is "fair game". So, if you want to tell stories about working during and immediately after delivering your babies, be prepared to be quizzed on your support sysem and how your children will be cared for while you are in school (including overnight stays during your clinical training).

Upon reading your PS, the reader should be thinking: "this person would be a successful student and a good doctor and this person sounds interesting, I'd like to meet them!"

And yes, OP, women in the US work until the day before they give birth (I did with each of mine) and return to work six to twelve weeks later. I know of an OB-GYN resident who went back to work 2 weeks after delivery. What might seem remarkable in your home country is quite frequent in the US.

 

[huihui]

Aren't we filling out the dependent (kids) information on AMCAS? Is it just interviewer wont look at that primary application info?

Interviewers aren't supposed to ask questions about race, sex, marital status, parenthood, etc but if you bring it up in the application, some people think that it is "fair game". So, if you want to tell stories about working during and immediately after delivering your babies, be prepared to be quizzed on your support sysem and how your children will be cared for while you are in school (including overnight stays during your clinical training).

Upon reading your PS, the reader should be thinking: "this person would be a successful student and a good doctor and this person sounds interesting, I'd like to meet them!"

And yes, OP, women in the US work until the day before they give birth (I did with each of mine) and return to work six to twelve weeks later. I know of an OB-GYN resident who went back to work 2 weeks after delivery. What might seem remarkable in your home country is quite frequent in the US.

 

[circulus vitios]

I'm not saying you're lazy, but everyone thinks they're hard working.

 

[LizzyM]

Aren't we filling out the dependent (kids) information on AMCAS? Is it just interviewer wont look at that primary application info?

That information is so buried on the form that it is unlikely to be noticed but a paragraph in an essay will register with the interviewer.