Mentioning cadaver dissection in my personal statement?

[kkrossy]

A few years ago I had the opportunity to dissect a cadaver over the course of a school year and I mentioned it briefly in my personal statement since I felt it was part of my journey to medicine. However, a med student who reviewed my PS told me that I shouldn’t mention it at all since it may not go over well with adcoms. Before I take it out I wanted to get more opinions from this forum- can talking about cadaver dissection be controversial?

Thank you so much!

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[Mr.Smile12]

I guess you don't want to be typecast as a pathologist, especially as many schools have virtual anatomy now.

What else were you planning to include?

 

[Med Ed]

Dissecting a human body is a powerful experience for many people, and a traditional rite of passage in medical education. Whether it works or not in you PS depends on how you approach it, and on the broader context of your statement.

If you choose to keep it I would probably swap out "cadaver" for "donor," which is more in vogue these days.

 

[kkrossy]

Dissecting a human body is a powerful experience for many people, and a traditional rite of passage in medical education. Whether it works or not in you PS depends on how you approach it, and on the broader context of your statement.

If you choose to keep it I would probably swap out "cadaver" for "donor," which is more in vogue these days.

It was definitely a powerful experience for me! And yes I did use the word “donor” in my PS.

Most of my PS is about my experiences with doctors and patients, I just mention it in one paragraph where I was describing what got me interested in science/the human body as a whole.

 

[LunaOri]

It’s fine. Not controversial as long as you are respectful.

 

[kkrossy]

It’s fine. Not controversial as long as you are respectful.

Thank you! I tried to be as respectful as possible and not get into too many details. Would it be okay if I DM you the part of my PS where I talk about it just to make sure?

 

[deleted1141182]

I've heard some people say that you can come off as weird if all you talk about is how much you like dissecting cadavers so as long as you use it as a spark and not go in depth about it you should be fine.

 

[kkrossy]

I've heard some people say that you can come off as weird if all you talk about is how much you like dissecting cadavers so as long as you use it as a spark and not go in depth about it you should be fine.

Definitely not all I talk about haha, just mentioned it as a spark for wanting to learn more about the human body and medicine and didn’t go in depth.