Mentioning Depression in Post-Bacc Personal Statement?

[amm12345]

Hello,

I'm looking to apply to many post-baccs to improve my academic record. Depression affected my path and made me who I am, and I feel weird leaving it out of my personal statement. that being said, i understand it makes me look a bit weak. I wouldn't be applying to these programs if I wasn't entirely confident in my abilities and recovery. I currently have one personal statement with my regular interests, accomplishments, etc... as well as a second describing my experience with mental health and how it's made me a stronger candidate. I have great research/clinical/volunteering, teacher recs, and resume. However, I have a 3.15 gpa (2.9 science) at ucsb, which has a pretty tough science program and a massive amt of pre-meds. I got 162 quant and 159 verbal on the GRE. I'm a double major in comparative literature and biopsych, so that makes me decently unique. Do you think it would be best to just stick with my stats, or should I include the second/work it into the original statement? Many of them make me optimistic in that they encourage sharing what you did wrong and how you will do better this go around. Thanks in advance!

The schools I'm applying to are:
Georgetown MBS
George Squared
Columbia
Tulane
Johns Hopkins
Tufts
KGI
Icahn Mt. Sinai
Rosalind Franklin
U Mich

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[LA2693]

Hi! I'm a current medical student who previously attended the Tufts MBS program. I can't tell you with 100% certainty what to include in your personal statement, but I just wanted to make sure you utilize the PS to the best of your ability. I would really try to stay away from using your personal statement to talk about things that are seen on your resume. I'm copying the instructions for Tufts here just for reference:
In a short essay, please help the Admissions Committee understand the experiences, inspirations, and challenges that have shaped you as a person and how obtaining the MS in Biomedical Sciences at Tufts will further your career goals.

I think you want to use this to talk about what made you want to go into medicine and why you think this program will help you. If you want to talk about one or two particularly influential things or accomplishments from your resume in detail, go for it, but make sure you don't turn it into a list. Using specific anecdotes can be helpful, and talking about what you learned or why specifically that influenced your decision to pursue medicine. Comparative literature is definitely unique - you could talk about how this impacts your perspective on medicine (if it does!). Overcoming a challenge is a good one too, as long as you focus on the overcoming part and how that has shaped you as a person. If your experience overcoming depression influenced your decision to pursue medicine, it might be a worthwhile topic. Just make sure you don't use the essay to talk about why you ended up needing a postbacc program. You want it to show you in the best possible light, give a better idea of why you're interested in medicine, and show that you're more than that list of things on your resume. Also, for Tufts or any school, make sure you're spending at least a paragraph talking about why their specific program will help you reach your career goals. Try giving someone your personal statement to read and make sure it gives off the right tone!

I used my personal statement to talk about the experiences that led me to choose medicine and why Tufts would help me reach that goal. I also made sure to emphasize that I understand the hard work this career demands and that I'm willing to put in the time and energy it takes to get where I need to be. I didn't mention anything having to do with why I ended up needing a postbacc, because I didn't want to sound like I was making excuses for myself.

I hope that helps a little bit in thinking about what to focus your statement on. Best of luck with the application process!!

 

[amm12345]

Hi! I'm a current medical student who previously attended the Tufts MBS program. I can't tell you with 100% certainty what to include in your personal statement, but I just wanted to make sure you utilize the PS to the best of your ability. I would really try to stay away from using your personal statement to talk about things that are seen on your resume. I'm copying the instructions for Tufts here just for reference:
In a short essay, please help the Admissions Committee understand the experiences, inspirations, and challenges that have shaped you as a person and how obtaining the MS in Biomedical Sciences at Tufts will further your career goals.

I think you want to use this to talk about what made you want to go into medicine and why you think this program will help you. If you want to talk about one or two particularly influential things or accomplishments from your resume in detail, go for it, but make sure you don't turn it into a list. Using specific anecdotes can be helpful, and talking about what you learned or why specifically that influenced your decision to pursue medicine. Comparative literature is definitely unique - you could talk about how this impacts your perspective on medicine (if it does!). Overcoming a challenge is a good one too, as long as you focus on the overcoming part and how that has shaped you as a person. If your experience overcoming depression influenced your decision to pursue medicine, it might be a worthwhile topic. Just make sure you don't use the essay to talk about why you ended up needing a postbacc program. You want it to show you in the best possible light, give a better idea of why you're interested in medicine, and show that you're more than that list of things on your resume. Also, for Tufts or any school, make sure you're spending at least a paragraph talking about why their specific program will help you reach your career goals. Try giving someone your personal statement to read and make sure it gives off the right tone!

I used my personal statement to talk about the experiences that led me to choose medicine and why Tufts would help me reach that goal. I also made sure to emphasize that I understand the hard work this career demands and that I'm willing to put in the time and energy it takes to get where I need to be. I didn't mention anything having to do with why I ended up needing a postbacc, because I didn't want to sound like I was making excuses for myself.

I hope that helps a little bit in thinking about what to focus your statement on. Best of luck with the application process!!

This is incredibly helpful. Thank you for taking the time to help me, I can't thank you enough!!!