Mentioning physician parent/relative in personal statement

[thedelicatessen]

How appropriate is it to mention a family member who is a physician in your personal statement? I'm not saying that the person is the sole reason that I want to be a doctor, but growing up with a healthcare professional parent has influenced part of my outlook on medicine. How do I express how I feel without sounding hollow?

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[Captain Fantastic]

See if your bookstore or library has a copy of "Essays that will get you into Medical School" by Dowhan, Dowhan, and Kaufman, published by Barron's. It has a few dozen sample personal statments in it. About seven of them mention the influence a family member physician had on their motivation for medical school. You might get some ideas from reading over them.

 

[lynn623la]

I think living with a family member that is in the profession, shows what it is really like.

I would check out the book that ed2brute suggested.

 

[CavalierMD]

See if your bookstore or library has a copy of "Essays that will get you into Medical School" by Dowhan, Dowhan, and Kaufman, published by Barron's. It has a few dozen sample personal statments in it. About seven of them mention the influence a family member physician had on their motivation for medical school. You might get some ideas from reading over them.

Yes. This book is awesome. There are definitely reasons why have a family member physician prepares you to be a doctor... you just need to make sure you make your own personal motivations and reasons clear. My dad is a doctor and I mentioned him in my PS... but only a sentce worth. The rest of my PS is pure me.

 

[Pancho Villa]

my grandfather was a physician in mexico, so i used that as my 'opening story' to catch the reader's attention. the rest of the essay, however, was about my personal experiences.

regarding your question, if your relative had a great influence in your decision to become a doctor, go ahead and mention it.

 

[the12thmd]

I really really liked this book:

In it there are plenty of mentions of parents that were physicians. Don't sweat it.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

How appropriate is it to mention a family member who is a physician in your personal statement? I'm not saying that the person is the sole reason that I want to be a doctor, but growing up with a healthcare professional parent has influenced part of my outlook on medicine. How do I express how I feel without sounding hollow?

I devoted a few sentences of my PS to the perspective I have gained as the husband of an Ob/Gyn resident, and how that has influenced my decision to pursue medicine.

I don't think it sounds hollow to include this in your PS. There are few experiences out there than can give you a true glimpse of medicine like being closely affiliated with it through the experiences of someone very close to you.