Non-trad Working On Personal Statment

[Elf Hermey]

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Personal Statement

I have some questions about what I should and should not mention in my personal statement…


I started my BA in Psychology a number of years ago with no intent of going to dental school. Unfortunately I had a traumatic experience at about 19 that resulted in a lingering illness I had to battle for years after. It definitely affected my academic performance, thus, I didn’t complete my BA.

Following my decision to end school I began working in the dental field for a number of years. Now I am determined to be a dentist. I’m returning to school to complete my BA. My stats are: 3.4 GPA, 3.7 GPA. I haven’t taken the DAT yet. I have over thousands of hours of work experience in the dental and social services fields.


My question is: Do I mention my illness in my personal statement? Do mention anything regarding my earlier years? – BTW, I hate saying that… and I’m definitely not making excuses. I absolutely hold myself accountable for my actions. However, I do want to convey to the ADCOMs that I am a determined student, who can perform well academically, clinically, etc. I don’t want them to look at my initial years of subpar work and toss my application.

Any feedback would be great!
Thanks 😀

 

[doc toothache]

I have some questions about what I should and should not mention in my personal statement…

Following my decision to end school I began working in the dental field for a number of years. Now I am determined to be a dentist. I’m returning to school to complete my BA. My stats are: 3.4 GPA, 3.7 GPA. I haven’t taken the DAT yet. I have over thousands of hours of work experience in the dental and social services fields.
My question is: Do I mention my illness in my personal statement? Do mention anything regarding my earlier years? – BTW, I hate saying that… and I’m definitely not making excuses. I absolutely hold myself accountable for my actions. However, I do want to convey to the ADCOMs that I am a determined student, who can perform well academically, clinically, etc. I don’t want them to look at my initial years of subpar work and toss my application.

Thanks 😀

You might want to wait until you have some new/proven record before claiming determination/performance.

 

[txlonghorn]

Personal Statement

I have some questions about what I should and should not mention in my personal statement…


I started my BA in Psychology a number of years ago with no intent of going to dental school. Unfortunately I had a traumatic experience at about 19 that resulted in a lingering illness I had to battle for years after. It definitely affected my academic performance, thus, I didn’t complete my BA.

Following my decision to end school I began working in the dental field for a number of years. Now I am determined to be a dentist. I’m returning to school to complete my BA. My stats are: 3.4 GPA, 3.7 GPA. I haven’t taken the DAT yet. I have over thousands of hours of work experience in the dental and social services fields.


My question is: Do I mention my illness in my personal statement? Do mention anything regarding my earlier years? – BTW, I hate saying that… and I’m definitely not making excuses. I absolutely hold myself accountable for my actions. However, I do want to convey to the ADCOMs that I am a determined student, who can perform well academically, clinically, etc. I don’t want them to look at my initial years of subpar work and toss my application.

Any feedback would be great!
Thanks 😀

Are your stats for the classes you have taken right now? If so, they are good. As for your personal statement, I would talk about the illness so that you can explain the reason for not completing school. After stating that, I would go on to how that illness led you to a job in dental medicine, you began liking dental stuff, and then it finally made you want to go back to school to become a dentist. Just don't write too much about the illness part - I would just say something like "After attending X university for X semester, I was diagnosed with XXXXX." then write another sentence or two about how it made you leave school.

I am a non-trad as well, and my personal statement kind of follows the format about how I came across dental medicine while doing something around work, how I got interested in it, decided to go back to school to become a dentist, etc.