Non-trad Working On Personal Statment

[Elf Hermey]

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

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[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.