Other Pitfalls To Avoid In Personal Statement For Medical School Application?

[Oxalis]

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Hello!

I'm in the process of writing and rewriting my personal statement and I wanted to reach out to see if anyone had extra advice on do's/don'ts in personal statements that aren't ones that are more widely known like "show don't tell". Any additional insight is much appreciated!

 

[Med Ed]

Opening hook. Dense, flowery prose. Clichés. The words "passion", "fascinated", "enthralled", or any permutations thereof.

 

[Lawpy]

Opening hook. Dense, flowery prose. Clichés. The words "passion", "fascinated", "enthralled", or any permutations thereof.

A nice addition to You're doing it wrong, part 1: your personal statement

You should add more "You're doing it wrong" threads when you get the time

 

[raf1ki]

Opening hook. Dense, flowery prose. Clichés. The words "passion", "fascinated", "enthralled", or any permutations thereof.

Examples of strong language over strong writing.

 

[Med Ed]

You should add more "You're doing it wrong" threads when you get the time

I'll see what part of AMCAS flies into my bonnet this year.

 

[Med Ed]

Should I include work and activities in the PS? Or should the PS be your motivation to why you did what you did and have the work and activities section speak for itself? Thanks for the reply btw!

The latter. The work and activities section exists to catalog your relevant work and activities. Most of it is dry and factual. The PS is the only space in the primary application where you have the opportunity to make your case in a narrative fashion that (hopefully) explains your inner workings. Don't waste it.