Perfecting the personal statement

[1TrickUnicorn]

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Is it worth spending an extra 3-4 weeks perfecting the personal statement? I feel like I'm making progress improving my personal statement but it's at the expense of delaying my application...is it worth it?

 

[artist2022]

You have 2 weeks until AADSAS allows for submissions, and so an extra week or two won't hurt you. Sure stats show how strong you are academically, but your PS is your chance to show adcoms just who you are and what makes you special- I'd really try to perfect it. There are tons of highly qualified applicants out there with cookie cutter stats, but you want your PS to leave an impression on whoever is reading it 🙂

 

[setdoc7]

I think the PS can set you apart if written well and demonstrates qualities that a school is looking for. When you realize that dental school is a self selected group of high achievers (no differentiation at this point between Hi IQ brainiacs and hard working overacheivers) the PS becomes a way of setting yourself apart, not because of the obstacles you have overcome, the artistic hands you think you have, or the accolades you have received academically, but who you are as a person and what you will bring to the profession. What will you bring to the table that will make you a superior healthcare provider (don't think necessarily dentist....we all provide care and treatment....think about it in those terms). What about being a healthcare provider will give you satisfaction? Restoring a smile is just one of the things we do.

 

[Faefly]

Did you give it to people to read it and tell you what they think?
You might already have the perfect PS, but you'll keep on editing it until its true essence is gone.

 

[TheDentalSchoolCoach]

Is it worth spending an extra 3-4 weeks perfecting the personal statement? I feel like I'm making progress improving my personal statement but it's at the expense of delaying my application...is it worth it?

If your personal statement is good enough , you should not spend extra time on it. Spend the time on other things such as secondaries.

 

[AppalachianDentalBoy]

Yes

 

[ab117]

Time isn’t the important factor, getting good feedback is. If the right people tear your statement to shreds and help you rebuild it from the ashes, you could perfect it in a couple days. Just spending more time on it =/= better statement.

 

[Maximus57]

If your personal statement is good enough , you should not spend extra time on it. Spend the time on other things such as secondaries.

Currently going through the application...What do you mean by secondaries?

 

[Faefly]

Currently going through the application...What do you mean by secondaries?

Some schools have extra questions when you apply to them, you have to answer them separately either on Adea Aadsas application or sent to them by email.
For example, USCF has I think 3 or 5 questions that have to be answered in 500 characters.
Howard has 6 questions
Penn has 3
UCLA has 1 I think
Boston Has 2
USC has 2 questions
NYU has 1 question
Minnesota, don't get me started about this school, the reason I didn't apply there is because they want each answer no less than 2000 characters lol.

and yeah I spent so much time on the secondaries. I should not have bothered to be honest.

 

[TheDentalSchoolCoach]

Currently going through the application...What do you mean by secondaries?

Secondaries or supplemental questions are additional questions that schools ask you to answer such as "Why NYU?" or Why UPenn?. They are currently part of the primary application and needed to filled while you submit your AADSAS application.

 

[Pegetto]

Hi all: I'm searching the forums and surprised I can't find a general thread with advice on writing personal statements. I'm sure there must be one somewhere and I'm just blind. Can anyone share a link if you know where it is?

Thanks! 🙂