Is it ok to write about how a tv show inspired my interest in medicine? I'm talking about Jack Shepherd in Lost (if any of you have seen the show) and I saw how useful and valuable his skills were. Of course this would not be my only reason for choosing to be a doctor, this was just what sparked my initial interest at a relatively young age. I'll talk about my volunteering, specific patient interactions, etc. in the rest of my essay.
Personal Statement about TV show?
- Thread starter bdaly987
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It could be a first paragraph with a quick transition
One goal of the PS is to show who you are through stories about your experiences, while showing you know what medicine is and why medicine is for you
The more you can hit all of these points at once with examples/experiences the better - that doesn't mean don't use things which only address one, but it's just something to think about
Personally, though I wouldn't do that for my own personal statement since I don't know how different adcoms will feel about medicine on TV, or that show, etc. I would only think it OK if it were a sort of attention getting anecdote at the start, and if it seemed self-aware that TV medicine usually isn't real medicine. Hopefully that experience isn't a main draw for how you learned about the medical field, for example
One goal of the PS is to show who you are through stories about your experiences, while showing you know what medicine is and why medicine is for you
The more you can hit all of these points at once with examples/experiences the better - that doesn't mean don't use things which only address one, but it's just something to think about
Personally, though I wouldn't do that for my own personal statement since I don't know how different adcoms will feel about medicine on TV, or that show, etc. I would only think it OK if it were a sort of attention getting anecdote at the start, and if it seemed self-aware that TV medicine usually isn't real medicine. Hopefully that experience isn't a main draw for how you learned about the medical field, for example
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Yes actually it could work very well depending on how you write it. I had a friend with a similar intro and it definitely was beautiful the way it was done...lol all depends on how you do it. And no I won't give you ideas.
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It will only work if it's from Seinfeld
Yeah that's why I'm not sure because I know some adcoms don't like when applicants talk about tv shows, although they are usually talking about shows like Grey's Anatomy, House, etc. Hopefully I can include a quick anecdote from the show as my intro about how it sparked my interest (although I later found out through volunteering, shadowing, etc. that the depiction in the show wasn't completely accurate), but then the majority of my essay is about how my other experiences allowed me to learn what becoming a doctor is really like.
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I don't love the idea. Remember: these shows are fictional. They don't actually show a real doctor being useful; they show a fictionalized doctor being useful. There's a big difference. To me, a personal statement like this screams naïveté and lack of understanding of clinical medicine rather than actual insight, though others might feel differently.
The problem is that ideally, your role models should be actual physicians, not fictional people, as that would indicate some sort of real insight into the very real profession you're applying for.
Large dogs
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Bad idea. If executed correctly (brief, single liner leading into the rest), it won't hurt you. But, it adds nothing and won't help.
I would echo what @tantacles said. Fictional character's occupation being an inspiration is not a good starting point.
I would echo what @tantacles said. Fictional character's occupation being an inspiration is not a good starting point.
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Worst case scenario, the person reading your personal statement jumps to the conclusion that you have some idealized fantasy of being a doctor from a t.v. show and assumes you don't understand how difficult/challenging the career can be. God forbid you get a person how dislikes survivor to read your statement.
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I think it's a bad idea, and this is coming from somebody who regularly wears a Dharma Initiative tee shirt.
Because it's the first thing (that I can remember) that triggered my interest in medicine. I was probably around 10 or so at the time so obviously I began to understand what a doctor's life is like a lot more as I grew older and volunteered, shadowed, etc. I will try to make it abundantly clear that I did not make my decision to attend medical school based on a fictional character, but I think that I could tell an interesting story about how valuable the skills that Jack Shephard (the doctor) had even though he was on a remote island with strangers, and this is what drew me to medicine initially. Again, since a lot of people have said that it is probably too risky, I can try to think of something else, but I feel like I'd have a lot more to say and write a more interesting introduction since I can pinpoint exactly where and when my interest in medicine started.
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It needs to be extremely well written or it will just come off terribly silly
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I also agree that it probably isn't in your best interest to write about a TV show. In general, it's better to go to the cookie cutter route more than anything -- it's cookie cutter because it works. Not to mention that since the personal statement honestly doesn't matter that much (unless it's truly exceptional), taking a risk on it is high risk low reward imo.
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Much of your audience will feel alienated, never a good start to the most important document you've produced thus far.
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If you're going to try to pull this off, I wouldn't lead with the television show angle. Maybe talk about your real-life experience first, and then reference the TV show in terms of how your various expectations were confirmed or refuted. Maybe after a couple of paragraphs about real patient involvement, have a paragraph that explains that you first became interested in medicine as a young kid from watching a show, then go on to tell how you have found the real thing to be different from the dramatized version, but how you've also found some essential thread at the root of your original ten-year-old excitement to remain true through it all.
I think there's a way you can make the TV show thing work, but I wouldn't use it as an opener myself. If you lead with the TV show, the reader might not be able to get over the thought of "here's a person who wants to be a doctor because the TV made it seem cool" no matter how much experience you discuss in the rest of the PS. If you lead with a bunch of experience, then by the time the TV show is brought up, they're already saying "here's a person who knows what they're getting into" before the show is brought up, and it's easier for them to accept that while the show was the source of your initial excitement, you've done your homework since to learn what the real thing is like.
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Please don't. I was a Lost fan, but I am still rolling my eyes at this idea. This is not the reaction you're going for.
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I think a GREAT writer could pull this off.
Question is, are you a great writer? Are you sure?
Question is, are you a great writer? Are you sure?
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Honestly that sounds a little silly, even if it's true. Perhaps you are the next F. Scott Fitzgerald and you will be able to weave that into a wonderful introduction for an essay, but maybe it will bring a negative effect. Do you want to take that risk?
