Personal Statement Anecdotes

[purplegold201635]

I just had a professor read my final draft of my personal statement and she raised a potentially alarming issue that I hadn't even thought of. In my personal statement, I lead with a true story about an emergent situation that happened to me while I was on vacation. It does seem kind of crazy when I give it a second look: a boy waved me down from the side of the road saying that his brother had drowned and I had to help him call 911 and look for his brother. My professor said that med schools might check up on the legitimacy of the story, but the only people that were with me were my mom and little brother (13 at the time).

If it wasn't an important story then I would cut it from my PS altogether, but it had a huge impact on me and the rest of my PS is sort of built around it.

Has anyone else heard of med schools checking up on personal statement anecdotes?

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[FCMike11]

Seems like a stretch they would bother, and what if they did? How could they really?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using SDN mobile

 

[WedgeDawg]

I can guarantee you that no one is going to take the time to even think about looking this up.

 

[purplegold201635]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Cotterpin]

What happened? Was the boy okay?

 

[Espressso]

What happened? Was the boy okay?

That's the first thing I thought of too...

 

[purplegold201635]

We looked for the boy for 2 hours. Called in search and rescue, but it took first responders 30 minutes to get there and another hour for the ambulance. The boy's body was recovered at the bottom of the river the next morning. It was a bitter taste of humanity.

 

[Cotterpin]

Aw, that's awful.

 

[Thatsnotmyname.]

My PS opening can only be verified by me and a gunman- and I guess the police report- and no one questioned it even though the story may be a little out there.

If it's important to your story, write about it. I'm sorry you had to experience such a sad situation (and I'm sorry for the poor family of the boy)!