Personal Statement: Can't think of motivation/life changing explanation

[johnanderson]

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So I've hit a block in my personal statement. I was talking to a friend today who is applying to MIT and Harvard (not pharm) about my personal statement and he basically shredded it. I don't blame him because he is pretty experienced at witting personal essays and interviews. So while we were talking he gave me some advice about how to write my personal statement, and also to get through my interview (although I don't have to worry about that yet). Anyways, I told him three main things that the adcoms usually look for: motivation, integrity, and intelligence/competence. He told me to think about life changing examples in my life that have influenced me in those three categories. The only problem is that I can't think of anything that has had a huge impact on me. The main reason I want to apply to pharmacy school is because I worked in research for two years and I thought I could make a bigger impact in pharmacy rather than being tied down to one subject in research. However, I can't think of any examples in my life that would show the adcoms this. So right now I am explaining candidly who I am as a person, i.e. my thought process and my personality, however my friend shredded me on this too. He basically said that that won't distinguish me from the other applicants and that I should think of a life changing situation and incorporate that into my essay.

So after my rant I guess my question would be if it is ok to write candidly about me as a person even though I havn't really had many major things affect me in my life. How can I make an effective essay this way? Also how can I convey my intentions and morality without examples to back them up? Thanks.

 

[AntiviralsRule]

I don't think the AdComs expect everyone to have life-changing events that directly affect their motivations for pharmacy. But they do expect you to be able to articulate exactly why you want to join the profession. That's what I'd focus on in my personal statement (just as a caveat, I'm no expert -- I'm a pre-pharmacy student myself).

My suggestion would be to focus on the aspects of pharmacy that appeal to you, and how you've developed skills that fit with those aspects. Make a list of your skills, positive attributes, even your negative attributes and then see how they fit with pharmacy. Try to write out exactly your motivations -- why pharmacy? Why not medicine? Why not research?

My two cents.