Personal Statement editing service?

[Versadth]

I was wondering if anyone know any personal statement editing service for AMCAS applications or personal statements? I think I have borderline OCD so I want to reach as close to perfection as I can haha. Also I'm hoping to submit my application by the end of the month, would this be late if i'm applying with a 3.79 cGPA / 3.81 sGPA? Thank-you!

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[Lost in Translation]

We have a thread of volunteer editors.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ment-guide-and-reader-list-2016-2017.1178488/

 

[Versadth]

We have a thread of volunteer editors.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...ment-guide-and-reader-list-2016-2017.1178488/

Those are readers, not editors. Plus, I don't want to give out my PS to strangers and risk it from being circulated or stolen since I've been working on it for 3 months now. I rather pay professionals to improve it

 

[Lost in Translation]

I sent my PS to 2 of my friends and they helped me refine it.

Got 7 IIs out of 19 (18) apps.

You really don't need to spend money on this.

 

[parham3]

I sent my PS to 2 of my friends and they helped me refine it.

Got 7 IIs out of 19 (18) apps.

You really don't need to spend money on this.

personal statements dont help you get interviews, they help you get admitted after you have done your interviews. OP check out MedicineGoal it's created by harvard and boston medical students

 

[iforget2]

Those are readers, not editors. Plus, I don't want to give out my PS to strangers and risk it from being circulated or stolen since I've been working on it for 3 months now. I rather pay professionals to improve it

They also help you edit and I found a majority of them very helpful and trustworthy.

 

[ace_inhibitor111]

personal statements dont help you get interviews, they help you get admitted after you have done your interviews. OP check out MedicineGoal it's created by harvard and boston medical students

That seems pretty affordable but there ought to be some sort of proof that these people are who they say they are.

I sent my PS to 2 of my friends and they helped me refine it.

Got 7 IIs out of 19 (18) apps.

You really don't need to spend money on this.

I can see it being helpful for non-trads or people with flaws in their application or "holes" in their story so to speak.

 

[aalamruad]

personal statements dont help you get interviews, they help you get admitted after you have done your interviews. OP check out MedicineGoal it's created by harvard and boston medical students

What in the world makes you think that..?

 

[Versadth]

personal statements dont help you get interviews, they help you get admitted after you have done your interviews. OP check out MedicineGoal it's created by harvard and boston medical students

Thanks i'll check them out.

What in the world makes you think that..?

I heard the same and it makes sense since every schools get thousands of applications each year. It would take forever reading thousands of PS when majority of them aren't even going to get an interview. So they normally use GPA and MCATs to send invitations and look at your profile holistically (Personal statement/Interview/GPA/MCAT) after the interview. That's why I wanted some professionals to look at my PS.

 

[Lost in Translation]

personal statements dont help you get interviews, they help you get admitted after you have done your interviews. OP check out MedicineGoal it's created by harvard and boston medical students

I can almost guarantee you that's not true for all places. In fact, it might not even be true at the majority of places.

Spoiler

There's no way I get an II at Duke with my stats alone. That's how I know.

 

[Gurkhali]

Julia Shaw of editing pro 1 is helpful I hear.

 

[Versadth]

I can almost guarantee you that's not true for all places. In fact, it might not even be true at the majority of places.

That's what I heard. When you look at a school's stats...that's the average. There are people with much lower GPA/MCAT scores who get invited for interviews (doesn't mean they will get in tho). But anyways, PS is super important from everyone I talked to.

Gurkhali - I'll check them out too, thanks!

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I'm familiar with someone who used this service. Fair warning it's expensive as all hell and every other premed will think you're a massive douche for using it though. She did get a few IIs despite having what I'd consider borderline personality disorder though...so there's that...

http://www.mdadmit.com

 

[MaxPlancker]

What in the world makes you think that..?

Thanks i'll check them out.


I heard the same and it makes sense since every schools get thousands of applications each year. It would take forever reading thousands of PS when majority of them aren't even going to get an interview. So they normally use GPA and MCATs to send invitations and look at your profile holistically (Personal statement/Interview/GPA/MCAT) after the interview. That's why I wanted some professionals to look at my PS.

I can almost guarantee you that's not true for all places. In fact, it might not even be true at the majority of places.

Spoiler

There's no way I get an II at Duke with my stats alone. That's how I know.

That's what I heard. When you look at a school's stats...that's the average. There are people with much lower GPA/MCAT scores who get invited for interviews (doesn't mean they will get in tho). But anyways, PS is super important from everyone I talked to.

Gurkhali - I'll check them out too, thanks!

PS are neutral in almost all cases. Some 98% will be neutral, 1% may break you, and maybe 1% will stand out. There is no likelihood that getting it edited will put your PS in the memorable category; these PS's are from people with solid writing skills who have exceptional life experiences/circumstances. OP, you can have the best writer in the world write your entire PS for you but if you don't have the experiences to make a memorable PS, it won't help you. If you're going to spend money, might as well spend it on something else like interview coaching. Companies feed on the neuroticism and desperation of applicants. Listen to SDN brah.

BTW, I'm pretty sure most PS's do get read prior to interview day.

 

[Versadth]

I'm familiar with someone who used this service. Fair warning it's expensive as all hell and every other premed will think you're a massive douche for using it though. She did get a few IIs despite having what I'd consider borderline personality disorder though...so there's that...

http://www.mdadmit.com

Holy smokes, that's ridiculously expensive. I can literally get a car for that much!!
I'm going to look around but medicinegoal looks interesting and affordable, If anyone has used their service please PM me, thanks!

PS are neutral in almost all cases. Some 98% will be neutral, 1% may break you, and maybe 1% will stand out. There is no likelihood that getting it edited will put your PS in the memorable category; these PS's are from people with solid writing skills who have exceptional life experiences/circumstances. OP, you can have the best writer in the world write your entire PS for you but if you don't have the experiences to make a memorable PS, it won't help you. If you're going to spend money, might as well spend it on something else like interview coaching. Companies feed on the neuroticism and desperation of applicants. Listen to SDN brah.

BTW, I'm pretty sure most PS's do get read prior to interview day.

I highly doubt that. My mom's best friend is on the John Hopkins medical school admission panel and she told me the personal statement is highly valuable information in the selection process, especially when everyone has around the same GPA/stats post-interview. Plus I rather drop a few hundred bucks to get an advantage into my dream medical schools using a solid PS.

 

[MaxPlancker]

I highly doubt that. My mom's best friend is on the John Hopkins medical school admission panel and she told me the personal statement is highly valuable information in the selection process, especially when everyone has around the same GPA/stats post-interview. Plus I rather drop a few hundred bucks to get an advantage into my dream medical schools using a solid PS.

Sure when everyone has the same GPA/stats etc, it comes down to ECs, interview, PS, LORs, etc. The PS can reveal much information valuable to adcoms, such as childhood environment, motivations for medicine, special circumstances, blah. That is why the PS is valuable, not because the PS measures your writing abilities or ability to pay for "high quality" writing. Will having your PS edited contribute any of those things adcoms seek? No.

You won't get into your dream school using a solid PS…hahahaha.

Anyhow, it's your money…we just trying to knock some sense into ya brah.

P.S. as a future (hopefully) doc, when someone tells you something is valuable, try to think of why it's valuable.

 

[kb1900]

I'd suspect that if you're going to use a service for your PS you better use one for every secondary essay considering a stark difference in writing quality, style etc., will be very obvious to an adcom

 

[Toutie]

I'd suspect that if you're going to use a service for your PS you better use one for every secondary essay considering a stark difference in writing quality, style etc., will be very obvious to an adcom

I was just going to say the same thing. OP, better make sure your PS doesn't come back so polished that it doesn't match the writing style and quality of your secondaries.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

I highly doubt that. My mom's best friend is on the John Hopkins medical school admission panel and she told me the personal statement is highly valuable information in the selection process, especially when everyone has around the same GPA/stats post-interview. Plus I rather drop a few hundred bucks to get an advantage into my dream medical schools using a solid PS.

At a school like Hopkins where they have their pick of the 80+ LizzyM, multiple first author pubs, previous Olympic athletes then yea PS starts to be come an important way to stratify applicants. But I'm guessing you don't fall in this upper eschelon (if you do congrats).

Outside of metrics, most med schools will be looking at your "fit" with their institution, which is usually conveyed in the "why X SOM" secondary essay. They don't care so much why you want to go to a Med school, but rather why you want to THEIR med school. Perhaps instead pay to have your 1-3 most important secondary essays edited instead?

I'd suspect that if you're going to use a service for your PS you better use one for every secondary essay considering a stark difference in writing quality, style etc., will be very obvious to an adcom

Just wanted to say he plans on using an editing service not a writing service. So in theory the writing style shouldn't change much down the line.

Also OP, keep in mind that editing services are ethically dubious and writing services are downright plagiarism. Depending on what they provide and how you use it, it could be grounds for getting an acceptance rescinded.

Dollar for dollar I still think this is a stupid idea, but if it'll help you sleep at night more than the extra beers you could buy with the cash, go for it I guess lol.

 

[Versadth]

Thanks for the insight everyone. @The Knife & Gun Club You made a lot of good points and thank-you for pointing them out.

I still think it's worth using an editing service, most people use them for their college applications and so why not for medical school applications? My brother graduated from Harvard med (HMS) and he applied with decent stats and he wasn't an olympian, just a normal kid, but he made the effort to go an extra mile to do everything he could to improve his application. I guess if that's going to get me into a good med school, that's what I'm going to have to do. But yea i'll do a lot of research before I pick one, thanks everyone

 

[PatchAdams25]

Thanks for the insight everyone. @The Knife & Gun Club You made a lot of good points and thank-you for pointing them out.

I still think it's worth using an editing service, most people use them for their college applications and so why not for medical school applications? My brother graduated from Harvard med (HMS) and he applied with decent stats and he wasn't an olympian, just a normal kid, but he made the effort to go an extra mile to do everything he could to improve his application. I guess if that's going to get me into a good med school, that's what I'm going to have to do. But yea i'll do a lot of research before I pick one, thanks everyone

Let us know which one you pick, just out of curiosity!

 

[Ladybug_95]

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[Edwardting]

I was wondering if anyone know any personal statement editing service for AMCAS applications or personal statements? I think I have borderline OCD so I want to reach as close to perfection as I can haha. Also I'm hoping to submit my application by the end of the month, would this be late if i'm applying with a 3.79 cGPA / 3.81 sGPA? Thank-you!

Sorry I'm weighing a little late but I HIGHLY recommend edityour.net! I've used them a couple times and they really helped me transform my essay and guide me on what to include and what to leave out. They were really quick too, which was helpful. I feel much more confident about my personal statement thanks to them.

 

[AirplaneFruit]

Sorry I'm weighing a little late but I HIGHLY recommend edityour.net! I've used them a couple times and they really helped me transform my essay and guide me on what to include and what to leave out. They were really quick too, which was helpful. I feel much more confident about my personal statement thanks to them.

Can these accounts be banned? Two posts ever and both are shilling for this website.

 

[Edwardting]

Can these accounts be banned? Two posts ever and both are shilling for this website.

Just trying to be helpful since I actually felt like I could contribute on this subject. Not a shill.

 

[WedgeDawg]

@ whomever said PS doesn't help you get interviews, that's blatantly false... your PS is read before you are offered the interview at many schools and the interviewer will often discuss your PS with you, particularly if something catches their eye

Also, I definitely agree that it's not worth paying someone to look over your PS. Have a couple people who know you very well help you revise it and then send it off.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I'm familiar with someone who used this service. Fair warning it's expensive as all hell and every other premed will think you're a massive douche for using it though. She did get a few IIs despite having what I'd consider borderline personality disorder though...so there's that...

http://www.mdadmit.com

$350 for making a school list????????

I could literally graduate medical school debt free if I did that...

 

[Versadth]

$350 for making a school list????????

I could literally graduate medical school debt free if I did that...

lmao! That's exactly what I was thinking.

 

[To be MD]

PS are neutral in almost all cases. Some 98% will be neutral, 1% may break you, and maybe 1% will stand out. There is no likelihood that getting it edited will put your PS in the memorable category; these PS's are from people with solid writing skills who have exceptional life experiences/circumstances. OP, you can have the best writer in the world write your entire PS for you but if you don't have the experiences to make a memorable PS, it won't help you. If you're going to spend money, might as well spend it on something else like interview coaching. Companies feed on the neuroticism and desperation of applicants. Listen to SDN brah.

BTW, I'm pretty sure most PS's do get read prior to interview day.

As someone who is a lover of literature and as a writer, I thoroughly disagree with you.

A good writer can transform the mundane into the fascinating.

 

[MaxPlancker]

As someone who is a lover of literature and as a writer, I thoroughly disagree with you.

A good writer can transform the mundane into the fascinating.

Adcoms are not focused much on how the information is presented as long as the key info is conveyed. If you can talk about a mundane experience in an interesting way, then that's great but no matter how you portray the mundane experience, the experience itself is not an experience that will get you "points".

 

[To be MD]

Adcoms are not focused much on how the information is presented as long as the key info is conveyed. If you can talk about a mundane experience in an interesting way, then that's great but no matter how you portray the mundane experience, the experience itself is not an experience that will get you "points".

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you, too .

 

[MaxPlancker]

I'm going to respectfully disagree with you, too .

You can disagree all you want but you should at least provide a reason for your disagreement. The truth hurts sometimes but you have to face it.

 

[To be MD]

You can disagree all you want but you should at least provide a reason for your disagreement. The truth hurts sometimes but you have to face it.

Easy there, tiger.

Read the The Trial by Kafka if you want to have an example of making the petty frustration of bureaucracy into one of the world's most loved and fascinating novels.

Yes, it matters what you do, but it matters equally how well you describe something. Just because you worked in a hospital doesn't mean a whole lot unless you can communicate (1) what you did there and (2) what you learned.

Additionally, something not-so exciting can be transformed into something extraordinary if a talented writer is the one doing the work (Exhibit A: found above).

 

[MaxPlancker]

Easy there, tiger.

Read the The Trial by Kafka if you want to have an example of making the petty frustration of bureaucracy into one of the world's most loved and fascinating novels.

Yes, it matters what you do, but it matters equally how well you describe something. Just because you worked in a hospital doesn't mean a whole lot unless you can communicate (1) what you did there and (2) what you learned.

Additionally, something not-so exciting can be transformed into something extraordinary if a talented writer is the one doing the work (Exhibit A: found above).

Reread what you wrote. That is all that is needed for a medical school application. You do not have to be a great writer to communicate what you did and learned. That is the info that adcoms are looking for. Yet, if your experience is mundane, it will not wow them, no matter how excellent your writing skills, because it is not possible for anything taken from that experience to wow someone on the level of an experience such as overcoming homelessness or growing up in a refugee camp etc.

 

[Versadth]

Reread what you wrote. That is all that is needed for a medical school application. You do not have to be a great writer to communicate what you did and learned. That is the info that adcoms are looking for. Yet, if your experience is mundane, it will not wow them, no matter how excellent your writing skills, because it is not possible for anything taken from that experience to wow someone on the level of an experience such as overcoming homelessness or growing up in a refugee camp etc.

I'm going to have to agree with To be MD. My brother who got into Harvard Med didn't have anything spectacular and yet his personal statement was amazing. There will always be things you forget to have on your PS that you would never have thought about unless someone who has looked at hundreds of PS looked at it, they can easily point out flaws, red flags and missing components in seconds. That's why it's better to get it edited by a professional.

 

[MaxPlancker]

I'm going to have to agree with To be MD. My brother who got into Harvard Med didn't have anything spectacular and yet his personal statement was amazing. There will always be things you forget to have on your PS that you would never have thought about unless someone who has looked at hundreds of PS looked at it, they can easily point out flaws, red flags and missing components in seconds. That's why it's better to get it edited by a professional.

Plus this is your personal statement for medical school (way more important than your college applications) for crying out loud!!!!!!!!!! It blows my mind how people on this forum take PS lightly and are comfortable going to a substandard school than their full potential just for a few hundred bucks.

The things you mention are distinct from great writing skills. Yes, it is important to have someone look over your PS but that's not what I am pointing out to TobeMd.

 

[Versadth]

Let us know which one you pick, just out of curiosity!

will do

 

[Azete]

The personal statement has an element of importance because it's really your only chance to distinguish yourself (just about every EC you could possibly list is also on many other applications in some form), but I would caution you not to overvalue it. Of the 6 interviews I attended (most with multiple interviewers), not a single person mentioned anything in my personal statement that wasn't in the first or last paragraph. I'm actually good friends now with one of my interviewers at the school I'm attending (our kids spend a lot of time together), and she openly admits she didn't read beyond the first few sentences.

Maybe this isn't the norm, but do the math on the number of applicants and how quickly they send out IIs -- can't possibly read them all in that amount of time.