Personal Statement for 2013~2014 cycle

[rollingmedicine]

Hello I am planning to start a rough draft of my personal statement based on what I read on PharmCas 2013 cycle below:

Your Personal Essay should address why you selected pharmacy as a career and how the Doctor of Pharmacy degree relates to your immediate and long-term professional goals. Describe how your personal, educational, and professional background will help you achieve your goals. The personal essay is an important part of your application for admission and provides you with an opportunity for you to clearly and effectively express your ideas.

You are encouraged to compose your essay in a text-only word processor (e.g., Notepad), review your essay for errors, then cut and paste the final version into the text box above. Click the Save button and then return to the Personal Essay to review the formatting of your text. You are limited to approximately 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces). Some formatting characters used in programs like Word (angled quotes, accents, special characters) will not display properly. Take care to review your final text and to make the necessary corrections to the format.

Question: This is my first time doing the personal statement in terms of pharmacy school and I was just wondering if there are any advice, opinions and tips that I can receive when I am writing the essay. Maybe some questions that I should keep in mind while I am doing the personal statement?

Any help or previous experience if you already did PharmCas before would be appreciated. Thank you very much!

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[The Recoverer]

Hello I am planning to start a rough draft of my personal statement based on what I read on PharmCas 2013 cycle below:

Your Personal Essay should address why you selected pharmacy as a career and how the Doctor of Pharmacy degree relates to your immediate and long-term professional goals. Describe how your personal, educational, and professional background will help you achieve your goals. The personal essay is an important part of your application for admission and provides you with an opportunity for you to clearly and effectively express your ideas.

You are encouraged to compose your essay in a text-only word processor (e.g., Notepad), review your essay for errors, then cut and paste the final version into the text box above. Click the Save button and then return to the Personal Essay to review the formatting of your text. You are limited to approximately 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces). Some formatting characters used in programs like Word (angled quotes, accents, special characters) will not display properly. Take care to review your final text and to make the necessary corrections to the format.

Question: This is my first time doing the personal statement in terms of pharmacy school and I was just wondering if there are any advice, opinions and tips that I can receive when I am writing the essay. Maybe some questions that I should keep in mind while I am doing the personal statement?

Any help or previous experience if you already did PharmCas before would be appreciated. Thank you very much!

yeah best advice i can give. When I first started writing my state, it took me forever becuase I was initially too worried about the small details and making sure everything was perfect. At first, quickly write your essay with all your ideas in a general format. Then come back and focus on the small details later.

 

[kss1025]

Hello I am planning to start a rough draft of my personal statement based on what I read on PharmCas 2013 cycle below:

Your Personal Essay should address why you selected pharmacy as a career and how the Doctor of Pharmacy degree relates to your immediate and long-term professional goals. Describe how your personal, educational, and professional background will help you achieve your goals. The personal essay is an important part of your application for admission and provides you with an opportunity for you to clearly and effectively express your ideas.

You are encouraged to compose your essay in a text-only word processor (e.g., Notepad), review your essay for errors, then cut and paste the final version into the text box above. Click the Save button and then return to the Personal Essay to review the formatting of your text. You are limited to approximately 1 page (4500 characters, including spaces). Some formatting characters used in programs like Word (angled quotes, accents, special characters) will not display properly. Take care to review your final text and to make the necessary corrections to the format.

Question: This is my first time doing the personal statement in terms of pharmacy school and I was just wondering if there are any advice, opinions and tips that I can receive when I am writing the essay. Maybe some questions that I should keep in mind while I am doing the personal statement?

Any help or previous experience if you already did PharmCas before would be appreciated. Thank you very much!

You will want to write something that makes you stand out, but doesn't seem like an over exaggeration. While you do want to highlight your acheivments, you don't want to sound cocky or conceited. Try focus on positives and progession. For example, I had cancer at one point that caused me to withdraw from several classes. Instead of speaking of the illness in negative terms, I wrote about how the experience made me a stronger person and what it taught me. Also, be concise and to the point. The word limit doesn't seem so small until you're writing!!! The best way to do that is to pick a couple high points that would distinguish your essay and elaborate on just those topics. Some people try to include every last one of their accomplishments and end up just turning their essay into a list, which is rather boring for the admissions commitee. One last thing, make sure you spend some time writing a good and unique introduction. After reading a pile of "I want to be a pharmacist because..." the reader may start to zone out. You want to start off with something interesting so they will be encouraged to read on. I hope this helps! 🙂

 

[kss1025]

yeah best advice i can give. When I first started writing my state, it took me forever becuase I was initially too worried about the small details and making sure everything was perfect. At first, quickly write your essay with all your ideas in a general format. Then come back and focus on the small details later.

I agree. Write what comes to mind, walk away from it for a few weeks, and then come back and review it. Start EARLY!!!!!

 

[owlegrad]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=954585

Links to some examples found here.

 

[rollingmedicine]

Thank you everyone to those that gave me great suggestions!

 

[68quebec]

probably by then you should've finished your PS now but in my opinion, the PS should reflect who you are. You don't have to use fancy, long, smart words. Imagine yourself reading your PS as a faculty member. Do you think your PS expresses well enought about yourself? I hope this helps you better. 😉