General Admissions & OTCAS Personal Statement for Occupational Therapy students who got accepted- Examples

[FutureOT2015]

If anyone has examples of personal statements that they used and got in, can you please submit them if you don't mind? I can't find any online I just need examples of OT/PT to get started.

THANK YOU!! IT IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[skyocean25]

If anyone wants feedback on theirs, I'd be happy to look it over as my time permits. Private message me.

 

[OTWELLNESS]

Admission committees are looking for original work and thought for personal statements from students. I would advise very strongly against "sharing" examples of personal statements among strangers or even friends. I know for a fact that people "borrow" work from examples whether it is intentional or not. This is called plagiarism. Students should safeguard their work and not share it with anyone. It also disturbs me to read that a current OT student is partaking in this. I am sure that the OT faculty from SJSU would not be happy to read this thread.

 

[FutureOT2015]

I totally understand where you are coming from, especially because you do not know me. I have all of my own personal experiences that I am using in my personal statement. Sometimes it is just hard to see if you are on the right path and I wanted to see how up to par I am with other students. I didn't want anyone taking offense. I have medical admission personal statement books, but I wanted to see how many people actually write there essays like the examples they show.

 

[Gemut]

I have to admit, I do not know what admissions committees are "looking for" in a personal statement. I do know there are excellent examples of personal statements that can be of use to those engaged in the process of constructing their own statement. I wrote one as part of an application that led to admission, so it didn't disqualify me at any rate.

One resource I have become accustomed to using in the MSOT program I am enrolled in is Google drive. I highly recommend to anyone who intends to enroll in an MSOT program that you get very comfortable with drive for all your project work. I have shared a folder that you can access with this link. If others want to add files, they are welcome to do so. If you are of the opinion that sharing personal statements is somehow untoward or counter-productive to the goal of gaining acceptance into an MSOT program, please refrain from using the link below. For those interested in taking a look, have at.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B91NKttbRl33WTBsYXpWbUk0Qk0&usp=sharing

 

[c2902]

I don't have any examples to give, but I second the recommendation for Google Drive - everyone in my program uses it, since we're a hybrid curriculum, and we also have a ton of group work. It makes it much easier to work on one document as a group instead of passing around multiple copies.

 

[FutureOT2015]

Thank you so much, it is greatly appreciated. That is good to know. I did have one professor who tried to get us to use Google drive but not everyone did. I will have to familiarize myself with it more.

 

[skyocean25]

Admission committees are looking for original work and thought for personal statements from students. I would advise very strongly against "sharing" examples of personal statements among strangers or even friends. I know for a fact that people "borrow" work from examples whether it is intentional or not. This is called plagiarism. Students should safeguard their work and not share it with anyone. It also disturbs me to read that a current OT student is partaking in this. I am sure that the OT faculty from SJSU would not be happy to read this thread.

OK, then I suppose when my English professor asked me if she could use one of her student's personal statement for her University Statement Workshop ( that got him accepted into a competitive school), would she be worthy of your attitude too?? And what about the many books and services that publish examples of excellent personal statements to help applicants out?

And how about the fact that in my program, an OT faculty encouraged us to read each other's responses to get different perspectives and ideas and emphasized collaboration typically yields better results? Yet we can do that without copying the person's work we are reading.

My point is, you are quick to judge that people will plagiarize intentionally or unintentionally. Yes you are entitled to your opinion, but your tone is condescending and judgmental. You really could express your concerns a different, more respectful way. Some students may just want to feel more at ease by reading examples or have more of a direction to go in. Then, they put it in their own words, style, and structure.

 

[jbat62]

Admission committees are looking for original work and thought for personal statements from students. I would advise very strongly against "sharing" examples of personal statements among strangers or even friends. I know for a fact that people "borrow" work from examples whether it is intentional or not. This is called plagiarism. Students should safeguard their work and not share it with anyone. It also disturbs me to read that a current OT student is partaking in this. I am sure that the OT faculty from SJSU would not be happy to read this thread.

Yes because as we all know in education "borrow"ing anything is forbidden. Please... get real, first plagiarism is when one doesn't document or acknowledge the use of material, it doesn't mean it can not be used to create new one or support ideas. If any any faculty at SJSU wouldn't be happy to read that it is because they them selves are scared of being caught in plagiarism. Honestly, most books, lessons and materials used from lessons to computer programs are build on the work by others, or as you might say plagiarism. Get with the program, we are all here to learn from other, which may include using other ideas to support ours and make new discoveries.

 

[c2902]

After rereading some of these responses, I did want to add that I don't think having people review and critique your work really constitutes the type of sharing that shouldn't be practiced. It's a pretty universal practice for people to have others read their college/graduate application essays, because many people do not write well enough to go about it on their own, and need an outside eye to help them make effective changes. Therefore, while I agree that trying to follow a template of someone else's personal statement is not a very practical or original approach (as admissions committees want to know what makes YOU uniquely qualified to be an OT, in your own words), I DO think it's a good idea to draft something up, and then have a few qualified people look over it and suggest some appropriate changes. As for a "current OT student partaking in this", which I can only interpret as referring to the person who offered to review the OP's statement, I really don't see the issue with this, as the person offering is already in OT school and would not benefit personally from doing so. As long as the person doing the reviewing gives feedback in the forms of ideas to incorporate or change, and does not write any actual content, the onus is on the OP to make changes on their own. I don't think this is the same as plagiarizing. If it were, universities would not have writing centers (which ostensibly do what I am describing) as they would be breaking their own code of conduct.

 

[YogaOT88]

I actually need help with my personal statement as well if anyone is willing to read it? Pleeeeaaasse.

 

[deleted751077]

I actually need help with my personal statement as well if anyone is willing to read it? Pleeeeaaasse.

My advice would be to make your personal statement truly personal. Write about what you're are passionate about and how it got you to where you are today (where you = why do you want to be an OT). However if you would still like a 3rd party opinion, message me and I'll give you my thoughts. (I have an MPH and was just accepted to an OT program, so I am quite familiar with the grad school application process).

 

[kgprospot]

I would be happy to read personal statements and provide feedback. I just went through the process and getting feedback from others along the way helped me greatly. PM me if you need a reader!

And I think it's important to remember that there is no one right answer for the essays. Write your answer to their questions (answer them all), and be prepared to write and rewrite until you are happy. I worked on my essays for a few months. Not being rushed really helped too.