Personal statement help.....

[smurf528]

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I have no clue on what to write my personal statement on and I have been stuck for days.

I plan on putting my experiences in China where I went to orphanages to visit children and teens. I want to put this on it because I have been thinking of becoming a pedodontist and I would love to go overseas to help. Is this good at all?? I'm trying to tie it in with dentistry and my shadowing experiences.

 

[Vicviper]

What did you see when you were shadowing? Did you work with kids at all? If so, there's your tie in right there. It reminded you of the china experience, and how the most in need of dental care are the children who's parents can't afford dental insurance.

I volunteered as a dental assistant at a non-profit children's dental clinic (St. Jude in CA), and seeing so many kids in such dire need really inspired me to want to help, and I wrote about that at length in my PS, and I thought it really expressed my passion and dedication.

 

[smurf528]

I haven't shadowed a pediodontist but I will definitely look into that. I have shadowed a couple General Dentists and I have shadowed a periodontist.

Did you have a lot of dental experience before hand to be a dental assistant? I don't think I'll be able to assist but I think shadowing will be fine.

I just recently thought about this. I was thinking about orthodontics too but I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

[Mamona]

There is a book called “Essays that will get you into medical school”. I like this book because it gave me a lot of ideas, and also helped me with activities I didn’t even remember I did.
Mention to go to pedo in your essay, I heard, it’s not a good idea, especially if you have not shadow a pedo. It's better to mention why dentistry in general because you will rotate through all the specialties in DS and you will get a better sense of the different options. Maybe in your interview if something like why go to China and help kids, you can mention that maybe you will be interested in become a pedo, but you will like to start dental school and make a decision when you have more experience about your specialty.

 

[smurf528]

There is a book called “Essays that will get you into medical school”. I like this book because it gave me a lot of ideas, and also helped me with activities I didn’t even remember I did.
Mention to go to pedo in your essay, I heard, it’s not a good idea, especially if you have not shadow a pedo. It's better to mention why dentistry in general because you will rotate through all the specialties in DS and you will get a better sense of the different options. Maybe in your interview if something like why go to China and help kids, you can mention that maybe you will be interested in become a pedo, but you will like to start dental school and make a decision when you have more experience about your specialty.

So are you saying that I should omit my China experience from my PS?

 

[Vicviper]

If you experience in China truly motivated and inspired you to want to help people, and thus be interested in a field where you can directly help people, I think it should be a central point of your PS.

 

[Mazz]

sounds like a great topic for your PS.

 

[Mamona]

So are you saying that I should omit my China experience from my PS?

No, not at all like vicviper said, it should be your main point in your essay. I am just saying make it shine, use it to show all the wonderful qualities you have instead of boxing it into I want to do pedo.

 

[Vicviper]

Er, didn't I say he should use it if it inspired him, as it sounded like it did? I didn't mean to suggest that you should use it as a ploy to say that you want to do pedo.

I centered my PS about a key inspirational point in my life, and if you think this was your inspirational point in life, it might be a good idea to do the same, but it's really up to you.

 

[smurf528]

First of all I am a female.

Secondly, I am planning on putting it in and I'll follow all of your advices to not say I want to do pedo in my PS. I was just giving it as an example because I also want to do ortho. I just wanted to say that the experience for me was life changing in that seeing those children and other residents around the area who were poor and didn't have any access to health/dental care or couldn't afford it.

This personal statement is stressing me out....

 

[Vicviper]

Hehe, sorry, he, she, same difference on the internet! =p

What you said sounds good. Don't stress, you've got plenty of time left.