Personal Statement, How to Approach (Switched from CS/Math --> Neuro Pre-Med)

[TryingMyBest0]

---

Members don't see this ad.

As the above states-- I switched from CS/Math and eventually settled on neuroscience for my major. I am in my final year of school and have started brainstorming how to frame what I will write.

Is there a point to talking about my previous major? I switched because I felt unfulfilled and wanted to ensure my career was going to be fulfilling.

I also switched into neuroscience because my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, shortly thereafter I joined a research lab that looked at signaling pathways in Alzheimer's Disease. At the same time, I began to see the toll that caregiving was placing on my grandmother, so I took up hospice volunteering (my main clinical experience).

I was wondering people's thoughts on this being the outline of my PS. I never had one a-ha moment, but everything began to fall into place as I learned more about medicine.

 

[0pal]

The most important thing ive heard about the PS is that you have to frame it into a compelling and/or interesting story. I think the idea is good (although I sympathize with your family--grandparent illnesses are very serious and my heart goes out to you and your family). My biggest piece of advice is to just write it out. I wrote like 3 or 4 full drafts of my PS and gave it to people to read. I ended up changing SO MUCH and I got really good feedback from the folks who read mine.

Also I'd recommend Dr. Ryan Gray videos on youtube (esp. the application renovation series, he really outlines the dos and don'ts of PS very well and also the full app in general)

Good luck!!

 

[CoolSocks]

Agree with above, but also when did you change your major? Did it affect your graduation time or explain you lacking certain experiences early on? I had a somewhat similar story for my PS, but it was a post-graduation change. I would spend less time saying why you changed your major and more time saying why you want to be a physician (and briefly mention a step on that path was changing your major if you want to).

 

[stew_md]

As the above states-- I switched from CS/Math and eventually settled on neuroscience for my major. I am in my final year of school and have started brainstorming how to frame what I will write.

Is there a point to talking about my previous major? I switched because I felt unfulfilled and wanted to ensure my career was going to be fulfilling.

I also switched into neuroscience because my grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, shortly thereafter I joined a research lab that looked at signaling pathways in Alzheimer's Disease. At the same time, I began to see the toll that caregiving was placing on my grandmother, so I took up hospice volunteering (my main clinical experience).

I was wondering people's thoughts on this being the outline of my PS. I never had one a-ha moment, but everything began to fall into place as I learned more about medicine.

You don't have to have an ah-ha moment, it could be a period of time where you nurtured an interest, kind of like you described.

My advice is to write out an autobiography word vomit of every single thing you have done in your application, from the first MOMENT you had an inkling of an idea that you wanted to be a doctor to where you are today. What have you done? Shadowed? Volunteered? Worked a clinical job? Write it all down.

When I say word vomit, do exactly that, get everything down, even if it meant recounting every single day that you worked that job, volunteered at that free clinic, or did research in your lab. Think about the days you worked/volunteered that stood out to you, ask yourself why? Write about the patient interactions that made a big impression on you, why? When you shadowed that doctor, what left an impact on you?

Review this word vomit and think about the major themes and reflections that you wrote about. This will help you illuminate what about a career in medicine actually matters to you, maybe its research, maybe is taking care of patients who are less fortunate than yourself maybe its going into a particular specialty, etc.

Then start putting together the PS. My general strategy was the following:

- take the first paragraph to describe where you started, what was the moment or period of time when you started thinking about becoming a doctor and why?
- a few paragraphs detailing experiences you had that furthered your interest in medicine or steered you further to where you are now
- a final short paragraph telling the audience what you hope to accomplish in your career as a result of these previous experiences. It doesn't have to be too specific, it could be very general

revisit and revise over the course of a few months.

tldr; the personal statement should showcase and answer the question "why do you want to go to medical school," and should showcase your journey to how you came to that conclusion. Think about the moments that got you interested in medicine and the experiences that pulled you further down this path and tie them together in a coherent way.