personal statement material: good or SOB story

[Gene&tonic]

Hi all, I'm considering to discuss the following experiences in my PS but don't want it to come off as a SOB story

1. not making my middle school baseball team ( was a turning point that motivated me to work harder and eventually earn the opportunity to pitch in college. Moreover, the 18 years I've spent playing baseball taught me many life lessons that have helped me immensely on this path.)

2. Brain tumor misdiagnosis (what initially motivated me to become a doctor at the age of 18)

3. the loss of a close friend who committed suicide (sophomore year of college)

while this loss haunted me for years, I feel compelled to write about it as it motivated me to become more aware about mental health and extend a hand of support to people who were previously in my periphery. also, I have many clinical experiences where the empathy I gained from 2 & 3 have helped me to make an impact on others. while 3 doesn't answer the question "why medicine?", it does call me to be a doctor who is an advocate for others and one who better supports his colleagues.

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[chilly_md]

You could use #2 and then dig into your clinical experiences. #1 doesn't fit with why medicine and marking down collegiate baseball as a most meaningful in the activities section would be a better way to talk about your time playing the game.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums. What do you intend to write for Other Impactful Experiences?

 

[Med Ed]

I will disagree somewhat with my colleague above, and say #1 could be useful in the PS. The mantra on SDN is that the PS should address the question "why medicine?" While that's true, it is also an opportunity for the reader to get to know you who you are. That's the personal element of the personal statement. And if you played for 18 years and pitched at the college level I would actually find it odd to have that not mentioned at all in the PS.
I would also incorporate #2.

The hard part now is writing about these things effectively. Most personal statements read like pitches (no pun intended) for Hallmark movies, and reading them gets tedious.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I agree, I think any of these could be reasonable, but they probably do not all fit together in one coherent essay. Keep in mind that this is not your ONLY opportunity to share important stories to you, so you may want to go with one or two in your PS and then find places on your secondary essays (or other impactful experiences essay) to include these other stories.

My general advice is that you should write about the things you would actually like to talk about in an interview setting in your PS. Your interviewers may or may not extensively read your secondary essays, but almost all of them will at least skim your PS. So lead with your best 1-2 stories.