personal statement question

[KatieJune]

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Hello,
I am wondering how you guys did your personal statements. I am almost finished with mine, but I am focusing only on one volunteer experience ( that i've been involved in for 2.5 years) in depth that I feel shows why I want to be a doctor. However, I have other qualifications and I don't want to trivialize them. Do you guys think it would be better to be more broad and try to cover more or just focus on this experience for the AACOMAS essay and explain more later.

Also if anyone would be willing to read my statement, that would be helpful as well. Thanks!

 

[Forensic Chick]

Hi Katie,

This is my first year applying and I have received three secondaries from the three schools I applied to (well, two didn't screen... ). When I was writing my personal statement, I incorporated my many (7) years and thousands of hours of community service into my personal statement. I also have a law background, so I included that in the statement since I'm sure that not too many applicants will have that. I really just tried to make myself stand out from the "normal premed" especially because I didn't have a 4.0 GPA or 40 MCAT score. If you did something unique, write about it! I also discussed my desire to be an osteopathic physican and why. It was really difficult to do since you're limited to a short space -- so I had to get right to the point.

Also remember that you will have more essays to write when you get your secondaries. For the AZCOM secondary, they asked you why they should accept you into their class and why you chose AZCOM -- and they required your resume. Touro asked why your life experiences would make you a good osteopathic physician. Western had 4 essays I believe, one which mirrored Touro's, one asked about community service, one was about your desire to become an osteopathic physician, and I think there was another one... Anyway, my point of all that was just to remember that you will have a chance to expand on what you write.

Good luck! Hope I could help.