Personal Statement - Questions

[futuredoctor10]

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I am trying to brainstorm ideas for my personal statement and start writing it in the coming weeks.

1. Did you guys use books that include sample personal statements? Which ones would you recommend using/buying?

2. Would you recommend looking at other people's PS for ideas or not? Should we just try writing on our own?

I thought it would be useful to read some just to get a feel for various personal statements. If anyone is willing to let me read yours, please send me a PM.

Thanks!

 

[sevenmints]

I had my advisor send me her personal statement and those of her friends. They were excellently written, so it helped a lot. If you don't have those resources available to you, I think a book might help. However, it is important to remember that the PS is a way to express your personality and insights and not a result of some formula that a book may try to provide. Best of luck!

 

[dw2158]

I am trying to brainstorm ideas for my personal statement and start writing it in the coming weeks.

1. Did you guys use books that include sample personal statements? Which ones would you recommend using/buying?

2. Would you recommend looking at other people's PS for ideas or not? Should we just try writing on our own?

I thought it would be useful to read some just to get a feel for various personal statements. If anyone is willing to let me read yours, please send me a PM.

Thanks!

i had a lot of trouble getting started. two books i'd recommend are this one and this one. definitely don't buy them; just check them out of the library and peruse before returning. i found that having examples started to get my juices flowing. i'd read someone's and think, "oh, i could write about my (activity) in the same context that they wrote about their (activity)." or "that was a cool stylistic touch. maybe i could do a similar (cool thing) when i talk about (whatever)." you get the idea. basically i just needed something to jump start my process.

be warned, though: don't read the ones in these books and get all freaked out that these people did such crazy cool things before applying to med school. i find it's more helpful to think about how they're talking/writing about what they've done and using that as inspiration to brainstorm about my own experiences that could engender similar levels of passion in me and my readers.

 

[futuredoctor10]

Thanks guys! I plan to work on writing a unique/creative personal statement and use my own experiences, without trying to fit any particular type/style or "formula."

dw2158, I will check out those books. Basically I hope to use other statements just for general style issues and sample examples, to help jumpstart the process, as you have mentioned which you found useful...

 

[Dr. Geoff]

I had a few book I read/skimmed over concerning the PS. And like the other poster mentioned, they were good at giving you ideas and perspectives about writing it and also getting your creative juices movin'.

Something I would advise is, take your time, start early, and let people read it (Important!). I took a few months on mine, bouncing around diffrent ideas etc... and after I finally got it done where it was a draft, I gave it to a bunch of people, family, friends, pre-med advisor etc to look over for updates, advice, mistakes. You would be suprised what they'll give you, and find. In fact, I wasn't sure if I was gonna send it to my advisor, but she gave me some great advise and I ended up making some major changes because of it.