personal statement re-use

[cookyjar]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I applied to a BS/MD program couple years ago at my school and I had to submit a personal statement. I am planning to apply to that same medical school for Class of 2019. Since they already read my old personal statement, would it be a bad idea to copy/paste for this year's application? I am going to add more info for sure since this is my old personal statement and I have gained more experience, but I am wondering if it is ok to use the exact same words that I used before.

Should I keep the same ideas (since the reasons I want to do medicine shouldn't change too much), but change the wordings slightly?

Thank you!

 

[mrh125]

I applied to a BS/MD program couple years ago at my school and I had to submit a personal statement. I am planning to apply to that same medical school for Class of 2019. Since they already read my old personal statement, would it be a bad idea to copy/paste for this year's application? I am going to add more info for sure since this is my old personal statement and I have gained more experience, but I am wondering if it is ok to use the exact same words that I used before.

Should I keep the same ideas (since the reasons I want to do medicine shouldn't change too much), but change the wordings slightly?

Thank you!

I think it'll be fine if you keep the meaning and most of it the same, but expand upon in it a little to make it more concurrent.

 

[BeancheBlanco]

I don't know if they'll know that it's your same PS, but if they DO recognize it, they probably wouldn't be too happy about that. Essentially, that would be telling them that either you are too lazy to write a new essay or you have done nothing in the last couple years that you deemed influential to your motivations and abilities for becoming a physician.

 

[DokterMom]

You applied BS/MD before and are applying MD now? I take it to mean you didn't get accepted last time.

So you'd want to use the same statement again, uh, why?...

 

[Catalystik]

Should I keep the same ideas (since the reasons I want to do medicine shouldn't change too much), but change the wordings slightly?

a) It didn't work the first time.

b) With your added experiences surely you have more mature perspectives to bring to the table this time around.

 

[cookyjar]

a) It didn't work the first time.

b) With your added experiences surely you have more mature perspectives to bring to the table this time around.

But if I change my ideas too much, wouldn't they think it's odd? For example, if I mentioned in my previous personal statement about how my father's fight against cancer when I was in high school motivated me to go into medicine and I didn't mention that at all and instead included other ideas, wouldn't they think it's odd that my reasons for going into medicine changed?

Shouldn't I include the old ideas and add the new ideas I gained over the years ?

 

[jm192]

But if I change my ideas too much, wouldn't they think it's odd? For example, if I mentioned in my previous personal statement about how my father's fight against cancer when I was in high school motivated me to go into medicine and I didn't mention that at all and instead included other ideas, wouldn't they think it's odd that my reasons for going into medicine changed?

Shouldn't I include the old ideas and add the new ideas I gained over the years ?

Sure. But don't copy and paste the old one. Rewrite it. Try to better analyze yourself and let them see who you are.
Copying and pasting would hint at a lack of growth. You don't want that.

 

[Catalystik]

1) I mentioned in my previous personal statement about how my father's fight against cancer when I was in high school motivated me to go into medicine and I didn't mention that at all and instead included other ideas, wouldn't they think it's odd that my reasons for going into medicine changed?

2) Shouldn't I include the old ideas and add the new ideas I gained over the years ?

1) I think it's fine to retain this important historical event, but I'd bet you could fine-tune why it had this impact on you.

2) Yes, but tear it apart, rebuild it, and ask those with fresh eyes to read it and give opinions. I, too, can become such an admirer of my own prose that I lose perspective and find it impossible to remove unnecessary words or rearrange ideas.