Personal statement: should I read others' first ?

[deleted158872]

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When I was clueless, I thought reading others' PS may help me come up with my own. But reading theirs may make me lose my OWN self, not to mention the inferiority complex (reading their already-glowing, well-polished essays).
But if I don't read examples, I don't know how to make mine stand out.
So in the end, is it better to or NOT to read others' essays BEFORE you write your own ? 🙄 How was it to you ?

 

[chad5871]

I think it was helpful for me to, because I could look at the other statements to see what worked and what didn't - and then I tried to incorporate the stuff that worked into my PS and avoided the stuff that didn't.

But I can definitely see how it'd be very distracting for some.

 

[armybound]

Well, the whole review of others and of your own work is a little iffy. On one hand it would be good to see what others write, just so you know if you're way off-base or not.

On the other hand, others might not be trying to get across the same point that you are, so your message may get lost if you take others' advice or direction.

 

[45408]

I wish I had. I would've realized how trite certain portions of my PS were.

 

[schismal]

I highly doubt that reading other people's statements will give you an inferiority complex, given that the vast majority of them are trash. It may, however, reinforce bad writing habits or instill the notion that cliched content is alright or even welcomed simply due to its widespread usage.

 

[doomknight]

read pandabears before u write urs, it's well written with excellent grammar, with nice spanish elements

 

[alwaysaangel]

I think its beneficial a lot of people sort of end up just listing out activities and explaining them - which is really what your activities section is for.

You want to be sure you are discussing why you want to be a doctor and REFLECTING on the activities you did.

Read some but then get rid of them and don't let them necessarily determine what you put in yours.

Don't worry about making your PS stand out - who you are, what you did, and what you write about in your PS should make you stand out. So that shouldn't be too effected by reading other PSs. Figure out how YOU are different than other applicants and pitch that. If YOU stand out then your PS will stand out.

 

[URHere]

This may not apply so much to med school admissions, but when I worked as a TA/writing coach at my school we would always advise students to write at least a rough draft of their own assignment before reading someone else's. The idea behind that was that whenever students read other people's work first they almost always end up inadvertently plagiarizing at least part of it (using the same wording as the other person, or the same flow of ideas).

I think you would benefit more from writing yours first, and then reading over some others before you make final revisions (if you read others at all). The goal is to write about yourself in an honest and unique way, and I think you could lose some of that by reading other personal statements right off the bat.

 

[bozz]

I borrowed a book a while ago that had 40/50 personal statements of people who got into Harvard medical school. Very very very useful.

 

[Dulcina]

mehh i feel like i sort of lost my own message when reading others. It probably helped with the style, but hurt the content. Not a good tradeoff for me, but oh well 🙄

 

[RSAgator]

i'd suggest writing a rough draft first, having it critiqued, and then reading some samples. A poster on SDN read my rough draft and basically told me it was ****e. I hadn't read a PS before so I didn't entirely know what to write about but said poster echoed much of the advice in this thread and so I essentially scrapped my first ps (a recitation of my activities), read a few samples online (not exceptional ones but they gave me a rough idea what i should have been doing) and then went to write my own. It came out well i think but still needed a lot of touching up. I think that's the way to do it, it helps you know what not to do, to have an idea of where you want to go, and to develop that idea and slowly figure out yourself how you want to get there. Good luck.

 

[scarterinscrubs]

Anyone know where I can find a variety of PS's?

Regardless, I am tired of it and about to submit my application. (That is when I get enough money)

 

[fireflygirl]

I think its beneficial a lot of people sort of end up just listing out activities and explaining them - which is really what your activities section is for.

You want to be sure you are discussing why you want to be a doctor and REFLECTING on the activities you did.

Read some but then get rid of them and don't let them necessarily determine what you put in yours.

Don't worry about making your PS stand out - who you are, what you did, and what you write about in your PS should make you stand out. So that shouldn't be too effected by reading other PSs. Figure out how YOU are different than other applicants and pitch that. If YOU stand out then your PS will stand out.

👍 I totally agree!

You don't have to worry about standing out. Everyone has a story, no matter how dull or unique you think it is, and people think they need have to saved the world or set up their own organizations for their PS to be considered unique. I have read a ton of personal statements in the last few months and what has made ones stand out for me are those that are super honest and very genuine in their interest and the way they express their journey to medical school.

As for pre-reading others' personal statements, I picked up a book from the bookstore and just flipped through it to see the format or what people were talking about. I believe I also read an article on SDN on how to write a personal statement or what should go into it. After that, I took chances and put something together and had my advisor involved in helping me tweak it.

I also think that there are some great PS readers on SDN. Reach out and get their opinion as well!

 

[deleted158872]

All your advices are valuable to me.

@Fireflygirl: being super genuine, definitely, but super honest ? I want to believe it will work great, but thinking of it, do you think applicants usually polish themselves far more than they appear in real life ?! Is it just an art-of-writing .. ?

 

[schismal]

All your advices are valuable to me.

@Fireflygirl: being super genuine, definitely, but super honest ? I want to believe it will work great, but thinking of it, do you think applicants usually polish themselves far more than they appear in real life ?! Is it just an art-of-writing .. ?

Listen to fireflygirl. She's a good'un. 👍

 

[UTnut]

Definitely agree in regards to fireflygirl. She did a wonderful job critiquing my PS!

 

[Textuality]

Hehe, maybe SDN can make a database of donated PS's from successful applicants. Might be helpful? I'd be willing to donate mine if they wanted it, lol.


But yeah, I read some PS's from a book before I started writing mine as well, just because I didn't really know what they were supposed to be like.

 

[chad5871]

Hehe, maybe SDN can make a database of donated PS's from successful applicants. Might be helpful? I'd be willing to donate mine if they wanted it, lol.


But yeah, I read some PS's from a book before I started writing mine as well, just because I didn't really know what they were supposed to be like.

Not a bad idea...

 

[schismal]

Hehe, maybe SDN can make a database of donated PS's from successful applicants. Might be helpful? I'd be willing to donate mine if they wanted it, lol.

I like it.

 

[Textuality]

And maybe it could be like Digg, where we can vote and stuff, so the ones that people like/think were good/helpful are near the top? Or do you think that'd be mean?

Haha, this is all speculation, I don't even know who's in charge of databases and stuff like that on SDN? The Mods? How many people would be willing to donate their PS? Maybe I should make a poll to see if it's even a viable idea?

 

[fireflygirl]

All your advices are valuable to me.

@Fireflygirl: being super genuine, definitely, but super honest ? I want to believe it will work great, but thinking of it, do you think applicants usually polish themselves far more than they appear in real life ?! Is it just an art-of-writing .. ?

Thanks to everyone for the kind comments - I'm touched! 😍

Maruko, not exactly sure what you are asking but I might have an idea. Do people exaggerate or lie on their personal statements? I'm fairly sure. I would like to believe, however, that these people get caught when asked to discuss their experiences during an interview. I do hope that for those that are honest in their PS, that they are rewarded well. I don't think that the adcoms are looking for master writers - but they are looking for someone that is able to share their journey in a way that is accessible and shows the true character of the writer. I think if you are able to write a good PS, and you are genuine and reflective in your intentions, it will shine through. I think it's amazing how it's often easy to see through bull**** - I consider myself a seasoned writer and reader and I often told people what experiences I thought were appropriate for a PS and what I thought just didn't work because it sounded arrogant, insincere...etc

I do think there is something unique in every PS though no matter how boring you might think your life may be. That's where it is helpful to have others to look at your PS because they may be able to see your story between the lines; something that the writer might have a harder time doing.

I hope this answered your questions and concerns!

 

[neuro1617]

I borrowed a book a while ago that had 40/50 personal statements of people who got into Harvard medical school. Very very very useful.

Do you know the title/author?

Was it Essays That Worked for Medical Schools: 40 Essays...to the Nation's Top Medical Schools by Baer?

 

[Depakote]

All your advices are valuable to me.

@Fireflygirl: being super genuine, definitely, but super honest ? I want to believe it will work great, but thinking of it, do you think applicants usually polish themselves far more than they appear in real life ?! Is it just an art-of-writing .. ?

Contrary to what I said in my personal statement, I did not pass for an NFL career record 442 touchdowns. That was Brett Favre.

 

[HoboCommander]

I think you should write your own first, then read the PS's of others for inspiration, then write another draft.

 

[MsJLewis]

Essays That Worked for Medical Schools: 40 Essays...to the Nation's Top Medical Schools by Baer

I got this book before I sat down to write a PS mainly because I was pressed for time (it was mid-July), didn't know what the heck a good/solid PS looked like, and didn't want to waste my time writing up thousands of drafts which I would never use. In my opinion, it was a great idea since I didn't know how creative we could get in a PS and this book had some interesting examples which got the creative juices flowing. Don't use it as a crutch but as a kick in the butt to get going.

 

[armybound]

I got this book before I sat down to write a PS mainly because I was pressed for time (it was mid-July), didn't know what the heck a good/solid PS looked like, and didn't want to waste my time writing up thousands of drafts which I would never use. In my opinion, it was a great idea since I didn't know how creative we could get in a PS and this book had some interesting examples which got the creative juices flowing. Don't use it as a crutch but as a kick in the butt to get going.

I also read the book. It had some good ideas in how to get started, but some of the examples were so crazy that I could never see myself using them. One of them was all about rowing and had nothing to do with this guy's motivation to go into medicine. Good essay, I just didn't see how it was relevant at all.

 

[dienekes88]

I didn't, and if I were you... I wouldn't.

Cryptomnesia is pretty close to plagiarism.

Just avoid being trite. You can usually tell when it's happening...