Personal Statement vs. Secondary app. essay

[mcqueen81]

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What themes are looked for in the personal statement that is submitted on the amcas? Do they want to hear why i want to become a doctor, and the story behind it? If so, then what do u guys submit when you receive the secondary application and it asks for a brief personal statement? Do you just rehash what you had on the amcas?

 

[GujuMD]

personal statement- why you want to be a doctor

secondary- why you want to go to their school, some schools have more than one essay- but usually it is relating to their schools and some ask more general questions-i remember one question was to describe two events that motivated me to be a doctor.

 

[RxnMan]

What themes are looked for in the personal statement that is submitted on the amcas? Do they want to hear why i want to become a doctor, and the story behind it? If so, then what do u guys submit when you receive the secondary application and it asks for a brief personal statement? Do you just rehash what you had on the amcas?

For the PS, I wrote about my journey to deciding to become a doc as well as the difficulties I encountered in ugrad - one led to the other.

Some themes that they'd like to see: personal growth, desire for life-long learning, maturity, interest in helping others/community, evidence of empathy, etc.

For the secondaries, they vary from school to school. Each one has their own mission and they will ask questions that reflect that. Another common question found on secondaries is 'Why our college?' Most people honestly say that they'd go anywhere they were accepted. But there must have been some reason why you looked at the school in the first place, right? So do some more research into whatever caught your eye and write about that.

 

[mcqueen81]

Thanks for the feedback!

So the "brief personal statement" on the secondaries basically is asking: why do you want to go to our school? And unless stated otherwise that is the question i should answer?

Cool, thanks

 

[RxnMan]

Thanks for the feedback!

So the "brief personal statement" on the secondaries basically is asking: why do you want to go to our school? And unless stated otherwise that is the question i should answer?

Cool, thanks

Sort of. I have tons of extra essays/story material, so when faced with an open-ended question, I would use a story different than my PS and try to link it to my desire to practice medicine and how XYZ school would provide me a chance to do so.