personal statement vs. why MD/PhD?

[ohhi]

I have quite a dilemma in writing my application essays. The MD/PhD primary app requires both a personal statement ("why do you want to be a doctor?") and a why MD/PhD essay. I find it impossible to separate the two. I am only applying to MD/PhD programs, and my desire to be a doctor is completely linked to my research interests. Therefore, I've written my personal essay, but it certainly answers the question "why MD/PhD". What should I write in the other essay?!

Keep in mind that there is ALSO a research specific essay...

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[SynBio]

In my personal statement I am writing about my motivation for becoming a physician (personal experiences that made me interested in medicine, how scientific problems that interest me are medically oriented in nature, etc.), the MD/PhD essay more geared towards motivation to become a physician-scientist (why am I interested in and why is medical research important to becoming a physician-scientist, why is MD/PhD optimal over a late bloomer path to becoming a physician-scientist, what are my career goals, etc.) and the research essay talking about my skills, accomplishments, and motivations as a scientist (as well as my research projects of course).

Each essay has a certain theme:
Personal statement: Why be a physician?
MD/PhD essay: Why be a physician scientist?
Significant research essay: Why be a scientist?

You don't have to separate the two (or three) completely, but give each essay more focus to the main theme. BTW to sound cliche, being a physician-scientist requires you to be a physician first and foremost. You don't have to be a physician to be a scientist. You do however, if you want to be a physician-scientist. Also, being a physician-scientist does not require having dual degrees, it may set your career up to run more smoothly, but not necessary. So the two essay can definitely be separated. Talk why being a physician (even if that is being a physician-scientist) is important to you in the personal statement and talk about why the MD/PhD dual program offers better integration of clinical information & basic science, a supportive culture of physician-scientists, and an avenue to translate clinical knowledge into scientific projects in the lab earlier than one may be to achieve through other means (such as PSTP residencies or extended post-doc positions after residency as an M.D.).

Just my two cents.

 

[SynBio]

Hey @bzhou

For the most part I would agree with you. Definitely going to be a lot of stating facts about project details, accomplishments from projects (publications, conferences/symposia attended, etc.), skills implemented in each project (flow cytometry, mammalian culture, microfluidics, etc.).

I do think however, it would not hurt to end each research project/lab experience with a subjective sentence written succinctly about what you gained from your projects/experiences as a researcher. Maybe something not exactly quantifiable like motivation you gained from a project result, ability to cope with lab failure, learning to work with an interdisciplinary team of scientist on a research project.

Again, just my opinion.

 

[mTORC]

Hey @bzhou

For the most part I would agree with you. Definitely going to be a lot of stating facts about project details, accomplishments from projects (publications, conferences/symposia attended, etc.), skills implemented in each project (flow cytometry, mammalian culture, microfluidics, etc.).

I do think however, it would not hurt to end each research project/lab experience with a subjective sentence written succinctly about what you gained from your projects/experiences as a researcher. Maybe something not exactly quantifiable like motivation you gained from a project result, ability to cope with lab failure, learning to work with an interdisciplinary team of scientist on a research project.

Again, just my opinion.

That's what I did and it seems to have worked. Write about your science; that includes your positions, what you got out of it and also the details of the work.

 

[ohhi]

On a related question..
Is it possible that someone will read one essay and not the other? My personal statement has a lot of things that I'd really like the MD/PhD committee to read... can I count on them seeing it? Or will they go straight to the MD/PhD essay?

 

[mTORC]

On a related question..
Is it possible that someone will read one essay and not the other? My personal statement has a lot of things that I'd really like the MD/PhD committee to read... can I count on them seeing it? Or will they go straight to the MD/PhD essay?

My personal statement, MD/PhD statement and research statement were all very distinct. However, although it focused mostly on my passion for medicine, my personal statement did include a sentence or two about a future in research as it relates to patients. I think you can reasonably expect them to read all your essays if they're good and not arduous to read. Make sure your personal statement and MD/PhD do not contain unnecessary / laborious details about your science. Avoid jargon in your research statement as well. In all, all three statements should kinda work together to create a theme and express who you are and what drives you to pursue this career path.

 

[[insertname]]

My personal statement, MD/PhD statement and research statement were all very distinct. However, although it focused mostly on my passion for medicine, my personal statement did include a sentence or two about a future in research as it relates to patients. I think you can reasonably expect them to read all your essays if they're good and not arduous to read. Make sure your personal statement and MD/PhD do not contain unnecessary / laborious details about your science. Avoid jargon in your research statement as well. In all, all three statements should kinda work together to create a theme and express who you are and what drives you to pursue this career path.

What exactly is the research statement? Also, did you completely avoid using technical language, even to describe the skills you've gained?

 

[ohhi]

What exactly is the research statement? Also, did you completely avoid using technical language, even to describe the skills you've gained?

I think that the general consensus is that terminology familiar to a typical physician or biomedical scientist ("promoter", "protein", "sequence", "construct", etc) is totally okay. On the other hand, jargon specific to your field/sub-field (names of proteins/genes, specific assays that are not widely used, details of the system you work on) should be explained and kept to a minimum.

Also, I think it's a bad idea to think of the essay in terms of "skills you've gained", as in, "I have learned to use an FPLC, do PCR, perform western blots", etc. You should really be talking about the strategies you used in designing experiments, directions your project has taken you in, and how you have developed as a *researcher*, not a technician. For that reason, you should not really need technical language.

My personal statement, MD/PhD statement and research statement were all very distinct. However, although it focused mostly on my passion for medicine, my personal statement did include a sentence or two about a future in research as it relates to patients. I think you can reasonably expect them to read all your essays if they're good and not arduous to read. Make sure your personal statement and MD/PhD do not contain unnecessary / laborious details about your science. Avoid jargon in your research statement as well. In all, all three statements should kinda work together to create a theme and express who you are and what drives you to pursue this career path.

Alright. My personal statement and MD/PhD essay both are really about MD/PhD, but I think my personal statement is the overall stronger essay, so I hope they read it .

 

[deleted480308]

"because I never want to not be in school"

 

[Czechtog]

How much did you all include as far as future research plans. I'm hesitant to go too far into specifics beyond expressing interest in developmental bio or neuro. It is hard to say where one will end up after doing rotations in labs. Is it worth going into at all in primary app essays?

 

[ohhi]

Personally, I didn't talk about it. You do have to check boxes as to what PhD programs you are interested in. I think my past research experience speaks for itself on my interests.