Personal Statement Writing Process

[Lifeblood_20]

Hello, I wanted to get some insight regarding how people worked on their PS.
I didn't have an epiphany moment that led me to medicine, but rather a series of little things since my upbringing that helped me appreciate the elements of a medical career and led me to explore the career path. From what I've experienced, I think I am a good fit. I am finding the PS hard to write, because I have many ideas that can't be fully elaborated on in 5300 characters. I am currently trying to just word vomit everything that comes to my mind and deciding on a clear theme to stick to.
Does anyone have any suggestions/advice?

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[Oedipa Maas]

My medical school personal statement was similar to what you are describing - a series of little things. My residency personal statement was much more cohesive and I am considerably happier with it. One thing that helped me write my residency one was writing my statement and then minimizing that draft and writing a completely separate draft without looking at the previous one. I think I did this maybe four times total and it really helped me synthesize my ideas into something more coherent and polished.

This year I helped my school screen applications and I will say that there is something inherently pleasing about a well-written statement that has a clear theme and everything coming together at the end. That's not to say that you have to write about just one experience, but try and find a common thread throughout your experiences to reflect upon.

If your experiences are relatively diverse, see which ones fit together and maybe write a couple of different personal statements and choose the best one to develop further. It's ok if you don't have EVERY single reason in your statement, you can write about some things in your experiences section and/or talk about them during interviews.

 

[Lifeblood_20]

My medical school personal statement was similar to what you are describing - a series of little things. My residency personal statement was much more cohesive and I am considerably happier with it. One thing that helped me write my residency one was writing my statement and then minimizing that draft and writing a completely separate draft without looking at the previous one. I think I did this maybe four times total and it really helped me synthesize my ideas into something more coherent and polished.

This year I helped my school screen applications and I will say that there is something inherently pleasing about a well-written statement that has a clear theme and everything coming together at the end. That's not to say that you have to write about just one experience, but try and find a common thread throughout your experiences to reflect upon.

If your experiences are relatively diverse, see which ones fit together and maybe write a couple of different personal statements and choose the best one to develop further. It's ok if you don't have EVERY single reason in your statement, you can write about some things in your experiences section and/or talk about them during interviews.

Thanks for the thoughtful reply; I will try writing separate drafts. I keep thinking I gotta present all my ideas in one draft, but I see that keeping the scope more limited helps to keep the message clearer.