personal statement

[futurepredent92]

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Hey everyone,

I am a science major and really need help getting started on my personal statement. I just switched from premed to predental two years ago for background info. I read forms and different dental school websites on the PS but I am still struggling to start or where to start. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[kayden28]

I believe ADEA AADSAS provides some guidelines on what personal statements typically include. I reviewed those questions/guidelines so I had an understanding of what they were looking for, then I closed that page so I wouldn't be stuck on strictly answering their questions in order. I thought about which of my experiences were most interesting, most relevant and most formative for my interest in dentistry. Then I freely wrote. Don't worry about the character limit too much at this point or typos and errors or formatting (but don't write pages and pages either of course).. at this stage, you just want to write freely to get all your ideas down and let things flow naturally. After that, you can begin the editing process and cut out what's irrelevant/redundant, add in new things or tie your experiences together better. The hardest part is probably getting started by as long as you kinda have an outline of what points you want to hit, it'll get easier!

 

[amedawg]

If I were you, I would look into possibly getting a consultation from a professional editing service online. They're really helpful!
I just used them for my personal statement, and it made a world of a difference! I used gurufi.com and got Brian to help me. I just searched online to find what I felt like might be my best option and this ended up being perfect! It is well worth spending the money for.

 

[Cello]

Doc Toothache is helpful and free, just PM him your personal statement.

I had four people edit / review mine, and it was difficult to please everyone, but I think it was worth it.

 

[super frank]

Just start writing about your experiences. My first draft was pretty awful, but I had some good content in there just from my experiences. By the fourth or fifth draft it was up to my standard. You'd be surprised by what you come up with.

Also, I agree with @Cello, get as many people as you can to look at it. I shared it on the forums too. Doc took a look at it and responded back with some good grammatical/word choice things. I sent it to Muhammed but he never got back to me, lol. If you know any good writers, definitely try to get it in their hands. My girlfriend's mom went to Wharton for her MBA and is into advertising, so she was invaluable.

Almost forgot to mention... Looking at old PS will be of help. The Duke pre-dental health society was a helpful resource, they had good personal statements and comments on there so you can get an idea of the formatting and organization required. Obviously, don't copy it verbatim... Creativity goes a long way, but it can help you if your mind is in a rut.