personal statements for reapplicants?

[ramzax]

i've heard that we should write new personal statements as reapplicants, but a part of me feels that be really ingenuine. am i supposed to invent a new life story to illustrate why i wanted to become a doctor? or sort of loosely talk about how my interim year further inspired me to become one (less compelling of a story for sure)?

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[sedaniel]

I'm a reapplicant too, and I wrote the usual "why medicine" my first cycle. This time around I wrote about the problems with my previous application and what I did to fix them (for example, problem: crappy uGPA; solution: enter BMS masters program and kick a** in it). I tied all of this into one of my most important clinical experiences and I had three adcom members read over my PS. They all said it was great because it was so different than the generic "why medicine" essays that they see so many of each cycle.

Hope that helps!

 

[NickNaylor]

No, you shouldn't invent a new life story. If your story is genuine then that's what you should talk about. I think you should only revamp your PS if you know it was bad or received bad feedback about it.

 

[cdmarshbu]

A general rule of thumb is "if it didn't work the first time don't replicate it on a second or even third application". It's like that pseudo definition of insanity...

 

[ramzax]

well i actually heard my PS was rather good, i'm just inclined to change it if i'm expected to do so?

 

[ramzax]

can i get more suggestions for what reapplicants wrote for their second personal statement?

 

[miniagent007]

When I reapplied I kept most of it the same, but I fixed some things to make it smoother and changed a whole paragraph to reflect new experiences that I had had since the first cycle. It must have worked, because I got into my top choice! You don't have to totally reinvent the wheel unless you really want to. Just think about whether you've had any experiences since your last application that would fit with the point you want to get across better than what you had last year.

 

[JJMrK]

You should include the things you've done since you wrote your original statement and how your year off helped prepare you for medical school.

 

[Brittanyboop115]

I changed my PS a little. I had gone through new experiences since the first app cycle and I wrote about them.

 

[Kaustikos]

No, you shouldn't invent a new life story. If your story is genuine then that's what you should talk about. I think you should only revamp your PS if you know it was bad or received bad feedback about it.

I agree completely. I had my personal statement from 3 years ago and I ended up just deleting a paragraph and adding another one (excluding minor revisions). The concrete details still remained because I didn't need to rely on my resume/application to persuade people.

If your personal statement accurately describes why you want to be a physician, then why change it?

 

[ramzax]

so i ended up adding a short 5-6 sentence paragraph near the bottom with updates regarding my past and future year plans. my advisor said that was a poor decision since adcoms might not even reread my personal statement -- the beginning being practically identical. what do you guys think?