Personal Statements For RN to MD/DO

[DreamBig88]

Hello,
I believe that a strong personal statement is essential in an application. I was looking through sample personal statements and most of them are from traditional students with research experiences or volunteering abroad. I do not have any research experience, but I am working in acute, sub-acute, long term facilities and the community. In any rate, I just want to get an opinion from my fellow nurses as to how they wrote their personal statements. Was it just one particular patient that you focused on or multiple? Was it your passion for learning? Was it a passion to understand the diseases further? How did you incorporate the answer the question as to why you wanted to transition to medical school without saying it in just one sentence? What was your template? Is there a way you could please help me. Also do you have any sample essays? I really need your help. Thanks.

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[childofmercy]

Experiences with patients and especially with doctors-i made it clear that i knew what id be getting into. Also passion for learning, understanding etc. My template was intro to wanting to be a doc + why med (2 descriptive paragraphs with examples) + why im well suited for med (2 descriptive paragraphs w/ exmples) + conconclusion . you can pm if u like, I'd love to help in any way i can 🙂

 

[BorntobeDO?]

Hello,
I believe that a strong personal statement is essential in an application. I was looking through sample personal statements and most of them are from traditional students with research experiences or volunteering abroad. I do not have any research experience, but I am working in acute, sub-acute, long term facilities and the community. In any rate, I just want to get an opinion from my fellow nurses as to how they wrote their personal statements. Was it just one particular patient that you focused on or multiple? Was it your passion for learning? Was it a passion to understand the diseases further? How did you incorporate the answer the question as to why you wanted to transition to medical school without saying it in just one sentence? What was your template? Is there a way you could please help me. Also do you have any sample essays? I really need your help. Thanks.

I suggest staying away from 'passion for learning' as a reason to go to med school. I definitely agree that talking about personal experiences with people/situations/whatever that have lead you to the decision to apply to medical school is the way to go. Your essay should tell them how you, a nurse, arrived at the decision that you wanted to goto medical school. Stay away from statements like 'I can do so much more good as a physician,' as these will not impress in interviews and will give the impression that you devalue nursing (which is something that admissions is actually trying to discourage, despite the obvious malignancy contained here on SDN).

My essay basically boiled down to: 1. I can see myself nowhere else except the medical field. Nursing has confirmed that healthcare is the field for me 2. I want to be a doctor/have the highest level of expertise/education 3. I want to have my own practice someday and I feel it would be doing my patients a disservice if I did that as a NP. Some of those reasons don't sound as pretty as 'I want to help people.' And indeed I do want to help people. But med admissions expects more than that. They are not dumb, they want real reasons other than being altruistic (which you should definitely mention if you are, but they want more than just that).

So make your personal statement a journey of how you came to want to pursue medicine. If you do that, and make your story compelling. You will get some love. Also rock the MCAT. I wish I had done better as I feel it was the only thing that kept me from an MD admission (I had 4 MD interviews, but all eventually ended in rejection after several waitlists). I am not a DO hater at all (after all I am going to a DO school), but life is easier in the MD world, tuition is generally cheaper, rotations are better set up, financial aid is actually available other than loans, residency's give you at least some preference in most fields.

Nursing experience is a plus for most medical schools in my experience (moreso for DO than MD IMO, but still a plus both places). So you have that going for you! Good luck.