Personal statment: Creative? Daring? Boring?

[ozarka]

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Hi guys...
So I'm in the process of putting together my application, and I'm running into a dilemma. Basically, I love to write and my personal statements are more "essay" in quality. Don't get me wrong - I still address why I'm going into my chosen field, follow a relatively recognizable format, and I'm not trying to do anything outlandish, overly off-the-wall or gauche (hopefully). but the thought of writing a cookie-cutter essay with the standard format absolutely did not gel with me, and I wanted to do something "different". (NO, my essay is not in the form of an H&P or anything crazy...) I kind of like what I finally came up with, drawing an analogy between my chosen field and something pretty unexpected. Then, I also wrote a more "safe" PS just in case, that I just don't like as much but I suppose it's decent. I showed it to a couple of my faculty mentors, and this is what they said: "You write really well, but I'm not sure what residency directors would think." They both seemed to like the blander one, even though to be honest my heart is really with the first more "creative" essay, because I feel like it represents who I really am.

My question is...do you go with your gut feeling on these things? Could something creative and expressive be a plus for you, or is it just better to stick with something safer and boring even if it doesn't show who you really are? The only thing I'm worried about is I'm applying to a few competitive programs and figure my only shot at getting an interview here is on the "unique" factor (i.e. creative, non-traditional, blah blah blah). Is it worth it? Am I being a hopeless romantic? Any input is appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[BillyWitchDoctr]

My faculty advised me to go with conservative in most cases, but honestly I'm not a good creative writer anyway. I think I'd find a faculty member that is involved in the residency admission process to look at them and get their input.

 

[randomedstudent]

I think it would depend somewhat on your chosen specialty. Some fields may be more receptive to creativity than others, but I would venture that for the most part, PD's want clear and to the point, ie. boring. Remember they likely have to go through hundreds, if not thousands, of these and their time is valuable. I am more familiar with surgical specialties since that is what I applied for and I was told by many people that IF your PS even gets read, it will be skimmed for no more than 2 minutes - in most cases they really just don't care. Now this may be completely different for peds or FM, who knows. Anyway, take my opinion for what it's worth which is very little since I'm not a PD, but I would go with boring. Also, remember, your application is just to get you an interview - and you don't want to do anything that might jeopardize that - then you can always try to emphasize your creative side in the interview when discussing hobbies and whatnot.

 

[RexMorganMD]

Think of this in a logical way:
If your personal statement is bland and you are lumped in with many other students you have very little to lose or gain.
If your personal statement is unique and the PD thinks it is nice, you have little to gain.
If your personal statement is unique and the PD thinks you are a weirdo, you have everything to lose.

 

[spumoni620]

That was nicely said, Rex. 👍

But I kind of feel the OPs pain. As someone who likes to write, sticking to a preordained format is kind of stifling. At the same time, I've been told people stress way too much about the personal statement and spend way too long on it, as they are only skimmed, apparently. I've also heard, as has been pointed out, that it rarely makes (but can definitely break) an application.

That said, I'm one of the people who is probably spending way too much time on her PS at the moment.... 🙁

 

[parvas24]

Do you need to include your name , AAMC ID , in the Personal statement ?

Is it important to mention about visa status in Personal statement?😕

Thanx for the advice...

 

[mattorama]

I've had PDs from two different fields tell me to make it bland. Write the same boring BS as everyone else and be "forgettable". It can only hurt you.

With that said, I suck at any sort of essay writing and it is painful for me to even write a boring 1 page summary of myself.

 

[Reillymed]

I say go with the well written one. I too consider myself a better than garbage writer and I gag reading cookie cutter PSes. If the PD hates me because I don't use as many buzz words and have sentences with dependent clauses, well, I don't care. I'll get in somewhere, hopefully a program with more laid back / interesting kids.