PS Help! Alot of experience, not enough room!

[DocMaur]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello all,
This is my first ever post on here. I am working on my personal statement, and just took a look at the actual application on AAMC.
Question: Since there is room to write about work/extracurriculars on the app, should I even include them on the PS?

Background: I was a Navy Corpsman for 6yrs and was fortunate to gain a ton of experience. I don't know how to narrow down to a few specific topics to fit into 5300 characters.
I'm on rough draft #8 and feel like starting all over.
Thanks for your help!

 

[NorthOfBroad]

A personal statement should convey your motivation for medicine. A common pitfall is using it to explain an activity. You are right in noticing that there is an ECs section and you should write in detail about your experiences in that section. Your PS should include representative or important moments from those experiences, what you learned from these moments and how that experience influenced your desire to be a doctor. Well that's what I did anyway.

Regardless you are way ahead of the game, maybe take a break for a little bit. Thank you for your service and best of luck next cycle.

 

[Donald Juan]

You just do, you let people know enough about you and tell your story succinctly. Pick the one aspect about the military or one single experience that you want them to know, make it 1-2 sentences that both explain it and also tells them how it made you want to continue forward in medicine or taught you a lesson. The PS isn't the place for stating a resume and everything you did, you can bullet point that type of stuff in the other sections of the application. I was a Navy Corpsman, too. I just made my PS for residency a few months ago and somehow it seemed easier, even though I crammed in the military, my time before and after it, why I chose my specialty, what my goals are, and what I've done already that is helping me for those goals. Is it thorough? Certainly not. It is enough to get interviewers to say, "you certainly have an interesting story, tell me more about X."

 

[Lost in Translation]

I like what North said. In my PS, I drew from experiences I had in 2 of my more favorite/impactful ECs but I didn't talk about them in length–that material is for specific secondary essays.

 

[DocMaur]

Great advice!
Thanks, I do have two great experiences that I have expanded on in my PS, but towards the end I try to cram in my EC in college. It seems like a descriptive resume. I want to get this done, but it seems as if I am going deeper into the rabbit hole! (Which is not a bad thing, I want it to be Perfect!)

 

[LizzyM]

My advice is to pick three things to focus on and find a way that connects them.... Best essay I ever say along these lines was something along the lines of "fire"... working the grill at a restaurant and having to do first aid for other employees, fire under the flasks in the lab and the fire in a cigarette lighter representing leadership in a smoking cessation program . it was effective and memorable. Your experiences will be in the experience section, and there is no need to repeat them all in the personal statement.

If you've never seen the AMCAS, find someone you know in real life and ask to see what their print out looks like.

 

[Ismet]

Your personal statement should not be a descriptive resume. It's fine to reference something you put in work/activities if that activity ACTUALLY influenced your desire to go into medicine, but it should not be a rehashing of your activities section. Pick a central theme and work around it.

 

[Glazedonutlove]

Hello all,
This is my first ever post on here. I am working on my personal statement, and just took a look at the actual application on AAMC.
Question: Since there is room to write about work/extracurriculars on the app, should I even include them on the PS?

Background: I was a Navy Corpsman for 6yrs and was fortunate to gain a ton of experience. I don't know how to narrow down to a few specific topics to fit into 5300 characters.
I'm on rough draft #8 and feel like starting all over.
Thanks for your help!

might be easier to list all experiences/rough description for the activities section of AMCAS and then do the ps. I realized that the activities section gives you so much space to expand on 3 of your ecs that you don't need to fit in every detail on your ps.
For the ps, try free writing an answer to why medicine. Were there specific experiences in the navy that pulled you toward a medical career? Did you have other clinical experiences that stuck with you and helped you make the decision? write about these experiences focused on medicine and the next time you look at it, pull out a couple really important ones and develop. Then connect them and revise. Instead of only saying what you did, talk about what led you to do things, and what you gained from them--this shows adcoms how you think

 

[DocMaur]

I wrote my PS prior to looking into the AAMC application. Once I saw that you could expand on each EC, it made my PS repetitive. Thanks for the great advice, and I do plan on outlining some major factors. LizzyM, that does sound memorable, I hope to leave an impression like that from my PS.

 

[DocMaur]

You just do, you let people know enough about you and tell your story succinctly. Pick the one aspect about the military or one single experience that you want them to know, make it 1-2 sentences that both explain it and also tells them how it made you want to continue forward in medicine or taught you a lesson. The PS isn't the place for stating a resume and everything you did, you can bullet point that type of stuff in the other sections of the application. I was a Navy Corpsman, too. I just made my PS for residency a few months ago and somehow it seemed easier, even though I crammed in the military, my time before and after it, why I chose my specialty, what my goals are, and what I've done already that is helping me for those goals. Is it thorough? Certainly not. It is enough to get interviewers to say, "you certainly have an interesting story, tell me more about X."

As a Corpsman, I believe you understand that some of the providers we worked for may not have been some of the best. On my PS I included a memory of a Marine I examined while deployed, and had him visit the base Dr. The doctor was not concerned, but I was so I recommended to medevac him to a higher echelon of care. I feel if I include this they will think I "Mom & Popped" the first Dr. Turned out said Marine had a serious disease, and I was recognized for my actions. However, I feel that some may take this as me not obeying orders from the first Dr. Am I overthinking this? I feel my instincts and results of following them influenced me to pursue becoming a physician.

 

[SnakeDoc9497]

A personal statement should convey your motivation for medicine. A common pitfall is using it to explain an activity. You are right in noticing that there is an ECs section and you should write in detail about your experiences in that section. Your PS should include representative or important moments from those experiences, what you learned from these moments and how that experience influenced your desire to be a doctor. Well that's what I did anyway.

Regardless you are way ahead of the game, maybe take a break for a little bit. Thank you for your service and best of luck next cycle.

Couldn't have said it better myself. While calling upon your experiences and motives, incorporate something from past, present, and future that you feel highlights your drive towards medicine. You can't go wrong with that 3-part recipe

 

[BeachBaby]

And you can sort of combine some activities/experiences into being ONE of the FIFTEEN.

 

[Donald Juan]

As a Corpsman, I believe you understand that some of the providers we worked for may not have been some of the best. On my PS I included a memory of a Marine I examined while deployed, and had him visit the base Dr. The doctor was not concerned, but I was so I recommended to medevac him to a higher echelon of care. I feel if I include this they will think I "Mom & Popped" the first Dr. Turned out said Marine had a serious disease, and I was recognized for my actions. However, I feel that some may take this as me not obeying orders from the first Dr. Am I overthinking this? I feel my instincts and results of following them influenced me to pursue becoming a physician.

I think that story could be great. You do need to be sensitive about how you present it, as in don't just make it a tale of crappy doctors make it a tale of how you stayed with your patient and why you felt more strongly even though your physician was less convinced.

And just for the record, there are plenty of crappy doctors in the military and out of it.

 

[LizzyM]

I think that story could be great. You do need to be sensitive about how you present it, as in don't just make it a tale of crappy doctors make it a tale of how you stayed with your patient and why you felt more strongly even though your physician was less convinced.

And just for the record, there are plenty of crappy doctors in the military and out of it.

I concur. The best angle may be that you were willing to make a sacrifice (because the first doc might pull rank & come down on your head) to be sure that the Marine got the attention he needed. You stuck your neck out because you believed it was the right thing to do rather than "go along to get along" and that made all the difference.