PS: How to be tasteful with death of sibling & grades dropping?

[ishabooboo]

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Hey all! So I've been reading up on how to write personal statements for AMCAS, and they say that the worst thing to do is to write about a death in the family or illness in the family unless it's done well. I MUST write about the death of my sister though b/c it dropped my gpa to about 2.0 for two quarters AND her genetic disorder was what got me into med in the first place.
ALSO, I recently had my own health problems with something called Still's disease which caused me to do badly on my first MCAT try. How detailed do I have to get with this for them to realize it was the reason for my grades and mcat failure? I think it might be in bad taste to just complain the whole way through, but this was honestly the tip of the iceberg with my bad college years. Any tips people?
(Thanks guys, now that we're all much closer, let's have a group hug.)

 

[doctorFred]

because what you're writing about is both personal and painful, i don't think the question of taste should be an issue; instead, be sure that your writing is frank and honest. don't make an attempt to dramatize the situation, but rather, lend some sort of honest insight into your position.

this can be a difficult issue, one which i've had personal experience with myself (and, incidentally, covered in my personal statement.) don't try to overwrite it, and you should be alright.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Realizing that this is hardly something to celebrate, you have the makings of a very good personal statement here.

Maybe try to focus on a sort of "one-two" punch (sorry to be so callous with such awful experiences) that led you towards medicine. If it began with the death of your sister then was reaffirmed by your own health problems then you have a pretty solid reason for applying to med school rather than the trite "I want to help people."

Plus, a GPA of 2.0 for 2 semesters needs to be explained so you have much less to lose talking about this tradgedy than you do letting the AdCom see a low overall GPA.

I would want to know more about the MCAT situation, how bad was the first time? I mean if your definition of "doing poorly" was that you got your 30 up to a 34 then spare them the details.

Good luck, you made me look up Still's dz. Pretty interesting...

 

[red dot]

double post

 

[red dot]

1) if your sibling's death is important in your decision to become a doctor, write it down but don't explain bad grades. (i would NOT talk about grades in my PS. you have a character limit. use it wisely.)

2) if your sibling's death is marginally related to your career decision and/or you just need to explain your drop in academic performance, then put it in the "is there anything more you want to tell us about yourself" or "has there been a reason for a drop in your grades" question section on your secondaries.