Quotations

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kiddynamite914

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Does anyone have any idea if it is bad or good, to include a quote to start of your personal statement?
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Good writing is good writing. It has been done before and will be done again. Inserting quotes for the sake of doing so is ill advised. You have limited space. Do not waste it on other people's words unless there is a very good reason to do so Personally, I quoted Mark Twain in my medical school personal statement and would likely to do so again, but given that the quote encapsulated everything that I wanted to say in a single line, it was warranted.
 
ski89 said:
Cliché, boring, impersonal, are words that come to mind.
Click to expand...


Not necessarily. If the opening quote was "I didn't know the gun was loaded", or "I swear she said she was 18, officer", I bet adcoms would keep reading. But if you mean you are going to throw in an esoteric quote from Arrowsmith or by Gawande or something, I'd probably avoid it -- it's been done to death.
 
mimelim said:
Good writing is good writing. It has been done before and will be done again. Inserting quotes for the sake of doing so is ill advised. You have limited space. Do not waste it on other people's words unless there is a very good reason to do so Personally, I quoted Mark Twain in my medical school personal statement and would likely to do so again, but given that the quote encapsulated everything that I wanted to say in a single line, it was warranted.
Click to expand...

Quoted an American poet for college: Admitted.
Did not quote for med school: Admitted.
Quoted an Asian poet for plastic surgery residency: Matched.

n = 3; p > 0.05

Doesn't seem to matter to me...
 
Law2Doc said:
Not necessarily. If the opening quote was "I didn't know the gun was loaded", or "I swear she said she was 18, officer", I bet adcoms would keep reading. But if you mean you are going to throw in an esoteric quote from Arrowsmith or by Gawande or something, I'd probably avoid it -- it's been done to death.
Click to expand...

Lol fair enough. But yes I was referring to quotes of the latter type.
 
kiddynamite914 said:
Is there a reason why?
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If I look back at the last dozen that tried it, I can report that in no instance did it move the essay forward, several were groan-worthy and Maya Angelou is forever ruined for me.
 
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gyngyn said:
If I look back at the last dozen that tried it, I can report that in no instance did it move the essay forward, several were groan-worthy, and I never want to read Maya Angelou again.
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I never did in the first place.

How about E.E. Cummings? (BTW, if I ever become a porn star... definitely going to be my "stage name").

"i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones,and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the,shocking fuzz
of your electric furr,and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh….And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new"

Bodies are so nice. I want to be a plastic surgeon to help all people have bodies worth kissing. The end.
 
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caffeinemia said:
I never did in the first place.

How about E.E. Cummings? (BTW, if I ever become a porn star... definitely going to be my "stage name").

"i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones,and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the,shocking fuzz
of your electric furr,and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh….And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new"

Bodies are so nice. I want to be a plastic surgeon to help all people have bodies worth kissing. The end.
Click to expand...

So basically bad poetry about sex.

Instead I'd go with:
"I'm all for women who get plastic surgery, because that lets their outside appearance reflect who they really are on the inside -- fake" --- Daniel Tosh
 
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Law2Doc said:
So basically bad poetry about sex.

Instead I'd go with:
"I'm all for women who get plastic surgery, because that lets their outside appearance reflect who they really are on the inside -- fake" --- Daniel Tosh
Click to expand...

I hope that was the satire. Especially the part about calling E.E. cummings bad. How uncultured... definitely an ortho or medicine or pathologist or something.

Daniel Tosh is modern poet akin to Tupac Shakur tho. Keepin' it real.
 
On another forum I think it was @hushcom who stated it there was a quote 96% of essays all sound the same and not remembered 2% are remembered for how bad they are and 2% for truely memorable story mentioned in it. More likely than not what you write and spend endless time trying to "be your ticket to med school" will be in the 96% category and this sounds like the type of thing a student thinks is very creative but can end up a mess and is way more likely to be in the 2% you don't want than the 2% you do
I think it was @Goro who once said it I remember personal statements are supposed to be relatively boring. Don't try and over complicate things.

Bottom line personal statement rarely get people into medical school but they can help keep someone out of one. Don't try tricks like this----that's not what personal statements are for. Wait till secondaries to make a bigger move if you want to
 
I don't remember if I said that!

But I do agree with Hushcom and LizzyM who have pointed out that after awhile, they all read the same. About 25% have to do with Gramma's death, and another 25% start out like this: "The patient came in disoriented and frightened..."


I think it was @Goro who once said it I remember personal statements are supposed to be relatively boring. Don't try and over complicate things.
 
It depends on where the quote is coming from and what the context is. You're going to have to use some social awareness and try to "feel out" whether it feels cliche or forced, and you'll want to have experiences individuals read it to determine whether it works or not. Personally, I think starting with a quote is more likely to produce a "meh, nice try" than a "wow," but that's just my opinion.


caffeinemia said:
I never did in the first place.

How about E.E. Cummings? (BTW, if I ever become a porn star... definitely going to be my "stage name").

"i like my body when it is with your
body. It is so quite new a thing.
Muscles better and nerves more.
i like your body. i like what it does,
i like its hows. i like to feel the spine
of your body and its bones,and the trembling
-firm-smooth ness and which i will
again and again and again
kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,
i like, slowly stroking the,shocking fuzz
of your electric furr,and what-is-it comes
over parting flesh….And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new"

Bodies are so nice. I want to be a plastic surgeon to help all people have bodies worth kissing. The end.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a medieval porno to me.
 
Started mine with a quote from a family member. I made clear the events that led up to that point l, how those events lead to an interest in medicine, and how I expanded that interest throughout undergrad. I don't think it's cliche if it's a personal quote but to me, using a very well known quote might be.
 
Sitting here SMDH at people calling "i like my body when it is with your" bad poetry.


I don't participate in med school admissions, but I'm on track to read over a hundred personal statements this season so I'm going to claim some authority. Don't waste character space on other people's words. Tell your story.
 
What about saying something like "to paraphrase Mark Twain, blah blah blah"
And not at the top of the page
 
mimelim said:
Personally, I quoted Mark Twain in my medical school personal statement and would likely to do so again, but given that the quote encapsulated everything that I wanted to say in a single line, it was warranted.
Click to expand...

What was the quote?! I have to know now. PM me if you don't wanna identify your personal statement! Haha.
 
22031 Alum said:
Sitting here SMDH at people calling "i like my body when it is with your" bad poetry...
Click to expand...

Actually if you google Cummings and literary criticism you'll find people saying much worse things -- this guy was more regarded as a "pop" culture icon than universally loved for the quality of his work, sort of an Andy Warholl of poetry, he pushed the envelope, not always in good ways. (He also apparently might have been an anti-Semite which is yet another reason to mybe not put his quotes into your PS). Anyway poetry is only as good as it moves you and so I'll stick with my evaluation.
 
It's impossible to generalize. If you are a good writer, you can make anything work. Although it is difficult to not sound cliched.
 
If I were to try that, it'd turn out kind of kitschy. But maybe you are better writer than I am. In my opinion, you have such a limited # of characters, that you want every last damned word to be your own. Ultimately, it is supposed to be about you.
 
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