Reapplying essays

[NontradICUdoc]

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How do you handle the personal statement during reapplication? Do you use the same one? Do you write a totally new one?

 

[bonesmd]

How do you handle the personal statement during reapplication? Do you use the same one? Do you write a totally new one?

i used the same one, but i had had several people compliment my essay the first time around... i guess it just depends on how you feel about your essay and if over the past year there is something more important to write about

 

[BubbleHead]

i used the same one, but i had had several people compliment my essay the first time around... i guess it just depends on how you feel about your essay and if over the past year there is something more important to write about

Having been on both sides of the interview, I'll tell you it is a BAD move to leave it unchanged.

A personal thought is, it is a BAD move to change it completely.

It is about you, so it better represent who you are and why you intend to practice medicine pretty well. Hence, why would you throw it out and start over. However, things have happened in the last year, something must have since you're reapplying. Comment on how whatever happened has enlightened you and your desire is reconfirmed yet again that medicine and you are the right match.

 

[ambaduchi]

i agree w the advice of the previous poster.

also, why do you think you didn't do well this year? ie what were the weaknesses of your app that held you back? -- and can your personal stmt do anything to address those things?

 

[happydays]

maybe you could just get it edited by several more people. It can't hurt.

 

[mustangsally65]

I think that it is essential to change your personal statement, especially if you are applying to the same schools as you did the previous year.

My first year applying, my PS was crap. I composed it while I was filling out my AMCAS, and looking back on it now, it's embarassing. I think it made a big difference in my rejections. This past application cycle, I think my PS was much better, but since my MCAT scores weren't improved it didn't really matter about my PS. When I reapply for the entering class of 2007, I'm changing my entire PS, I'm already working on it now.

You can work being a reapplicant into your essay. Use it to show your determination and resolve. Explain what a year's worth of rejections has taught you about yourself and about the world. Be humble, but be dedicated to your ultimate goal. They should be able to tell that you will do almost anything to become a doctor, and that even if you have to apply for the next five or six years, you will not stop until you have achieved admission.

At some schools, being a reapplicant is different than being a first-time applicant. I know at one of my state schools, ECU, half of their entering class is usually made up of reapplicants. many schools evaluate reapplicants differently than first-timers.

And just so you know, I'm working with Phil_Anthropist to get this year's personal statement reading/critiquing thread started in Pre-Allo. I read/edited at least 100 essays last year, some of them went through several drafts. I also helped out with some secondaries. Feel free to PM me or email me (gotta add an email to my profile) and I'll try to help out in any way I can. I have a B.A. in English, and I've spent several years working as a writer for a newspaper, and I've been working as an editor of scientific research papers for about a year. I'll be glad to help out in any way I can.

don't give up, EMT! It will happen, it's just a question of when.

 

[ilovehedgehogs]

I think that it is essential to change your personal statement, especially if you are applying to the same schools as you did the previous year.

My first year applying, my PS was crap. I composed it while I was filling out my AMCAS, and looking back on it now, it's embarassing. I think it made a big difference in my rejections. This past application cycle, I think my PS was much better, but since my MCAT scores weren't improved it didn't really matter about my PS. When I reapply for the entering class of 2007, I'm changing my entire PS, I'm already working on it now.

You can work being a reapplicant into your essay. Use it to show your determination and resolve. Explain what a year's worth of rejections has taught you about yourself and about the world. Be humble, but be dedicated to your ultimate goal. They should be able to tell that you will do almost anything to become a doctor, and that even if you have to apply for the next five or six years, you will not stop until you have achieved admission.

At some schools, being a reapplicant is different than being a first-time applicant. I know at one of my state schools, ECU, half of their entering class is usually made up of reapplicants. many schools evaluate reapplicants differently than first-timers.

And just so you know, I'm working with Phil_Anthropist to get this year's personal statement reading/critiquing thread started in Pre-Allo. I read/edited at least 100 essays last year, some of them went through several drafts. I also helped out with some secondaries. Feel free to PM me or email me (gotta add an email to my profile) and I'll try to help out in any way I can. I have a B.A. in English, and I've spent several years working as a writer for a newspaper, and I've been working as an editor of scientific research papers for about a year. I'll be glad to help out in any way I can.

don't give up, EMT! It will happen, it's just a question of when.

I think it totally depends on how you felt about the PS the first time-I am not touching mine because I think (and other people thought) that it is a really really good essay. Adding the fact that I took two more semesters worth of courses over the past year when that shows up on amcas anyways...its just not necessary to add information like that, IMO

 

[elise]

I don't know what to do about reapplying. I just got offered secondaries on the 8th/9th and sent them back, but I'll probably be reapplying. Not that much will change in just a few months, I have the same job, volunteer work, grades.

I'm dreading those "what have you done to improve?" essays. I won't have done anything beyond living my regular life.

 

[madonna]

I don't know what to do about reapplying. I just got offered secondaries on the 8th/9th and sent them back, but I'll probably be reapplying. Not that much will change in just a few months, I have the same job, volunteer work, grades.

I'm dreading those "what have you done to improve?" essays. I won't have done anything beyond living my regular life.

i think you can always go with the emotional growth theme, more mature, better understanding about the profession,commitement dispite the setback, how being rejected/ reapplying makes you feel

 

[lawj]

how being rejected/ reapplying makes you feel

Like crap?

 

[PariPari]

i think i'm going to rework mine to stress that I want to be a clinician & not stuck in the lab...bc other than that there's been no remarkable change between my motivations/feelings this year vs last year

 

[rachmoninov3]

My personal statement from last year (and even the one before that) has nothing to do with academics, research, volunteering, or even directly about my patients. It's really the 'why I want to become a doctor':

*I had a chronic disease from birth until five days after my sixteenth birthday.
*Thanks to what I still consider to be a miraculous surgery, I am 100% cured. I live a life I never could have dreamed up before the surgery.
*I do the work I do because it allows me to use my memories of being in the hospital to help others, and in a way gives a purpose to my the first part of my life and a justification for the gift that is this second life I am living now.
*I can think of no better use for this life than to spend it as a physician trying to make the smallest of dents into a debt which I know I will never be able to repay.

Really there's no place to update more accademics, being rejected, that type of thing...should I still update it?

 

[RxnMan]

I've changed my essays.

Part of my deal is my grades. The first time around I didn't include #'s in my PS. Big mistake, because the schools I applied to did not disclose the applicant's GPA before the interview, yet the interviewers don't want to be surprised that you're a x.xx GPA when they open your file. I had to explain my GPA during the interview, instead of the interviewer learning about me.

The second time around I included them, made everything more positive, and the interviews went much better - the interviewers mentioned it briefly, and then we went right on to end-of-life care.

 

[RxnMan]

I forgot - try the school's rejected applicant meetings. You might get an idea of what your app was lacking last time around, and fix it for the next.

 

[musiclink213]

I've met with several admission;s counselors and dean's at schools that rejected me that I really wanted to go to, and they all told me to rewrite my personal statement. They told me it was very well written and interesting, but htey want to see how you've grown. Because apparently, they do keep your app, adn they can pull it out and look at it. So they want to see that you werent' just sitting around, but were actually doing something. So I would definitly rewrite it.

 

[ktnguyen]

You should always change your essay if you are reapplying. I talked with an admissions director and he said that you need to completely change your essay from the first year. First, it shows how you have improved or what you have done to better yourself. Secondly, it shows that you are really committed to going to medical school and not a lazy ass. So, definitely change it. I changed mine up a little bit from the year before and he said that I needed to totally redo it because they will compare your application from last year with the current year. If they see that it is the same essay, then that is a negative mark.

 

[niceMD]

I agree with ktnguyen
I talked to an associate dean at on of the medschools I applied to and she said that when you reapply, medical schools literally compare your applications side by side. She said (and I quote), "we like to see a completely different application"
Now I don't know how much you can change your entire app in a year, but you statement is on of the things you can definitely change. Just be sure not to contadict anything you said in your previous app.
Good luck