Reapplying = New Essays?

[scattered]

I apologize if this topic has already been discussed. Some quick information: I am still waiting to hear from a few schools for the entering 2005 class but I am beginning to plan for a reapplication, if need be. In assessing my application, I think that the lateness of my application (I took the August 2004 MCAT) and a lack of direct, medically related experiences were my weaknesses. On the other hand, I think that my essays were generally strong and I would like to keep them. However, I assume that admissions committees will view such as a negative. If I reapply, should I write an entirely new personal statement and rewrite any similar secondary essays as well? Do any reapplicants have any experiences they can share to guide me?

Thank you.

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[2tall]

You don't have to rewrite your PS. I think you should update your PS with any new info/insight. As for secondaries...if you have a new perspective on a particular subject...update it. There's no reason your motivation/clinical experiences that shaped your outlook on medicine/where you see yourself in five years/what specialty are you interested in, etc. should've or would've changed in a year's time.

What have done to beef up your clinical experience?

 

[scattered]

You don't have to rewrite your PS. I think you should update your PS with any new info/insight. As for secondaries...if you have a new perspective on a particular subject...update it. There's no reason your motivation/clinical experiences that shaped your outlook on medicine/where you see yourself in five years/what specialty are you interested in, etc. should've or would've changed in a year's time.

What have done to beef up your clinical experience?

2Tall:

Thank you for your response. I'm still in the process of trying to line up some better clinical experiences for the summer.

 

[dontstuddy]

When I was faced with the same question a med school dean told me that if the essay didn't get you in the first time, don't trust it to get you in the second time around. I completely re-wrote mine; focusing on everything I had done to address the obvious weak spots on my application. I was a ski instructor so I related my whole essay to a new skier falling down, learning from their mistakes and continuing to get better from their mistakes. At all my interviews they commented on how well I addressed my situation. Hopefully you know your weak areas and are addressing them, which is a great thing to let the admissions committees know about.

 

[Amida]

If I have to reapply next year I think I’ll keep most of my old essay and just add an addendum.

 

[BaylorGuy]

Good idea dontstudy....I've been thinking about re-writing my personal statement. I had some good things in the first one i wrote, but as you said, if it didnt get me in the first time, dont trust it to get me in the second time. I've been wondering what to write it about and i think i found a good idea.

 

[LizzyM]

I, too, vote for "rewrite". And watch those secondaries. Sometimes the question changes from year to year and how dumb do you look when the adcom can see that you dumped last year's essay into this year's application?

 

[Visioncam]

Definitely write a new essay. Why not two? Then compare the 2 (or 3) and analyze why one is better or why certain parts are better.

There is not just one right way.

 

[BaylorGuy]

I've come up with new ideas for my PS, but haven't put them on paper yet...thats for next week after the MCATS are out of my hair. But yeah, with the ideas i have now, I think it will hopefully be stronger than last years. Good luck to all, apps come out soon.

 

[izibo]

Rewrite vote here. Think of it this way (even if it sounds harsh): Your first essay didn't get you in to medical school. I'm sure you can shine it up to make it really stand out the next time.

 

[OrthoFixation]

Rewrite the PS. But get someone with applicable experience to review it. Somebody that is (or was) on the inside of the process if possible.

I didn't make it in on the first PS, but had a good review by an admission committee member for the second one and was successful.

Some schools that I interviewed at had both my applications and had compared them quite extensively. So if nothing else, it give you 2X the space to talk about your motivations.

 

[Kazema]

Definitely write a new essay. Why not two? Then compare the 2 (or 3) and analyze why one is better or why certain parts are better.

There is not just one right way.

I think this idea. This way, if you keep your original essay, you'll know it's because it's actually a good essay and not just because you can't be bothered to write a new one.

If you didn't get in the first time, it's because you have to change something. Your PS is one of the easiest things to change about your application, even though it can feel like a beast of a thing to write. And if you don't rewrite it completely, at least update it - you must have done something in the past year.

 

[nockamura]

I think this idea.

I think ideas too. We're like twins.

 

[aye]

When I was faced with the same question a med school dean told me that if the essay didn't get you in the first time, don't trust it to get you in the second time around. I completely re-wrote mine; focusing on everything I had done to address the obvious weak spots on my application. I was a ski instructor so I related my whole essay to a new skier falling down, learning from their mistakes and continuing to get better from their mistakes. At all my interviews they commented on how well I addressed my situation. Hopefully you know your weak areas and are addressing them, which is a great thing to let the admissions committees know about.

but isn't this assuming that everything else in your application was good? what if you had a low mcat/gpa the first time around and that was the cause of you not getting admitted?? i did terribly on my first mcat and i know this was a major reason i did not get in... and not due to my personal statement.

 

[nockamura]

but isn't this assuming that everything else in your application was good? what if you had a low mcat/gpa the first time around and that was the cause of you not getting admitted?? i did terribly on my first mcat and i know this was a major reason i did not get in... and not due to my personal statement.

I like my PS, but I'm going to update it with some of my more current activities. I think I'll just tweak the rest. Does anyone know if previous years' applications are kept/reviewed during a reapplication? Because it would suck if I had basically the same essay and the AdCom was sitting there thinking "What a lazy ass."

 

[Bill Lumbergh]

i applied twice to nj med. i was interviewed, waitlisted, and ultimately rejected the first time, then rejected pre-interview the second time. i had made only minor adjustments and updates to my original personal statement. after the second rejection, i met with the dean of admissions there for feedback on my application. one of the things he said was that i should have written a completely new personal statement. he said something like "we already know this about you, so tell us something new" and "if you can't take the time or effort to re-write your personal statement, then why should we take the time and effort to re-review your application?" he said it in a much more subtle and kind manner, but that was basically the gist.

so based on this, i would say that it's probably your safest bet to write a new one, using different stories from your volunteer experiences and focusing on different aspects of your life than in the original. obviously, you can recycle some basic information. supposedly, your motivation for medicine and your basic personality traits are the same. just talk about them from a different angle while using different examples than in the original.

*disclaimer - i have yet to be accepted to a US allopathic school, so i may have no idea what to do to get into med school, but as a third-time applicant, i definitely have a pretty good idea of what not to do.

 

[tacrum43]

I, too, vote for "rewrite". And watch those secondaries. Sometimes the question changes from year to year and how dumb do you look when the adcom can see that you dumped last year's essay into this year's application?

Well, I agree that if the questions on the secondary have changed, then you should write new essays, however, if you think your personal statement is good, you should probably just update it and leave the rest alone. An admissions committee member told me "I read 1200 personal statements this year. The only ones that stick out in my mind are the weird ones. If you've spent a lot of time on your personal statement and think it is good, then don't rewrite it."

 

[kaikai128]

i applied twice to nj med. i was interviewed, waitlisted, and ultimately rejected the first time, then rejected pre-interview the second time. i had made only minor adjustments and updates to my original personal statement. after the second rejection, i met with the dean of admissions there for feedback on my application. one of the things he said was that i should have written a completely new personal statement. he said something like "we already know this about you, so tell us something new" and "if you can't take the time or effort to re-write your personal statement, then why should we take the time and effort to re-review your application?" he said it in a much more subtle and kind manner, but that was basically the gist.

so based on this, i would say that it's probably your safest bet to write a new one, using different stories from your volunteer experiences and focusing on different aspects of your life than in the original. obviously, you can recycle some basic information. supposedly, your motivation for medicine and your basic personality traits are the same. just talk about them from a different angle while using different examples than in the original.

*disclaimer - i have yet to be accepted to a US allopathic school, so i may have no idea what to do to get into med school, but as a third-time applicant, i definitely have a pretty good idea of what not to do.

I agree. Obviously, if you are re-applying--then you were in the school's eyes not what they were looking for. You need to do everything you can to change that.

I am sure you have been doing things in the last year that have made you grow as a person as well as an applicant. The essay is one of the easiest things that you can change. People's writing reflects who they are and where they are in their lives...make your essay reflect where you are NOW not where you were last year. Not re-writing an essay, is just lazy.

There are some books out there specifically for medical school entrance essays. Go to borders and spend an afternoon reading the books, brainstorm, and try to come up with new ideas. I would be willing to bet that you don't come up with the exact same one as you did in the past. Even if it is the same content, maybe you will come up with a new approach.

Good Luck.
K

 

[Celiac Plexus]

why risk using an old essay from an unsuccessful application? it seems like a really dumb idea. what's the upside? that you don't have to expend much energy on your reapplication? the downside? another unsuccessful attempt at admission. rewrite it.

write a new essay, and update as many parts of your application as possible. you don't want to have your application considered to be an old, stale, retread.

 

[nockamura]

why risk using an old essay from an unsuccessful application? it seems like a really dumb idea. what's the upside? that you don't have to expend much energy on your reapplication? the downside? another unsuccessful attempt at admission. rewrite it.

write a new essay, and update as many parts of your application as possible. you don't want to have your application considered to be an old, stale, retread.

The downside is that it's not as good as the original and the upside is that maybe it wasn't my essay that didn't get me in (applied late).