SDN PS Article

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

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I just read the article (above) by Dr. Finkel. Yikes. Even if you ignore the obvious financial interest she has in scaring pre-meds towards her consulting business that promises to "level the playing field" (for a hefty payment that most people playing on the field can't afford), this article perpetuates one of the most unfortunate tenets of medical admissions: every applicant has to be unique.

She states: "If there is a sentence in your personal statement that could have been written by someone else (especially Miss America), it is not worth the space on the page."

This is just plain silly. Unless you are THE Navy SEAL who shot bin Laden or THE winner of the Tour de France in 2009, you will not have anything to write about. Out of an application pool of almost 50,000 people annually, there are always going to be lots of veterans, lots of former special forces people, lots of D1 athletes, lots of published authors, a handful of amputees, a handful of Rhodes Scholars, etc. Most applicants are far more vanilla than even these people, and that's totally ok. It doesn't mean they can't learn medicine, get a medical license, and treat patients. This whole notion that all ~18,000 medical school graduates every year have to be some incredible combination of unique, creative, and engaging is unrealistic and unnecessary.

Dear SDN: Unless "feature article" means "paid advertising," stop giving free space for this sort of fear-mongering that is obviously meant to scare up business.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Wow I didn't even realize she ran that consulting business. I was wondering why the article was so **** negative. Fail is right Finkel.

I like how being an assistant residency director at Harvard has somehow made her an expert in medical school admissions, dental school admissions and post-bacc applicants as well.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

I don't think it's really about how your being unique has anything to do with being a competent physician. I think the PS being unique is more about getting the ADCOM to turn their head when they pass you in the stack of 10,000 applications

 

[music2doc]

I just read the article (above) by Dr. Finkel. Yikes. Even if you ignore the obvious financial interest she has in scaring pre-meds towards her consulting business that promises to "level the playing field" (for a hefty payment that most people playing on the field can't afford), this article perpetuates one of the most unfortunate tenets of medical admissions: every applicant has to be unique.

She states: "If there is a sentence in your personal statement that could have been written by someone else (especially Miss America), it is not worth the space on the page."

This is just plain silly. Unless you are THE Navy SEAL who shot bin Laden or THE winner of the Tour de France in 2009, you will not have anything to write about. Out of an application pool of almost 50,000 people annually, there are always going to be lots of veterans, lots of former special forces people, lots of D1 athletes, lots of published authors, a handful of amputees, a handful of Rhodes Scholars, etc. Most applicants are far more vanilla than even these people, and that's totally ok. It doesn't mean they can't learn medicine, get a medical license, and treat patients. This whole notion that all ~18,000 medical school graduates every year have to be some incredible combination of unique, creative, and engaging is unrealistic and unnecessary.

Dear SDN: Unless "feature article" means "paid advertising," stop giving free space for this sort of fear-mongering that is obviously meant to scare up business.

Hmm...sounds pretty biased on her part. That said, in some ways, the suggestion that every PS must be unique IS true for the most competitive programs. I think it's more a matter of degree than truth vs. non-truth.

 

[music2doc]

I don't think it's really about how your being unique has anything to do with being a competent physician. I think the PS being unique is more about getting the ADCOM to turn their head when they pass you in the stack of 10,000 applications

Yes...

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

I don't think it's really about how your being unique has anything to do with being a competent physician. I think the PS being unique is more about getting the ADCOM to turn their head when they pass you in the stack of 10,000 applications

I agree. But the job of an ADCOM is to select people who will become competent physicians. If being "unique" is not a requirement for becoming a competent physician, then it should not be a requirement for medical school admissions. But obviously people have to play the game.

I personally favor a weighted lottery system.

 

[Arbor Vitae]

I agree. But the job of an ADCOM is to select people who will become competent physicians. If being "unique" is not a requirement for becoming a competent physician, then it should not be a requirement for medical school admissions. But obviously people have to play the game.

I personally favor a weighted lottery system.

but they can have both at the same time. There are so many people who can be competent physicians that ADCOMs have the luxury of picking people who will be competent and are interesting people. You can fight it all you want, but if you want them to notice you when they read your application then don't have your PS sound like the 10,000 others they just read.

 

[HSUReddie]

I'm not necessarily for fluffy PS's, but what's she's advocating here sounds like an awfully boring PS to me. And like a description I would much rather include in my experiences section of the AMCAS....

 

[M51]

While a lot of her points are somewhat true, she made it seem like it is nearly impossible for measly pre-meds to write a decent PS all on their own. I kept reading to see if she would actually give any suggestions, but they never came.

 

[deleted393595]

Wow I didn't even realize she ran that consulting business. I was wondering why the article was so **** negative. Fail is right Finkel.

I like how being an assistant residency director at Harvard has somehow made her an expert in medical school admissions, dental school admissions and post-bacc applicants as well.

That name is magic that makes everything have super-credibility

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

While a lot of her points are somewhat true, she made it seem like it is nearly impossible for measly pre-meds to write a decent PS all on their own. I kept reading to see if she would actually give any suggestions, but they never came.

Exactly. The reader is left believing his only option is to email her business Gmail account (??), shell out a hefty payment, and then learn the secrets of turning a standard pre-med existence into a unique personal statement.

 

[jayceee]

She's charging $3000 for her complete package. Woah.

She also states that she personally reviews your application. How does she find the time to do this, while practicing medicine?

 

[Dbate]

From reading this, she basically said the only thing that matters is your accomplishments (which is such BS).


OBVIOUSLY, people are going to be motivated to become doctors for very similar reasons. There is a REASON we all want to be doctors and not other things. So yeah, our motivations are going to seem a bit generic.

I ended that article really disliking that woman.

 

[MaenadsDance]

Honestly, I think having a "unique" reason for wanting to go into med school might be more cause for alarm than being too cookie-cutter!

 

[Hemorrage]

Its an article.. Take it as you please. She's simply giving her opinion which doesn't necessarily represent every adcom

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Its an article.. Take it as you please. She's simply giving her opinion which doesn't necessarily represent every adcom

Whoosh right over your head.

Nobody would care except for the fact that there are links to her application consulting service not two sentences down from the end of the article. It starts blurring the line between "opinion" and "advertisement" at that point.

 

[stevecoral155]

It's certainly an advertisement. And it's certainly an opinion. Her point isn't that your PS should convince a reader that you'll be a good doctor or that you really really want to go to med school - it's that your PS should make your reader actually read your statement with interest and remember it instead of just casting it aside.

I used to be an editor and have consequently read a large number of personal statements from friends and family (glancing at my folder, it looks like there's around 90 in there). In general, a PS falls into just 3 or 4 categories. It's rare to find an essay that is truly outside the box, so the quality/brevity/power of your writing becomes much more important.

As an example, out of the essays I edited (and look, I'm just another set of eyes - nothing special), I'd guess about 50% of them were some variety of "I was birthed with a stethoscope" - the author's Halloween costume example. Another 25% were "I faced adversity and overcame it in some medically-related fashion." The remaining essays were about research or, worst-case scenario, a paragraphed list of accomplishments.

Point is, there simply aren't that many ways to tell your story - because as a previous commenter mentioned, as a 20-something either in or just out of college, you probably haven't done a whole heck of a lot worth writing about. You'll probably fall in to one box or another, and adcoms can ID those boxes immediately. So the key, then, is to make your writing engaging, and to tell your story as well as you can.

TLDR, write well.

 

[IslandStyle808]

The article was pretty much a FAIL.

It goes into the detail of the pitfalls of the PS. However, it does not do the one thing that would help us premeds the most. What the hell to write!? There are no examples of what one should be putting in their PS.

 

[yehhhboiii]

The article was pretty much a FAIL.

It goes into the detail of the pitfalls of the PS. However, it does not do the one thing that would help us premeds the most. What the hell to write!? There are no examples of what one should be putting in their PS.

It's a personal statement. It's based on your life and what you want it to be.

 

[NickNaylor]

It's a personal statement. It's based on your life and what you want it to be.

 

[cookiemonsters]

I found most of the personal statement articles/advice on SDN not that helpful. For me personally, it is much easier to read other personal statement from succesful applicants to get used to the 'style' of PS writing. I bought the Barron's book for like $16 and would recommend it to anyone else gearing up to write their PS soon.

Also keep in mind PS writing is much easier if you have an abundance of volunteering/research/medical ECs to talk about (even if you consider these activities personally boring). If your ECs are thin you will have a hard time, no matter how you cut it.

 

[LizzyM]

The "what not to do" was right on, IMHO but I agree that promoting her services in the essay was not a good move.

 

[captainuzair]

Stop posting racist comments

 

[NickNaylor]

The "what not to do" was right on, IMHO but I agree that promoting her services in the essay was not a good move.

IIRC I believe the guidelines on articles state that advertising is permitted but it cannot be the primary topic of discussion. I cannot submit an article talking about why my MCAT prep company is the best, but I think SDN guidelines would allow me to write an article about suggestions for studying for the MCAT while also plugging my company.

I agree that it's cheesy, but at the end of the day it doesn't make sense to give away for free what you're trying to build a business out of.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717

 

[LizzyM]

IIRC I believe the guidelines on articles state that advertising is permitted but it cannot be the primary topic of discussion. I cannot submit an article talking about why my MCAT prep company is the best, but I think SDN guidelines would allow me to write an article about suggestions for studying for the MCAT while also plugging my company.

I agree that it's cheesy, but at the end of the day it doesn't make sense to give away for free what you're trying to build a business out of.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717

Something can be "permitted" and still make one look bad or rub people the wrong way which is, I think, what has happened here.

 

[InsiderMedical]

Hi all,
I just found this thread while searching SDN. I'm sorry that my article angered a few readers. Having said that, I'm surprised that someone could end the article really disliking "that woman" without knowing me personally.

A few quick comments:
1) I do review every single document myself, and I do still work clinically part-time in the emergency department. I hope you won't assume I am being dishonest when I am really just hard-working.
2) I do not think everyone needs a professional consultant. If you have expert advice, use it. I am available for those who have no strong advising options.
3) Writing an excellent personal statement does mean that every sentence should be distinctive to you. There are no "secrets" to that approach and you do not need to be the "Navy Seal who shot Bin Laden" to be notable. I have seen applicants start their essays writing about hobbies, religious practices, and performances and then successfully lace in their pre-professional accomplishments. Those topics may seem "regular" but they can be very compelling if done well.
4) My prices reflect the demand for my services. If you have serious financial constraints, please contact me. I do offer assistance on a case-by-case basis. I believe I am the only admissions company who offers that courtesy.

When I write an article on SDN, I do so as a doctor, wife, mother, friend, and person. Feel free to comment on the content, but please consider what you write publicly (and often anonymously) when you attack another person's character without knowing the human.
Best wishes,
Michelle

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

Hi all,
I just found this thread while searching SDN. I'm sorry that my article angered a few readers. Having said that, I'm surprised that someone could end the article really disliking "that woman" without knowing me personally.

A few quick comments:

Best wishes,
Michelle

Thank you for your comments, Dr. Finkel. I had a similar reaction when I read your SDN article this year as I did to this article last year. I have no problem with monetizing your expertise and a charging the market rate for your services. However, I do think it's somewhat misleading to make the claim about "leveling the playing field" unless you are specifically targeting applicants with few outside resources, especially those with few financial resources. I'm pleased to hear that you offer reduced rates for those who need assistance, but I would guess that your average client has lived a fairly privileged life and already occupies a position of relative strength in the admissions battlespace.

We all know that medical students skew heavily towards high socioeconomic status, and that the average household income of matriculants increases every year. I don't think that's an ideal situation, and that's the source of my skepticism.

 

[InsiderMedical]

Mt. Kilimanjaro,
Please feel free to call me Michelle! I like healthy skepticism. What feels threatening is anonymous character strikes online from those who have never met me.

From what I can tell, my average client has not lived a fairly privileged life, nor does s/he occupy a position of relative strength in the admissions battlefield before meeting me. How do I know this? Because AMCAS has financial information listed on it, plus I edit many disadvantaged paragraphs. As you know, I also assist a group of financially strained FAP clients. Furthermore, because some people do not have an uncle on an admissions committee who will review essays, family alum connections, or even a medical advisor (think IMGs, nontraditional pre-meds), clients will tell me that they made conscious decisions to budget differently to get my help because they simply can't find another strong source.

Let me conjecture as to what is going on: When I drive into the doctors' lot at work, I park next to Porsches and BWMs. Yet I drive a used Kia. My personal preference is services (e.g. safe, loving childcare) over material items (a fancy car or clothes). This may or may not be the right decision, but it is how some of us navigate the lack of fairness in an unjust capitalism system.

As I mentioned earlier, my prices reflect my demand. I review every single document. As my demand skyrocketed over the years, I raised prices, so that I had time to eat breakfast in the morning .

In any case, if you would be willing to "level the playing field" (there that phrase is again), by revealing your identity, feel free to email me, so we can discuss further. I do find that with anonymous postings, the personal assaults can be alarming, but I'm happy to have a one-on-one conversation with an identified thinker.
Best,
Michelle