Medical Should I change my personal statement as a reapplicant?

[AlteredScale]

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I applied in the 2019-2020 cycle and got 2 II and 2WL. I will be reapplying this cycle and am thinking of changing my PS. Last cycle it was largely about my mother's life story and how it motivated me to pursue a career serving others and giving back to the community (My mom was an orphan in India and was adopted by her aunt who was a very distant parent and essentially forced my mom to raise herself. She is now very successful and her story reminds me to be grateful for what I have).

I am now thinking of writing about how, as a child and even a young adult, I did not have a well-defined identity. Throughout my life I have split my time between school, piano lessons, soccer, cross country/track, photography, my social life, etc. Looking back, it makes me wonder if I limited myself by splitting my time between so many pursuits. I found an identity when I starting exploring a career in medicine. I realized that medicine is something that I can commit my time to and reach my full potential. I am going to include experiences that helped my realize this (classes, shadowing, and volunteering).

I would really appreciate feedback regarding the strength or weakness of this topic. Thanks!

I think your original PS was fine. The big question is how do you know it was your PS that got you the results you got for the application cycle. What are your MCAT scores and what is your GPA? Did you limit yourself to location? Did you apply top heavy to MD only? Are you going to open up to MD and DO schools this time around?

Your PS should align as best as possible to your application, so if you talk about serving the community you should have some form of lognitudanl commitment to community service in your app with hopefully a letter supporting your work in that time. That truly shoes commitment and authenticity to your application.

 

[MusicDOc124]

^ To reiterate above, it is unlikely the the personal statement alone would be anything to keep you away unless it was poorly written and full of grammatical errors for instance. You got two IIs and two WLs which means it was less like the PS and more scores and/or your interview for where you happened to interview.

What is the rest of your application like?

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I think the topic of your personal statement is fine and unique. As stated above, unless it was written horribly with tons of errors (I hope you had it read by multiple reviewers), I doubt your personal statement is why you didn't get in. Without knowing how many schools you applied to, your stats, and your ECs, we can't really give much advice as to what you should do to better your chances this cycle.

The other part of this puzzle could be your interview skills as you GOT interviews, but something between getting the interview and the acceptance went wrong (maybe). I would really evaluate your interview skills and possibly have other physicians you know interview you and see what you could improve on.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

509 MCAT, 3.5 GPA, maybe URM? (white, black, and asian)
60 hours shadowing (between Mohs surgeons, podiatrist, spine surgeon)
2200 hours scribing (400 in ortho, 1800 in dermatology), plan to continue until matriculation in 2021 (so an additional 2000 ish hours)
2 semesters of undergraduate research in an ecology lab
2 years as VP of a medical volunteering club
250 hours clinical volunteering
150 hours physics tutor (employed by my university)
900 hours working at local health department as a public pool inspector

Based on your stats (MCAT and GPA) your chance at MD is around 40%, so I really think that the reason for the lower interviews is because of your stats, not your personal statement. On your reapply, I would add in a ton of DO schools.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I definitely am considering DO programs, but I have very little shadowing experience with a DO and do not currently do not have a DO I can ask for a LOR. How much would this hurt my application to DO programs?

It’s not a requirement to have DO shadowing. If you can get it, do it. If not, it’s not gonna kill your application.


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[Mr.Smile12]

If you are a reapplicant, there are many admissions officers that will recommend you rewrite your PS.

Do you have any insights on physicians who influenced your decision to pursue medicine? My opinion: a lot of people between 10 and 30 are in the process of finding themselves and their identities. Don't turn off my much older boomer faculty committee members.