Medical Should I write a standard or creative personal statement?

[AlteredScale]

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So, I wrote an initial draft of my personal statement. My concern is that it is too 'artsy' and very much telling a story, like the first two pages of a novel or something; I have metaphors and all that jazz. My girlfriend wrote a personal statement for her dietetic internship, and it was more of a list of accomplishments and answering discrete questions, so she didn't provide much help. My parents are always very blunt, and they thought it was fantastic, but they don't really know much about what is best for applying to medical school. I guess I'm not sure what the right tone is for adcoms. If a personal statement is really well-written do you think this is okay? I want it to stand out, but I guess there is a risk there. Sorry for the stream of consciousness.

You need to know your audience. These are basic scientists and clinicians who may not understand your tone. So keep it simple and straightforward with judicious use of metaphors and fluff. Your PS needs to explain why medicine, why physician, in a way that shapes up your story concisely.

 

[Goro]

A PS has to answer two questions:

Who am I?
Why Medicine?

Don't get creative; these never, ever work. It's an application, not an essay for an English class.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Agree. Get to the point and be informative. Someone in my family wanted to go to professional school and their PS started with “as I walk through the valleys between life and death...”

...they did not get into professional school.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Forgive me but "what do you think of this essay" is NEVER going to give you a truly honest answer. I would ask "after reading this essay, what can you say distinguishes me as a future physician?" The more important answer is to see if you get common responses from at least 10 people who don't know you well after they read your essay. Chances are those common responses from strangers will be shared by the screeners who will be reading your essay.

 

[lord999]

An extremely unconventional essay is high risk, low reward. There are ways to be creative without being postmodern about it. I have a couple in my desk from admits now graduated that I show people because they are so singular and cannot be imitated but still read as conventional personal statements. If you are thinking about "donating" to a reach school, you might as well roll the dice with a high-risk as you probably would not make it in anyway. But for your target LizzyM schools, I would probably stay with a conventional narrative but with creative content.