Specific question about personal statement

[AlphaKeto]

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So i've read many articles on writing a personal statement. Many of them agree that you should 1. use important life events that show why you want to go to medschool and why you would make a good candidate, and 2. If you have some glaring issues on your transcript you should use the personal statement to address them.

My issue is that I have an important story I want to tell about what changed my ideas about being a doctor, but I also have some things on my transcript I need to address.

Should I choose one over the other or try to somehow incorporate both? If the former, which is more important?

Thanks in advance

 

[Doctor Strange]

Don't address weaknesses on your PS. Your PS is a place to talk about your motivation for getting into medicine. Don't waste valuable space by waving your arms and telling adcoms where you messed up. That's what secondaries are for.

 

[WillburCobb]

Search both the pre-allo and pre-osteo forums, there are numerous threads about this. People tend to strongly feel one way or the other with no general consensus so there really is no "right" answer. IMO your PS should focus on why medicine and only address weaknesses if they somehow tie into that narrative of why medicine and your journey to where you are now.

 

[positivityrocks]

I'm applying this year too, so I'm not sure I'm totally correct on this, but my feeling is that the primary should be fairly broad. If you're applying to a good selection of schools, you might not even need to explain why grades dropped a little. It doesn't really make sense IMHO, to automatically assume that every school will want to know. Secondaries seem more flexible, logical place for this -- allowing you to emphasize different parts of application at one school vs. another.

 

[AlphaKeto]

Thanks, I feel a little bit more confident of what I want to write now. That's the blessing and curse of being a non-trad. You have more life experiences, but it's hard to focus on just one, or even a couple