Starting your personal statements

[asummer208]

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Hello everyone, I am not on the path of starting my personal statement, however I am not sure where to begin. Does any one have any resources or recommendations (i.e. format, tone)? I really appreciate your help!

 

[TrueWolverine]

I'm assuming you mean you ARE on the path of starting? Haha

I think one of the biggest things is to show not tell. Do not just list achievements or things that have happened in your life. Pick a few experiences that have really shaped who you are and how they led you to medicine and then show how they taught you what they did. Again, to reemphasize, show don't tell. Some of the best advice I got was "you have to get so passionate and emotional in your writing that it almost makes you sick, then you know you're there." When other people read your PS, they don't see it as overly mushy and obnoxious, they see that you're passionate. It'll feel almost over the top to you but it doesn't come across that way. Once you have a few experiences that you want to write about, just start writing. Seriously, just get something down on paper even if it's just word vomit trying to get ideas out there. Then you can edit it and adjust things. Make sure to get lots of eyes on it!! Have your adviser, your mom, your other pre-health friends, your neighbor, read it and give you feed back. Everyone has a different perspective and it's nice to get lots of input on it. It's going to get torn apart and rebuilt over and over so just be ready for that. Sometimes it hurts to hear what others say because you worked hard on it but don't take it personal. With that, make sure to keep it your own and don't let someone else write it but take their advice seriously and be open to criticism. I tried to have an underlying theme to mine but I'm not sure if that's something everyone does.

Hope that helps and makes sense. I kind of just jotted down thoughts as they came. Good luck!

 

[RurouniKarly]

I'm assuming you mean you ARE on the path of starting? Haha

I think one of the biggest things is to show not tell. Do not just list achievements or things that have happened in your life. Pick a few experiences that have really shaped who you are and how they led you to medicine and then show how they taught you what they did. Again, to reemphasize, show don't tell. Some of the best advice I got was "you have to get so passionate and emotional in your writing that it almost makes you sick, then you know you're there." When other people read your PS, they don't see it as overly mushy and obnoxious, they see that you're passionate. It'll feel almost over the top to you but it doesn't come across that way. Once you have a few experiences that you want to write about, just start writing. Seriously, just get something down on paper even if it's just word vomit trying to get ideas out there. Then you can edit it and adjust things. Make sure to get lots of eyes on it!! Have your adviser, your mom, your other pre-health friends, your neighbor, read it and give you feed back. Everyone has a different perspective and it's nice to get lots of input on it. It's going to get torn apart and rebuilt over and over so just be ready for that. Sometimes it hurts to hear what others say because you worked hard on it but don't take it personal. With that, make sure to keep it your own and don't let someone else write it but take their advice seriously and be open to criticism. I tried to have an underlying theme to mine but I'm not sure if that's something everyone does.

Hope that helps and makes sense. I kind of just jotted down thoughts as they came. Good luck!

Just be careful with incorporating the feedback you get. On my first personal statement, I had so much feedback from advisers, family, and physicians I knew, than by the end it was just...bland. Everyone had an opinion on what I should emphasize, or remove due to the risk of offending some nameless, faceless adcom member, and the result was a completely average, unremarkable essay. By the end I felt like there was hardly anything of myself left in it. I was so disgusted with the final result that I opted to scrap it and start over completely.

 

[TrueWolverine]

Just be careful with incorporating the feedback you get. On my first personal statement, I had so much feedback from advisers, family, and physicians I knew, than by the end it was just...bland. Everyone had an opinion on what I should emphasize, or remove due to the risk of offending some nameless, faceless adcom member, and the result was a completely average, unremarkable essay. By the end I felt like there was hardly anything of myself left in it. I was so disgusted with the final result that I opted to scrap it and start over completely.

Yeah good point. I mentioned to make sure and keep it your own but thanks for reemphasizing. You have to be selective with what you decide to change. It's good to have others read it but sometimes you have to go "I appreciate your input but I'm going to keep that part the way it is." People will try and turn your personal statement into theirs, unintentionally of course, so it's important that you make sure it's your voice coming through, not everyone else's.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

I take a different approach to writing than TrueWolverine. I don't like to try to make it sound passionate, be yourself. The major things to look are things like fluency, does your paper have a flow that is casual to an everyday reader? Your statement should pertain to why you chose medicine or what led you to medicine. The most often advised method to writing a personal statement is taking a select few ideas or events from your life and writing in detail about them, as opposed to hitting numerous points very lightly. Make sure that when you read the paper, do it from the standpoint of a total stranger. You can fill in the missing gaps mindlessly as you read YOUR paper, but the ADCOMs won't have that ability. Make sure you describe each situation with precision, while not going overboard witht he fancy lingo. Most of all just BE YOURSELF. A personal statement is not a salses advertisement, it is a true story about YOU and why YOU chose to pursue medicine. Good luck, it takes some time and effort to produce a worthy paper.