Strong Personal Statement

[janjanbureh]

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Hi guys i am about to apply to DO schools, so i am appealing to anybody to give me some hints and ideas about writing a strong personal statement. Questions like why you choose DO over MD schools? and what your plans after getting the DO degree?
I just want some sound convencing elements in the personal statement. Your help will be highly appreciated.

 

[mikeyb01]

My advice to you is to be genuine and try to sell yourself in your personal statement. What unique talents/interests will set you apart from the rest of the applicants? Any experiences that you've had which demonstrate good qualities? For instance, if you ran a marathon... training for it requires dedication and hard work (just like medical school does). Follow?

Personal statements that drone on about manipulation and have the word "holistic" written in every other sentence are a dime a dozen.

If you have a 2.5 Math/Science GPA and 19 MCAT, you don't have to spend too much time writing about why you chose a DO school over an MD one... we already know.

 

[janjanbureh]

Thank you for that honest elaboration. However, my GPA is not that very strong (3.52) and i haven't taken MCAT yet just studying for it now. I am currently doing my graduate program in Biology. In a sense i just want to have advices on the whole personal statement format. i definately understood that GPA and MCAt score are always the fundamental elements in any successful application.

 

[goooooober]

Thank you for that honest elaboration. However, my GPA is not that very strong (3.52) and i haven't taken MCAT yet just studying for it now. I am currently doing my graduate program in Biology. In a sense i just want to have advices on the whole personal statement format. i definately understood that GPA and MCAt score are always the fundamental elements in any successful application.

In your personal statement, suck up a lot to A.T. Still. That will get you far.

 

[Red Beard]

Talk about how much you can bench press, then crush a beer can in your fist and put it in the envelope for emphasis.

 

[GreenShirt]

You'll have plenty of opportunity on the supplementals to directly address "Why Osteopathy?" (almost all of mine asked this question). So you don't necessarily have to talk about it in your PS (I didn't). I would focus on the personal experinces that have driven you to want to become a physician.At some point in your life you decided you wanted to pursue medicine, think about how you came to that conclusion. Think about your clinical or life experince and try to find an anecdote upon which you can build your case. I had an interest in EM that began in my childhood and continued through college. I recounted the evolution of that intererst in my PS and the experinces I had along the way that enforced that interest.

Also, there's a book published by Barron's called somehting like "25 Essays that will get you into Medical School". It has a whole bunch of different sample essay written by students who got into medical school. I found it helpful.

 

[DragonWell]

I came across this post while writing my PS and found it helpful. You might want to check out the rest of the thread as well. Try a search, there have been lots of questions asked about PS over the years.