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What is this thing supposed to be about? I have written a good essay about myself and my qualities, but it doesn't really come off as a "why I want to be a doctor" essay. Is it supposed to?
Stupid AACOMAS Essay
- Thread starter DD214_DOC
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First, don't worry TOO much about this essay because you will be writing more when secondaries come. Secondly, if you wrote about your qualities, you can just tweak it so that it is about how all your qualities would make you a great doctor, and you feel that would be fulfilling your potential etc.
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I wrote a mini biography, and got secondaries to all of the schools I applied to.
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Did you not really directly relate any of it to medicine? I am under the impression they don't really pay much attention to the essay anyways.
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Mine went into the experiences that I had that led me to medicine, and why I wanted to be a doctor. A small paragraph was why I wanted to be DO.
On a side note, I thought they gave us way too little room to write the essay (about only 3,000 or so characters). AMCAS allows 5,300 characters so it allows you to talk more. I basically revised my AMCAS essay to be a shorter version and included DO talk in it.
On a side note, I thought they gave us way too little room to write the essay (about only 3,000 or so characters). AMCAS allows 5,300 characters so it allows you to talk more. I basically revised my AMCAS essay to be a shorter version and included DO talk in it.
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No, I did speak a little about my desire to be a physician, but it was very minimal. I think I talked about an experience where I gave someone the heimlich maneuvre and how that experience affected me. Oh and one paragraph about my experience as a pt. of a DO. The rest was about my life path and how I got to where I was in life.
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In my opinion, a good essay isn't your life story, but rather a succinct presentation of life events or even a particular life event that drove you to pursue medicine. There are plenty of books with AWESOME personal statements that you can learn from. Go to Barnes and Noble and take a look. You'll see that you don't want to talk about every little thing that you did or that happened to you. That strategy totally takes away from the clarity you should be trying to achieve.
I would also recommend taking your personal statement to the writing center (all universities have one right?) as many times as it takes to get other people to understand what you mean. When you feel comfortable with it, have a D.O. look it over, or at least an osteopathic student.
Also, don't take the personal statement too lightly. Some of my interviewers told me that they basically decided to accept me based on my personal statements and that the interview was a formality. The same thing happened with my girl friend.
I would also recommend taking your personal statement to the writing center (all universities have one right?) as many times as it takes to get other people to understand what you mean. When you feel comfortable with it, have a D.O. look it over, or at least an osteopathic student.
Also, don't take the personal statement too lightly. Some of my interviewers told me that they basically decided to accept me based on my personal statements and that the interview was a formality. The same thing happened with my girl friend.
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I didn't take my personal statement lightly at all. Also, there is no way that you can drone on and on about your life story with the limited amount of space allowed. I had my statement reviewed by multiple people and I finally submitted like the 20th draft. It was well written and contained several vignettes of my life. I did this to give the readers a good idea of who I am and where I was coming from. I think it had a good effect. I'm here now aren't I?
I'd take it to your pre-med advisor before a writing center. They have the experience dealing with pre-meds much more than the writing center folks (don't get me wrong, they are great for grammar and the basics). Your advisor will have a much better idea of what the AdComs are looking for.
Two really important things, though, don't oversell yourself, but don't underestimate the things that make you individual. The reason for a personal statement is to set you aside from the rest of the crowd. If this means writing something totally unrelated and unique, then so be it. Just make sure you have it reviewed by some competent people before it's submitted.
I'd take it to your pre-med advisor before a writing center. They have the experience dealing with pre-meds much more than the writing center folks (don't get me wrong, they are great for grammar and the basics). Your advisor will have a much better idea of what the AdComs are looking for.
Two really important things, though, don't oversell yourself, but don't underestimate the things that make you individual. The reason for a personal statement is to set you aside from the rest of the crowd. If this means writing something totally unrelated and unique, then so be it. Just make sure you have it reviewed by some competent people before it's submitted.
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Anyone willing to look over what I have now?
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Mine too.
I Agree. I finished my AMCAS application first so I just revised the essay (i.e. shortened it) to fit AACOMAS.
For me I could not find any sample essays that accurately reflected ME. Some of the things I read sounded like utter crap with added filler. I made mine short and to the point. When I received a secondary I then tailored it to that particular school. Some schools like PCOM make me wonder if they even read your AACOMAS essay but rather focus on your 2? essay. I have my own reasons for this thought.
Good Luck. Make sure the essay comes from the heart b/c Adcom will detect insincerity unless you are an actor.
Raptor5
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First off JKD, you are way ahead of the game and I'm sure you will be rewarded for this. You are all over SDN and have been involved in a lot of different forums and probably know a lot more than I when I was at your stage in the game.
I think people put way too much emphasis on the personal statement. I DO think it is important, but not more important than any other step in the process. Do not take it lightly. I rewrote it over the course of 2 months and then final product was pretty good. Let me say that I am not a good writer, but got secondaries from all 19 schools and out of 12 complete apps, I got 4 interviews with not great stats. (MD and DO)
I wrote about a few select experiences I have had in healthcare and tutoring etc..and expanded on the qualities I developed and how they were important to being a successful medical student and physician. It wasn't too life storyish, and wasn't too doctorish. I found a happy medium.
Anyway..
Good luck and pm me if you want me to read it,
YF
I think people put way too much emphasis on the personal statement. I DO think it is important, but not more important than any other step in the process. Do not take it lightly. I rewrote it over the course of 2 months and then final product was pretty good. Let me say that I am not a good writer, but got secondaries from all 19 schools and out of 12 complete apps, I got 4 interviews with not great stats. (MD and DO)
I wrote about a few select experiences I have had in healthcare and tutoring etc..and expanded on the qualities I developed and how they were important to being a successful medical student and physician. It wasn't too life storyish, and wasn't too doctorish. I found a happy medium.
Anyway..
Good luck and pm me if you want me to read it,
YF
I agree with Young Faithful. Your personal statement is important, but seeing as how most schools give you a secondary just to get your $75, I would not stress about your AACOMAS essay and would focus more energy into my secondaries.
Since you are already ahead of the game, you may want to check out a few school websites and see what their secondaries look like. Then you can start working on those essays.
But thats just my 2 cents. My AACOMAS was decent, but not as good as my secondary personal essays. And just for arguments sake, I will tell you that in all of my interviews (3 DO and 2MD) I was complimented on my secondary essay. So don't sweat it...if I could get into med school, you can too...
Good luck, and if you need anymore proofreaders, PM me.
Since you are already ahead of the game, you may want to check out a few school websites and see what their secondaries look like. Then you can start working on those essays.
But thats just my 2 cents. My AACOMAS was decent, but not as good as my secondary personal essays. And just for arguments sake, I will tell you that in all of my interviews (3 DO and 2MD) I was complimented on my secondary essay. So don't sweat it...if I could get into med school, you can too...
Good luck, and if you need anymore proofreaders, PM me.
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Thanks. I'm really concerned about how things will turn out this cycle. I really can't afford, with either time or money, to reapply. My stats are alright: Cumulative ~ 3.3x at minimum. Science can be anywhere from a 3.2 to a 3.4, completely depending upon how I do in the summer. (It's at a 3.32 right now)
I'm positive that if I can at least get an interview I will get in somewhere; I interview very well and most people really like me. However, I do think my reasons for going into medicine may seem a bit cliched.
I'm positive that if I can at least get an interview I will get in somewhere; I interview very well and most people really like me. However, I do think my reasons for going into medicine may seem a bit cliched.
