The importance of a well written app

[710118]

So I am in the airport right now waiting on a connecting flight and have 3 hours to kill. A forum member asked me basically "how do you write a good application". Rather than respond with a PM, I thought a forum post might help more people.

I will tell you what I did (and I am not a good writer by any means... 127 cars smh) and am only giving my opinion. A few things to keep in mind:

1) Writing quality is extremely important to get II's. Writing reveals a person's maturity and what they consider important. With thousands of apps at any one school, good stats by themselves are not enough. Do not underestimate how much time it takes to write good essays. I started writing my personal statement in January and finished at the end of March after 16 drafts. I started my secondaries in April by prewriting the schools that hadn't changed their secondaries in a few years. I pre-wrote 13 schools before even receiving a secondary in July. 95% of the essays were the same.

2) Your writing will get better over time. By school 20, the quality of my responses was better than it was at the beginning. This is why multiple drafts are important.

3) Find somebody you trust to look over your writing. The person reviewing your work should look for 3 things (paraphrasing some of what Ive read on SDN). 1) Does this writing make me look arrogant? 2) Does this make me sound cliche 3) Does this convey the image I want them to have of me. Cliche list from another SDN thread

1. I want to be a doctor because I want to help people.
2. Growing up I never wanted to be a doctor, but _________
3. I wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid.
4. The human body fascinates me
5. I know that the realities of medicine are harsh, but because of ___________ I know its worth it.
6. _________ died so I want to be a doctor.



In my opinion, it is best to pay someone with professional writing experience to LOOK OVER your writing (DO NOT PAY ANYONE TO WRITE YOUR ESSAYS!!!!) if at all financially feasible. Unless you pay somebody, it is unlikely someone will read and comment on 200 drafts of essays. I am happy to give comments and my general opinion on something if I have the time and someone PMs me (obv free). Also, don't ask people to look over your stuff who are successful but aren't necessarily good writers or they dont know what med schools are looking for. Your PI is best avoided for this exercise IMO. Also, dont ask a ton of people for help. Everyone has an opinion and you will never please everybody. Just ask people "Does this make me sound crazy, is this cliche, and are there any grammar mistakes".

4) Make sure you have a narrative that makes sense. By the end of your application, If I had to summarize your app for why medicine in one sentence, what would that sentence be?

5) Write many drafts. In total, I wrote about 200 drafts of essays. 10 drafts for some school's secondaries and even 4-5 drafts for some "safety schools"


Your writing does not have to be award winning. It just has to not be bad. See @Med Ed post about personal statements (You're doing it wrong, part 1: your personal statement)

"Next up, let's discuss tired analogies. I do not want to hear about how the marathon you ran is a metaphor for your premedical journey. I do not want to hear about how the mountain you climbed is a metaphor for your premedical journey. I do not want to hear about how your intramural water polo victory is a metaphor for your premedical journey. Just describing the actual journey will be fine." I think what @Med Ed was getting at is describe your experiences without over embellishing.



In my mind, the way to stand out with your writing is by not trying to do too much. Be simple, concise, no super fancy vocab if a simpler word will suffice, down to earth, realistic, and humble. At the end of your application, you shouldn't sound like the naive 16 year old kid I was trying to save the world by becoming a doctor.

Also, no matter what you do, please do not talk about how "you wanted to be a doctor since you were five". This was paragraph one for my personal statement (the first draft).

"Over the past 15 years, I have thought long and hard about why I want to become a doctor. I do not come from a family of doctors nor do I come from a community of doctors. By the age of eight however, I was “reading” about anemia and mispronouncing words in my father’s Merck Manual, which was purchased at a drug store several decades earlier for 40 dollars. I want to become a doctor because I want to live a life worth living; one in which I am able to help those less privileged than me and make a lasting impact in underserved communities. "

Please do not write like this! By draft 16 I had eliminated all of this naiveté.

Good writing is unlikely to get you in but bad writing can certainly keep you out. Gl!

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[907914]

January and finished at the end of March after 16 drafts.

I did something similar - Between October and May I went through 22 Drafts. It is absolutely NEVER too early to start.

I pre-wrote 13 schools before even receiving a secondary in July. 95% of the essays were the same

Again, same. After the first 5 secondaries, you can basically copy-paste, adjust to fit specific wording in the prompt. I would recommend starting with a long version and having built in "removable" sentences. These are sentences that add detail but the gist of the story still plays out if the sentence were not there. This makes it to where one essay can be used for the 500 word prompts or the 250 word prompts. And don't be sacred to take one anecdote from one essay and throw it into another. You don't need just one "diversity" essay.

Cliche list from another SDN thread

1. I want to be a doctor because I want to help people.
2. Growing up I never wanted to be a doctor, but _________
3. I wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid.
4. The human body fascinates me
5. I know that the realities of medicine are harsh, but because of ___________ I know its worth it.
6. _________ died so I want to be a doctor.

On the contrary, I would say that these cliches serve a purpose. My entire narrative/PS could be summed up by numbers 1, 4, and 6. However, I do not revolve around these cliches or directly state them. They exist because they are common reasonings. Start with them, write the narrative, then get rid of the cliches in subsequent drafts (as you did). By the end, the central narrative will be more powerful as you had a solid starting point.

In my opinion, it is best to pay someone with professional writing experience to LOOK OVER your writing

it is unlikely someone will read and comment on 200 drafts of essays. I

Alternatively, spam 30 people here on SDN. If you are yourself willing to provide detailed feedback on 100 essays, then others will be the same for you. I have 3 people who have seen every draft of my PS, W/A, and secondaries and I have conversely seen all of their material. Then I have another 30-100 people who have seen some variation of either my PS or my secondaries. Like...Some people review better than others, but it is VERY helpful to get a few dozen different perspectives on your writing. And TBH what was almost more valuable was editing other people's writing, I learned what works and what doesn't work from the perspective of an application reader.

Make sure you have a narrative that makes sense. By the end of your application, If I had to summarize your app for why medicine in one sentence, what would that sentence be?

Couldn't agree more. Well thought out advice column.

 

[82Scout]

#1 rule for writing anything is (Michael Scott voice) KISS..

Keep It Simple Stupid

In other words don't over complex things in your writing. Biggest pet peeve is reading someones writing and they used 20 words to convey something that only needed 6. Pre writing is cool and all, but for my procrastinators out there I started my personal statement at the end of May lol.....

 

[710118]

I did something similar - Between October and May I went through 22 Drafts. It is absolutely NEVER too early to start.

Again, same. After the first 5 secondaries, you can basically copy-paste, adjust to fit specific wording in the prompt. I would recommend starting with a long version and having built in "removable" sentences. These are sentences that add detail but the gist of the story still plays out if the sentence were not there. This makes it to where one essay can be used for the 500 word prompts or the 250 word prompts. And don't be sacred to take one anecdote from one essay and throw it into another. You don't need just one "diversity" essay.


On the contrary, I would say that these cliches serve a purpose. My entire narrative/PS could be summed up by numbers 1, 4, and 6. However, I do not revolve around these cliches or directly state them. They exist because they are common reasonings. Start with them, write the narrative, then get rid of the cliches in subsequent drafts (as you did). By the end, the central narrative will be more powerful as you had a solid starting point.


Alternatively, spam 30 people here on SDN. If you are yourself willing to provide detailed feedback on 100 essays, then others will be the same for you. I have 3 people who have seen every draft of my PS, W/A, and secondaries and I have conversely seen all of their material. Then I have another 30-100 people who have seen some variation of either my PS or my secondaries. Like...Some people review better than others, but it is VERY helpful to get a few dozen different perspectives on your writing. And TBH what was almost more valuable was editing other people's writing, I learned what works and what doesn't work from the perspective of an application reader.

Couldn't agree more. Well thought out advice column.

The thing about sending drafts to too many people on SDN is that everybody will give you a different opinion and many times those opinions will be conflicting. When sending drafts to a lot of people, I personally think it’s best just to ask the 3 questions I mentioned above. But what you did clearly is working for you.

 

[907914]

The thing about sending drafts to too many people on SDN is that everybody will give you a different opinion and many times those opinions will be conflicting. When sending drafts to a lot of people, I personally think it’s best just to ask the 3 questions I mentioned above. But what you did clearly is working for you.

You are correct in receiving conflicting opinions. I actually think this has worked to my advantage - I have been able to get feedback from different perspectives (Just as there are different perspectives screening/reading our apps) and I was, imo, better able to make my application targeted towards the largest audience as opposed to just what one person would have provided.

 

[and 99 others]

The thing about sending drafts to too many people on SDN is that everybody will give you a different opinion and many times those opinions will be conflicting. When sending drafts to a lot of people, I personally think it’s best just to ask the 3 questions I mentioned above. But what you did clearly is working for you.

I think the same logic can be applied to people outside of SDN too. It's definitely critical to have multiple eyes of multiple backgrounds looking at your essays but having literally dozens of people look them over is just a waste of time imo as everyone will have different, often conflicting advice. 3 to 4 qualified individuals is enough, I'd say.

In Meme's case, I think his success is not because of getting 30-100 people to read over his material, but in spite of.

 

[907914]

I think his success is not because of getting 30-100 people to read over his material, but in spite of

It took 30-100 people to find the 3 good people lol I am cheap, so that was my route. But, as I said, editing other people's essays taught me more about my writing than their feedback did.

 

[and 99 others]

It took 30-100 people to find the 3 good people lol I am cheap, so that was my route. But, as I said, editing other people's essays taught me more about my writing than their feedback did.

I just think that is an enormous time drain. Doing a fraction of that left me paralyzed with indecision on whose advice to follow until I just decided to go with the most qualified i.e. adcoms on here, current/accepted students to extremely competitive schools. That worked fine for me and didn't require me to spend countless hours deliberating over every piece of advice I received.

But yeah, your last sentence is a valid point.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

I had 3 people on SDN read my essay, the first two gave great critiques, last one gave such bad critiques I worried for their PS. Take everything with a grain of salt.

 

[907914]

But yeah, your last sentence is a valid point.

I can definitely understand your perspective. If anything, I would just say I was less indecisive and would just read a comment on my essays and think "Nah, that is stupid" and move on lol But there were some things that I wouldn't have thought of just from that one rando with a different perspective. One person pointed out to me "This wording could be offensive to the native American community" after having 20 people read the same thing, no one pointed that out. I was like "Oh yeah, lemme fix that." 30-100 is probably overkill, but variety certainly helps.

 

[82Scout]

If you have any lawyer friends or friends in law school have them read your essays. Someone who has succeeded in legal writing classes can pretty effectively snuff out all the bullcrap, grammar, punctuation, and unnecessary filler for you.

Personally, I would recommend against having some random person on the internet read my essays but that is just my opinion...

 

[notsobabydoc]

If you have any lawyer friends or friends in law school have them read your essays. Someone who has succeeded in legal writing classes can pretty effectively snuff out all the bullcrap, grammar, punctuation, and unnecessary filler for you.

Personally, I would recommend against having some random person on the internet read my essays but that is just my opinion...

Like myself. Lol. I wrote it in one sitting and had a friend look at it and my husband gave me edits, who used to be a editor in chief of a major magazine. Not much change, just find your voice. If you want to say you always want to be a doctor, there’s nothing cliche or naive about it, just convey that message clearly, you are good. I don’t think essays carry that much weight other than whether it makes sense. Well just my two cents, there’s a huge essay industry there that will beg to differ. I wrote all my essays quickly for all the school applications undergrad, law school and mba, and the results have been good. Never went through 20 drafts or whatnot. Just focus on what you want to say. Overdrafting makes your essay stilted.

 

[907914]

Overdrafting makes your essay stilted.

Depends on where you start. My first draft involved poking a cervix. We all have different mileage to travel.

 

[notsobabydoc]

Depends on where you start. My first draft involved poking a cervix. We all have different mileage to travel.

agreed, but when you are there, just stop changing it. You can easily over-edit something.

 

[deleted972488]

I wrote it in one sitting

+1

Clear, concise writing is important, but if you can get there without drafting and redrafting, more power to you.

 

[imbesrs]

Doing a fraction of that left me paralyzed with indecision on whose advice to follow

You can often tell by the quality of the edits which one(s) to follow. I wont connect my name here to reddit, but for example, limeyguydr actually helped me out alot on my PS and some other user worked with me on my EC's MME's and the value I wanted to display on the paper. Not that my success can testify to anything im saying... but just that its easy to tell when someone is half assing yours to have you edit theirs well, or when someone is just clearly eloquent and can write well.

 

[Icebird]

Quality essays are imperative to connecting your entire application together by highlighting strengths and minimizing weaknesses.

I absolutely think I wouldn’t have as much success this cycle if it wasn’t for my ability to craft a strong primary with solid secondary prompts tailored to each schools mission and program (and YES each school has different quotas and goals even though their mission statements might read similar upon first glance).

I will write a post about this when the cycle is wrapping up.

 

[QueenAudrey]

Wow, there are a lot of successful people in this thread! Thanks for the wonderful advice. Can anyone comment on essay content for older non-trads with significant mileage to cover in their “journey” to medicine?

For example, if your event that drew you to medicine happened 7-10 years ago (as an adult, not childhood stuff) and you’ve been working towards medicine ever since, with meaningful experiences scattered throughout, how do you even choose what to talk/write about in the PS? Do you choose the transformative experience that happened forever ago or do you choose the more common EC stuff that everyone else has but is more recent? This is the #1 question I struggle with. Any thoughts?

(Not writing AMCAS anytime soon, but I’ll apply these tips to a post bac admissions essay!)

 

[notsobabydoc]

Wow, there are a lot of successful people in this thread! Thanks for the wonderful advice. Can anyone comment on essay content for older non-trads with significant mileage to cover in their “journey” to medicine?

For example, if your event that drew you to medicine happened 7-10 years ago (as an adult, not childhood stuff) and you’ve been working towards medicine ever since, with meaningful experiences scattered throughout, how do you even choose what to talk/write about in the PS? Do you choose the transformative experience that happened forever ago or do you choose the more common EC stuff that everyone else has but is more recent? This is the #1 question I struggle with. Any thoughts?

(Not writing AMCAS anytime soon, but I’ll apply these tips to a post bac admissions essay!)

I qualify for "older non-trads with significant mileage" lol. It sounds like you have done a lot to become a doctor. My advice would be to highlight the event and then use the other experiences as validation of your desire to be a doctor.

 

[deleted972488]

Wow, there are a lot of successful people in this thread! Thanks for the wonderful advice. Can anyone comment on essay content for older non-trads with significant mileage to cover in their “journey” to medicine?

For example, if your event that drew you to medicine happened 7-10 years ago (as an adult, not childhood stuff) and you’ve been working towards medicine ever since, with meaningful experiences scattered throughout, how do you even choose what to talk/write about in the PS? Do you choose the transformative experience that happened forever ago or do you choose the more common EC stuff that everyone else has but is more recent? This is the #1 question I struggle with. Any thoughts?

(Not writing AMCAS anytime soon, but I’ll apply these tips to a post bac admissions essay!)

I did this. I chose the most formative experiences and at times had to be a little brief and expanded on certain aspects in secondaries when given the chance.

 

[Rachapkis]

Here are a few of my basic rules:

1. Know where you are going before you start writing. An outline helps to ensure that every sentence furthers the objective without unnecessary repetition.

2. Break your essay down into discrete subthemes and proceed in a linear fashion. For example, in an essay about laboratory experiences, one might want to use examples that show a) the ability to take instruction and work well within a team; b) the ability to design and undertake independent research; c) the ability to lead and help others develop their laboratory skills; and d) the ability to effectively present research results orally and in writing. Hopping back and forth between themes rarely works out well.

3. Where possible, show don't tell. Set the scene and use examples from your experience to convey your message.

4. Try to write in simple declarative sentences. Avoid sentences that are too long or convoluted.

5. Continually ask yourself whether the reader has enough context to understand what you are trying to convey.

6. Avoid conclusory sentences. Before presenting any conclusion, make sure that it is preceded by ample supporting evidence.

7. Writing is rewriting. Continue to read and reread your essay with an eye toward improving it.

8. Once you have a credible draft, get several readers you trust to comment. Tell them in advance that they will only be helpful if they give you their honest opinion, critical comments, and suggested revisions.

 

[907914]

Wow, there are a lot of successful people in this thread! Thanks for the wonderful advice. Can anyone comment on essay content for older non-trads with significant mileage to cover in their “journey” to medicine?

For example, if your event that drew you to medicine happened 7-10 years ago (as an adult, not childhood stuff) and you’ve been working towards medicine ever since, with meaningful experiences scattered throughout, how do you even choose what to talk/write about in the PS? Do you choose the transformative experience that happened forever ago or do you choose the more common EC stuff that everyone else has but is more recent? This is the #1 question I struggle with. Any thoughts?

(Not writing AMCAS anytime soon, but I’ll apply these tips to a post bac admissions essay!)

My entire PS was about a formative experience that happened 6 years ago over the course of 3 weeks. I know I did it and it worked out, so you shouldn’t have to shy away

 

[82Scout]

Also side notes after reading some friends and coworkers personal statements.

Stop placing the verb before the noun in sentences
Who is "they"....
Delete "me" from your written vocabulary