**The Official Personal Statement Guide and PS Readers List **

[harposnarpo]

Is it okay to mention your PI by his first name in you PS? We're on a first name basis, but I don't want to come off as disrespectful to the academia hierarchy.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[gujuDoc]

I am having a great deal of difficulty writing my PS, mostly because I don't know what the adcoms are looking for. For example, am I simply answering 'why would I be a good doctor' or are we writing about our life and how we came to the decision to pursue medicine?

Are there examples out there that I could read?

There are published books with exammple PSes.

They include the Princeton Review Medical School Essays book and the Barrons medical school essays book.

Here are the amazon links for both:
http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Schoo...bs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214142999&sr=1-3
http://www.amazon.com/Essays-Medica...bs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214142999&sr=1-1

 

[gujuDoc]

I am having a great deal of difficulty writing my PS, mostly because I don't know what the adcoms are looking for. For example, am I simply answering 'why would I be a good doctor' or are we writing about our life and how we came to the decision to pursue medicine?

Are there examples out there that I could read?

Also go to the first page of this thread for pointers. It explains what the dos and don'ts of PSes are. I've included a post with a ppt presentation by one of the senior adcom members at USF COM in this thread. I think its post 27.

Braluk and others have also posted helpful hints.

It does incorporate both of what you said.

 

[gujuDoc]

OK.... whats the general consensus about addressing negatives in PS? I have heard both sides - its good to address them, as long as you spin to the positive, or its better to ignore them and discuss them in an interview (presuming you get that far).

I guess, specifically, my question is this. I had to take the MCAT three times. (i know, gross). My first score was mediocre, my second ATROCIOUS, and my third was finally up to par. I feel like I really grew a lot through the experience and it really gave me time ( a year off) to absolutely determine that this was the career I wanted to pursue.......

but, is it better to not draw attention to the negative? I guess I could talk about the year off & growth w/o mentioning the MCAT causing it....

any feedback/advice?

You don't need to address taking it 3 times. You would only need to address number issues if it had to do with a GPA issue. I had a friend who took it 3 times. On the 3rd try she had an 8 point increase. No adcom looked at her previous scores and took it negatively. The only thing that was taken negatively on her app was lack of a lot of research which is more needed for a top tier uni.

 

[fuzzywuz]

I really want to make sure about this..

There isn't really a need to include all ECs into the PS right? I mean...I think all of my ECs are important and shaped my views and feelings of medicine. But for the sake of brevity and effectiveness, I want to keep it simple and to the point. If I don't include all my ECs into the PS it wouldn't be bad because it will be covered in the EC section of the app as well.

Anyone care to chime in?

Thanks!

 

[korndoctor]

is the 5300 character limit including spaces? if u go over, how will u know? will u see things get chopped off if u hit print preview?

 

[korndoctor]

is it advisable to explain a childhood story, like how you grew up...is that a better approach...and maybe mention one reason u want to go into med near the end and save the rest for secondaries....i see so many people just take some of their health activities like research and volunteer and then just write a little more and call it a personal statement. i feel this approach is a little redundant because when you get to secondaries, they will ask you "why medicine" but you basically said it all in your personal statement. so is this okay, to tlak about my childhood story becuase u will not get a chance to write about that in my secondaries. thanks for your help and support and comments.

 

[PowerButton]

is it advisable to explain a childhood story, like how you grew up...is that a better approach...and maybe mention one reason u want to go into med near the end and save the rest for secondaries....i see so many people just take some of their health activities like research and volunteer and then just write a little more and call it a personal statement. i feel this approach is a little redundant because when you get to secondaries, they will ask you "why medicine" but you basically said it all in your personal statement. so is this okay, to tlak about my childhood story becuase u will not get a chance to write about that in my secondaries. thanks for your help and support and comments.

The biggest thing I took away from my career advisor and doctors I work with who were on admissions committees is that you should not emphasize childhood stories.

When they read your personal statement, do you want their lasting impression of you to be an image of you as a kid? They are more interested in your present maturity and what you've done to really be serious about medicine, which is why most people, myself included, write about some activity they have had. Your personal statement SHOULD explain why you want to be a doctor. How are you going to get that secondary if you don't even tell them that in your initial personal statement?


On a separate note, do adcoms read the entirety of your personal statement, or do they just skim over it for the most part?

 

[fuzzywuz]

The biggest thing I took away from my career advisor and doctors I work with who were on admissions committees is that you should not emphasize childhood stories.

When they read your personal statement, do you want their lasting impression of you to be an image of you as a kid? They are more interested in your present maturity and what you've done to really be serious about medicine, which is why most people, myself included, write about some activity they have had. Your personal statement SHOULD explain why you want to be a doctor. How are you going to get that secondary if you don't even tell them that in your initial personal statement?


On a separate note, do adcoms read the entirety of your personal statement, or do they just skim over it for the most part?

In my opinion, I think childhood stories are effective ways to approach it. HOWEVER, like you said, you do not want an image of a kid to be the lasting impression. If you can somehow take your experiences from childhood and talk about how it inspired you to do the things you did as an adult and how you overcame such and such, I think you can definitely use it to your advantaged.

 

[McKaty]

I grew up with a pretty unique background (lived on a ranch in a barn overlooking Los Angeles w/ no electricity) and my advisor thinks including this information will make my PS jump out.

However, I really want my personal statement to focus on why I chose medicine (a major surgery my freshman year of college) and what I have done to verify this decision (volunteering and a job in public health). I feel like though my background does add to who I am, I am not sure how unique it really is or how it would fit in with the rest of the statement.

Should I listen to my advisor and try to include my background, or would it seem out of place?

 

[TpharmD]

This is some advice I posted last summer after reading a ton of PSs:

After revising my PS multiple times last year, listening to comments from many people, and editing at least 15 different personal statements for SDNers this year, I have some general comments for those of you struggling with this:

1. For those of you who haven't already, check out the Essays 101 link on the SDN homepage. It has good advice on how to start your PS, what to include and what not to include and also has some sample statements.

2. A general comment about writing an essay - the first sentence of each paragraph should give an overview/summation of what you are going to talk about in that paragraph. It should not be a conclusion of the preceding paragraph, and it should not contain subjects/thoughts that are not addressed again in the paragraph.

3. Your experiences do not have to be put in chronological order. In fact, it often makes more sense if you group them according to what you did/learned. Put research experiences together, volunteer experiences together, etc. It also makes it easier to transition from one to the other without repeatedly saying "and then I decided to...".

4. Including a brief story is always more interesting and often more informative about you than a laundry list of characteristics that you have or value. Talking about how you perfected a protocol for you lab shows determination, talking about how you worked with a patient that hated everyone else shows compassion and your ability to work with others, etc.

5. Do not describe your research in detail. Chances are, whoever is reading your PS will not understand. Just write a brief and very general sentence about your research - "our lab works on xyz", "my project was to understand lmnop". If you want to go into detail about what you were doing or what techniques you were using, write them in the activities section of your AMCAS. Of course, sometimes you will need to go into a little more detail, but try to keep it simple.

6. After describing an experience, always mention what you learned from it and/or reflect on how this affected your decision to become a physician or how it will affect you as a physician. Also, please try to give some detail in these explanations. Repeatedly saying "and this experience verified my desire to become a doctor" is bo-ring. A little detail goes a long way - "I watched surgeries ranging from laproscopic gall bladder surgery to a hip replacement" is more interesting than "I saw many surgeries, which were very interesting".

7. Many people seem to be writing their personal statements in a very formal tone. For some reason this seems to require the use of very large words that are not often used in daily language and phrases that are extremely wordy. Whoever is reading your PS will probably scan it in a few minutes. Therefore, you want it to be clear and concise. Use words that are easy to understand and phrases that are to the point. Do not use words unless you are POSITIVE that you know what they mean. I am not saying not to use a varied vocabulary (the thesaurus is your friend), but if you had to look it up in a dictionary, then you don't know what it means, so don't include it. Also, beware of sounding obnoxiously know-it-all. No one wants to invite you to interview if they think you are an uptight a**, even if in real life you are the sweetest person ever.

9. Remember to include WHY MEDICINE. This is the purpose of the PS. The answer to this does not have to be "I want to help people". If you are not sure, think long and hard about it. You will be asked this on interviews, so you might as well figure it out now.

10. Do not make negative comments about anything. If you didn't like an experience, either don't include it or just say what you learned and move on. Also, do not say you did not enjoy doing research. Many physicians do research, many medical students are interested in research, and many schools like to have students that are interested in research. These people are going to be reading your PS. Again, if you didn't like it, fine. Mention what you learned and move on. But don't say that doing research convinced you to go into medicine, because the two are very much intertwined.

This is all I can think of for now. Others, feel free to add. Good luck everyone!

can someone provide a link for this essays 101 page? I can't find it...Thanks

 

[chad5871]

I think this is what you're looking for:

http://share.studentdoctor.net/essays/index.asp

 

[mocha blanca]

so i've been an sdn lover for a while now, but this is officially my first post (not that i haven't been tempted before.. just never really knew when to jump into a topic) so woot woot to this milestone of mine . anyway, anybody have any opinions regarding including unique experiences and activities that may be borderline taboo? i know that it's important to write about something you're really passionate about, but stay away from touchy issues like religion and politics and such. so... on that note...

... i've been taking pole dancing for a couple of years now (not as a profession, just for exercise and fun!!), and it's totally opened my eyes to what i can do, and given me so much confidence, strength, etc etc etc. oh, and it's a pretty sweet workout. should i leave that out of my EC list and/or PS? i've pretty much decided against putting it in my personal statement even though there's a lot i could tie into it (decided to stick with talking about trapeze class instead and paralleling that to the climb to med school). it's one of those things that most people that find out about it find absolutely awesome and relatively unique, yet it's got enough of a stigma that i'm pretty sure at least a handful ADCOMS might think i'm some sort of street-walking ho. it's recently become more popular, but i doubt they're necessarily up to date on the latest trends. maybe i could use a euphemism...

yeah.. so i've always wondered. and i'm pretty sure nobody has asked a pole dancing question on this forum yet. figured i might as well be the first. sorry if the answer is really obvious and i'm just completely oblivious, but any of your input would be much appreciated!

oh yeah, happy new year everyone

 

[owyang]

"women's empowerment classes with minimal clothing lab section."

 

[aznb0y129]

so i've been an sdn lover for a while now, but this is officially my first post (not that i haven't been tempted before.. just never really knew when to jump into a topic) so woot woot to this milestone of mine . anyway, anybody have any opinions regarding including unique experiences and activities that may be borderline taboo? i know that it's important to write about something you're really passionate about, but stay away from touchy issues like religion and politics and such. so... on that note...

... i've been taking pole dancing for a couple of years now (not as a profession, just for exercise and fun!!), and it's totally opened my eyes to what i can do, and given me so much confidence, strength, etc etc etc. oh, and it's a pretty sweet workout. should i leave that out of my EC list and/or PS? i've pretty much decided against putting it in my personal statement even though there's a lot i could tie into it (decided to stick with talking about trapeze class instead and paralleling that to the climb to med school). it's one of those things that most people that find out about it find absolutely awesome and relatively unique, yet it's got enough of a stigma that i'm pretty sure at least a handful ADCOMS might think i'm some sort of street-walking ho. it's recently become more popular, but i doubt they're necessarily up to date on the latest trends. maybe i could use a euphemism...

yeah.. so i've always wondered. and i'm pretty sure nobody has asked a pole dancing question on this forum yet. figured i might as well be the first. sorry if the answer is really obvious and i'm just completely oblivious, but any of your input would be much appreciated!

oh yeah, happy new year everyone

Disregarding the fact that some adcoms might view it with some kind of stigma, but just out of curiosity, how would you integrate that into your PS which is supposed to address the question of why you want to be a doctor? The climb and trapeze thing I get, but not really sure about the pole dancing.

As far as ECs go, I would say it depends on how long you've been doing it and to what extent. If it's just for exercise, I would say probably not. I run everyday, but haven't joined any official clubs or completed a marathon, so I left it off my list of ECs.

 

[iA-MD2013]

You could just call it dancing...leave out the pole part

 

[mocha blanca]

Disregarding the fact that some adcoms might view it with some kind of stigma, but just out of curiosity, how would you integrate that into your PS which is supposed to address the question of why you want to be a doctor? The climb and trapeze thing I get, but not really sure about the pole dancing.

As far as ECs go, I would say it depends on how long you've been doing it and to what extent. If it's just for exercise, I would say probably not. I run everyday, but haven't joined any official clubs or completed a marathon, so I left it off my list of ECs.

haha. i hadn't actually thought of how i'd incorporate it into a PS (i was just curious if anybody else had anything they'd consider taboo for a PS.. should've probably specified that) -- it was more of an EC list type of thing. i've been doing it long enough and often enough that i feel like it's a major activity in my life, but not necessarily life changing. thanks for your input

 

[LSU Gladiator]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about doing my PS with sections and headers, but I'm kind of worried about using up extra characters. Anyone know how to get away with that? Maybe just use imporant sentences as the titles instead of wasting characters with redundant info?

Also, I've written about one of my clinical experiences and it alone is 2,xxx characters with spaces. UGH.

If anyone cares to read it and give me feedback about cutting out unneccessary parts, please PM me.

Many thanks!

 

[MilkmanAl]

Don't do it. It's supposed to be an essay, not a lab report. You'll need to make all of your "sections" flow together into a coherent, readable work to have a passable PS.

 

[nick_carraway]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking about doing my PS with sections and headers, but I'm kind of worried about using up extra characters. Anyone know how to get away with that? Maybe just use imporant sentences as the titles instead of wasting characters with redundant info?

Also, I've written about one of my clinical experiences and it alone is 2,xxx characters with spaces. UGH.

If anyone cares to read it and give me feedback about cutting out unneccessary parts, please PM me.

Many thanks!

I don't know how far along in the drafting process you are, but your content will tend to get shorter as you refine your paper. I'd write it all out now and remove the excess later on.

As for your headers, I don't think that's a good idea. Keep in mind the essay will be entered into AMCAS in plain text with no indentations.

This means that your header will look like a sentence all by itself before the next major paragraph and I don't think that'll be too impressive to a skimming evaluator.

 

[EkramVahsedi86]

I think its kind of sad. Some people will not have the substance to support a great personal statement. To those people, quit crowding the ones out who do have great personal statements that are being beaten by ones that make good use of loaded language and hundreds of dollars of coaching and dozens of hours of plotting. To be fair, just write an honest personal statement. I don't want to have to cheapen my personal statement just to make it competitive. After reading this thread, now I know I'm going to have to, and its sad. Now I won't even believe in my own PS as genuine anymore, because now I'm having to rethink it to make it stand out.

Can a few of you who are only doing this because your parent(s) a doctor just write that on your PS to give me a better chance amongst the crowd? If not, PS coaching here I come! Don't hate the player--hate the game, right?

 

[NukeQuazar]

I think its kind of sad. Some people will not have the substance to support a great personal statement. To those people, quit crowding the ones out who do have great personal statements that are being beaten by ones that make good use of loaded language and hundreds of dollars of coaching and dozens of hours of plotting. To be fair, just write an honest personal statement. I don't want to have to cheapen my personal statement just to make it competitive. After reading this thread, now I know I'm going to have to, and its sad. Now I won't even believe in my own PS as genuine anymore, because now I'm having to rethink it to make it stand out.

Can a few of you who are only doing this because your parent(s) a doctor just write that on your PS to give me a better chance amongst the crowd? If not, PS coaching here I come! Don't hate the player--hate the game, right?

You're right on all points. Now that I'm into the process and seeing what application qualities get people in--and who does not get in--I'm starting to understand why the healthcare industry is so dysfunctional. It seems that honesty, integrity, and idealism about helping people will not get you far with adcomms. However dishonesty, loads of money spent, parents writing applications for their kids, and bogus LOR's from doctors who are family friends will. It's a very sad state of affairs.

 

[JuliaGulia2789]

Hey,

I'd be happy to read AND copy edit PSes for 2010 applicants. I'm a non-trad and may be able to offer the most help to others with a circuitous path to medicine. My qualifications include the ability to complete the Saturday NY Times crossword puzzle, former spelling bee champ, extensive writing in my current job, and a big red pen (figuratively speaking). I tend to have a heavy hand, so if you are especially sensitive I may not be the best reader for you.

 

[Dr Lyss]

Hey,

I'd be happy to read AND copy edit PSes for 2010 applicants. I'm a non-trad and may be able to offer the most help to others with a circuitous path to medicine. My qualifications include the ability to complete the Saturday NY Times crossword puzzle, former spelling bee champ, extensive writing in my current job, and a big red pen (figuratively speaking). I tend to have a heavy hand, so if you are especially sensitive I may not be the best reader for you.

Julia that would be really helpful. maybe you might want to post this in the sticky that says 2009-2010 PS readers list. You will probably get more responses.

 

[JuliaGulia2789]

Ooops I belatedly realized this was the wrong thread... Will do...

 

[Depakote]

the official (current) personal statement reader list may be found here:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=588435

closing this out of date thread.