The Personal Statement CLICHE LIST!!!!!!

[phillz123]

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What's up my fellow personal statement writers!? There's probably a thread like this already but whatever. There is no way to avoid cliches, because a lot of cliche things are true. I guess it is a matter of how the idea is presented. However, I wanted to kind of make a list of supremely cliche ideas that might make your essay seem weak.

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.

add to the list!

 

[TheRealMD]

Not really a cliche but still to be avoided nonetheless. Any of these = instant death!

"I wanna be a doctor so I can make money"
"I wanna be a doctor because my parents told me to"
"I wanna be a doctor so I can boss people around"

 

[apnea]

Doctors are great with the ladiez

 

[DrMidlife]

All my life I've wanted to help people.

Until her untimely death from a terrible disease that I'm about to describe in excrutiating vapid emotional detail, my grandmother encouraged me to follow my dreams and to always be a good person.

With each sub-Saharan baby that dies in my arms, I become more steadfast in my resolve to become a healthcare provider who will change the world.

I believe I can make a difference.

 

[pagemmapants]

"I have hugged a LOT of orphans."

 

[jochi1543]

Cover letter type of things like "I'll make a great addition to your team."

 

[TheRealMD]

Doctors are great with the ladiez

Lol, lady nurses no doubt.

 

[apnea]

Lol, lady nurses no doubt.

nurses are great...they don't care what we're covered with because there's a good chance they're covered in more of it.

 

[TheRealMD]

nurses are great...they don't care what we're covered with because there's a good chance they're covered in more of it.

Gotta avoid the gold-diggers though. Not too many doctors have any gold to spare! 😛

 

[apnea]

yeah...poor people are the worst 🙄😉




(i've eaten ghetto noodles twice this week because poor people are the worst)

 

[jochi1543]

yeah...poor people are the worst 🙄😉




(i've eaten ghetto noodles twice this week because poor people are the worst)

As long as you can afford internet, you will be a welcome addition to our team.

 

[apnea]

haha, proof that not ALL Canadian men i meet online are twats 😍

 

[jochi1543]

haha, proof that not ALL Canadian men i meet online are twats 😍

Dude, I'm not a dude.

 

[apnea]

Dude...zero to jackass in 3 seconds 😱
why did i think you were a guy??

 

[jochi1543]

Dude...zero to jackass in 3 seconds 😱
why did i think you were a guy??

It's ok, a LOT of people do. Even more so on the non-professional forums, because there I talk about sex all the time. Here, I try to restrain myself in case the adcoms are lurking. A gay man is one of the most popular guesses online, because I swear all the time, talk about sex, but talk about sex with men.

 

[apnea]

haha, see, most people here know i'm XX because i put my pic in my avatar...but i had an entire thread of people thinking i was gay because i'd originally planned to pay for med school outright by hostessing an exclusively hot chick jello wrestling match. It sort of spiraled out of control from there.

 

[apnea]

OH OH! NEW CLICHE!!
"You should let me in because i'm a hot lesbian. Who doesn't love hot lesbians?"


(PS i'm not actually a lesbian)

 

[The Doctor]

I was told by a friend on the admissions committee at Harvard that they roll their eyes when they see the statement in every single personal statement about how "medicine just seems like the perfect means to integrate my passion for science and my love of people".

 

[jochi1543]

I was told by a friend on the admissions committee at Harvard that they roll their eyes when they see the statement in every single personal statement about how "medicine just seems like the perfect means to integrate my passion for science and my love of people".

It's true, though, when you think about it!

 

[apnea]

I was told by a friend on the admissions committee at Harvard that they roll their eyes when they see the statement in every single personal statement about how "medicine just seems like the perfect means to integrate my passion for science and my love of people".

Oh for... 🙄

 

[el aye]

It's true, though, when you think about it!

I guess... it would be interesting to see how many PS's they have had that say something along those lines

 

[MedStudentWanna]

2. Growing up I never wanted to be a doctor, but _________
3. I wanted to be a doctor since I was a kid.

I think the most cliche thing of all is people telling others what's cliche. I think people only do it to come off as a know-it-all who should be turned to for expert advice when really the only advice they're dishing out is stuff they've heard from countless others who were just as wrong as they are now.

Notice the two things I quoted above. The OP said these ideas make your personal statement weak. So, if claiming that you wanted to be a doctor since you were a kid makes your PS weak and claiming that growing up, you didn't want to be a doctor makes your PS weak, what exactly does the OP think a person should claim? It's either one or the other, isn't it? Either you wanted to be a doctor as a kid or you didn't want to be a doctor as a kid, but god forbid you should ever (gasp!) be honest and say to hell with cliches, I'm going to be myself.

 

[jochi1543]

I think the most cliche thing of all is people telling others what's cliche. I think people only do it to come off as a know-it-all who should be turned to for expert advice when really the only advice they're dishing out is stuff they've heard from countless others who were just as wrong as they are now.

Notice the two things I quoted above. The OP said these ideas make your personal statement weak. So, if claiming that you wanted to be a doctor since you were a kid makes your PS weak and claiming that growing up, you didn't want to be a doctor makes your PS weak, what exactly does the OP think a person should claim? It's either one or the other, isn't it? Either you wanted to be a doctor as a kid or you didn't want to be a doctor as a kid, but god forbid you should ever (gasp!) be honest and say to hell with cliches, I'm going to be myself.

No, the idea here is that you can still eloquently describe that you wanted to be a doctor since you were a kid or decided on it later without using those EXACT phrases. Of course we all have to talk about those things, but it's HOW you talk about them that makes a difference.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

1. I want to go back to the small rural town I grew up in and be the local primary care physician.
2. I really felt a close connection to the poor and unfortunate souls I met while in Uganda. That's why I wrote about their plight on my blog every evening when I returned to hotel room.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

OH OH! NEW CLICHE!!
"You should let me in because i'm a hot lesbian. Who doesn't love hot lesbians?"


(PS i'm not actually a lesbian)

Damn.....

 

[DropkickMurphy]

haha, see, most people here know i'm XX because i put my pic in my avatar...but i had an entire thread of people thinking i was gay because i'd originally planned to pay for med school outright by hostessing an exclusively hot chick jello wrestling match. It sort of spiraled out of control from there.

I know a CT surgeon who stripped her way through med school......

 

[BigRedPremed]

To me, no idea is too cliche. We're all here because we like science to an extent. We all want to help people. We all enjoy social interaction (most of us anyway). What separates a strong PS from a weak PS is how you support those assertions, the type of experiences you choose to highlight and the way you write about them.

 

[kypdurron5]

I think the most cliche thing of all is people telling others what's cliche. I think people only do it to come off as a know-it-all who should be turned to for expert advice when really the only advice they're dishing out is stuff they've heard from countless others who were just as wrong as they are now.

Notice the two things I quoted above. The OP said these ideas make your personal statement weak. So, if claiming that you wanted to be a doctor since you were a kid makes your PS weak and claiming that growing up, you didn't want to be a doctor makes your PS weak, what exactly does the OP think a person should claim? It's either one or the other, isn't it? Either you wanted to be a doctor as a kid or you didn't want to be a doctor as a kid, but god forbid you should ever (gasp!) be honest and say to hell with cliches, I'm going to be myself.

I agree; if you take away everything people on SDN say are clichés, there's nothing left! The two things you quoted are the only real possibilities- either someone wanted to be a doctor from childhood, or didn't want to be a doctor until later. Since the whole purpose of the PS is why you want to be a doctor, there is very little choice but to talk about this. Same with the "science vs. art of caring" cliché...it sums up what you could spend an entire paper trying to describe.
I say avoid major clichés in their original forms (i.e. there are other ways to say "I want to help people"), but just say what you want to say and ignore everyone else.

 

[prmdbeach17]

I think the most cliche thing of all is people telling others what's cliche. I think people only do it to come off as a know-it-all who should be turned to for expert advice when really the only advice they're dishing out is stuff they've heard from countless others who were just as wrong as they are now.

Notice the two things I quoted above. The OP said these ideas make your personal statement weak. So, if claiming that you wanted to be a doctor since you were a kid makes your PS weak and claiming that growing up, you didn't want to be a doctor makes your PS weak, what exactly does the OP think a person should claim? It's either one or the other, isn't it? Either you wanted to be a doctor as a kid or you didn't want to be a doctor as a kid, but god forbid you should ever (gasp!) be honest and say to hell with cliches, I'm going to be myself.

This is what I don't get either. I won't be writing my PS til next year, but I read a list of about 35 things NOT to do in your PS. So what reasons are left for wanting to go into medicine, and what are you supposed to write then? It really was for me an experience where my brother almost died that drew me to medicine and the fact that it is so fascinating and there's nothing else I'd want to do.

 

[apnea]

I know a CT surgeon who stripped her way through med school......

If i thought people would actually pay to see me naked, i'd totally do it. But i'm gonna need to put a few more miles on the treadmill and tease my hair a lot more before i'll even think about it 😉

Most people don't go to look at the funny little dancers though. i SUCK at any dancing that isn't ballet, i paint my hair black about once a month, and i deliberately stuck three extra holes in my face. i'm probably not cut out for it 😉

 

[armybound]

I did all of the cliche things. I started with a story to get some interest, told how I didn't always want to be a doctor, then gave a short biography which explained how I came to wanting to be a doctor.

Guess they'll just toss it right in the garbage.

 

[TomWestmanRules]

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.

7. I learned a lot about medicine by witnessing Ubuliqua's suffering from ____ disease in (insert 3rd-world country).
8. I swear I'm more than just a pre-med student. I'm so damn well rounded it's not even funny. I have delivered coffee to a nursing home twice in the past decade and I really worked up a sweat in college playing intramural frisbee for one hour a month.
9. While I've learned so much by researching B-glycolipid dihexaprotease's effect on a smoker's lungs, I look forward to applying that knowledge to help a suffering patient (ha, yeah right!).
10. A quote from Robert Frost talking about how 2 roads diverged somewhere...

 

[riceman04]

To me, no idea is too cliche. We're all here because we like science to an extent. We all want to help people. We all enjoy social interaction (most of us anyway). What separates a strong PS from a weak PS is how you support those assertions, the type of experiences you choose to highlight and the way you write about them.

👍

I actually agree with you...normally I am opposed to almost everything you type...you see I am not so biased😛

 

[apnea]

10. A quote from Robert Frost talking about how 2 roads diverged somewhere...

hahaha AWESOME

 

[MedStudentWanna]

No, the idea here is that you can still eloquently describe that you wanted to be a doctor since you were a kid or decided on it later without using those EXACT phrases. Of course we all have to talk about those things, but it's HOW you talk about them that makes a difference.

That's not what the OP said. The OP suggested that these IDEAS were cliche and he's not the first to have done so. Frankly, I don't get why everyone can't just write their own PS without a list of "cliche mistakes" every few weeks.

 

[chicksdigdocs]

My three word personal statement:
"Chicks dig docs."

 

[Depakote]

Admittedly I haven't read many personal statements, but I'm waiting for someone to come up with a completly 100% unique reason for going into medicine.

 

[TheRealMD]

1. I want to go back to the small rural town I grew up in and be the local primary care physician.
2. I really felt a close connection to the poor and unfortunate souls I met while in Uganda. That's why I wrote about their plight on my blog every evening when I returned to hotel room.

Oh snap at #2. For a second there, I thought someone was stalking me.

Eh.. and I DID put something like that in my PS. Time to scratch that and try again.

 

[omegaxx]

To me, no idea is too cliche. We're all here because we like science to an extent. We all want to help people. We all enjoy social interaction (most of us anyway). What separates a strong PS from a weak PS is how you support those assertions, the type of experiences you choose to highlight and the way you write about them.

I think you hit the nail on the head there👍
Think about it: Will Shakespeare comes to SDN and says, "I want to write about a son avenging the death of his father." SDNers, "That's too cliche. Do something else." Ooops, there goes Hamlet.

 

[TheRealMD]

This is what I don't get either. I won't be writing my PS til next year, but I read a list of about 35 things NOT to do in your PS. So what reasons are left for wanting to go into medicine, and what are you supposed to write then? It really was for me an experience where my brother almost died that drew me to medicine and the fact that it is so fascinating and there's nothing else I'd want to do.

Ok, so here's the advice that I've gathered.

Avoid cliche STATEMENTS, not ideas. If you really did get inspired to do medicine from any of these "cliche" things, what makes our breaks your PS is the fact that adcoms HOPE you did something else to further show your interest in medicine. They don't want someone using one single event for their basis of going into medicine. That's what's so bad about these cliche statements.

Honestly, no one here can say that one of these cliche statements isn't true for you. Just don't spend your entire PS writing about it. That's bad.

Any input on this would be nice. I'm still working on mine.

 

[phillz123]

I think the most cliche thing of all is people telling others what's cliche. I think people only do it to come off as a know-it-all who should be turned to for expert advice when really the only advice they're dishing out is stuff they've heard from countless others who were just as wrong as they are now.

Notice the two things I quoted above. The OP said these ideas make your personal statement weak. So, if claiming that you wanted to be a doctor since you were a kid makes your PS weak and claiming that growing up, you didn't want to be a doctor makes your PS weak, what exactly does the OP think a person should claim? It's either one or the other, isn't it? Either you wanted to be a doctor as a kid or you didn't want to be a doctor as a kid, but god forbid you should ever (gasp!) be honest and say to hell with cliches, I'm going to be myself.

Did you miss the part that said that there's no way to avoid cliches because they are mostly true but instead its a matter of presenting it? I guess so...(gasp!)

 

[kypdurron5]

Speaking of PS clichés, I can't let this thread go by without posting this link to the best one I've read yet. It's by PandaBear, and is a collection of almost every cliché in the book.

 

[apnea]

Panda is teh awesomesauce 👍 😍

 

[Perrotfish]

I'm sure this is beating a dead horse, but does anyone else think that the personal statement should just be eliminated? Unless you've had a truely bizzare childhood/college, the personal statement that you're going to write is almost certain to be both a cliche and a real stretch of the truth (everyone wants to save African children, then everyone compete for Plastic Surgury residencies). Maybe they should just have an optional box like they have on most secondaries, for 'If you have experienced any difficult circumstance you would like the admissions committee to know about'. Honestly they should just replace the PS with a series of check boxes: you want to become a doctor because (check all that apply):

__ You have a guilt complex that prevents you from working at most normal corporations, but you care too much about your income to join the Peace Corps.

__ You're not good enough with people for sales, you're too ugly to be a model, and you're scared of the military.

__ You think you'd probably spend the years from age 22-30 watching Stargate anyway, so you might as well trade them for a higher income bracket

__ You think House is real

__ MD is your best hope for a girlfriend/ money/ popularity

__ You're dying of a disease no one else is interested in. You're your only hope.

 

[TheRealMD]

I'm sure this is beating a dead horse, but does anyone else think that the personal statement should just be eliminated? Unless you've had a truely bizzare childhood/college, the personal statement that you're going to write is almost certain to be both a cliche and a real stretch of the truth (everyone wants to save African children, then everyone compete for Plastic Surgury residencies). Maybe they should just have an optional box like they have on most secondaries, for 'If you have experienced any difficult circumstance you would like the admissions committee to know about'. Honestly they should just replace the PS with a series of check boxes: you want to become a doctor because (check all that apply):

__ You have a guilt complex that prevents you from working at most normal corporations, but you care too much about your income to join the Peace Corps.

__ You're not good enough with people for sales, you're too ugly to be a model, and you're scared of the military.

__ You think you'd probably spend the years from age 22-30 watching Stargate anyway, so you might as well trade them for a higher income bracket

__ You think House is real

__ MD is your best hope for a girlfriend/ money/ popularity

__ You're dying of a disease no one else is interested in. You're your only hope.

Nah, the real reason why the PS exists is to make people suffer through understanding why they want to be a doctor. That's really all the interview is as well.

Simplifying that process to a series of checkboxes means that people with a 4.0/40 might not even know what medicine is, but still be more likely to get in.

 

[jochi1543]

Admittedly I haven't read many personal statements, but I'm waiting for someone to come up with a completly 100% unique reason for going into medicine.

Donuts. Great donuts in the hospital caf.

 

[kypdurron5]

__ You think you'd probably spend the years from age 22-30 watching Stargate anyway, so you might as well trade them for a higher income bracket


__ MD is your best hope for a girlfriend/ money/ popularity

__ You're dying of a disease no one else is interested in. You're your only hope.

Speaking as someone without a girlfriend who has seen every episode of Stargate....nice >).

 

[apnea]

Donuts. Great donuts in the hospital caf.

That's what scares me most about med school/residency/hospital work. i'm scared i'll be eating junk all the time and i'll get just absolutely horrifically fat again 🙁

 

[voirlesetoiles]

I was told by a friend on the admissions committee at Harvard that they roll their eyes when they see the statement in every single personal statement about how "medicine just seems like the perfect means to integrate my passion for science and my love of people".

Guilty.

Apnea ^ I'm already guilty on that one haha ... way before medical school... yes! go me! 😛

 

[jochi1543]

That's what scares me most about med school/residency/hospital work. i'm scared i'll be eating junk all the time and i'll get just absolutely horrifically fat again 🙁

I dated a resident once, he had it the other way around - he lost like 30 pounds in his 1st year. He was a little pudgy to begin with, but he was REALLY thin after that year. He just never had time to eat!