Thoroughly explained in my work/activities, do i still need it in my PS?

[deleted74029]

So I had my committee interview recently and they look pretty hard at your personal statement. In my PS I mentioned that I enjoyed the research/activities that I did but I didn't go into huge detail. The committee members thought I should have been more thorough in my PS about my research but I did that in my work/activities section so I didn't want to be redundant in my PS by just restating things. What do you guys think?

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[Anatidae]

Your PS should probably have some logical theme and if the details of your research are part of developing that theme, then you should probably expand on it. Reviewers might not get a chance to flip back and forth between your activities list and your personal statement. When they read, they might expect more and be disappointed that it's not there, rather than think that it's redundant.

Now, if you're running out of characters and you have more interesting things to talk about, then don't worry about it.

 

[QuaerensIntelle]

My personal opinion is that this stuff doesn't really belong in a personal statement. I think a lot of people make the mistake of basically using their personal statement as a paragraph form of a CV or resume. Its not. I also don't think its an autobiography.

A good personal statement is a narrative, has one solid theme, and says something about your personality/history. You don't have to explain every activity you do. I think the best thing you can do is use some type of an anecdotal story/situation to explain who you are/why you are doing what you are. Yeah, you want to throw in positive things about yourself, but it is always better to show someone something than to tell them it. Think about it as if you are writing an essay that gives someone an idea of who you are-maybe for a creative nonfiction writing class.

One tip I've heard is that when you read your PS go through each line and highlight the sentences that could have been true to say 50% or more of the premeds you met.

Example: "Growing up, I experienced how physicians were respected society/helped me etc and thought "Wow, I want to be like that." Something like this could be said by almost anyone that has ever seen a physician. Avoid things that could be said by anyone. "I enjoy teaching, helping people, blah blah." Boring.

 

[brianmartin]

Maybe your committee thought you wanted to include your research in the PS but didn't know how, so you under played it, and they want more detail, IF you are going to include it.

The PS is where you address the intangibles...how you got to where you are, what experiences or events along the way impacted you. It should be a quick read, so that someone reading your PS can figure out, in about a minute or so, why you are now sitting in front of them in an interview. If your research played a big part in getting you interested in medicine, then by all means include it as part of the synopsis. However you don't need specific details about the science, or names behind the papers. And if you simply did research...don't force it into your statement thinking they will "miss" it on your AMCAS, they won't. Remember, PS is about "intangibles."

I also don't think its an autobiography.

I think it can be, briefly. Talking about your life prior to pursuing medicine is not off limits, but frame it in such a way that it leads in to the meat of your statement.

 

[QuaerensIntelle]

When I say "not an autobiography," I just mean that don't go through and narrate your entire life story chronologically. By no means am I saying do not include anything from your past/significant moments etc. My main point is just that you should to vary level of detail and mix in narration, exposition, and description. Description is the one that gets left out a lot. Sorry if that was vague.