Tips for a GREAT Personal Statement!

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UCF FINatic

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I had a lot of help from people last year (doc toothache and many others), so I am just looking to repay the favor. I had pretty average stats (19 AA, 19 TS, 23 PAT; 3.6 O-GPA, 3.3 S-GPA; Business Major; only had 5 shadowing hours when I applied; only had taken Bio 1 & 2, Chem 1 & 2, Orgo 1 & 2) so I think I owe my personal statement a lot of credit. While I am reviewing other's personal statements this cycle, I thought I would create this thread to just give some tips that I think would help everyone out:

1.) Capture their attention- Dental Schools have thousands of applicants, you NEED yours to capture their attention right from the first sentence. If you capture their attention they are probably more inclined to actually read what you have to say instead of skimming through it. A tip for this is start your PS with an action verb. It makes a big difference:
"I went to the store to get milk"
"Frantically rushing into Publix I purchased milk..."
Some dramatization never hurt anyone, as long as it actually happened lol, but that's just an example. Try it on your PS and see the difference it makes.

2.) Explain any weaknesses in your application- Everything doesn't have to be rosy in your PS. You can talk about some of your weaknesses, but try to do so in a positive light. Since I was a Business Major I explained that I was doing the Entrepreneurship track and how that would help me start my own practice down the line, etc. I also explained my limited shadowing hours by explaining I working part-time (started at 14), actively involved in my fraternity, taking a full course load, etc. I also tried to overcome the lack of shadowing hours by showcasing my dental knowledge acquired from attending UNLV's Dental Simulation Course (got to use hand piece, etc.). If you see any weaknesses in your application try to address it.

3.) Talk about why Dentistry- You are about to commit yourself to a life-long profession you should be able to give at least three reasons why you want to become a dentist. This is a common interview question, so I would assume that putting it in your PS could actually help you.

4.) Map out your PS- I know, you are going to read this tip and say, "screw that, I always just type the entire... yadda yadda." I know where you are coming from with that logic because I do that too. That being said, I actually took time to map out my PS and it made a big difference. It helps you see where you are going and helps the flow of the overall PS. A HUGE tip is write down a couple of your strengths, any weaknesses you have to address and most importantly, things you want dental schools to know about you. Once you have that list see if you can couple any of those things into one logical pairing to compose one paragraph. If you have too many topics and can't pair them up just eliminate the ones that are least important in your eyes. It is better to have a well constructed PS then one with too much information (and is choppy). Hopefully this makes sense. If you need more clarification just ask and I could give an example.

5.) Treat each paragraph as an individual paper- This sounds kind of funny, but it really helped me when proof-reading and editing my PS. When you are proof-reading or trying to improve your PS and look at the whole thing you may only notice a thing here or there to change. When you copy one paragraph and post it to another Word document and obsess over it you will notice more things. You take one paragraph and read it over and over and over and next thing you know you are changing this little thing and that little thing and at the end you have a paragraph that is 10x better than before.

That is all for now, feel free to add to this list! I will post more tips as I think of them :thumbup:

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6.) The use of "I"- You can use "I" but be careful starting multiple sentences with it. If you continually start each sentence with "I" the reader starts to be lulled to sleep because it is the same sentence structure over and over and over. I learned this from my friend who writes for the Orlando Sentinel. You can use "I" to express emphasis though, so don't shy all the way from it. In undergrad an English professor made my class and me write a paper about ourselves without using "I"; it was incredibly challenging, but after we finished it made our writing noticeably better.
 
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