-
CycleTrack and SDN are teaming up to make medical school admissions more transparent and accessible! Read the announcement to learn how we’re supporting the future of CycleTrack’s free application-tracking tools .
Too cute for PS?
Started by Dr. Death
Get help with your application
Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.
I hate the use of rhetorical questions in writing pieces. I agree with @jl lin's point that this kind of question is really what is going to be answered in the PS. It should be implicit if not explicit as to why you have an interest in medicine over any other profession.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I concur with @NickNaylor, you should probably not explicitly write that question. However, I think it is a good question to answer in your PS, as just saying, "I want to help people" or something along those lines does not address why you feel you need to be a physician to do so.
Really awkward, and unnecessarily stilted .
I think it's superfluous asking that question. You don't have to say why medicine over all the other professions that help people in a PS. More likely in an interview, yes.
Don't actually write this in there. You could, however, use it to drive your writing.
My opening statement was "Why Medicine?" for three years, then the fourth was "Why I do I want to be a doctor?" (or something like that)
Most people cannot pull it off. I'd read something like 300 personal statements in one year alone so I knew what didn't work and how to phrase it. It's really hard to do well.
Oh... this is awkward. I'm really close to sending in my DO apps this year and I have a, "To answer the often asked question, 'Why Medicine? ' I've had to..."
nay?
nay?
Out of curiosity why is that? Are you assuming all pre-meds are 21 years old and privileged? I'll be damned if I don't have anything profound to say on my PS after living on this planet for 24 years!
As a 24 yr old non-trad myself I encourage you to do so. I'm poking fun and being a little hyperbolic, but really most college students aren't nearly as wise as they think they are.
Yeah it's mostly because when you feel like you've really figured out some deep insight, you're going to come across as a kid depending on your life experiences or lack thereof.
It's not a bad thing to be genuine though. Just know that this is the place to talk about your influences instead of making grandiose statements about the state of medicine etc.
It's not a bad thing to be genuine though. Just know that this is the place to talk about your influences instead of making grandiose statements about the state of medicine etc.
Even if you do have something "profound" to share, you will almost certainly not be the first to share it. The cynical and tired readers of your application have seen it all. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't include those kinds of insights that you think are valuable, just understand that it likely isn't as novel as you think it is.
Right, as I imagine you're implying, it's not my fault we have one or two people reading 5000 essays. If we had the same people read through the great literature of this world, I'm sure things would start seeming less profound as well.
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Indeed, but the difference is that there really isn't anything profound in the overwhelming majority of personal statements - even if whatever insights you're sharing might be profound to you. The case where someone shares a novel insight or has a unique experience that led them to medicine is truly exceptional. In three years of interviewing applicants (which involved reading their personal statements) and one year on the admissions committee, I can think of one PS that was truly unique, or at least unique enough that I can readily recall it now. I imagine I read upwards of 150-200 personal statements in that time. You do the math.
It's not the readers, it's the candidates.
Few people have truly unique experiences.
Few people have truly unique experiences.
It's the depth of reflection on common experiences that distinguishes most candidates.
Perhaps I should have said that few people have truly unique insights.
Weird double post
I would salt and burn a PS in which the writer asked themselves a question.
Servers are acting up a bit since the update, I just double posted as well.
Are you saying 3 years makes you a profound person?
I'm saying that at 24 one can be "profound" or more "profound" than a 40 year old. Is 21 a beginning point for profoundness? I'm confused by your question--wait no, it's a poor question, I get it.
