Use for personal statement

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Endoxifen

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So, my understanding is that the personal statement is one's opportunity to provide a picture of their personality. However, I've also been told that you should put any explanations for oddities in the personal statement. I wouldn't want to just tack an explanation on the end of a well crafted essay, but I also don't think I would want to make the essay about the oddities. How do you suggest finding a balance between these two goals? Thank you!
 
It is biographical. It should address why you want to be a doctor, how you have tested your interest and provide evidence that you have the attributes that schools are looking for in students and that society needs in its physicians.
Now, if you took a convoluted route to medicine (is that an "oddity"?) such that you need to explain, beyond what is in the Experience section, you may need to weave that into the essay. What might come to mind would be leaving school for a period of time due to a catastrophic event (tornado, wildfire, etc), injury, illness or to raise a child. Maybe something unusual about your childhood such as being raised by an older sibling after the death of your parents (or raising your younger siblings under similar circumstances). Flunking out of school due to circumstances that changed so that you came back and finished strong. I think you can see where this is going.

Some things are not odd enough to warrant a mention such as taking physics and biology as a senior because you decided late to be premed.
 
It is biographical. It should address why you want to be a doctor, how you have tested your interest and provide evidence that you have the attributes that schools are looking for in students and that society needs in its physicians.
Now, if you took a convoluted route to medicine (is that an "oddity"?) such that you need to explain, beyond what is in the Experience section, you may need to weave that into the essay. What might come to mind would be leaving school for a period of time due to a catastrophic event (tornado, wildfire, etc), injury, illness or to raise a child. Maybe something unusual about your childhood such as being raised by an older sibling after the death of your parents (or raising your younger siblings under similar circumstances). Flunking out of school due to circumstances that changed so that you came back and finished strong. I think you can see where this is going.

Some things are not odd enough to warrant a mention such as taking physics and biology as a senior because you decided late to be premed.

Thank you for the clarification.
 
What type of oddities are we talking about
I'm taking next semester off to pursue research off campus. Also (prepare for quality SDN neuroticism), I got a B and B- in ochem when I took it in high school. I was thinking about talking a bit about how that (in all honesty) was the best decision I've pry ever made, but I don't think it would make a particularly moving personal statement.
 
Please don't bring up a B- in a personal statement unless you want to get laughed at by adcoms
I acknowledge that being worried about ab B- is ridiculous. That's sort of what I'm worried about. A B- isn't nearly bad enough to address outright and the experience is also too mundane to dedicate a large amount of time to discussing. Still, its probably the precipitating event for me wanting to become a doctor.
 
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