use of citations in personal statement?

[GladifImakeit]

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Hey. Can you help me out with a question? I am working on my personal statement and I may want to reference a couple of statistics. Let's say for example, "25% of medical students were depressed according to a 2005 article in the NEJM."

So, my question is, should I add references at the end? Or, should I just do an in-text citation? Or just say a journal article showed that...

Or, are citations a bad idea and I should do something different altogether?

Thanks!

 

[DrBowtie]

I'd say do something different. Emphasis PERSONAL statement.

 

[officedepot]

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[GladifImakeit]

why are you so down in the dumps!? I personally would not talk about stuff like that in a personal statement but I guess it depends on what angle you're going for... And I would not use citations. Speak from your heart!

Thanks officedepot. You seem like a really nice guy. Well, it was hard watching my classmates match last week while I am a year behind. I met with the dean, and she seems to think I'll be competitive for my field, despite my concerns. So maybe things will turn out okay. It sounds like a really bad idea, but I might write about my experience with depression in the personal statement and how it has motivated me for psych...

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[Bernoull]

Thanks officedepot. You seem like a really nice guy. Well, it was hard watching my classmates match last week while I am a year behind. I met with the dean, and she seems to think I'll be competitive for my field, despite my concerns. So maybe things will turn out okay. It sounds like a really bad idea, but I might write about my experience with depression in the personal statement and how it has motivated me for psych...

.

I saw a recent post by aProgDirector were being "too candid especially with psych issues" came back to bite the student in the "u-know-wat". Be careful about how much info you volunteer, unfortunately there's still discrimination regarding psych issues and sometimes PDs don't want to take "risks" on such applicants.

I wish u the best of luck on ur match, but becareful not to shoot urself in the foot.

GL

 

[CaptainSSO]

I would definitely not elaborate too much on that.

 

[Lbgem]

why are you so down in the dumps!? I personally would not talk about stuff like that in a personal statement but I guess it depends on what angle you're going for... And I would not use citations. Speak from your heart!

don't often agree with officedepot, but wholeheartedly agree here. This sounds like your personal statement is part dry (statistics/references) and part confessional (a no no for personal statements). From your recent (and not so recent) posts I think the depression you're going through is going to bleed into that personal statement if you don't control it. And if I were a PD - choosing between an upbeat/working hard app vs one that might have possible depression issues...which one would you choose?

There is the whole this made me stronger type thing - but it doesn't sound like you've overcome it yet.

I feel for you, I do, and god knows I'm worried about matching, but you need to do some pick me up stuff.

Be happy/upbeat, find things that you like. Things may look bad now, but is being depressed/stressed about it really going to help anything?

Also, stop relying on what other people think of you. That's just going to make you miserable.

It's easy for us to say all these things, please, talk to a psychologist or something cause I think you've been through a rough patch and are having a hard time picking yourself back up.