Using Humor in your personal statement

[TheElement]

I just went to one of the medical school workshops here at my school and was told not to use humor. I was always under the assumption that you could if you could pull if off effectively. Or was I mistaken?

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[jochi1543]

It's tricky, because not all people share the same sense of humor, and things like sarcasm may not be detectable to all. Also, the reader might be having a bad day and find it tacky and annoying instead of funny/engaging as he would on a good day.

 

[Dr_Dan_the_man]

I wouldn't do it if I were you.
Best case scenario the person reading it recognizes the humor, but it still adds no value to your PS.
Worst case scenario, the person reading it mistakes it for sarcasm or does not understand the joke and you get an auto-rejection.

there are better ways to make your PS stand out...

 

[Revenant]

Just swallow it and feed them the BS adcoms so desperately crave. The "I want to help people because yadda yadda yadda" they've read a thousand times over.

 

[smeagol]

I'd go with the safest bet and leave it out. Save the humor for something else. I have trouble containing my sense of humor so I can certainly empathize with you.

If you can manage to disguise the humor in a clever and witty way such that the only people who can understand are the type who stroke their own egos as they recognize things, then *maybe* you can give it a shot. It's dangerous, so only do it if you can't help yourself.

 

[HoboCommander]

I would do it. Show them you that you are a risk-taker.

 

[da8s0859q]

I would do it. Show them you that you are a risk-taker.

Agreed. Write your personal statement as if it were, uh, a personal statement.

 

[sle3pyguii]

Humor is usually a hit-or-miss. On one hand, you have the chance that the adcoms will actually find it remotely funny and so your PS is that much more interesting. On the other hand, if you PS doesn't make them laugh, it'll just make you seem a bit.......foolish?

 

[TheRealMD]

Adcoms remember 10 people and forget the rest (literally thousands). 5 are good. 5 are bad. Considering forgotten people still get interviews and bad people never do, I wouldn't take that risk.

 

[KublaiKhan]

A humorous anecdote that in some way highlights your commitment to medicine would probably be alright. Just don't use anything tacky or obvious.

 

[SketchLazy]

I just went to one of the medical school workshops here at my school and was told not to use humor. I was always under the assumption that you could if you could pull if off effectively. Or was I mistaken?

I read this book with the title, 'An insider's guide to medical school admission' or something along those lines and I remember reading specifically about this. It stated it rather bluntly: ' Unless you are one of the five people in the world who is actually funny, don't use humor in your personal statement.' To me, that rings true because you don't know who would be reading your personal statement. You have to know your audience, if you want to make 'em laugh.

 

[MyInitialsAreJC]

My first draft of my AMCAS statement was peppered with sort of tongue in cheek comments. i don't think any of them survived the hundred revisings.

 

[thejonqproject]

i used a little humor. ( i thought it was kind of funny ?) maybe u won't haha.
i can forward to u if ud like.

just msg me.

 

[Blondnuttyboy]

instead of sheer humor, i used witty comments...i feel the mundane tone gets old and every now and then a little color is needed

 

[MundaneMD]

instead of sheer humor, i used witty comments...i feel the mundane tone gets old and every now and then a little color is needed

Hey now, there's nothing wrong with being mundane.

 

[8744]

I just went to one of the medical school workshops here at my school and was told not to use humor. I was always under the assumption that you could if you could pull if off effectively. Or was I mistaken?

The problem is that you probably can't pull it off. It's pretty difficult to be funny. You have to have something funny to say as well as the timing and the vocabulary to express it, things that are not easy to come by and the product of both an interesting life and a lot of writing practice.

Stick with "earnest." It's easier to fake.

 

[8744]

I read this book with the title, 'An insider's guide to medical school admission' or something along those lines and I remember reading specifically about this. It stated it rather bluntly: ' Unless you are one of the five people in the world who is actually funny, don't use humor in your personal statement.' To me, that rings true because you don't know who would be reading your personal statement. You have to know your audience, if you want to make 'em laugh.

Hey, I'm one of those five guys and I didn't use any humor in any of my personal statements.

Best thing about being a resident? I will never have to write another ridiculous personal statement.

 

[45408]

The only way I would suggest that you attempt to use humor is in such a way that if someone doesn't get it, they won't even notice it was a joke. If you try to include some big story - "and then the urine sample went flying THAT way, and that's how I decided to be a doctor" - then forget it.

 

[Concordia]

Play it safe. Write a solid, serious personal statement. You can always wow them with your sense of humor during the interview process. Plus, consider the fact that you might not have enough space to include a good funny story that everyone will get.

 

[ttlove]

I tried to lighten the mood a little on my personal statment when I was talking about how my dad's been in jail for most of my life. I think it worked out ok.

 

[Writer1985]

I had one self-deprecating comment at the end of my personal statement. I showed my PS to several people before submitting, and no one mentioned it either way. Don't know if it helped, but I doubt it hurt, either.

Building your PS around humor, or trying to use sarcasm or stand-up type comedy is probably a bad thing. Wit can be good, but only in really small doses.

 

[greg1184]

This is from UMiami's website.

Your personal statement should be grammatically correct and present a unified and genuine picture of you as a person, why you want to study medicine, and what personal experiences is your decision based on.

Personal statements should not contain attempted humor (humor does not translate well in written form unless you are Samuel Clemens or Dave Barry). They should not contain quotes from famous (or anonymous) authors, no matter how germane (you are not applying to enroll in an English course so use the space more wisely), and they should not contain a detailed description of your latest hi-tech research project (committee members lose interest when they have no idea what you are talking about).

http://www6.miami.edu/UMH/CDA/UMH_Main/0,1770,2600-1;14190-2;31983-3,00.html

 

[BlackSails]

I had one self-deprecating comment at the end of my personal statement. I showed my PS to several people before submitting, and no one mentioned it either way. Don't know if it helped, but I doubt it hurt, either.

Building your PS around humor, or trying to use sarcasm or stand-up type comedy is probably a bad thing. Wit can be good, but only in really small doses.

Self-deprecating humor is a bad, bad thing in an essay that is really supposed to explain why the med school should accept you.

Humor is good as long as
1) It is appropriate. Your audience is not a bunch of your peers, but people reviewing you.
2) It is actually funny.
3) It makes sense in the context of your essay
and most importantly
4) It makes sense in the context of the character you present.

 

[Kingfish]

I think it would be suicide to try humor throughout your essay, especially stuff like one-liners. I used it a little bit in my PS, but I made a point of asking everyone who reviewed my paper if they thought it was appropriate. I wrote it so that even if the reader didn't get the joke it would be highlight my frustration with a certain experience. I think it worked well.

 

[ADeadLois]

Self-deprecating humor is a bad, bad thing in an essay that is really supposed to explain why the med school should accept you.

Not necessarily. Self-deprecating humor shows humility, and is probably the only type of humor you'll be able to pull-off effectively in this kind of essay.

But overall, I agree with Panda Bear, that unless you have considerable writing experience, I would avoid. using humor. Save it for your interview. I've read a bunch of PS's where the writers tried to be funny, but it came off as very lame and, well, not funny.

 

[TRAMD]

Don't use humor. Realize that personal statements are sort of like interviews: they are far more often used to screen applicants out than get them in.

 

[BlackSails]

But overall, I agree with Panda Bear, that unless you have considerable writing experience, I would avoid. using humor.

Oh, I agree completely. Dont use any difficult rhetorical devices in your PS unless you can use them well.

 

[HoboCommander]

yeah good point, it's probably best to avoid too much rhetorical language.

 

[choo301]

Well, I think that to make your personal statement stand out, don't be afraid to put something at the end that will leave your reader with a good "taste" on his/her "mouth," so to speak. You want to be serious, but also realize they want to know what YOU are like outside of academia. I mean, I wrote about cooking in my PS, and I ended with a comment about soup.

In short, I'll let you in on what my advisor told me: "If you write clearly, you can say whatever the hell you want, and it'll be better for you in the long run." Just don't say "hell" or any other choice epithets in your essay. Unless you're REALLY confident...or just plain crazy.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

If you think you're a funny guy, save it for the interview, not the statement. Unless you write for the Onion or something, you're not funny enough to make it work in a PS for medical school. But plenty of people can be charming and funny in person...it's just that much easier when you're meeting a person face to face and having a connection with them.

 

[mints of b]

I super-glued fake vomit to one of my secondaries. But I didn't use much humor in my personal statement.

 

[BrokenGlass]

I super-glued fake vomit to one of my secondaries. But I didn't use much humor in my personal statement.

Dammit! I wish I had thought of that first. If I do it now, I'll look like a copycat.

 

[SketchLazy]

Not necessarily. Self-deprecating humor shows humility, and is probably the only type of humor you'll be able to pull-off effectively in this kind of essay.

But overall, I agree with Panda Bear, that unless you have considerable writing experience, I would avoid. using humor. Save it for your interview. I've read a bunch of PS's where the writers tried to be funny, but it came off as very lame and, well, not funny.

Oh, I agree completely. Dont use any difficult rhetorical devices in your PS unless you can use them well.

yeah good point, it's probably best to avoid too much rhetorical language.

Bwahahahaha.

 

[MsJLewis]

I say go for it! Don't be afraid to be yourself. I agree the that self-depreciating humor is probably the only type that would work best. In my PS I opened with a humorous anecdote of my time working as a medical assistant in a pediatric practice. The anecdote starts off with me helping this child overcome her fear of the visit and then ends with me spilling her cup of urine over onto my hand by accident (true story!) and then wondering why I was interested in medicine to begin with!

So just be yourself and if humor finds its way into your PS then so be it. 👍

 

[Revenant]

I say go for it! Don't be afraid to be yourself. I agree the that self-depreciating humor is probably the only type that would work best. In my PS I opened with a humorous anecdote of my time working as a medical assistant in a pediatric practice. The anecdote starts off with me helping this child overcome her fear of the visit and then ends with me spilling her cup of urine over onto my hand by accident (true story!) and then wondering why I was interested in medicine to begin with!

So just be yourself and if humor finds its way into your PS then so be it. 👍

Bad advice. Adcoms on the whole don't want unique people. They're scanning for people that fit a specific mold. Follow the trend, because that is what's expected.

Just do the "I want to help people blah blah blah blah" like everyone else...

 

[Quix]

Wocka wocka wocka don't.

 

[8744]

I say go for it! Don't be afraid to be yourself. I agree the that self-depreciating humor is probably the only type that would work best. In my PS I opened with a humorous anecdote of my time working as a medical assistant in a pediatric practice. The anecdote starts off with me helping this child overcome her fear of the visit and then ends with me spilling her cup of urine over onto my hand by accident (true story!) and then wondering why I was interested in medicine to begin with!

So just be yourself and if humor finds its way into your PS then so be it. 👍

And I thought my personal statement was lame. Trust me, you are going to look back at your personal statement and cringe to think you ever wrote it.

"Helping child overcome fear of visit." The ultimate cliche.

 

[Picklesali]

And I thought my personal statement was lame. Trust me, you are going to look back at your personal statement and cringe to think you ever wrote it.

"Helping child overcome fear of visit." The ultimate cliche.

I had a one-liner in mine that I thought was pretty funny. Of course, things always seem to be funnier to me than they are to anyone else. Hahaha. If you want to read it PM me, I wonder if anyone would even notice the sentence I'm talking about... Oh well, I think it worked for me, and everyone who read my personal statement really liked it.

 

[MsJLewis]

And I thought my personal statement was lame. Trust me, you are going to look back at your personal statement and cringe to think you ever wrote it.

"Helping child overcome fear of visit." The ultimate cliche.

Well its working for me and everyone that read it loved it. People need to stop being so darn critical.

 

[ADeadLois]

Well its working for me and everyone that read it loved it. People need to stop being so darn critical.

Read it again in a year. Trust me. You'll know what he's talking about.

 

[postbacker]

Most people who think they are funny are not...leave "funny" to the professionals...