Using personal names for personal statement

[InformMe123]

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Such as dentists you shadowed. Whats the thought on this? Or is it supposed to be generic like "the dentist I shadowed" etc.

 

[doc toothache]

Names in a ps detract from the main theme, not to mention that they begin start sounding more like testimonials.

 

[lumos26]

Such as dentists you shadowed. Whats the thought on this? Or is it supposed to be generic like "the dentist I shadowed" etc.

When I applied last year, my PS had a specific name, and doc toothache told me to take it out. However, others said it's not a big deal, and the general sense was 50/50. I don't think it's detrimental to your application, but also don't think it's a booster of sorts....sorry that this isn't too helpful.

But tldr, I put in my dentist's name and got multiple interview invites and got into my state school!
Your call!

 

[I want to go to there]

I had specific names. I shadowed many different dentist, so a generic one would have confuse adcom as who I would be talking about. I chose to talk about ones I get LoRs from. It did not detract from the main theme or sounded like a testimonial, it's all about how you write it. If just replacing "generic dentist" with a name makes your PS detract from the main theme or sounds like an advertisement for that dentist, you need to rewrite that part anyway.

You can talk about other people and still make it all about you.

 

[krdeuce]

IMO other people's names in YOUR personal statement does make it less about you and for something very irrelevant. For something like this the writing style should be generic in this situation. And just like the others, I did it this way and was accepted where I applied so don't make that a factor

 

[dds2b219]

I used a specific name when talking about my shadowing experiences and got multiple interviews, plus my pre health advisor said my PS was awesome and never said anything about the name. I don't think it's a big deal if used in the right context

 

[midman19]

The bottom line is that a name is unnecessary. It could be used but there really is no reason you need to. The only name I would use is Gordon Christensen's if somehow I was lucky enough to shadow him or work with him.. Otherwise you might as well keep it generic. If you are reffering to multiple dentist you shadowed like @I want to go to there then I do think it would be beneficial to use names.