Who thought their PS was absolutely terrible while writing it?

[cfx]

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I'm in the process of writing mine and, well, I can't help but feel like it really sucks, and is getting worse by the sentence. I can already feel a total rewrite coming on.

Did anyone else feel this way, and how did you rectify it? Rewrite, or do you just keep revising the same thing until you get it to a point of decency?

 

[Legacy87]

I know I'm corny for saying this, but write from the heart. I did...(3800 characters) and was satisfied with what I wrote. I also recommend outlining what you want to convey in your PS, writing it in blocks and when your mind is most fresh.

 

[lolasmommy]

I'm in the process of writing mine and, well, I can't help but feel like it really sucks, and is getting worse by the sentence. I can already feel a total rewrite coming on.

Did anyone else feel this way, and how did you rectify it? Rewrite, or do you just keep revising the same thing until you get it to a point of decency?

Im totally feeling you right now! I wrote and worked on one on and off for a couple of months and I totally scrapped that and started a new one tonight. I guess I felt with the first PS I was missing the point. Like the other post above said... write from the heart. I usually write everything that comes to mind down. Don't worry about grammar, syntax, etc. Just write. From there you can start to organize (through outline or other various methods) your thoughts more uniformly. Have others you trust and who know you read your work. They may be able to add things that you may use. Good luck

 

[jla314]

Have as many people as possible read over your essay and give you feedback. It helps to try to get a feel for what the potential range of reactions to your PS will be (every adcom is different, after all). You're probably being your own worst critic...I hated my PS too after spending so much time staring at it.

 

[flip26]

Most of them do suck; your instincts are probably dead on.

I know that I got really "tired" of my PS after months of drafts, revisions, etc. I started on mine in January because several of my prospective letter writers wanted to see it. I tinkered with it right up to the day I submitted AMCAS in early June (on the first day).

I think it was a good one - got many positive comments on the interview trail - but I think it is only natural to get really tired of it after a while.

 

[RevivedPreMed]

I think developing a good introduction is the hardest part so what I did was write three different versions of introductions and had people read it and choose one. I took the one they chose and finished it off.

 

[VTBuc]

Reading mine now I'm surprised I got in anywhere. It's a piece of garbage! I am absolutely horrible at non-scientific writing though, so it's not a huge surprise to me.

 

[skiddoc]

Yup.I thought mine was pretty bad while I was writing it. I still think it's pretty bad. Get help from professors you know and trust in revising it.

 

[flip26]

Yup.I thought mine was pretty bad while I was writing it. I still think it's pretty bad. Get help from professors you know and trust in revising it.

As good as I believe mine was, I cringe at the thought of it today. I can't bring myself to read it anymore - it served its purpose, and I hope I never have to talk about it again.

 

[armybound]

It sucks when I thought it was pretty good and then let someone else read it and they thought it sucked.

 

[justinbaily]

I actually liked mine as I was writing it. In fact, I'll pull it out every few weeks and read it though again, and I'm still surprised that I was able to write such a clear paper about my motivations for pursuing a career in medicine. I sat down and tried to write the most honest summary possible and I think that it worked. At nearly every one of my interviews it was commented on favorably. I really enjoy writing though, and I was originally going to be an English major before I decided to go to medical school.

Edit: I would add that you should avoid melodrama at all costs. If you feel like it's awful, it may be because you don't even believe the things that you're writing. Don't try to BS them with what you think they want to hear because they can see through it. It's rare for one or two experiences to have life-altering consequences. I think that it's better for your PS to lay out the things that led to a gradual realization that medicine was right for you.

 

[skiddoc]

As good as I believe mine was, I cringe at the thought of it today. I can't bring myself to read it anymore - it served its purpose, and I hope I never have to talk about it again.

I think I'll just stash mine somewhere and forget about it, just to pull it out one day and start a brand-new cycle of self-deprecation

It sucks when I thought it was pretty good and then let someone else read it and they thought it sucked.

Oh you think you have it bad? I let a prof read my PS after I had submitted my application, and they crapped all over it😡

 

[armybound]

I think it would be interesting to have to write your PS again after your first year of med school and compare the two. I think people change a lot in their first year.

I don't even remember what my PS said anymore.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

My statement was terrible, but I had a trustworthy editor to make it readable (still generally terrible, though).

 

[cfx]

Wow...way better turnout than I was expecting. Good to know I'm not alone on this one.

Reading others' PSs, I beginning to notice that they tend to have short sentences, and short paragraphs. I'm also noticing that mine is kind of diving too deeply into the individual points, so maybe they're coming across as sloppy tangents.

Also, I'm realizing that the last 4 years of doing nothing but academic essays and (mostly) scientific writing might be biting me in the ass. Were all of your PSs more conversational/casual in tone? I think mine might be coming across as too formal and trying too much to sound like an "elegant" essay...nauseating.

I guess that's a start. I may have to come at this from another angle.

 

[flip26]

Wow...way better turnout than I was expecting. Good to know I'm not alone on this one.

Reading others' PSs, I beginning to notice that they tend to have short sentences, and short paragraphs. I'm also noticing that mine is kind of diving too deeply into the individual points, so maybe they're coming across as sloppy tangents.

Also, I'm realizing that the last 4 years of doing nothing but academic essays and (mostly) scientific writing might be biting me in the ass. Were all of your PSs more conversational/casual in tone? I think mine might be coming across as too formal and trying too much to sound like an "elegant" essay...nauseating.

I guess that's a start. I may have to come at this from another angle.

Mine was centered around a theme that, tongue in cheek, explained my initial interest and motivation in becoming a doc - anchored by an obscure anecdote that on the surface would seem to have nothing to do with it - and was actually kind of entertaining to read - interviewers told me that they couldn't wait to meet me, that sort of thing.

 

[surftheiop]

I'm an engineer so I don't think we are known for our writing! As such I didn't attempt to get fancy at all. Wrote why I want to be a physician, wrote a paragraph relating parts of my engineering education to medicine and wrote about a clinical volunteering experience that helped me decide I wanted to devote my career to sick people.

When my friends read it, they said it sounds like me, so I guess thats a good thing. The "person" the adcoms "meet" in the essay, will be the same as the person they meet in the interview.

 

[allie1361]

I thought mine sucked. In fact, I still think it sucks. I'm a good writer, but I hate writing, and I ESPECIALLY hate writing about myself. I hate feeling like I'm bragging or looking for sympathy when I tell people stuff about myself. But apparently it was good enough to get interview invitations and an acceptance, so I'm happy.

 

[anders11]

Dude, if you think your PS is terrible, that's a good thing. It means you're thinking critically about it. Go you.

One of the girls I work with asked me to proofread her PS. Now, I thought mine was kind of cliche and boring (boring life, what can I say?), but hers was godawful. She repeatedly wrote variations on "so please take a chance on me" and "I'm not the smartest person" and "I know I'm risky but". WTF. (Girl has a 3.6 and a 31, applying mainly to state schools.)

I told her she should be more positive and confident, and she got all defensive about it - told me that "take a chance on me" was her THEME.

Turns out she really, really liked her essay and just wanted me to check it for grammar mistakes. After that mess, I started feeling a lot better about my crappy PS.

 

[cfx]

Dude, if you think your PS is terrible, that's a good thing. It means you're thinking critically about it. Go you.

One of the girls I work with asked me to proofread her PS. Now, I thought mine was kind of cliche and boring (boring life, what can I say?), but hers was godawful. She repeatedly wrote variations on "so please take a chance on me" and "I'm not the smartest person" and "I know I'm risky but". WTF. (Girl has a 3.6 and a 31, applying mainly to state schools.)

I told her she should be more positive and confident, and she got all defensive about it - told me that "take a chance on me" was her THEME.

Turns out she really, really liked her essay and just wanted me to check it for grammar mistakes. After that mess, I started feeling a lot better about my crappy PS.

Hahahaha. Thanks for that boost. I'm already starting to feel better about mine.

I don't see how any adcom could read her essay without hearing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UvtOQnPE5c

allie-I feel the same way. Hopefully it turns out well for me, too.

 

[Enoko]

This is my third time applying.
1) The first PS I wrote I thought was pretty dam solid. I didn't show it to many people but I submitted it thinking "Thats a crazy powerful personal statement"

2) Year two comes along and I read my old PS before starting on my new one. Holy. Crap. It was horrifying, the most egotistical and blunt piece of writing I have ever seen. I literally couldn't bring myself to read it to the end, I was ashamed. I wrote a new one totally from scratch and showed it to about 20 people who all thought it was pretty good.

3) Wrote this years, last years just seems badly written. It was an OK essay but it didn't fit the prompt at all, just seemed like something silly to submit as a PS. I'm sure I'll look back at this years PS and think the same thing in a year🙄


Anyway, my advice is just write something to get to the end and form a skeleton. The hardest part of writing is staring at a blank page and feeling all your ideas suck.

Write an intro.
Write 2-3 paragraphs of personal statement stuff
Conclusion.

Do that, congrats, now go back and rewrite parts of it at a time when you think of something good to write. You will end up re writing the whole thing probably by the end, but at least you will always have that skeleton and structure there. Its easier to rewrite the intro when the bottom of the page is full.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

let's be honest, at least part of the reason some of us are scientists is because we hated english class..

 

[obgyny]

let's be honest, at least part of the reason some of us are scientists is because we hated english class..

+1

 

[Dr McSexy]

I always thought it was the general consensus, that nearly everyone hates their PS.

 

[Practitioner]

I forgot the name of a modern American philosopher who said about his work: "if this sounds stupid it probably is".

That's how I feel with just about everything I write anytime anywhere. The 14 or so versions of PSs included save one.