Work/activities vs Research/Personal [MD/PhD]

[InactiveLurker]

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Hi Everyone. I apologize if a thread like this exists already, I was not able to locate it. I am applying to MSTP programs only and I am confused about goal and purpose of each writing section.

My question is how to balance my work/activity writing and research statement/personal statements. Since I heavily discuss my research experience in research statement, should I still include research experience in my work/activities as significant experiences(since they are)? Should i write about research in the work/activities section at all, and if I do, should I discuss it in a way that mostly does not overlap with research statement?
Also, I just briefly mentioned my dedication to research in medical school personal statement. Since I have room to talk about lab experience in research and md/phd essays, is a brief paragraph about dedication to research enough for personal statement?
And in general, does the same admission person read all of the essays and work activities/LORs or not?

Thank you

 

[whistleberries]

Here's how I tackled it, so you can compare what you were thinking.

My personal statement did not include research in the slightest. My goal was to communicate how I think and what kind of person I am, and how that aligns with medicine.

My research statement was entirely technical, and also served to help establish a chronology of my research experience better than disparate entires in the activities section could.

I only designated two most meaningful activities - my primary clinical work, and my main UG research lab. I used the extra most meaningful space for the research to talk about what being in my lab meant to me personally, and what I learned about what I will look for in future labs and how I felt about the mentorship environment I was in.

 

[InactiveLurker]

Thank you for response whistleberries!
I am curious, how technical were you in describing your research? Where you intending this section to a broad audinence like anyone with PhD? Did you discussed techniques/assays you used?

 

[whistleberries]

Thank you for response whistleberries!
I am curious, how technical were you in describing your research? Where you intending this section to a broad audinence like anyone with PhD? Did you discussed techniques/assays you used?

Not very, just naming techniques and the motivation for using them for each particular research question