write about non-medical activity in personal statement

[phatlineman]

So, I don't want to write a stereotypical personal statement (ie. say that you volunteered in a hospital, shadowed a doctor, did random pre-med club, etc).. I want to talk about playing a varsity sport throughout college, and although sports have been a big part of my life they are not what influenced me to go into medicine..however I was thinking about talking about what qualities I developed from that would make me a good doctor. since obviously not everybody has competed in collegiate athletics (but everybody has shadowed/volunteered/etc) it would be something unique...will doing this make the PS more impressive or will it just look like I'm trying too hard to stand out? is it better to write about shadowing, volunteer, etc that directly led you to want to be a doctor? because the prompt specifically asks you "why do you want to go to medical school", not "what about you would make you a good doctor"

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[FrkyBgStok]

Yeah I am pretty sure it is why you want to be a doctor. But I plan on bringing in my blue collar past and not mentioning the other crap at all. So if you can find something good similar to the collegiate athletics, you'll be good.

 

[Myofibril]

Being unique in your PS is a great idea. For mine, I focused on exercise, but still talked about volunteering because it was something that's important to me.

 

[LizzyM]

One caution: don't mention this sport in any secondary. If you do, someone is sure to label you "the athlete" who only wants to talk about his sport. Mix it up an cover other topics in the secondaries.

I've actually seen as many as 4 essays in one application all covering the same sport and it becomes worrisome.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Being unique in your PS is a great idea. For mine, I focused on exercise, but still talked about volunteering because it was something that's important to me.

Agreed, I had a whole paragraph about dance in my PS.

 

[WholeLottaGame7]

So, I don't want to write a stereotypical personal statement (ie. say that you volunteered in a hospital, shadowed a doctor, did random pre-med club, etc).. I want to talk about playing a varsity sport throughout college, and although sports have been a big part of my life they are not what influenced me to go into medicine..however I was thinking about talking about what qualities I developed from that would make me a good doctor. since obviously not everybody has competed in collegiate athletics (but everybody has shadowed/volunteered/etc) it would be something unique...will doing this make the PS more impressive or will it just look like I'm trying too hard to stand out? is it better to write about shadowing, volunteer, etc that directly led you to want to be a doctor? because the prompt specifically asks you "why do you want to go to medical school", not "what about you would make you a good doctor"

For my residency personal statement (which is the same basic "why X?" question), I wove sports into pretty heavily, because as you mentioned, it's a large part of who I am. At the end, though, I tied it back into my particular specialty.

I would definitely bring it up, but try to make it relevant. You probably can't use it as the reason "why" you're interested in medicine, but you could definitely use it to talk about why you think you'd be successful. I'd probably go with some sort of teamwork/dedication/training/perseverance angle.

 

[miniagent007]

If you can relate it to why you want to be a doctor, do it! I spent a third of my PS talking about being a camp counselor!

 

[echolalia16]

I took the sports route for my ps and am fairly pleased with it. Hopefully the schools I applied to feel the same way.