Hi everyone,
If you're writing your AMCAS or TMDSAS personal statement, or starting some of your secondary essays for medical school, you've likely taken multiple stabs at your introductory paragraph.
Somewhere, in one of your drafts, you've also probably attempted to pinpoint the precise moment when your passion for medicine was born. The majority of applicants will fall prey to the chronic default ("I always knew I wanted to be a doctor...") at some point or another; some will cite a prodigious talent for the board game "Operation" as an early indicator for a career in cardiology. Fight the impulse!
Instead, let your interest evolve naturally; don't force it. Your passion for medicine should be evidenced by your background, your research, your clinical experience, your activities, and your current reflections. Childhood ambitions change, and with good reason! If they hadn't, I would be a priest right now.
Avoid claiming a prezygotic interest in medicine--your personal statement will be infinitely more sophisticated and persuasive because of it.
Cheers,
Janson
Ivy Eyes Editing
www.ivyeyesediting.com
Integrated Reasoning section of the GMAT makes debut
-
link
Anxious business-school applicants have something to add to their to-do
list: preparation for the new "integrated reasoning" section of the GMAT.
A...
2 months ago
Hilarious. Thanks you guys--I definitely had a variant of that in my AMCAS statement. Will know for my secondary essays.
ReplyDeleteJD
Great tips...going to forward them to my friends. But really the same for a lot of career paths right?
ReplyDeleteThat's right--though we find this is a particularly common theme among medical school applicants.
ReplyDeleteMBA applicants are less likely to write, "I always knew I wanted to be a management consultant specializing in supply chain dynamics." PhD's are less likely to write, "I always knew I wanted to pursue Bio-industrial Mechatronics Engineering."
With medicine and medical personal statements, there's a big premium placed on the WHY. Of course, many medical applicants go overboard, and in doing so fail to highlight what is actually a very concrete, organic and convincing path.