[Notes] 8 Tips for Writing Your Med School Personal Statement (1)

A great personal statement (PS) might not overcome really bad grades, activities and scores but a bad personal statement keeps you out of medical school despite great stats

How Long it Takes to Write a Personal Statement

Many people start their PS when the application opens
A great PS can take months to write:
It takes many drafts, waiting and re-reading for a new perspectives, critique by other people and then editing or rewriting the PS entirely

The PS isn’t about your journey to medical school but what experience have you had that lead you to this point of your life, knowing you want to be a physician
Analogy used in the video: what experience planted the seed and what experiences watered the seed
start now by thinking about your most memorable experiences (interacting w/patients or other moments) about watering the seed
Think about what your motivations for wanting to be a physician
For example, a student example in the video talks about how their experiences as an Eagle Scout were their core motivations to being a physician

There’s AMCAS, AACOMAS, and TMDSAS
You can use the same PS for AMCAS and AACOMAS as they have the same character limit
However you may have to change the TMDSAS PS because it less slightly less world limit

Generally no especially now that AACOMAS and AMCAS PS have the same character limit
The reason is because your PS is about why you want to be a physician generally not a Osteopathic Physician