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Personal Qualities in Your Personal Statement |
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Tuesday, 20 July 2010 00:00 |
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The
personal statement is a critical component of your AMCAS application. It gives you a blank canvas and the creative freedom to tell the admission committee member more about yourself. The personal statement should convey personal qualities and traits that you possess and would be highly desirable to next year's incoming medical school class.
- Leadership: Write about your work setting up a fund raiser for a relief organization, your work teaching students in taekwondo, or your involvement as the student volunteer coordinator at the hospital.
- Real world experience: Have you worked at a company before you apply to medical school? What kind of experiences could you bring to the incoming class.
- Curiosity: Made an interesting, serendipitous discovery in the lab? You can write briefly about the discovery and its impact but don't dwell on it too much. Focus not on the research findings itself, but on how you seek answers beyond the textbook answers.
- Perseverance: Taking a graduate level course and having to constantly talk to the professor to convince him to let you into the course and how the course has affected/reinforced your decision to pursue medicine.
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 July 2010 04:42 |
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Don't rush to send your AMCAS application |
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Saturday, 22 May 2010 07:07 |
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Don't rush and send your primary AMCAS application. Take the time to make sure the personal statement is well written and that you have listed all your academic achievements and experiences. Even if you send your primary application early, you may get your secondary application early. However, sending your secondary application early does not guarantee that you will interview early. Admission committees may review your secondary application later in the year because your application isn't deemed high priority.
What is high priority? High priority are those with stellar GPAs and MCATs. These people will either get multiple offers because their high numbers plus their personal skills and extracurricular activities make them sought after medical students. Or these high priority applicants who interview early may not be so stellar in person because they lack interpersonal skills, etc.
The take home message is there is no second chance to edit your application once you send your primary AMCAS application off. You may hear other applicants around you telling you that you need to send it out on the 1st day possible in June. Don't get caught up in this time trap. Take your time and send the primary application off. Try to send off the primary AMCAS application by August at the latest.
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List your parent's occupation |
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Thursday, 15 April 2010 07:14 |
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When you fill out your AMCAS application, you will be asked to include your parent's occupation and level of education. Remember to fill this section out.
Why is it important for the admissions committee to know this information? To get a sense of the overall applicant, it is important for the committee to know what kind of household you grew up in ad what influences you had growing up that lead you to decide to apply for medical school. If your parents are not physicians or only received a high school degree, then it could be looked favorably upon by committee members who view your motivation to pursue medicine as your own and not your parents.
Also, if both your parents are physicians, then you can not slack and think that just because you live with two doctors, that you know what being a physician is like. You need to make an extra effort to show that you did pursue clinical experiences. It should be easy for you since you can shadow your parent's coworkers in the hospital. Make sure you get letter of recommendations from them as well. |
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Make sure the hours you spent for each activities do not exceed the hours in a day |
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Saturday, 10 April 2010 00:00 |
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A big red flag on your AMCAS essay is when the total of the hours you list for each activity you do (i.e. research, community service, clinical, etc. sports) is greater than the number of hours in a day. You have to factor in at least 8 hours of sleep in the total, even if you don't sleep the full 8 hours.
We get so many applications that it is easy to just total the hours and see if it is "reasonable." If you overstated your hours, it means you have the potential to be dishonest and probably embellish the rest of your application. The best is when you understate your hours and list in your activities all the things you have done.
Even if you don't intentionally overstate your hours, just do the math and add it up. You may find out that you made an error and added an extra "1" adding 10 extra hours to your weekly commitment.
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Don't be chatty in your AMCAS and personal statement |
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Thursday, 08 April 2010 00:00 |
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One thing that bugs me and many other admissions members is when we read an application, and the personal statement and summary of your activities is "chatty." Chatty in the sense that you start to use lots of contractions, refer to professors by their first name without adding "Dr.", and constantly using "my friend Sarah X" or "my friend John Y". Also, don't refer to your parents by their first names.
Keep your application absolutely professional. Don't use many contractions (i.e. isn't, don't) and when you mention the names of individuals, use Dr. Smith, instead of Dr. Joe Smith.
Refrain from using the following word(s):
For the most part
My friend spoke highly of this program
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(I'll add more later) |
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AMCAS Application
