How to Write About an Extended Gap in My Personal Statement?

Session 44

In this episode, Ryan answers a commonly asked question among nontraditional students which is about how you can fit in your life experiences into a personal statement. How do you actually fit your life into 4500 or 5300 characters?

We take questions directly from the OldPreMeds.org forum where they will be answered here on the podcast. If you have questions, whether you’re a nontraditional or traditional student, go to OldPreMeds.org and register for an account.

OldPreMeds Question of the Week:

The poster is asking how to fit everything into his personal statement considering that he has done a lot of traveling and did online courses because his parents threatened to take away his funds for school if he didn't study. Now, he has been working hard in the last few months to gain volunteer hours, research work, shadowing experience, focusing on GPA, studying for the MCAT. However, he is having a hard time visualizing how all the travel experience and unique approach to his 20s will look in a personal statement versus being lazy or avoiding work life.

Here are the insights from Ryan:

"How do you fit in your life experiences into a personal statement?" Such is a wrong question for you to ask.

Your life experiences are a huge part of who you are in your application. However, your personal statement is your story about why you're pursuing medicine. At the end of your personal statement, the admissions committee needs to be able to understand why you want to be a doctor.

So it's not about your travel experiences, not about how all this travel has led to you being culturally diverse or how it's helped you develop time management skills, etc.

Therefore, the question should be:

"Why do you want to be a doctor and how do you write about that?"

Have these travel experiences deepened your resolve to be a physician? If yes, then talk about a little bit of that since you need to support "why you want to be a doctor" with these experiences you've had along the way.

Major takeaway from this episode:

You don't need to talk about your travel and how it's taught you all these skills in your personal statement. This does not belong there. What your personal statement should contain rather is why you essentially want to become a doctor.

If you need help with your personal statement, Ryan offers editing services. Simply go to www.medicalschoolhq.net/personal-statement-editing

Links and Other Resources:

www.mededmedia.com