essay

  1. LindaAccepted

    Medical The Resilience Factor: How Flaws and Failures Can Strengthen Your Application

    A speaker recently told a story about traveling in Asia, where he saw a stunning emerald. Enchanted by the stone’s beauty, he decided to buy it on the spot. He returned home and took the emerald to a jeweler for appraisal. The jeweler began examining the stone through his magnifier, and as he...
  2. A

    Diversity Essay Ideas

    So I have four ideas with which to write my diversity essay. I can't seem to decide which one sounds to best: 1) My parents were hesitant towards modern medicine for cultural reasons, and I was treated with homeopathy for post-operative care as a child until we went back to a physician. I need...
  3. M

    When is it okay to leave "Additional comments" essay on secondaries blank?

    I know this has been asked before, but I have a slightly more specific question. I noticed that some schools just ask "Do you have any additional comments to add" while other schools are more specific "Do you have any additional comments to add such as X, Y, Z..." For the ones that specify...
  4. M

    Looking for Personal Statement Help!

    Hello, I'm currently struggling to write my personal statement, as I'm sure many pre-MD students are, and was hoping for some feedback on my rough draft. Writing isn't my strong suit and I welcome any advice! Thank you and best of luck to everyone in the same position! :)
  5. P

    Struggling with Diversity Essay

    I'm working on the quote on quote diversity essay and I'm struggling to find a topic that I can tie in with medicine. I'm a pretty privileged person so there is no reason to go down that path. I've also a traditional med student so I haven't had any cool jobs either. I do have a hobby of art and...
  6. P

    Writing about being not accepted into medical school last year for "Failure" essay

    I have a couple prompts that asks about my biggest failure and how I learned from that failure, etc. The thing is, I've never actually failed at anything because it's simply not accepted by my family and there's a lot of cultural pressure to be perfect. If I know I'll fail at something, I simply...
  7. R

    Where to talk about a board failure on ERAS?

    After talking to a number of residents and program directors, I've gotten conflicting advice with almost an even split regarding where to address a board failure on ERAS. Half say to mention it in the personal statement, and half say the personal statement should only be positive and to address...
  8. Lupin21

    VMCAS Questions and Rants c/o 2024

    Guess I'll go ahead and get this thread going a few days early. Please post all your VMCAS questions and rants here for ease of finding information for the 2019 application cycle. Good luck all!! For questions redirected to VMCAS: VMCAS Customer Service (Help with the application)...
  9. T

    Failure experience essay ideas, advice needed

    Hey guys, I'm applying this coming cycle and was brainstorming a couple ideas for the failure/unsuccessful experience secondary essays. I have two ideas I've kinda narrowed down to: Talk about my tutoring experience and how I failed to get through to one of my first students and motivate/help...
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  11. P

    Personal Statement Review

    Hi everyone! Is anyone willing to look over my personal statement, and give some feedback! Would really appreciate it! Thanks
  12. U

    Test center incident-->voiding latest-possible MCAT date for early app. Reschedule ASAP or punt on this cycle?

    Thanks in advance for reading. I'll try to keep this short - essentially I am an otherwise well-qualified applicant with no MCAT score. (feel free to skip specifics in bullet points, only showing this to demonstrate MCAT truly is the rate-limiting step for me) . TLDR at bottom - 3.88/3.94...
  13. G

    AMCAS Disadvantaged Essay??

    I'm applying as disadvantaged, but I'm kind of unsure how to go about the essay? Am I supposed to just say how my circumstances effected me (in school/psychologically/socially/etc)? Is this supposed to be on the side of creative writing (like the PS) or just listing facts? If anyone can link...
  14. T

    AMCAS Personal Statement vs MD/PHD Essay

    Hi all, thanks for reading! I am having a lot of trouble writing different essays for the primary application Personal Statement and MD/PhD essay. For me, I have one narrative: how I've bounced between meaningful clinical inspiration and taken those experiences into basic research on the...
  15. W

    Advertisement Personal Statements are Hard. I Help You Find Your Voice.

    Hello SDN, this is my first post here, though I've been lurking for some time. Personal statements are hard because it's extremely difficult to capture your personality in words. Even if you have a great idea, or a fascinating experience, or a unique background, your essay will still look like...
  16. SterlingMaloryArcher

    In an undergrad transfer application personal statement would you talk about med school aspirations?

    So I've seen a lot about personal statements for AMCAS, but that's slightly ahead of where I am now. Applying to universities from community college. I guess I don't want my personal statement to look/sound too much like it was written for med school.
  17. G

    Organization in the Personal Statement?

    I'm applying next cycle, but writing a personal statement now to submit as an assignment in a course I am currently taking in undergrad. My intro focuses on one moment that initiated my interest in medicine, and then I was going to choose three most memorable experiences (pretty much two...
  18. I

    PTCAS Essay - "Compose a personal essay without assistance from others"

    Hey guys, So, I just realized that PTCAS says that you must compose your essay "without personal assistance from others." What does this mean? I can't have somebody review my essay to fix grammatical errors? The word 'Assistance' is so vague. Thank you
  19. D

    Des Moines University (DMU)

    Hey everyone! I wanted to reach out to current PT students and alumni who attended DMU. I would like to get your insight on the program. Any feedback helps!
  20. I

    Diversity Question

    I am having trouble answering this question. I am a middle class white male whose parents have lived in Illinois for generations. Here are some things that may set me apart from other students. Let me know what you guys think is the best topic: I was a tutor (helped students of different...
  21. I

    Diversity Question - Is molecular and cellular biology knowledge utilized in PT?

    Hey guys, There is a question on many PT applications that asks what type of diversity I can bring to their school. Being a white American male, I found this question difficult to answer at first. But I thought, maybe I could talk about how I majored in cellular and molecular biology, and...
  22. diene_daily

    Failure Essay

    Hey guys, Just wanted a little insight on a few topics I had for my failure essay. This one has definitely stumped me the most. Not because I haven't had any failures, but just finding ones interesting enough to talk about. Friendship: Visited a long-distance friend of 5 years recently, which...
  23. Pistachio556

    Cornell c/o 2023 applicants

    Hello all! Struggling on some of the supplemental essays... Having a hard time with the significant impact and odds against me situation ones. It’s suprisingly hard to think of responses Wondering if anyone else could shed some light on what they wrote about
  24. LindaAccepted

    Medical New York University Medical School Secondary Application Essay Tips & Deadlines

    NYU’s Medical School is consistently ranked very high by physicians and students. The program is focused on developing physicians who are innovative and prepared to be leaders for the next generation of healthcare providers. NYU med students tend to be creative and diverse as well as...
  25. W

    TMDSAS: optional essay

    I'm struggling with the topic of my optional essay and would love to hear everyone's input on it! I've heard mixed opinions about using the optional essay to write about GPA. I understand that you don't want to highlight the "zit" of the application. But here's my situation: I didn't do so great...
  26. girlunobserved

    Adversity Essay Topic Ideas

    Hi, been brainstorming a couple of ideas: - overcoming social anxiety over the course of ~10 years (started as the weird girl reading books in the corner of a classroom and then migrated to being someone that could talk to anyone by the end of college) - growing up in an area that had security...
  27. F

    question about secondary essays

    I am a little unsure about how to approach these essays. Should i treat them as a writing assignment, such as having an intro, thesis, body, conclusion? what about formatting, should i format my paragraphs in the textbox? or do i just start typing and answer the questions directly? I am asking...
  28. F

    Michigan State University DO 2018-2019

    Please post essay questions when you receive them. Good luck to everyone!
  29. S

    Research Experience Summary Essay

    Hi All! I'm finishing up my research experience essay for AMCAS, and I was wondering about the formality and structure of it. I've summarized my research experiences clearly and succinctly. Are we supposed to present this as a formal essay? Are we expected to begin with an introduction and end...
  30. S

    Personal Statement / Essay

    Hi, I'm applying for schools this summer and having a lot of trouble writing my personal statement/essay for optomcas. Any tips for writing a personal statement? Should I focus only on my experiences in the field or should I talk about everything? Having major problems putting things into...
  31. T

    Re-writing a personal statement

    I applied in the 2016-2017 cycle during my senior year of college but didn't get in due to a low MCAT. Took it again, but didn't get as high as I wanted so I am retaking for a 3rd time in June. I am applying this cycle but I want to know how much I need to change for my personal statement. From...
  32. smileyfacegirl27

    Challenge/Failure Essay - is it okay to use high school?

    For many secondaries, prompts asking about a time you failed or a challenge you overcame are quite common. I was wondering if it was okay to use academic failures from high school (such as failing everything freshman year of high school and being expelled then having to go to another school and...
  33. H

    Describe Statements that have stood out to you/why?

    To any ADCOM members, Pre-Med Advisors, Doctors, Med students, etc. who have experience reading personal statements for medical school: think back to specific statements that have stood out to you, either for good or bad reasons. What about those letters made them stand out? What did the writer...
  34. SterlingMaloryArcher

    Would it be risky or inappropriate to use the word "smartass" in your app or interview?

    Comparing EMS and scribing: "While physicians always seemed happy to see you made connections or were following their line of thinking about complicated issues in the note, it so happens many people in EMS would usually consider you a smartass for saying something to the effect of "neurological...
  35. D

    USC DPT ESSAY

    Hey guys! I know the USC DPT essay has a maximum character count of 4500, but I've written the bulk of my essay and I'm sitting at around 2000-3000 words. Anyone know if this is acceptable or if they prefer that you fill up the essay until you've reached the maximum? Also, how is everyone...
  36. L

    General Admissions & OTCAS Personal Statement/Evaluations/transcript entry

    Hey there guys! This is the first year I am applying through OTCAS. I am wondering if anyone has any comments about the format/length for the personal statement? Also, if our school asks for letters of recommendation, then the evaluations under the supplemental portion of the application is...
  37. TheOnlinePharmacist

    PHARMCAS Personal Essay thoughts...?

    Deleted for anti-plagiarism purposes, thank you all!
  38. D

    UCSF/SFSU Program Deadline Confusion?!

    Hey guys, I am still in the process of finishing my supplemental essays for UCSF/SFSU DPT but on PTCAS it says the due date it October 2 and 11:59, on the SFSU DPT website it says October 1 at 11:59, and on the UCSF website it says October 3 at 11:59. Does anyone know which date is the correct...
  39. 7

    Underserved population experience ??

    I am in the process of working on my secondaries essays. On the question of why do you want to come to our medical school or how does their mission reflect my values, etc.... Many school always stress their focus on doing community outreach and serving the underserved populations and this is...
  40. Doctorordietrying

    Show Don't Tell Personal Statement

    I'm struggling to see where I keep telling rather than showing. Aside from family, two readers have told me that my personal statement is not showing enough. I was advised to make my essay warmer and more telling of my character. If anyone wants to read my essay and tell me where I am lacking...
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