Personal Statements for the Health Sciences
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Transcript Personal Statements for the Health Sciences
Personal Statements
for the Health
Sciences
Interesting Personal
Statements
Tell a STORY
unique, compelling, honest, positive, down-to-earth
Explain WHY you are in love with something
that you do
SHOW the application reader why or how you
will make a good health professional
ANSWERS questions posed on application.
Are well written: well crafted, polished prose
The Basic “Shape”: Opening
The goal is to tell your story. . . Begin with:
A “hook” (or anecdote) that breathes life
into your statement.
A summary of experience or statement
of your preparedness.
A statement that explains why this
school, this profession, this faculty
mentor, etc.
The Basic Shape: Body
Elaborates on the opening:
Explains your background, education, and/or community;
Gives the reasons you became interested in the health
profession(s);
Describes your academic preparation (including lab or
research), any relevant work, and other experiences, i.e.,
volunteer work.
Describes your research concisely. (Leave out
minute details-write for a general scientific
audience.)
Offers a sense of what you gained from these
experiences—what qualities have you developed as a
student and a professional-in-the-making?
The Basic Shape: Conclusion
Wrap up with final thoughts and
comments:
What do you want to do with this
degree?
Wrap up any dangling ends
Make final connections/Tell results
Final statement of purpose
Makes connection to mission statement
Notes specific faculty members of interest
The “Secondary” Statement
The secondary application essay is about
your “fit” in the program/school of your
choice:
Tailored to each school;
Demonstrates particular skills sets;
Explains why this program is right for
you and/or best enables you to meet
your goals.
Getting Started: Questions
Why you? Why should you be you considered a strong
candidate for this program?
What experience(s) led you to become interested in a
specific area of health-science? Classes, readings,
seminars, work, volunteer experiences?
Have your failures made you a stronger candidate? (For
Candidate who need to explain any gaps or
discrepancies in their academic records.)
Have you had to overcome any unusual obstacles or
hardships? How have these experiences shaped you?
What evidence can you provide for your desirable
personal characteristics: persistence, determination,
good problem-solving skills, or taking the initiative?
Examples
Why I Love Science: A Personal Statement
J. Phys. Chem. A, 2004, 108 (45), pp 9627–9628
“I do not know when I first became interested in science. I think
it was a slowly evolving process that started with my love for
mathematics in high school, which was transferred to science
as I realized the beauty of its application to the understanding of
the world around us. I was particularly excited in a freshman
chemistry course taught by Bob Rosenberg at Lawrence
College, in which I discovered how simple physical models
could be used to distill complex phenomena to their essential
simplicity. I did not come from a scientific family. On the
contrary, my mother was an artist and my father a bookbinder,
which exposed me to art at a very early age. However, I have
come to realize the close connection between art and science.
Both artists and scientists attempt to understand the world by
reducing its complexity to a few strokes of a brush or simple
concepts such as Coulomb's law. So, perhaps I owe my interest
in science to my artist parents.”
Examples
Telling your story:
www.phikappaphi.org
“I was going to be late. At this point, the clock on my dashboard
all but dared me to think otherwise. Regardless, I kept glancing
at the shoulder of the . . . freeway, thinking that if I got out and
ran I would just make it in time to set up the event. Since the car
was not moving, I decided to go over my speech. It wasn’t
much, just a few words jotted down to commemorate the
moment: “I would like to welcome all of you to the first
orientation session for the Collegiate Med Volunteers. It is our
hope that this program will allow you first-hand experience in
the medical field while also serving to lighten the load of an
overworked county hospital staff…” After the first two
sentences, I stopped reading, accelerated two feet forward, and
anxiously stuffed the crumpled sheet back into my pocket. The
volunteer program that I had been developing for four months
was finally coming to fruition.”
Resources
OWL Purdue:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/642/01/
Cathie Griffin’s Advice:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/st
udent_life/article1473952.ece
Sell yourself:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previou
s_issues/articles/2006_01_06/sell_yourself_guidance_for_devel
oping_your_personal_statement_for_graduate_school_applicati
ons
Sample Personal Statements:
http://www.phikappaphi.org/web/Files/sample_personal_statement
s.pdf
Michelle LaFrance, Ph.D.
Additional Resources
http://www.wagner.edu/departments/pre_health/statement
advice on what to do and include
http://www2.ucsc.edu/careers/health/statement.html - the
personal statement
http://www2.ucsc.edu/careers/health/strategies.html
One of the best sources is “Write for Success”; it has sample
personal statements and critiques of their strong and weak
points by admission officers at 3 medical schools
http://www.ltsc.ucsb.edu/health/info_sheets/personal_statement
.PDF
http://www.cmu.edu/hpp/achieve/pstips.html
http://advisingservices.ucdavis.edu/advising/hsa/handouts/writin
g_personal_statement_application_health_profession_school.ht
ml