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Catchy personal statements

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I’ve blogged before about the importance of starting your essay with a “clincher,” something that will convince the reader your statement is worth reading: I found this short piece in the Stanford Magazine worth a read. The author compiled a list of first lines from the application essays of Stanford’s newest college class.

Some of my favorites:

Unlike many mathematicians, I live in an irrational world; I feel that my life is defined by a certain amount of irrationalities that bloom too frequently, such as my brief foray in front of 400 people without my pants.

When I was 8 years old, I shocked my family and a local archaeologist by discovering artifacts dating back almost 3,500 years.

As an Indian-American, I am forever bound to the hyphen.

For help with your medical school, residency or secondary essays contact me: www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com .

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Quick tip: Personal statement content

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On September 8th I wrote an entry on the number one mistake I see in personal statements (wordiness). Today I’m writing about the number two mistake I see.

Writing an essay that is not distinctive to you is a waste of a chance to sell yourself. If any sentence in your essay could have been written by someone else the phrase should be omitted.

The goal of your essay is to highlight your accomplishments and activities and demonstrate how the qualities you have garnered from them will make you a good [insert doctor or specialist here]. So if you say, “Internal medicine is an excellent specialty because it encompasses clinical medicine, research, technology and preventive care” you are not writing a personal essay. You are simply writing an essay… and a dull one at that. This concept is valid for medical school secondary essays as well.

For help making your essay distinctive and increasing your admissions appeal contact me at http://www.insidermedicaladmissions.com/ .

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Secondary essay dilemma

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Many of my med school applicant clients have been emailing me about their frustration over the number of secondary essays they have to complete. It might sound like a nice problem to have but remember that many schools send out secondaries indiscriminately – to all applicants from whom they received primary applications. It’s cynical but true: Secondaries are a way for schools to make a little cash.

I recommend the following to keep your workload to a manageable level:

1. Start to prioritize where you want to attend school. If you’ve applied to fifty schools (some people do) and have received an equivalent number of secondaries, this is the time to consider which schools you want to eliminate. Don’t be flattered by the fact that you were asked to complete secondary (especially because, as mentioned above, some schools send them out to all applicants).

2. Try to use the same essay for several secondaries. With some small changes (or better yet, none at all) an essay may be versatile.

3. Get help from a professional. I edit scores of essays every month. I offer secondary essay editing as part of my services.

For individualized help on your secondary essays, go to http://www.insidermedicaladmissions.com/applicants/medapplicant.shtml .

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Competitiveness of a specialty’s match is related to projected income

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Mark Ebell, MD (University of Georgia) just published an article indicating that a higher salary in a particular specialty tends to mean more U.S. med students fill residencies in that specialty at academic hospitals.

For example, family medicine had the lowest average salary last year at $186,000; it also had the lowest share of residency slots filled by U.S. students (42%). Orthopedics, on the other hand, paid $436,000, and 94 percent of residency slots were filled by U.S students.

I think it’s hard to blame U.S. med students for this trend: the Association of American Medical Colleges reports that the average graduate last year had $140,000 in student debt (up nearly 8 percent from the previous year). Yikes!

For help getting into that better-paying 🙂 and hopefully, personally-satisfying specialty get help from me at http://www.insidermedicaladmissions.com/ .

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Quick tip: Personal statement length

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The number one mistake I see with personal statements is wordiness. Remember to keep your essay at a single-spaced page or under (forget the word count) and avoid flowery language. As my colleague Dr. Presser says (see the bottom of this blog for his credentials), a writer should imagine s/he is being charged for each word.

So when you read your PS draft say to yourself, “If I had to pay $5 for each word how would I save myself some bucks?”

For one-on-one help with your personal statement editing please see http://www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com.

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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