In a recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, investigators report finding “evidence of plagiarism” in personal statements in 5.2% of residency applicants to Brigham and Women’s anesthesiology, general surgery, internal medicine, OB-GYN and emergency medicine residency programs between Sept. 2005 and March 2007.
Applicants should be aware of this type of scrutiny. (I hope that candidates won’t consider plagiarizing material for obvious ethical reasons!)
It’s important to express to medical school admissions officers why you want to be a physician, but the key – as always – is to show, rather than tell. The content of your accomplishments and the skills and insight you have gained from them are compelling. Stating that you really, really want to be a doctor is not. (This is true for post bacc, residency and fellowship applicants too.)
Contact me for help with your medical school personal statement and secondary essays. Unlike other consultants, I do all of my own work – while maintaining quick turn around times. Here are copious testimonials about my work.
You can now submit your 2011 AMCAS. Here is the web site.
Please contact me for medical school personal statement and AMCAS editing. For rolling admissions schools, the sooner you apply the better.
Quick tip: Ensure your personal statement can stand alone and doesn’t rely on your AMCAS or ERAS activities’ section for clarification. I see some personal statement drafts that subtly refer to a candidate’s big accomplishment without fleshing it out. You need to assume that the reader is seeing your essay first and independent of your AMCAS/ERAS.
For medical school admissions consulting help, please contact me as soon as possible. The season is heating up. Submission to AMCAS starts June 1.
Have a great holiday weekend!
Getting into medical school is becoming increasingly competitive, in part, because of the declining economy. Strong candidates who used to target law degrees or business school are turning their interest toward medicine, a less volatile field. Consequently, more competitive candidates are now pursuing a medical career, making the submission of an excellent medical school personal statement even more important.
The American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS®) is a centralized application processing service for medical school applicants. AMCAS® includes ample space for a candidate’s personal essay. The AMCAS® medical school personal statement (and institutions’ follow up secondary essays) allow the applicant to demonstrate his or her distinctiveness as a candidate. Read more ›
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
