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Reusing parts of my previous personal statement?


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Hi everyone,

 

I was sitting here thinking about whether or not I should write a completely new personal statement or if would be alright if I used parts of previous personal statements before? I ask this because, really, the core of why I want to be a PA has not changed. I have for sure done a lot more to improve my application (retook a many prerequisite courses and improved my GPA, gained tons more healthcare experience in community health and the underserved, volunteer experience at my local children's hospital, and improved my GRE scores).

 

Would this moreso be weaving that additional experience into my statement? Also to note, the parts I want to keep would be why I want to become a PA, I'd totally rewrite a patient care experience example, and add those additional improvements. Plus my previous statement addresses why I had a less than stellar GPA in the past, but how I've improved my grades.

 

Thank you in advance!

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I am having to make the same decisions and I am not sure of the best route. During the past year, I have gained another 2000+ hours of direct patient care experience (I am the lead clinical exercise physiologist of a hospital's cardiac rehab program). I have also retaken 2 of my lowest prereq grades and it appears as though they will be A's on my transcript (finish them in May). My reasons for wanting to be a PA and the specialty I want to pursue have not wavered from last year. Being an older applicant (28 yo) I feel as though this is my last chance to get in so I need to make everything as perfect as possible on paper.

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You should definitely mention what you've done since previously applying to show ADCOMs that you are serious about getting accepted to a program and becoming a better applicant.  Your reason(s) why you wanted to become a PA in the first place shouldn't have changed, but what you've done become more competitive has.  Hope that helps!

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gckohlhase The average age of students is 35ish in most of the programs that I've seen the demographics for. If you just don't want to apply anymore thats one thing but admissions committees definitely don't view 28 as old. PA programs were created for healthcare workers who have been working for a bit already, and the lowest age I have seen in a program is 24.

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gckohlhase The average age of students is 35ish in most of the programs that I've seen the demographics for. If you just don't want to apply anymore thats one thing but admissions committees definitely don't view 28 as old. PA programs were created for healthcare workers who have been working for a bit already, and the lowest age I have seen in a program is 24.

 

While this may be true for the programs you have looked at, I have a few 21 year olds in my class currently and I'm 23. I think the average age has significantly gone down since many schools that have popped up have been lowering their PCE requirement (which I don't necessarily like). I definitely don't see 28 as being old at all to be going into the PA field, but everyone's situation is different and PA schools have a wide variety of ages.

 

But regarding using parts of an old personal statement I think it is alright to do that as long as you have more new information there than old. Absolutely highlight the new things you have done to improve and show that you are willing to adapt if you didn't succeed the first time.

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gckohlhase The average age of students is 35ish in most of the programs that I've seen the demographics for. If you just don't want to apply anymore thats one thing but admissions committees definitely don't view 28 as old. PA programs were created for healthcare workers who have been working for a bit already, and the lowest age I have seen in a program is 24.

I'm sure you mean 25, not 35...

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I'm sure you mean 25, not 35...

I guess Washington state has higher averages.

 

"The age of MEDEX students ranges from 22 to 57 with the mean age of 31. This range in age is related to the total number of clinical experience hours required to meet MEDEX prerequisites.  Students accepted to MEDEX tend to have a significant number of years in paid clinical positions, averaging 5.4 years in 2016."

 

http://www.heritage.edu/Academic-Programs/Graduate-Degrees/Physician-Assistant-Educational-Program/Student-Statistics

avg age for 2016=33, 2017=31, 2018=29

 

This was written in 2016 but with no sources cited: they say average age is 30

USNews says the average age nationwide is 27 though.

 

But the point is at 28 years old you can improve your application significantly every year and that should far outweigh you being one year older. I doubt someone on an adcom would look at it and say "this application is stellar, if only he was 1 or 2 years younger.."

 

As for using old personal statement, I just wrote my second one, but instead of rewriting a new one I had a bunch of people proof read it and just polished it with that. I think PAPROOF hit it head on, keep the same "reasons" but show the dedication by telling how you improved over the last 12 months.

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