Am I the only "Plain Jane" out there?

[bsteeves]

I have finished filling out all of my CASPA application except for my personal statement. I have been brainstorming different topics but am having trouble. I feel as though all personal statement examples I have read are about significant/unexpected losses or adversities that people have coped with to get them to this point. I am fortunate enough to say I have not had to deal with such events in my life, however am now at a loss as to what to write about. I want to show the reader that I am unique and passionate about my career path but am struggling on how to catch the readers attention without starting my personal statement off with a hardship or life struggle.

 

I was thinking about sharing a story from the ED that left a mark on me and provided me with guidence as to why I want to join the PA profession.

 

I was just curious if anyone else has been feeling as though they do not have a life altering event or hardship as they were writing their statements. If so I would love to hear what you wrote about and how you got started!

 

Thanks!

[GatorRRT]

Personal tragedity isn't a prereq to becoming a PA. Write about what motivates/inspired you to get to this point. Good luck!

[Just Steve]

Write about accomplishments in your life that have helped garner leadership, team work, collaborative working. Write about job experience of working in medicine, shadowing experiences (not the patients, but the ideas you formed about the profession). Write about unique life experiences such as volunteer work in adverse situations i.e.: homeless shelters, overseas missions....

 

Perhaps writing an outline of what you feel are some of your highlights of your life, then using that outline to help construct a PS

[joanna.nola]

Write about the qualities and experiences that will make you a good PA. Write about how hard you've worked and how hard you will work because PA school is not easy. You don't need a dramatic story. I often find those to be a bit over the top.

[bsteeves]

thanks so much everyone! these comments were all extremely helpful and kind :)

[laifalove]

You're not alone, I'm trying to find a starting point too as a "plain Jane", but my friend put it the best way: you just gotta write from your heart and show that you truly believe this is the right path for you. Like others have mentioned, write about what kind of qualities you have that will help you succeed and provide the best care for your patients. Good luck! :)

[kms111211]

I understand where you are coming from -- I'm in the same boat. I used humor and tidbits about my life-long fascination with the medical field to help my personal statement stand out. Make it something your evaluators will want to read! :)

[kms111211]

I understand where you are coming from -- I'm in the same boat. I used humor and tidbits about my life-long fascination with the medical field to help my personal statement stand out. Make it something your evaluators will want to read! :)

[kms111211]

I understand where you are coming from -- I'm in the same boat. I used humor and tidbits about my life-long fascination with the medical field to help my personal statement stand out. Make it something your evaluators will want to read! :)

[mktalon]

I used humor and tidbits about my life-long fascination with the medical field to help my personal statement stand out. :)!

No offense is intended, but about 75% of the PS's I see have some kind of description of a life-long fascination with medicine. I don't think that approach will make you stand out. I agree with something PAMAC (I think) said in another thread, I just don't like the whole "lifelong passion" thing. Most of the time it comes off as a cop-out for not really having much of anything else to say. If you had a life-long passion for medicine you should have done plenty of things to support your passion and could tell those stories. But if you have to say "I've had a lifelong fascination" in order to make yourself stand out... then all you've had is a fascination, which isn't really all that impressive in of itself. In fact, it might even be worse to say it with nothing else to back it up because then you'll sound like a person of inaction. Just my thoughts on the matter.

[mktalon]

I used humor and tidbits about my life-long fascination with the medical field to help my personal statement stand out. :)!

No offense is intended, but about 75% of the PS's I see have some kind of description of a life-long fascination with medicine. I don't think that approach will make you stand out. I agree with something PAMAC (I think) said in another thread, I just don't like the whole "lifelong passion" thing. Most of the time it comes off as a cop-out for not really having much of anything else to say. If you had a life-long passion for medicine you should have done plenty of things to support your passion and could tell those stories. But if you have to say "I've had a lifelong fascination" in order to make yourself stand out... then all you've had is a fascination, which isn't really all that impressive in of itself. In fact, it might even be worse to say it with nothing else to back it up because then you'll sound like a person of inaction. Just my thoughts on the matter.

[mktalon]

I used humor and tidbits about my life-long fascination with the medical field to help my personal statement stand out. :)!

No offense is intended, but about 75% of the PS's I see have some kind of description of a life-long fascination with medicine. I don't think that approach will make you stand out. I agree with something PAMAC (I think) said in another thread, I just don't like the whole "lifelong passion" thing. Most of the time it comes off as a cop-out for not really having much of anything else to say. If you had a life-long passion for medicine you should have done plenty of things to support your passion and could tell those stories. But if you have to say "I've had a lifelong fascination" in order to make yourself stand out... then all you've had is a fascination, which isn't really all that impressive in of itself. In fact, it might even be worse to say it with nothing else to back it up because then you'll sound like a person of inaction. Just my thoughts on the matter.

[mackjacks]

My PS was pretty standard and boring and I got in. My mentor always said to show them how you've worked, volunteered, studied, and (not as important) shadowed and what you've learned from those experiences. Thinking about those topics might be a good way to start brainstorming.

[mackjacks]

My PS was pretty standard and boring and I got in. My mentor always said to show them how you've worked, volunteered, studied, and (not as important) shadowed and what you've learned from those experiences. Thinking about those topics might be a good way to start brainstorming.

[mackjacks]

My PS was pretty standard and boring and I got in. My mentor always said to show them how you've worked, volunteered, studied, and (not as important) shadowed and what you've learned from those experiences. Thinking about those topics might be a good way to start brainstorming.

[mktalon]

To answer your question...yes...you seem to be the only plain jane on this forum. It seems that most people that post their PSs here have performed CPR on 3 people at the same time, while under water and being bitten by a shark OR have passed a warm blanket to a mother in the ER waiting to hear if her son had an ear infection, but handed that blanket with such shear conviction and emotion that it changed their life forever! Seriously, just tell your story. Try not to be boring, but you don't have to soup everything up to entertain the Adcoms. They are professionals and if they can't read a PS unless it was written by Jerry Bruckheimer, then you probably don't want to attend their program anyway.

[mktalon]

To answer your question...yes...you seem to be the only plain jane on this forum. It seems that most people that post their PSs here have performed CPR on 3 people at the same time, while under water and being bitten by a shark OR have passed a warm blanket to a mother in the ER waiting to hear if her son had an ear infection, but handed that blanket with such shear conviction and emotion that it changed their life forever! Seriously, just tell your story. Try not to be boring, but you don't have to soup everything up to entertain the Adcoms. They are professionals and if they can't read a PS unless it was written by Jerry Bruckheimer, then you probably don't want to attend their program anyway.

[mktalon]

To answer your question...yes...you seem to be the only plain jane on this forum. It seems that most people that post their PSs here have performed CPR on 3 people at the same time, while under water and being bitten by a shark OR have passed a warm blanket to a mother in the ER waiting to hear if her son had an ear infection, but handed that blanket with such shear conviction and emotion that it changed their life forever! Seriously, just tell your story. Try not to be boring, but you don't have to soup everything up to entertain the Adcoms. They are professionals and if they can't read a PS unless it was written by Jerry Bruckheimer, then you probably don't want to attend their program anyway.

[pafguy77]

Personal statements are sometimes tough only because we are our biggest critic and sometimes put too much pressure on ourselves. We just have to remember not too be too hard on ourselves and to write an authentic statement. Any information about voluntary work, previous employment experience or job shadowing alongside physicians should help.

[pafguy77]

Personal statements are sometimes tough only because we are our biggest critic and sometimes put too much pressure on ourselves. We just have to remember not too be too hard on ourselves and to write an authentic statement. Any information about voluntary work, previous employment experience or job shadowing alongside physicians should help.

[pafguy77]

Personal statements are sometimes tough only because we are our biggest critic and sometimes put too much pressure on ourselves. We just have to remember not too be too hard on ourselves and to write an authentic statement. Any information about voluntary work, previous employment experience or job shadowing alongside physicians should help.

[RHC81]

So, you didn't find your calling as a PA while you were doing CPR on a fellow skydiver midair, after which you delivered his pregnant wife's twins all alone in the forest and cared for them all for three days by yourself? No? :)

 

There's a saying in journalism, "Everyone has a story." The trick is finding YOUR story. It's hard to see the forest for the trees, sometimes. Furthermore, you're not writing your memoirs. You're selling yourself to the AdCom, convincing them that you need a seat in the interview rounds. What do YOU have to offer the PA school and the PA profession?

[RHC81]

So, you didn't find your calling as a PA while you were doing CPR on a fellow skydiver midair, after which you delivered his pregnant wife's twins all alone in the forest and cared for them all for three days by yourself? No? :)

 

There's a saying in journalism, "Everyone has a story." The trick is finding YOUR story. It's hard to see the forest for the trees, sometimes. Furthermore, you're not writing your memoirs. You're selling yourself to the AdCom, convincing them that you need a seat in the interview rounds. What do YOU have to offer the PA school and the PA profession?

[RHC81]

So, you didn't find your calling as a PA while you were doing CPR on a fellow skydiver midair, after which you delivered his pregnant wife's twins all alone in the forest and cared for them all for three days by yourself? No? :)

 

There's a saying in journalism, "Everyone has a story." The trick is finding YOUR story. It's hard to see the forest for the trees, sometimes. Furthermore, you're not writing your memoirs. You're selling yourself to the AdCom, convincing them that you need a seat in the interview rounds. What do YOU have to offer the PA school and the PA profession?

[2full2eat]

If me telling you what I used helps at all, Id be happy to fill you in. I am a plain jane as well and felt I needed the story where my father dropped dead in front of me but a heroic PA revived him back to life. Instead I used an interest I had since I was in my early teens to now, I used it because I felt it was something a little out of the ordinary and not a lot of people would share with me. I used the bodybuilding sport and competitions in my PS to (hopefully) grab readers attention, and I used it to transition into other aspects of my life and soon a determination to work in medicine. Inbox me if you'd like to see how I used it, and I'm telling you this because maybe you can use some sort of hobby or interest you've had to your advantage as well.