GC Applications Cheat Sheet: Personal Statements
Application season is official here! The Match registration opened on September 5th (the day before my birthday), and a couple of my schools have already opened up their 2019 applications. I am so excited to finally start my applications, as such, I am really trying to focus on finishing up my personal statements. So, I am happy to present to you my latest installment of the GC Applications Cheat Sheet series!
This post is just going to focus on the personal statement aspect of the applications. The personal statement is a very important aspect of your application. This is the first time programs will be able to learn about you as a person and student, beyond your grades and test scores. Just like in my last cheat sheet post, my colleague, Emily, was gracious enough to share her thoughts on the personal statement.
That rough draft was written in the beginning of 2018, which gave me a lot of time to really flush out my ideas and goals for myself as a genetic counselor. I did not start actually working on my personal statements until June of 2018. For the programs I was applying to, the personal statement prompts were available to me through the programs' websites. But for the most part, the prompts for most of my schools did not vary from year to year (the exception being Keck Graduate Institute), which made it easy to start my personal statements ahead of time. Additionally, I was able to learn more about what my programs were looking for in their personal statements by setting up meetings with admissions faculty or program directors.
When it came to writing my personal statements, I tried to tie in the experiences I have had in the past year and a half with the goals that I had for myself as a genetic counselor. This included my research interests and career aspirations. The best advice I can give is to keep a journal of all of your experiences leading up to applying to programs. I've kept a journal for the past year and a half, writing down observations, thoughts, and just random ideas that would pop into my head from time to time. These notes became a really great way for me to reflect on my gap year, and how my experiences have impacted my goals moving forward as a genetic counselor. After that, all I need to do was to put it together in one cohesive essay.
Just like Emily described, the fist draft of your personal statement is not going to be perfect, and being open to feedback is crucial in delivering a clear and concise statement of purpose. I definitely had a few rough drafts that I had written, prior to what I currently have as a working draft of my personal statement. The best advice I can give for starting a personal statement is to just start writing. Personally, I do a lot of self-editing, which is why I found myself sitting in front of a blank document for a couple of hours re-writing the same two sentences. What I found the most helpful was to just start writing out what I wanted to say, and what I wanted the admissions staff to know about me, and then going back and editing it later. I think it was extremely helpful in make sure that I was communicating my thoughts effectively.
Once you have a rough draft you're happy with, I would highly recommend you have someone else read over your statement and edit it. Here's what Emily had to say about getting her personal statement edited:
Emily brought up a really great point; while it would be best to have someone with a genetic counseling background to review your statement, if you are unsure of who to ask or to contact, there are several options for you:
This post is just going to focus on the personal statement aspect of the applications. The personal statement is a very important aspect of your application. This is the first time programs will be able to learn about you as a person and student, beyond your grades and test scores. Just like in my last cheat sheet post, my colleague, Emily, was gracious enough to share her thoughts on the personal statement.
The personal statement is an integral part of the application and writing it will probably take up the bulk of the application preparation process because it highlights your individuality in a way that grades and test scores can’t. Start the personal statement as early as you can so you have it available for editing and other application steps. When I requested letters of recommendation from my writers, I sent them a draft of my personal statement for reference. Not only did having a general personal statement compile my relevant experiences in a readable form, but it also prepared me to speak about what I learned over the course of my gap year and my interest in genetic counseling for graduate study when my letter writers asked me questions about the field. Familiarizing yourself with your experiences and accomplishments early on also becomes incredibly useful when interview season rolls around. Some graduate programs have personal statement prompts from the previous application cycle posted on their websites. It seems like prompts generally don’t vary much from year to year, so if you intend to work on your personal statement before applications are officially open, then these prompts are a great starting point. More than anything, it’s important to keep in mind that your first draft may not be something you’re proud of yet--mine was riddled with errors and awkward sentences--but staying open-minded when receiving feedback and incorporating that feedback into your future rounds of editing will turn your personal statement into a piece of writing that reflects you and your passion for genetic counseling.Unlike Emily, I was not able to provide my letter of recommendation writers with a copy of my personal statement because I had asked them for letters of rec a few months after I had graduated. (If you haven't read my cheat sheet on letters of recommendation, go check it out here!) Instead, I made sure to stay in contact with them, keeping them updated on my interests in the field and the kind of research that I was interested in. However, one of my letter of recommendation writers did ask me to describe why I was interested in the field and what my goals were as a genetic counselor. In answering his inquiry, I was able to write my responses down, which eventually served as a (very) rough draft for what would become my personal statement.
That rough draft was written in the beginning of 2018, which gave me a lot of time to really flush out my ideas and goals for myself as a genetic counselor. I did not start actually working on my personal statements until June of 2018. For the programs I was applying to, the personal statement prompts were available to me through the programs' websites. But for the most part, the prompts for most of my schools did not vary from year to year (the exception being Keck Graduate Institute), which made it easy to start my personal statements ahead of time. Additionally, I was able to learn more about what my programs were looking for in their personal statements by setting up meetings with admissions faculty or program directors.
When it came to writing my personal statements, I tried to tie in the experiences I have had in the past year and a half with the goals that I had for myself as a genetic counselor. This included my research interests and career aspirations. The best advice I can give is to keep a journal of all of your experiences leading up to applying to programs. I've kept a journal for the past year and a half, writing down observations, thoughts, and just random ideas that would pop into my head from time to time. These notes became a really great way for me to reflect on my gap year, and how my experiences have impacted my goals moving forward as a genetic counselor. After that, all I need to do was to put it together in one cohesive essay.
Just like Emily described, the fist draft of your personal statement is not going to be perfect, and being open to feedback is crucial in delivering a clear and concise statement of purpose. I definitely had a few rough drafts that I had written, prior to what I currently have as a working draft of my personal statement. The best advice I can give for starting a personal statement is to just start writing. Personally, I do a lot of self-editing, which is why I found myself sitting in front of a blank document for a couple of hours re-writing the same two sentences. What I found the most helpful was to just start writing out what I wanted to say, and what I wanted the admissions staff to know about me, and then going back and editing it later. I think it was extremely helpful in make sure that I was communicating my thoughts effectively.
Once you have a rough draft you're happy with, I would highly recommend you have someone else read over your statement and edit it. Here's what Emily had to say about getting her personal statement edited:
Aside from myself, my father looked over my personal statement and made comments that helped me improve it. There are various approaches to writing the personal statement and what makes a compelling essay for one applicant may not work as well or feel as natural for someone else. I chose to touch upon a few life experiences in my own personal statement, so I thought that my father was qualified to critique my essay because he lived through those experiences as well. He is also actively involved in biomedical research, so his input was rooted in his science background.Personally, I had one of my good friends, Christianne, read and edit the initial rough draft of my personal statement. She earned a degree in writing, and had previously worked with the admissions team of her alma mater, which was a great way for me to get feedback from an admissions perspective. After getting my statement reviewed by Christianne, I sent it to one of my genetic counseling mentors, who has spent over a decade as a genetic counselor and even served on the admissions board for a couple of genetic counseling programs. Getting her feedback was crucial for me because she was able to read through my statements as a former admissions faculty.
Emily brought up a really great point; while it would be best to have someone with a genetic counseling background to review your statement, if you are unsure of who to ask or to contact, there are several options for you:
It would be most beneficial to have your personal statement reviewed by someone familiar with the genetic counseling field if possible, either by a genetic counselor, someone who has worked in a genetic counseling program, or a current student. Genetic counselors who provide shadowing opportunities or welcome student contact are indispensable resources, and they are usually very willing to help people through the difficulties of the application process. If these people aren’t available, then you can also have your essay read by a school advisor, a faculty member, a career center, or even a previous applicant who has written a personal statement of their own before. All of the editing might seem tedious, but someone reading your personal statement for the first time may be able to highlight details or offer feedback that won’t be apparent if you were editing the essay on your own.Additionally, I was able to connect with many genetic counselors and current students through the genetic counseling community on twitter! In fact, I was put in contact with my current genetic counseling mentor through a twitter interaction. The genetic counseling community on twitter is extremely supportive and really helpful when it comes to application questions or advice, and reaching out to some of them is a great way to network, and maybe even find an editor! To see what they're talking about search #GCchat on twitter.
Hopefully this advice was helpful for you! In later installations of this series, Emily and I will share more about preparing for the interview process. If you have any questions or more advice, please share them in the comments!
Also:
Connect with me on instagram @caffeinatedgc
Or on twitter @choy_nicole
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