osjx-82 Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 Ok. so how do I write a GOOD autobiographical essay? I'm lost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny Gundam Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 to me a good essay has to be unique. The good ones I've read usually talk about things the applicants have done and what they have learned from them. Obviously the theme is "why medcine" or "why I make a strong candidate" or something along those lines. If you want you can send your draft to mcat2006stuff@gmail.com and I could give you some feedback. I think Persistent and dr_nomis are also doing that. See http://www.futuremedstudents.com for details ~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blues Posted August 27, 2006 Report Share Posted August 27, 2006 I'm still struggling with the essay as well. everything i write is so... normal... like i think everyone else is probably writing about that too~ destiny gundam do you think you could take a look at my draft too once i am done? thank you so much!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleek red canoe Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 You may have heard it before a million times, but be sincere, be yourself. Know why *you* want to go to medicine (there are allowed to be different reasons!). Provide examples, humor is allowed!, that provide a context to your reasons. These examples should speak for themselves so you dont also have to spell it out why you'll make a great doctor, they will be able to tell just by reading it. Someone reading it should be able to recognize your personality from it. my advice; read a few example essays to get an idea and then dont look at them again. The more you just write about you, the more unique it will seem...and the more memorable. good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 I've found that sticking to 2 pages is a lot harder than one would think. You want to get so much in and do so many things with the essay, its all a lot tougher than it seems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destiny Gundam Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 Yeah feel free to send your essays in... I have a few to get back to but likely finish them by tonight. I think I'll have time tomorrow as well so send it in if you want; I'll try to get back to you ASAP. My email is mcat2006stuff@gmail.com Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avenir001 Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 Yeah I hear you Kuantum...this reminds me of an amusing story I have. Those who have better things to do, don't read:D I always tend to go over the limit with every essay I've written in my life. In an extreme case of this, when the limit was 12 pages for a psyc course essay, I wrote twice as much and truncated it to 18 pages, but just couldn't bring myself to exclude any more of my precious insights into this psycho killer's personality I was analyzing....so anyways, the TA wasn't impressed and gave me 59% I had kissed med school goodbye and was about to jump off Lions Gate when I got an email from the prof who said that after taking off 10% for the excessive length, my new mark on the essay would be 87%. The perfect timing and incredible turn of events made me realize it wasn't yet my time to go and I was destined to become a doctor afterall:D How's this for the opening paragraph of my essay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr nomis Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 I had kissed med school goodbye and was about to jump off Lions Gate gah I hate that pre-med attitude that if you have ONE bad test or ONE bad essay you are NOT going to make it in... I suffered from it too at times but we all just gotta step back, look at the big picture, and keep our chins up!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 gah I hate that pre-med attitude that if you have ONE bad test or ONE bad essay you are NOT going to make it in... I suffered from it too at times but we all just gotta step back, look at the big picture, and keep our chins up!! Yea, I think I realized that after 2nd year. I remember getting a B on my first English essay and I thought that I would never be fit for university. Two years later, I'm going into 3rd year Biochem and applying for med. schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dr nomis Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 A tip for a good essay: A good hint I had heard from a Kaplan video about essays, mentioned by someone who used to work on an adcom and had read a lot of them, said that a good way to approach it is to explain how you got to the point in your life where you knew you wanted to do medicine. Tell them your journey. (this along with many more essay tips posted on a simliar thread by yours truly at http://www.futuremedstudents.com/viewtopic.php?t=11 ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurfette Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 My essay is down to 2 pages now. What I did was stick mostly to a few key experiences that were important to me and expanded on those rather than trying to fit every little thing in. I figure that most of the stuff I've done is on the non-academic sketch anyways. There's no point in just re-writing them. Don't know whether that's the right approach or not though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuantum Posted September 6, 2006 Report Share Posted September 6, 2006 Argggghhhh....I am ONE WORD over the 2-page limit. I'm now trying to find ways to get that in. EDIT: I lied, I am ONE WORD and a PERIOD over the 2-page limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avenir001 Posted September 6, 2006 Report Share Posted September 6, 2006 Hey, I have a couple more questions for dr nomis, gundam, or anyone else willing to answer: 1. When you're "introducing yourself" to the committee in the actual essay, you don't really mention your name, right? because each reader sees the whole application with the name on the front page? 2. Should one acknowledge the readers at the end of the essay & thank them for the time or is this rarely done & might be seen as trying to influence the outcome!!? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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