How Personal Can You Get In A Personal Letter?

[carazadie]

I became interested in medicine because I had a parent with a serious illness when I was young. It seems natural to talk about this in my personal letters, as it also had an impact on my choice of specialty, but I'm not sure if this is getting too personal. I don't want to look like I'm fishing for pity points - just trying to be honest about something that had a major impact on me. 

 

What do you think? Too personal?

[RiceWine]

i think its appropriate 

[makingfetchhappen]

I see what you mean about not wanting to fish for pity points, but I think that if you phrase it right, that would not be an issue at all.

If the experience was something that made you passionate about medicine and especially if it made you passionate for that specialty, they will definitely want to know that. People like people who are driven.

I'm not in med (someday hopefully) so you can take that with a grain of salt, but I'm old so I've seen lots of people go through apps in various fields.

[newfie]

I asked a family medicine program director about this, and he said that (at least for him), you're free to get as personal as you're comfortable with. Often these things can enhance letters, as well.