5 Mistakes To Avoid When Writing A Personal Statement

We are going to get right to it. You often hear people talk about how to write a personal statement in relation to what to have in it (I talk about this all the time!), but rarely do we hear what to AVOID in a personal statement.

While I don’t prescribe to the dramatic dialogue that states one part of your application can absolutely destroy you, I do prescribe to the idea that it’s important for us to put out the best piece of writing we can.

To note, I wrote a blog post about 5 questions to ask yourself before writing your personal statement. I think this is a FANTASTIC place to start and will be tremendously helpful for your writing.

Anyways, while writing our essays, we not only want to avoid WILD mistakes that will leave the admissions committee grimacing, but we want to make sure they are getting your full story in a moving a compelling way that answers the prompt and provides personal details.

I want to preface all of this and say that these “mistakes” are not necessarily black and white. Sure, mistake number 1 is pretty black and white. But mistakes 3-5… well, there is a little gray area.

What I’m saying is take this list with a grain of salt (take everything on the internet with a grain of salt for that matter!) These 5 items can be done in a cringy way, or in a good way that is not damaging to your essay and your story. I am simply here to encourage you to do the latter:)

Got it? Alright let’s dive in!

Mistake 1: Using Cliches or Comparing

This is important so listen up! First, pretty much all of the cliches I’m about to list have a common thread: they are, essentially, comparing a PA to a Doctor. You should never put down another medical career or compare a PA to that of a doctor in your personal statement. It is unhelpful, often incorrect, and a bit ignorant. I would avoid these statements at all costs.

With that being said, there are a few key concepts and words you want to avoid using in your personal statement. First, do not say “Physician’s Assistant”- that is just simply incorrect. If you don’t know the name of the job title, here’s a helpful reminder: it’s Physician Assistant. Ok, glad we got that out of the way.

Next, do not say that you want to work “under a doctor”. There are far better ways to get the point across that you enjoy working in a team oriented model of care without saying that you want to work below, under, or behind a doctor. That is not, in reality, what a PA’s job is really about. You work in collaboration with other healthcare professionals, on a team, that allows the best care for patients.

Next, do not say you like the work-life balance of a PA career. Again, not true! Sure, you are on a quicker path to work-life balance (i.e. you are only in grueling school/residency for 2-3 years instead of 7+) but the actual job of a PA does not guarantee a better work-life balance. This detail also just feels like… well….. It really does not need to be in your personal statement. If you do say it in passing (briefly), don’t say “work life balance” (it feels like a buzzword); try flexibility, fits into your lifestyle, or something along those lines.

Similarly, saying PAs get more time with patients than doctors do is also not always factual. I would again, leave it out, or just say “spend adequate time with patients” but don’t use a comparison in your statement.

Finally, I love the concept of “lateral mobility” as a reason to pursue the PA profession (hint hint, it was one of my reasons), but I think you have to tiptoe around how you say this. Make sure you emphasize that lateral mobility (i.e. the ability to pivot into different specialties) is attractive, but it does not take away from your drive to vertically excel to the highest level of your degree at any position you are in. Don’t let “lateral mobility” as a concept speaking to the idea of “switching specialities” muddy an admission committee’s belief that you only want to stay at “one level” as a provider. I hope this makes sense.

Mistake 2: Confusing flow

There is nothing worse than a personal statement (or really any essay, book, or piece of writing ever) that has poor flow. Concepts are jumbled around, sentences feel awkward, and the general vibe is messy and therefore chaotic. Make sure your flow is SOLID.

Something that helps with this is having the first paragraph start out with a bang, but somewhere towards the end of it, lay out what the rest of the essay will be about. I like to have one sentence that in essence states: I want to be a PA because of paragraph two concept, paragraph three concept, and paragraph four concept. BAM, big-picture flow is set.

It is then your job to make sure each individual paragraph flows well. An easy trick? Read it out loud… you can always tell if a sentence or paragraph feels awkward or just “off” when you read it out loud.

Mistake 3: Sharing information that is not about you

HEAR ME LOUD AND CLEAR. Please. Your personal statement should not tell me more about the kid that you helped, than it does about you. I should not learn more about the things you liked about the PA you shadowed, than I learn about you. I should not know the details of your family and what they value, more than I know the details and values of you.

Too often, students take up 2-4 sentences describing a different character in the story. And then concluding with “.. after shadowing that PA, I knew I wanted to be as compassionate as her.”

Now, this is a mistake literally everyone makes; I did too. However, it’s a mistake that is relatively easy to identify and adjust. If you have to describe another character or person in a story, I would try to get it done in 1-2 sentences. Then use 2-3 sentences describing how it relates to you, your skills, desires, and values.

Basically, I should read more about you in your essay than anyone else. It’s impossible to ignore basic characters in a story or event, but just limit the details to only what is necessary.

Mistake 4: Too much talk about early days

Unless something happened in your early days (high school or before) that was so instrumental it has stayed with you into your 20s/30s, it is a part of your identity, it has shaped your values, it is an essential part of who you are, then leave it out.

Briefly stating, “I have been around medicine since I was young because my parents are doctors” is fine, but talking for an entire paragraph about your time as a soccer player in high school being the reason you like to be on a team (but you didn’t play soccer after and have no college experiences representing teamwork) is not fine.

There are a million caveats with this, but you get the idea.  I would like to mention here, I always defer to this: if it’s THAT important to you, put it in your essay. Period. Don’t let some girl writing some blog post stop you. If you have an experience central to who you are, no matter what it is, or when it occurred, find a way to get it in your essay.

Mistake 5: Justifying your “downfalls”

There are two teams, one team who will say that justifying your “low” points of an application should occur in your personal statement. The other team says you should NOT discuss your low points in your application.

Here’s what I’m going to say: I don’t think it is necessary. In fact, I lean towards leaving it out of your personal statement, as it does not tell me “Why do you want to be a PA?” However, if there is something missing in your application, and it is missing because of an important part of your life, and you feel comfortable mentioning it in your personal statement, go for it.

I don’t want you to justify something out of panic or fear that you have to. Don’t waste precious characters talking about your mistakes when quite frankly, they don’t need to know about it! If it is that big of a problem, I’m sure there was a reason for that problem (a reason that is likely central to your story).

For example, I did not have as many clinical hours as most applicants. While I didn’t feel the need to put this in my personal statement, Northwestern had an essay essentially asking, “Is there anything else you want us to know?” It was in that essay where I felt compelled to justify why I didn’t have as many clinical hours; the reason was because I was doing other fun stuff! Fun stuff that made me a better human being, challenged me, and allowed me to gain perspective. These other activities were central to who I was as a student and armed me with skills that would be imperative in a PA career. So, I was able to justify the “low” with a “high”. Does this need to be done in your personal statement? That’s up to you!

Bonus mistake: Writing about one thing, largely

Again, there are many ways to write a personal statement. One way is to take the most important aspect of your life and write the whole essay with essentially only that event/experience in mind. Sure, you might briefly mention 2-3 other things, but for the most part, your essay consists of one event/experience.

I do LOVE this way of writing- I think it is powerful. After all, say you grew up with a disability, lived in 20 different states, or saw a family  member pass away- these things really do define you. They teach you countless lessons, and are core to who you are- why wouldn’t you write about that in your personal statement??

While I think this is a perfectly acceptable way to write your personal statement, at this point in your life, there HAS to be at least 2-3 other important parts of your story that you want to share with admissions committees. When you think about your life, sure that ONE thing is the most important part of your story, but I know there are other parts that are instrumental to your career path. These deserve to be shared so an admissions committee can get the full picture of who you are and why you are going to be a great PA.

For example, if you’ve read my “About” page, you’ve heard the story of my paralyzed vocal cord. This is a permanent part of who I am that has quite literally shaped (almost) every aspect of who I am, what I value, and why I pursued the PA path. However, it only took up one of my paragraphs in my personal statement.

Even though the deep down root of who I am stems from this part of my life, I have 3-4 other massive life experiences that have armed me with skills and characteristics; it was important for me to have these other experiences in my personal statement, because quite frankly, without them, an admissions committee is only getting half of my story. They need the whole picture!

Whew, if you’ve made it this far, you deserve a gold star.

~I was going to say you deserve a drink, but I’m trying to stay mildly professional in this post~

Per usual, I am always here to help with your personal statement if you need some assistance! You can click on over to My Services page to learn more!

Cheers and happy writing!