Personal Statement: How to get feedback
Giving and receiving feedback will be a big part of your future as a medical student, resident and as a practicing physician.
In my experience, getting feedback on their personal statement (or any portion of their medical school application) is often where even the most accomplished or confident applicants step on a landmine and self destruct. This is when the high stakes “analysis paralysis” sets in.
Keep in mind the first step in receiving effective feedback is typically a self assessment. There is significant research to suggest that everyone has a “blind spot” and that we are not always accurate in our self assessment. This is an important reason to obtain external feedback.
However, you need to be prepared to judge whether you feel the feedback is useful or not.
When you ask for feedback do the following:
1. Time your feedback requests well. There are two good times to get feedback - at the beginning and near the end. Reach out after you have written a few different drafts with a few different ideas. At this point in your writing, it is appropriate and helpful to get feedback to help you choose the idea you want to work on or which concept or ideas are most appealing or most representative of you. The other time you should get feedback is when your essay is in a near-final form. At this point you DO NOT want feedback about rewriting your essay, you want feedback that will help you find errors and refine your final essay.
2. Be selective about who you ask for feedback. One of the biggest black holes I see students end up in is in asking too many people for feedback. You have many people you trust in your life all of whom may be very accomplished in their own right. Assume that when you ask them for help most type-A folks are going to give you what you ask you for and try to rewrite your essay. I have never seen someone hand somebody their essay for an opinion and have it returned to them without extensive feedback. If you are the person who has someone hand you back your essay and says “It’s perfect” or “This is the essay that will get you into every medical school.” Please call me! People generally think they are helping by doing and will try to give you feedback that entails rewriting your essay somehow. Know yourself. If you are the type of person who is going to think everyone has a valid point you will find yourself constantly editing your essay. If you feel you can filter feedback through your own lens/opinions than go for it and ask 100 people.
3. Be clear on what type of feedback you would like. Make sure you match the type of feedback to the area of expertise of the person you are asking.
Pick 3 readers and give them clear guidelines on the type of feedback you want from each reader. Choose these readers before you even begin writing your personal statement.
- First reader: A person who knows your personality well. I suggest you find experts on YOU - this will likely be close family and friends or a mentor. The question you are asking this person is "Does the voice in the essay sound like me?"
- Second reader: A person who understands the medical school admissions process and what medical schools might be looking for in a personal statement. This could be a premed advisor or a friend who is a current medical student. The question to ask this person is "When you read my personal statement can you identify why I want to be a doctor?"
- Third reader: This reader is the detail-oriented reader that you trust to review for spelling mistakes, grammar, and flow.
