What personal statements should PA school avoid? (2023)

What is a personal statement not what should be avoided?

Avoid using up valuable words with obvious statements. Write succinctly and explain points without repeating yourself. Don't tell the admissions tutor what they already know – instead, expand on how you've acquired certain skills and why they're important.

Avoid clichés and quotes

Go through your personal statement and remove any clichés – for example, 'I've wanted to do medicine since I was young'… The same goes with quotes: unless they add true value to your personal statement (and most of the time they don't!) it is usually a good idea to remove them.

PA Personal Statement

These PA school admissions committee members want to understand why you became interested in becoming a physician assistant, and what personal and work/healthcare experience you've had that has prepared you to become a PA.

Show the interviewer that you're aware of your greatest weakness but that you're also adaptable and prioritizing growth. Tip: Choose a weakness that can be improved without placing your team or patients at risk. For example, you may be a people-pleaser, and to help others, you often take on more than you can handle.

If your writing is flagged as unoriginal, the universities you apply to will be alerted to this and are unlikely to make you an offer. If your statement is entirely unoriginal, then your application has a good chance of being rejected, leaving you without any options.

Listing your accomplishments or rehashing your CV and extracurriculars. You need to show, not tell. Choosing a bland topic that admissions committees see over and over again. Overstating the obvious and using clichés.

If you want to make your personal statement stand out, demonstrate your engagement with the subject - this could be writing about a topic you've studied that you really enjoy, or a book or blog post you read that made you want to learn more.

Personal circumstances

For example, this might be something that caused you to miss school - such as a physical or mental health condition, or caring for a family member. If your personal circumstances have affected your qualification choices, you can mention this in your personal statement.

Low-impact phrases to avoid (clichés)

Provide colorful, specific details that paint a genuine picture of the student, or employee, you both are and hope be. One of the world's leading professional staffing agencies, Robert Half International, suggests you avoid these non-descriptive résumé terms: "Hard worker"

Do Brag About Yourself. It's a personal statement—it's okay to write about your strengths and accomplishments. Most people aren't comfortable bragging about themselves. But that is exactly what to do in your personal statement.

Can you say passion in personal statement?

This sounds obvious but when writing a personal statement, it's important to show your passion for the subject. If you've read any related books, talk briefly about what you learnt from them, and why they have developed your interest in the subject.

Avoid generic and include things that are specific to you and what you saw. Anytime you can use a specific example or story in your essay, that's more effective. Show more than tell that you know what a PA is and what they do, and use those experiences to model the type of provider you want to be as a PA.

Mention specific skills that make you a great PA, such as teamwork, communication, compassion, and your desire to work as a healthcare provider. If you were faced with challenges and obstacles during your high school or college career, address them and discuss how you've grown from the experience.

PA programs evaluate applicants in the following areas: GPA, Clinical Experience, and other non-academic factors. Because each school places different weight on each area, be sure to research specific schools.

Definitely talk about challenges you've faced in your life, and how you've grown, but don't spend too much time talking about how tough you've had it. You're not looking for pity; you're looking for respect.

In most cases, it is best not to allude to your low GPA and instead focus on your strengths. But if you think that you have excellent reasons to justify your low GPA, then you should go ahead and clarify yourself.

What should you not start a personal statement with?

By giving yourself a two-week window, you have the time to 'put your personal statement away' and come back to it after a couple of days. In that time, you'll have had the chance to think about what you've written and at the same time will come back to it with fresh eyes.

Personal Statement Hooks… What Are They? The hook is a literary device at the beginning of an essay meant to grab the reader's attention and compel them to continue reading. A hook can be many things: a serious anecdote, a short autobiography, a funny story, a quote, etc.

childhood abuse, trauma, or neglect. social isolation or loneliness. experiencing discrimination and stigma, including racism. social disadvantage, poverty or debt.

Mental illness, also called mental health disorders, refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Examples of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors.

sorry, but do not recommend that topic. depression and anxiety are common health conditions (not to make light of your health condition, but super common), and it could make you seem fragile and/or self absorbed and not mature if you pick that topic.

Examples of Clichés in Everyday Language

play your cards right. it's an uphill battle. better safe than sorry. you can't judge a book by its cover.

Admissions Tutors will be reading a lot of personal statements so it's important to grab their attention right from the start. Remember, it can only be 4,000 characters, which is about two sides of A4. So, you'll need to use your words wisely to fit everything in.

You can do this in two ways. Firstly, if you are writing about a particular skill or quality that you have, back it up. By justifying your statement that you have 'an aptitude for languages', for example, it's no longer a bold and overconfident claim, but a true fact about you.

What are examples of bragging?

People hate 'humblebragging' even more than unadorned boasting, a study finds. Humble bragging is when a person brags about something, but wraps it up as a complaint or false humility to try and hide the brag. Humblebraggers were less liked and less trusted than others, the research found.

In the absence of any guidelines provided by the graduate school, your heading should include the name of the document you are submitting (e.g., “Personal Statement”), the school and department for whom you are writing it (e.g., “Ohio University College of Education”), and your name.

Consider The "I" Problem: This is a personal statement; using the first person pronoun "I" is acceptable. Writers often feel rather self-conscious about using first person excessively, either because they are modest or because they have learned to avoid first and second person ("you") in any type of formal writing.

Some common synonyms of passionate are ardent, fervent, fervid, impassioned, and perfervid.

Prepare for your specific PA school interview by familiarizing yourself with various interview techniques. Stand above the crowd with the knowledge to understand the motives behind the questions. Develop thoughtful, mature answers to commonly asked questions. Gain the confidence needed to secure your spot in a PA ...

Rewrite your personal statement introduction

Many PA programs compare reapplicants' essays from year to year and reworking your essay shows those programs you are serious about presenting an effective application each cycle.

To increase your chances of getting into PA school, keep your GPA as high as possible, take the GRE and score high, and earn at least some shadowing hours or work experience. Next to this, your best chances of success are in writing a stellar personal statement and acing the admissions interview.

Should I explain my low GPA in personal statement?

In most cases, it is best not to allude to your low GPA and instead focus on your strengths. But if you think that you have excellent reasons to justify your low GPA, then you should go ahead and clarify yourself.

The low GPA score justification can be attributed to the following: Personal Problems – You can justify your low-performance level in one semester due to personal health issues or unfortunate personal reasons. This should be explained very politely and there is no reason to get emotional.

“Due to being very busy with extracurricular activities my freshman year, studying did not happen as often as it should have. As a result, low grades occurred.” “I overcommitted myself to extracurricular activities my freshman year. I subsequently struggled with time management, and this affected my grades.”

When a student's cumulative grade point average (GPA) falls below 2.0, they are considered to be in academic difficulty. This can lead to academic warning, probation, or dismissal.

Some data is available within an individual program, but programs only know if someone is a repeat applicant to their program. You could apply to PA school many times, but if you didn't apply to the same program more than once, no one would know that you were a reapplicant.

When either the six attempts or six years are exhausted, whichever occurs sooner, the individual loses eligibility to take PANCE. The only way to establish new eligibility is to complete an unabridged ARC-PA accredited PA educational program again.

“I am dedicated to the PA profession” reads much better than “I am really dedicated to the PA profession.” Also, do not use abbreviations or acronyms without writing out the whole word first. For example, write out physician assistant (PA) once, then use PA throughout the rest of the essay.