3 Common Mistakes on Your Personal Statement

The personal statement (PS) is a rite of passage and an important application requirement for all dental school applicants. It is an opportunity for the applicant to show the Admissions Committee (ADCOMs) who they are by putting a little piece of themselves into words. For this reason, over ten thousand applicants annually rack their brains to write a PS well enough to stand out to the ADCOMs. As such, it doesn’t need to be said that a PS can make or break your application.

Over the course of the previous cycle, I have read countless personal statements to help predents get an edge on their application. Some were great, but most of them were subpar and it seems that predents in general do not know what the ADCOMs are looking for. In order to help as many predents I can, I would like to share with you the 3 biggest and most common mistakes that I see on a PS.

1. Not answering the prompt correctly

The biggest mistake I see in a majority of the personal statements that I read is that they do not address the prompt correctly. Most of the time, the PS prompt would read something like “Explain why you want to pursue a career in dentistry” or something similar. In other words, you have to answer the question “why do you want to be a dentist?” Unfortunately in many of the PS’s that I have read, students completely skipped what brought them on the path of dentistry. Believe it or not, a large majority had a PS where the intro was something not about dentistry – which is fine by the way if you can somehow bridge that into dentistry – and then would throw in dentistry in the next paragraph.

For example, I once read an intro about a student losing a loved one indirectly due to poverty and how she would change her life and start working hard. In the very next paragraph the student wrote “I decided to pursue dentistry and soon found myself shadowing Dr. Vichyssoise, a general dentist.”

This does not tell me why you want to be a dentist. In fact, it was abrupt and it made me feel that you chose dentistry as a career due to income, lifestyle, and prestige. Unfortunately, that is not good enough. Money could be a reason, but it should not be the biggest reason. You must detail what brought you to dentistry in the first place. What made you pick dentistry over medicine? What made you want to work with teeth for the rest of your life? These are the questions you must answer and incorporate into your PS.

2. Not showing your thought process

This next common mistake is a variant of the previous mistake. To write a PS, you still need to answer the prompt, but you must do it in a way that the ADCOMs can see your thought process. You must talk about how an experience influenced you. Too many predents talk about an experience that they had and then expect that to be enough to show the ADCOMs why they want to be a dentist. However, this is a personal statement, not a story. It is not enough to simply tell a story and expect us to understand your thoughts and desires.

Take the following examples:

“One of the most memorable moments at the dental office was with a patient named John. Johncame in one day to address his overjet. John had shared with me that he had always been ashamed of his overjet. Under the care of Dr. Vichyssoise, John had undergone orthodontics treatment for eighteen months. In his last visit, he looked into the mirror and could not believe his eyes. John almost could not recognize himself. His malocclusion had been completely straightened. He even shed tears and could not stop thanking us. This experience had touched me and cemented my desire to be a dentist.”

While the paragraph did talk about a dental related experience, it did not really show me the thought process of the writer. Keep in mind that ADCOMs read dozens of PS’s every day. If your thoughts are not clear and evident, then they will not divulge extra time to ponder over your PS. If you are able to show your thoughts using descriptive words on how you felt, then it would have a positive impact on their impression of your PS. The paragraph above would be much stronger if the thought process for wanting to be a dentist was more evident. To do this, cut out some unnecessary story sentences then use adjectives to describe how you felt.

“I felt a great sense of accomplishment in helping John through his orthodontic journey. I had never expected that correcting malocclusion could have such an impact on a patient. Seeing the effect that orthodontics had on John made me realize the importance of having confidence in your smile. This pushed me to desire to help even more people and cemented my desire to become a dentist.”

3. Not talking about dental procedures

The third mistake is more of a highly recommended tip. More often than not, students talk about what they witnessed during treatment, but never how witnessing the treatment affected them. Remember, as a dentist, you will be doing dental procedures all day and you need something to show that you are capable and willing to do procedures all day. Adding bits such as your favorite procedure or what you liked about dental procedures will show to the ADCOMs that you have been paying attention during your shadowing and that you were not bored out of your mind.

Consider adding a short piece like the following:

“My favorite procedure to witness are restorations. I learned that, in order to successfully complete a restoration, one must apply precision to shape and refine the composite to mimic the structure of a natural tooth. The finesse and dexterity required to perform these procedures fascinated me and reminded me of my own hobby of pottery making where I meticulously created pottery with my own hands. I admire the artistic nature of the procedure and I aspire to one day utilize my hands to perform procedures with such precision.”

Don't forget the other things!

Mastering the art of writing personal statements is still one of the hardest things to accomplish for any student. You have to create a good hook, address the prompt, and end on a strong enough note to have a lasting impression on the ADCOMs. Obviously, you still need to keep grammar, style, flow, and structure all into consideration but the ultimate goal is to have them understand why you want to be a dentist. Every single sentence be immensely impactful and show your ambitions, or at least lead to something that will be impactful. Hopefully with these three tips, you will be well on your way to create something that will wow the ADCOMs.