But, my application is finished! Letters of recommendation – mailed; transcripts – submitted; USMLE scores – sent; personal statement – written, rewritten, edited, trashed, written again, and finalized.
It will take me another week or so to dig out from the “life” things I have been putting off. However, I have missed blogging, and I have received tremendous feedback from readers about the blog, so I wanted to say, “Howdy, I’ve missed you!”
One of the biggest lessons I learned in the final week of obsessing over my application is the significance of another set of eyes. Allowing other people to read your application – personal statement, Secondaries, activities lists, whatever – may make you feel extremely vulnerable, and admittedly, it’s scary. But, it’s one of the single best things you can do to improve the quality of your work.
Don’t go nuts. I think it’s important to select only a handful of people with certain purposes in mind. If too many people make suggestions and edit, you will lose your voice. Here are my suggestions:
- One person with a quasi-medical or health background who can confirm that you’re saying things about medicine that make sense. We all understand that “medicine” is another language, so using it properly is important.
- A person who knows you really, really well and can bring out your accomplishments, strengths, etc. and also enhance your ability to use important anecdotes about personal experiences.
- Someone with a gift for the English language. Proofread, proofread, proofread. This person can make sure you aren’t missing something just because you’ve read your whole application 10,000 times.
