Do I Need to Rewrite My Personal Statement if I Reapply?

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Highlight & Takeaways

Session 44

If you’re like the majority of premed students, you didn’t get into medical school the first time you applied. Do you have to rewrite your personal statement?

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[00:37] Re-Applicant’s Personal Statement

If you’re a reapplicant to medical school, you MUST rewrite your personal statement 100%. If you’re applying with the same personal statement and applying to the same school, they’d look at your personal statement from last time and this time (they could!). And when they look the same but you’re rejected last time. Reusing the same personal statement would raise the question of why. How do you know that your personal statement was what kept you out of medical school the first time? Or there wasn’t something in your personal statement that turned off the admissions committee.

If you’re reusing your personal statement, it shows that you’re not putting much effort into the application process. It shows that you’re not critically thinking about why you didn’t get into medical school the first time.

'If you're reusing your personal statement, it shows that you're not putting much effort into the application process.'Click To Tweet

[02:28] Should Your Failure the First Time Be in Your Personal Statement?

In between applications, you’ve done some growth and maybe done some more shadowing and clinical experience. You might have had more powerful experiences that you’re going to want to write about in your personal statement to help make it stronger. You’ve changed as a person from failing to get into medical school to reapplying now. That change needs to potentially be part of your personal statement.

A lot of students will talk in their personal statements about failing to get into medical school and how was the biggest obstacle they had to overcome on their journey. But it’s not that a big of a red flag to include it in your personal statement.

'You're a re-applicant, a lot of students are re-applicants. It doesn't make you stand out in any way to show that you're determined and motivated to do this.'Click To Tweet

Instead, your growth and accomplishments in between your last application and your current application should go into your personal statement. Your voice is going to change a bit because the experiences you’ve had have changed. You’ve gained new experiences.

[04:05] It’s a New Application!

So if you are reapplying, you must 100% write a new personal statement. This is the same thing with secondaries and letters of recommendation. It’s a new application. Rewrite your personal statement and don’t be lazy.