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PA School Personal Statement Top Tips

PA School Personal Statement Top Tips

The personal statement is arguably one of the most important aspects of your PA school application. Anyone can take science classes and be involved in extracurriculars, the real differentiator from one person to another is most clearly seen through their statement.

The first step is to make sure you meet all required aspects a program requires, which is searchable through myPAbox. The second step is to round out your other application aspects such as the personal statement. As a prior PA applicant, current PA and statement editor, these are my main tips:

1. General writing perfection

I know the word perfect is intimidating and often unattainable, but if there’s ever a time to attain perfection it is in the spelling and grammar of your personal statement. This means you shouldn’t have any simple writing errors.

Obviously not everyone can write a masterpiece, and it doesn’t have to be, but it should be free of general common writing errors. This also includes professionalism and no errors in the word or pluralization of PA/PAs/PA’s. Make sure you proofread your statement many times and have at least a couple others look over it as well.

2. Goals of each paragraph

Equally important is the content of the statement. I recommend writing a list of aspects you know you want to include in the statement and impart to admissions. Then figure out how you are going to structure/organize that content into a logical order.

For example, maybe one paragraph focuses on clinical experience you have had that has led you to want to become a PA, so on and so forth. Just make sure each paragraph has an organized goal that is clear to a third party reader.

3. Unique to you

So you have the content, and it is free of grammatical error. Going further, try to add information that is unique to you. Each sentence should be rich with concise detail, as to differentiate your statement from the 100s-1000s of others that admissions is reading. As a brief example, “I learned a lot from my patient” is not a good use of characters. Rather, writing “I learned XYZ from my patient in the X unit” etc. is a way to fill in the uniqueness of your own personal experience.

4. Connection

Delving even deeper, if you really want to put your statement on the next level – try to connect aspects of your statement, weaving a path through it. This can be done through a general theme, or connecting various work/volunteer/hobbies with a common strand of interest. This not only ties your statement together in a cohesive manner, it also differentiates you in a thoughtful way. It helps you stand out and be memorable to admissions amongst the piles of other personal statements. This isn’t required in any way, but a nice touch to consider.

Use code “PATIPS20” to save 20% on your subscription to myPAbox

Want more tips on writing your personal statement? Check out  Crafting Your PA School Personal Statement

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