THE INSIDERS GUIDE TO WRITING YOUR PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT PERSONAL STATEMENT

C H A P T E R 1

The Expert Panel:

Twelve Top Ranking PA School

Administrators Explain What They Want

in Your Personal Statement

TIRED OF THE GUESSING GAME?

You’ve finally finished your personal statement and it’s

perfect!

There’s not a grammar or spelling error in sight. Your

mother/best friend/barista at the local coffee bar all think

it’s a winner.

The character count is right. There’s just one thing to

consider before hitting the “send” button — will it meet

the admission team’s expectations?

How will you know? CASPA guidelines are vague —

“Write a brief statement expressing your motivation or

desire to become a physician assistant.” School websites

aren’t generally more helpful.

Do they want to hear that you’ve dreamed of becoming

a PA since you were five and loved your toy stetho-

scope? Are they interested in your volunteer work at a

homeless shelter? Will it help that you’ve been a science

nerd since 9th grade Biology? How should you tell your

story? Should it read like a textbook, a novel, or some-

thing in between?

The fact is there hasn’t been much guidance.

UNTIL NOW!

Admissions directors and faculty from PA programs

across the country have shared their thoughts on personal

statements — what they hope to see, what they wish

they’d never see, and tips to make an essay shine. Each

school has a unique perspective, but common themes

arise.

First things first

Before writing one word, think about your audience. Ask

yourself the following questions: Are you applying to

several programs? Or are you targeting a specific school,

like Wake Forest University, which focuses on building

future leaders in the PA profession? Or Emory, which

values clinical experience and community service? Does

your preferred program use clinical, hands-on training

like Georgia Regents University?

“I encourage applicants to research programs in depth.

Go to open houses if possible,” says Janie McDaniel,

BSMT, Assistant Professor, Wake Forest School of

Medicine. “A lot of programs look at non-cognitive mat-

ters or take a holistic approach, using a rubric of GPAs,

GRE scores, patient care hours, and personal statements.

Others have a minimum GPA requirement. Know what

the program is hoping for in an applicant.”

If applying to a specific program, highlight your experi-

ences, training, skills, and traits that relate to the school’s

preferences.

“Clinical experience and community service are very im-

portant to us. We love for applicants to describe what

they’ve done clinically. Take a patient or two and tell us

about them, says Allan Platt PA-C, MMSc, Director of

Admissions, Emory Physician Assistant Program. “We

also want to know about your involvement in community

service even if it’s not medically related. Have you gone

on a mission? Worked with a homeless population? Tell

us how those experiences impacted you.”

If your targeted program uses CASPA, or if you’re ap-

plying to a number of schools, no worries. “A well-writ-

ten essay will speak to all programs,” says Darwin

Brown, MPH, PA-C, Associate Program Director and

Director of Clinical Education at UNMC.

It was a dark and stormy night in the back

of the ambulance

Universally, interviewees mentioned the use of drama in

essays, and not in a positive way.

“A lot of people start with a dramatic paragraph. I per-

sonally find that too scripted. I’m not looking to be en-

tertained. I’m looking for a heartfelt, thoughtful

explanation of why the PA profession is a good fit for

you,” says Terry O’Donnell BS, MAT, MHS, Associate

Professor and Chair of Physician Assistant Studies at

Quinnipiac University.

“Over the top drama doesn’t wow. It does the opposite,”

says Audra Perrino, MS, Director of Admissions at

Stony Brook University Physician Assistant Program.

“Go for the heart, not the drama,” says Lori Palfreyman,

MS, PA-C, Faculty Chair of the Admissions Committee

at Rutgers University PA Program.

“Our faculty has different opinions on story telling as-

pects. But everyone agrees — if your personal statement

is superficial, then you have a problem,” says Grace Lan-

del, MEd, PA-C, Program DirectorJoint MSPAS/MPH

Program, Touro University California.

When I was 10 I had my tonsils removed

The whole point of the personal statement is to educate

admissions personnel about the subjective factors that

grades and test scores can’t reveal. Everyone wants to

know the journey that brought you to this point, with a

caveat. No one wants to hear about that stethoscope you

played with as a five-year old or how you spoon-fed your

sick grandmother (as heartwarming a story as it is).

Tim Quigley, MPH, PA-C, Director of Student Affairs

at MEDEX NW Division of Physician Assistant Studies,

explains. “We’d rather hear about your work with pa-

tients than about a family member’s illness. Not to say

it’s unimportant, but we expect you’ve gone on from that

and done other things. Talking about more recent events

shows a certain level of maturity and experience. Avoid

first person family stories and focus on real patients.”

“It’s common for applicants to start the essay with a

childhood experience. It can be a starting point, but move

on quickly,” says Judith Stallings, EdD, MHE, PA-C,

Associate Director of Admissions at Georgia Regents

University.

“It’s not impressive when someone writes paragraphs

about personal experiences — they shouldn’t be the

overriding theme of the essay. If a family member was

sick and that was your first care-giving experience, men-

tion it in a sentence or two. The day-in and day-out de-

tails are unnecessary,” Palfreyman says.

“Some students talk too much about their personal sto-

ries and not enough about their professional experiences.

The essay should be about experiences with patients,”

says Leah P. Baldwin, Associate Director of Graduate

and Professional Programs Admissions, Pacific Univer-

sity.

“What we’re looking for is a passion for the profession

and patients. Sometimes when the word ‘I’ appears fre-

quently in a statement, it tells me the applicant is not as

concerned about the profession as he is himself,” O’Don-

nell says.

“If every sentence starts with “I,” you’re missing the op-

portunity to tell us what we get out of accepting you into

our program,” Palfreyman adds.

“I have a passion to serve”

Platitudes waste space. You wouldn’t be applying to PA

school if you didn’t have a passion/calling/desire for the

profession. Generalizations don’t help admissions per-

sonnel discover the factors that set you apart from some-

one else with similar grades, scores and experience.

“One of the first things we look for is their motivation to

be a PA. We want an essay that’s personal, not generic.

Don’t give us the definition of a PA or quote from our

website,” Quigley says. “The writer needs to remember

we get 1,000 applications, so the essay needs to be

unique enough to catch an eye. It’s important to highlight

why your experiences would make you a great PA.”

“My perspective is that this is the opportunity for appli-

cants to show us who they really are,” Brown says. “We

want to know who you are and how you got here. Often

those with healthcare experience offer too little insight

into what they’ve gained from their work. We want to

know why those experiences are important.”

“Common platitudes like, ‘I want to help people,’ aren’t

useful. We want people who can communicate with pa-

tients, so write about those experiences. We use the essay

to see what’s unique about this individual and how they

got to this point. What’s their journey? Why have you

chosen to be a PA? How did you confirm your interest

and why is it important to you?” says Wayne Stuart, MD,

Director, DeSales University Physician Assistant Pro-

gram.

“The essay needs to be about the applicant. When three-

quarters of an essay describes a PA’s job, we don’t learn

anything about the applicant,” Landel says. “Instead fo-

cus on what you’ve done that has led you to seek out the

PA profession. Key in on the experiences that brought

you to the fork in the road and tell us why you took the

path to PA.”

“Applicants need to tell a real story about how they got

to the point of applying, based upon numerous events

that led to this career choice. Come up with a list of per-

sonality traits needed in healthcare work — empathy, a

desire to help others,” Perrino says. “Tie events in your

life to developing the attributes and traits that will make

you a good PA. One sentence is often enough. For exam-

ple, ‘I was an athlete and learned to work with a team.’

We like to hear about the individualized journey. You

need to show me who you are and what you have to con-

tribute. It can be as simple as developing the list of your

traits into sentences.”

“This is the opportunity to express how you connect with

patients on a human level. It’s the subjective part of the

application — the part that grades and work history don’t

explain,” Palfreyman, says. “If one of your reasons for

wanting to be a PA is connecting with patients on a

deeper level, show what you’ve learned or describe your

traits that will help you fill that role.”

“You should include something about your personal

strengths to show that you are highly organized or a hard

worker,” Stallings says.

“The essay should show some level of maturity and un-

derstanding about the physician led-PA team. Why does

the profession apply to this applicant? Most applicants

will have worked with a PA. Those experiences are the

ones to write about,” says Dennis Brown, PA-C, MPH,

Clinical Assistant Professor of Physician Assistant Stud-

ies, Director of Physician Assistant Program at Quin-

nipiac University.

“We use the essay to discover what is unique about this

individual and how he got to this point. What’s is their

journey? My perspective is that this is the opportunity

for applicants to show us who they really are,” Darwin

Brown says.

If you’re invited to write a supplemental essay, DO NOT

simply cut and paste your CASPA personal statement.

“That won’t impress us,” Platt says.

What? You could have been a doctor!

It should be a no-brainer. But it’s omitted often enough

for interviewees to mention it — they need to know why

you’ve targeted this profession and not another

healthcare related job.

“Why have you chosen PA school and not medical or

nursing school? What happened in your journey to bring

you to this decision? If you want me to understand how

you reached this point in your life tell me about your mo-

tivations,” Perrino says.

“If someone talks about passion for the profession in the

essay, but they haven’t done much, there’s a real discon-

nect. The strongest essays are where I really get a feeling

for why a person has chosen this profession in a non-text

book like description,” O’Donnell says.