PA Essay?

Well, I have been working on my personal statement for a very long time now. 
I am on my fourth draft and now must somehow tweak it to suffice as a PA essay. I found some helpful information about PA essays. 

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Here are 11 things that definitely should not go into your PA school essay.

Writing about how you want to be a doctor after being a PA, 
or would prefer to be a doctor to being a PA, 
but can’t get in, can’t afford it, are too old, or anything similar.  

Even if this is true (and if it is, you need to do a lot of soul searching before launching into the PA application process) sharing it is just a bad idea. Physician assistants don’t see themselves as wanna-be doctors, baby doctors, or the-closest-thing-to-being doctors. They are a proud and skilled bunch, who almost always would prefer to be physician assistants to anything else – including a physician. Sharing your past or present desire to become a physician in your PA school essay will only call your commitment to the PA profession into question.

Your political or religious beliefs. 

 The trouble here is that you never know what type of person might be reading your PA school essay. If you are a republican, your reader might be a democrat.  Religion caries the same risk, but usually in the form of the reader being nonreligious or atheist, as opposed to possessing faith as you do. Better to steer clear of this area.

Discussing your MCAT/GMAT or other test scores.  

As in number 1, above, you aren’t applying to be a physician or a manager. Don’t think that your high medical college admissions test score will have them saying, “Wow. She must be smart. Let’s admit her!” Instead, they’ll say: “So why is she applying to be a PA?” The only possible exception to this rule is if you attended a medical school and chose not to continue. In this case, your reasons for doing so could be very important.

 
Long explanations of problem areas on your application.  

 If you must explain a weakness, do it the right way, and be brief. If you launch into a lengthy explanation, your PA school essay will 

only draw more attention to the problem.
 

Any talk of salary.

 The only thought this will invite in an admissions officer is that you are doing it for the money. Obviously, a good salary is a major motivation for applicants.

 But talking about it in your PA school essay can only hurt your application.

Talk of how medicine is the only subject that interests you in school.
 There’s more to being a PA than medicine. PAs counsel patients, manage clinics and hospital units, write notes and articles, communicate with insurance companies, and much more. Their work is multi-dimensional, and this line of thought shows you to be one-dimensional.

Humor that criticizes others.  

It’s great to share a funny anecdote, 

but the only safe person to poke fun at is yourself.

Talk of being a PA because it is easier/quicker than 
becoming a physician (or anything else). 

 First off, there’s nothing easy about PA school. Second, though it’s two years shorter than medical school, there is an expectation that as a PA you will be lifelong learner, because you can’t master anything in two years. Implying that you like to cut corners or take the path of least resistance in your PA school essay says nothing positive about your character.

Sharing your desire to work simultaneously as a PA

 and something else (massage therapist, psychologist, etc.).   

A few braves souls are multi-talented, but at this point you don’t know squat about being a PA, and to claim you can do it along with something else as well is cocky beyond repair.  It could imply that you lack focus, or are applying on a lark.  Wanting to “dabble” in medicine shows you don’t take it very seriously.

Criticizing the PA profession in any way.  

 Sound crazy that anyone would? It happens all the time. Keep your non-positive opinions to yourself, Ms. Know-it-all. They don’t want to hear them.

Sharing any personal problems that you have not overcome, 

or at least learned to deal with.   

There’s nothing wrong with having problems. But if your life is an ongoing, whirling, sucking vortex of depression, don’t bring it up in your PA school essay.  If you lost both your legs to a landmine and haven’t accepted and dealt with it, don’t bring it up. If you’re in the middle of a painful divorce, don’t bring it up. PA school is intense and admissions officers avoid admitting anyone who might become overwhelmed by the combined stresses of school and personal problems.

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Here are the top 5 avoidable PA essay pitfalls. 

PA Essay Pitfall #5: Clichés  

A cliché is a phrase or expression that is tired and overused. The rule is: AVOID CLICHÉS LIKE THE PLAGUE! (That’s one, if you hadn’t noticed – it helps me remember the importance of this rule). If you aren’t sure if something you write is a cliché, ask yourself, “If I only wrote part of this, could the reader finish it?? Clichés are amateurish and predictable, which makes your essay (wait for it…) predictable, something you don’t want to be. Hunt for them, and reword them using an original, unpredictable turn of phrase (make up your own). 

 
 PA Essay Pitfall #4: Lack of Specificity 
It’s far too easy to be vague when writing an essay. You know what you mean, and it usually seems like it should be pretty straightforward to everyone else.  Right? Wrong. BE SPECIFIC. We see this in many areas of PA essays, but most commonly in descriptions of experiences and people.

 Bad: My son sees a wonderful pediatric physician assistant at our family medical clinic. He exemplifies the profession, and it’s these qualities that I hope to emulate as a PA. That’s nice. But what qualities is the writer speaking of? Wonderful? Talk about vague!  Instead, fill in the blanks for them. 

Better: My son sees a wonderful pediatric physician assistant.  He is quick with a smile, puts my son at ease, and has the integrity to tell me when he makes a mistake.  For this, I trust him, and hope that I can one day follow his example as a physician assistant who is kind, engaging, and honest about my abilities.
 
PA Essay Pitfall #3: Weak Conclusion
Your conclusion (your last paragraph) is the place to take the information you have shared elsewhere in your essay and sum it up, get poetic about it, or give the reader an idea what is next for you. The best conclusions leave the reader thinking about your essay long after they finish reading it. There should be no new information about you here! Give the last paragraph a hopeful feeling, and end with a powerful, even unforgettable sentence. The conclusion is like paying the reader for reading your PA essay.

PA Essay Pitfall #2: No Theme
A theme is a common thread that runs through your essay, binding it together so that no matter what you have shared, it all feels related in some way. Themes are subtle, but not so hard to use. You just pick one idea about you or your experiences that you really want to stand out above all others. Then weave little references to it into your essay. Make sure to start you theme in the first paragraph. You don’t need to state it specifically in every paragraph, but in the end (your conclusion) you should find a way to return to it for emphasis. For example, the theme I used in my own PA essay was about how I wished I could do more. It allowed me to talk about my experiences and explain why I wanted to become a PA – so that I could play a bigger, more important role in patient care.  Because I wished I could do more. Without a theme, your PA essay can easily become a blob of unrelated information, like a jumbled list. A theme gives it focus, purpose, and art.

PA Essay Pitfall #1: Boring Introduction
This is the biggest one we see, by far. Starting an essay is like seducing a lover. You want to entice them to “go all the way” with you. But seriously, who wants to read an essay that begins with “I have always wanted to become a physician assistant because…”? Boooooriing! Instead, use a fact, quote, or anecdote to kick things off and pull the reader in. You can even try something unexpected.

Example: “Her face was dusty with pulverized concrete, and she was in a daze.  I was blocks from ground zero on 9/11/01, and the experience became my baptism into the trying, sometimes painful, and always rewarding world of medicine.” 
[Goes on to explain the scene some more...]

My personal statement might need more tweaking 
than what I had originally thought...