Career Essay/Personal Statement Workshop
Your first draft Career Essay/Personal Statement (PS) is due in the Premed Office within
two (2) weeks of today’s meeting (i.e. by Monday, 10/19/15).
Before completing your medical, dental, etc. school PS and emailing it to the Premed
Office for review, please make sure to complete the corresponding worksheet for this
meeting and to review ALL documents in this packet carefully.
Additionally, before writing the first draft of your medical, dental, etc. school PS,
please be sure to do the following:
1) Complete the attached “Questions to Answer BEFORE You Write Your
Essay” so that you can begin to generate ideas and organize your thoughts for
your PS. NOTE: Do NOT submit your responses to these questions for
review by the PM Office; use them to help you develop your PS.
2) Review the attached SAMPLE essays from former XU students who applied
to medical, dental, etc. school. NOTE: Use the SAMPLE essays to get an
idea of PS content and formatting but DO NOT COPY FROM THE
SAMPLES…that would be PLAGIARISM!!!
Type your PS in MS WORD with the following formatting rules:
1) At least one-page single-spaced, using double-spacing to separate paragraphs
instead of indentations (no more than 5300 characters including spaces).
2) Use 10 or 12 pt Times New Roman font.
3) Rename the file “PSLastNameFirstName.doc.” or
“PSLastNameFirstName.docx”. For example, if your name is James Doe, you
should name your document PSDoeJames.doc.
4) Forward the document as an email attachment to xupremed@yahoo.com so
that Premed Office staff can critique and make comments available to you.
You will receive an email when your PS has been successfully received in the
PM Office and a separate email when your comments are ready for pick-up in
the PM Office.
NOTE: The views expressed by Premed Office staff regarding your PS constitute objective feedback
from one individual’s perspective; please seek out feedback from additional objective sources so that
you can gain valuable insight that helps you to cultivate a PS that BEST represents why you are
pursuing a career as a physician, dentist, etc. and the qualities that you have cultivated through your
experiences that would make you a GOOD health professional.
Lastly, your freshman personal statement does not have to be PERFECT! The purpose of
starting the draft/critique/revision process NOW is so that you’ll have your PS in good
shape to apply to summer programs and eventually to include on your medical, dental,
etc. school application. IT IS A WORK IN PROGRESS, SO PUT WORK INTO IT
STARTING NOW!!!