Over at Inside PA Training Paul wrote a wonderful blog post about the common pitfalls that many PA school applicants fall victim to while preparing their PA school essay. Common Physician Assistant Essay Pitfalls Clichés Lack of specificity Weak conclusion No theme Boring introduction This is an excellent list because several years ago while I was […]
Essay and Personal Statement
The Physician Assistant Essay and Personal Statement Collaborative
Are you ready to get started? Choose your package, and we will begin today! Single Edit One-on-one Service Supplemental Essays Your success is our passion. (See just some of our 100’s of testimonials and comments below). We are ready to help. Our current PA school essay editing service status (): Accepting New Submissions (Photo: Me circa 1987 […]
Do You Recognize These 7 Common Mistakes in Your Personal Statement?
You’ve written your essay. You know what you want to say. But will the admissions committee get your message? You’ve read through countless PA school essay samples. You’ve chopped and changed the order of the paragraphs. You’ve polished each sentence. After all that hard work, you’re still not sure whether your essay flows along nicely. Will readers […]
7 Essays in 7 Days: PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 1, “A PA Changed My Life”
In this special week-long introductory session of the personal statement workshop, we are pulling essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and providing you, and our users, with a more thorough analysis of their essays. Since examples often make better teachers than words, pay close attention. You may find just the advice […]
PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 2, “I Want to Move Towards the Forefront of Patient Care”
In this second installment of my special week-long introductory session of the personal statement workshop, we are pulling essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and providing you, and our users, with a more thorough analysis of their essays. This second submission is by Justine. It details her progression from an adolescent overcoming a […]
PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 3, “She Smiled, Said “Gracias!” and Gave me a Big Hug”
In this third installment of my special week-long introductory session of the personal statement workshop, we are pulling essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and providing you, and our users, with a more detailed analysis of their essays. This third submission is by Gabe. It details his life growing up in a […]
PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 4, “I Have Gained so Much Experience by Working With Patients”
In this fourth installment of our special week-long personal statement workshop, we continue to pull essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and provide you, and our users, with a more detailed analysis of their essays. This fourth submission is by Parn, who immigrated to the United States from Iran at […]
PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 5, “Then Reach, my Son, and Lift Your People up With You”
In this fifth installment of our special week-long personal statement workshop, we continue to pull essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and provide you, and our users, with a more thorough analysis of their essays. This fifth submission is by Jacob. It is a wonderful personal statement detailing his life […]
PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 6, “That First Day in Surgery was the First Day of the Rest of my Life”
In this sixth installment of our special week-long personal statement workshop, we continue to pull essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and provide you, and our users, with a more detailed analysis of their essays. This sixth submission is by Lindsay. It starts with a story of her time spent […]
PA Personal Statement Workshop: Essay 7, “I Want to Take People From Dying to Living, I Want to Get Them Down From the Cliff.”
In this seventh (and final) installment of our special week-long personal statement workshop, we continue to pull essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and provide you, and our users, with a more detailed analysis of their essays. This seventh submission is by Jordan and is a real cliffhanger. Jordan, a […]
Physician Assistant Personal Statement Workshop: “To say I was an accident-prone child is an understatement”
In this latest installment of the personal statement workshop, we continue to pull essays submitted from the comments section through our free essay submission process and provide you, and our users, with a more detailed analysis of their essays. This submission is by Katie, whose life experiences combined with a traumatic injury at the age of 13, […]
9 Simple Steps to Avoid Silly Spelling and Grammar Goofs in Your PA School Personel Statement
Did you spot my grammar goof? If not take a second look at the title. You have spent days, weeks, and months writing and perfecting your personal (not personel) statement. You have slaved countless hours in front of the computer screen trying to shed a creative light on your background and highlight your experiences. Don’t […]
31 Physician Assistant Personal Statement Examples
Below, are 31 PA school application essays and personal statements pulled from our FREE personal statement and essay collaborative comments section. This is an unedited sample of PA school essay submissions, meant to provide you with some insight into how other applicants are approaching their CASPA personal statements. Real World PA School Personal Statements These […]
5 Tips to Get you Started on Your Personal Essay (and why you should do it now)
Hey, You PA School Procrastinators You know who you are — squeaking under deadlines by a nanosecond, feeling compelled to vacuum, or worse (when truly in the grips of avoidance), deciding to clean the toilet rather than tackle that pesky research paper. Believe me, as a recovering procrastinator, I can relate. Join the club When […]
How to Write Your Physician Assistant Personal Statement The Book!
Admissions Directors and faculty share their expectations for your PA school personal statement and we teach you how to write it! What Makes This Book Unique? We have worked with 1000’s of applicants through our Personal Statement and Essay Collaborative and have interviewed PA school faculty and Admissions Directors from 12 top ranking PA […]
How to Write “Physician Assistant” The Definitive PA Grammar Guide
Do you know the correct answer to these important questions? Do you capitalize the word physician assistant? How do you write the plural of physician assistant? What is the proper name of the PA profession? All these questions are real — We know because we see the mistakes in capitalization, grammar, and worse, the name […]
101 PA School Admissions Essays: The Book!
You’re slaving away at your personal statement but can’t help wondering if anyone will read past the first line. A troubling thought, isn’t it? A Great Personal Statement Does Matter It’s what makes you different from the millions of other applicants hoping for attention from the Admissions Committee. After all, everyone is cranking out healthcare […]
5 Things I’ve Learned Going Into My Fourth Physician Assistant Application Cycle
Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up – Thomas Edison I will be honest; this is not an article I ever thought I’d be writing. I submitted my first physician assistant application after finishing my undergrad in 2014, and here I am […]
7 Tips for Addressing Shortcomings in Your PA School Personal Statement
What makes the perfect PA school candidate? Someone with stellar grades from a top university, loads of patient care experience, countless shadowing hours, and a long list of community service endeavors, right? Oh, and Ms. Perfect Candidate probably also speaks four languages fluently, has had her research findings published in peer-reviewed journals, and travels abroad […]
The #1 Mistake PRE-PAs Make on Their Personal Statement
What’s the #1 mistake that potential PAs and pre-physician assistant students make while drafting their PA school personal statement? A failure to outline and plan! Outlining your personal statement is like following a proven recipe. Although strong personal statements do not all follow the same format (nor should they), there is a certain formula for success that will […]
The Ultimate PA School Personal Statement Starter Kit
If you are struggling to write your PA school personal narrative, then this message is for you. Here’s why . . . PA school admissions teams have an uncanny ability (honed on the job) to detect when an applicant’s essay rings false. And you need to realize, that there is a cost to writing a […]
The Ultimate Guide to CASPA Character and Space Limits
Does this sound familiar? That essay you’ve spent countless hours revising, run through grammar check over and over, asked your readers to proof it so many times they stopped answering your calls, and had your computer read it back to you aloud for a final check, is done. You upload it into your CASPA application […]
10 Questions Every PA School Personal Statement Must Answer
There’s no one right way to craft your PA personal statement. In fact, it should be as individual as you are. However, there are basic things to include, that together, answer the question: “Why do you want to be a PA?” Here are 10 questions every PA personal statement needs to answer What brings you […]
5 PA School Essays That Got These Pre-PAs Accepted Into PA School
Ever wonder what PA school admissions directors are really looking for in a winning PA school essay? Have you been searching the internet and physician assistant forums for samples of PA school applicant essays for reference? Have you ever thought that your personal statement might be a bit, well, boring? We’ve got your back. In […]
7 Questions to Ask Yourself While Writing Your PA School Personal Statement
Here are seven questions that you should ask yourself (and answer) while writing your PA school personal essay + FREE worksheet 1. What are you passionate about? You should be able to answer this question and if you’re not sure what you’re passionate about start thinking about it and make a list right now. Start […]
101 PA School Applicants Answer: What’s Your Greatest Strength?
What are your greatest strengths as a PA school applicant? What separates you from the pack? It’s a common PA school interview question, and it’s also an important step in outlining your PA school personal statement. After all, if you don’t tell the admissions team what makes you special, how will they ever know? Being […]
12 Secrets to Writing an Irresistible PA School Personal Statement
In our book “How to write your PA School personal statement,” we interviewed twelve PA school administrators from twelve top-ranking PA programs across the country in search of answers to a simple question: What do PA school administrators want to see in your PA school essay? The results of this search, summarized in the first […]
7 Rules You Must Follow While Writing Your PA School Essay
You know you’re in a war, right? PA school, once a bastion for rebels looking to buck the normal medical school model is now more competitive than ever. The CASPA application is full of standard metrics like GPA, GRE scores, prerequisite requirements, and college transcripts which make it hard to differentiate yourself from the pack. […]
You Have 625 Words and 2.5 Minutes to Get Into PA School: Use Them Wisely
The average person’s reading speed is about 250 words per minute. The CASPA personal statement allows a 5,000-character count (about 625 words). Therefore, a full-length statement would take an average of 2.5 minutes to read. If a PA program received 1,000 applications meeting or exceeding minimum screening qualifications, reading all of these personal statements would […]
What’s Your #1 Personal Statement Struggle?
Are you struggling to write your PA School personal statement? Are you afraid your essay doesn’t stand out, it’s over the character count, or worse yet, it doesn’t even answer the simple question: “Why do I want to be a PA? Well, you are not alone! This year, as part of our PA school collaborative […]
