Mind Mapping: A Tool for Personal Statements, Supplemental Essays, and Interviews

Are you struggling to come up with ideas for your personal statement or supplemental essays?

Do you need a strategy to go around mental blocks and uncover your key strengths, threads, themes, or competencies for your PA school interviews?

Try mind mapping! It might be just the tool you are looking for.

Mind mapping is a great way to organize your thoughts and come up with new ideas. Plus, it's a lot of fun! I'll show you how it works. 

This is a method is designed to help inform your personal statement, supplemental essay, or interview.

You can view the replay of our workshop above, as part of our new Power Up PA Community or just view the slightly improved presentation slides. If you use this method, let us know about it in the comments? Did it help you uncover anything?

The method presented in this workshop is less structured than a traditional mind map. This is more of a free association exercise where you fill the page with ideas from across your life and then connect them with colors to indicate shared themes.

Here's what my mind map looked like to give you an idea:

The traditional method is unstructured in its own way, but it starts from a central idea and works outward. 

Traditional mind map with a central idea of "Why PA?"

Start with why PA? in the central circle. Draw at least three spokes coming out of the center. 

Next, think of your top three (or four) reasons for becoming a PA and write each one at the end of a spoke and draw a circle around it. 

Now, for each reason, start brainstorming:

• Outcomes for or benefits to patients, the team, the PA profession, healthcare, the community, yourself
• Examples of PAs demonstrating this reason
• Skills/qualities necessary to achieve/maximize
• Experiences that helped you gain those skills or qualities

Each of the bullet points above could be around the reason, or one bullet may speak out towards another bullet, or they may even be interconnected, as you can see in the simplified example below.

I used mind mapping in a literary fiction course to help brainstorm story ideas. My professor said that the area of the map with the most development indicated where the most traction was and the place to start in the story and focus on in my writing. 

Looking at the diagram above with that advice in mind, if a client brought me this map, I would say that there is a lot of traction around teamwork and the underserved portion of lateral mobility. There is also the potential for a good story related to patient care through the client's job as an MA. 

Given this map, I'd counsel them to consider opening their essay with a story related to patient education -- if it could relate to the underserved, all the better! 

When discussing why PA, they could relate the PA/MD relationship to a Team Captain/Coach relationship to show your fit and preparation to take on that role. MAs can have somewhat parallel functions as well. 

This is, by the way, a totally fictitious mind map based on themes I've heard or seen over the years.

Here are some other ideas for your central prompt and possible spokes:

• Values (for patient care/healthcare) 
  • Examples from work/volunteer experiences or shadowing
  • Outcomes for patients
• Career aspirations 
  • What kind or quality of care do you want to provide?
    • examples
    • outcomes
  • To whom?
    • populations
    • communities
  • For what purpose?
    • desired outcomes to patients, community, or profession
• PA Qualities
  • Leadership, teamwork, compassion, etc.
  • Experiences that demonstrate/honed
• Strengths
  • Experience(s) that demonstrate or honed
  • Benefits to patients, profession
  • Observed in PAs
• Experiences
  • Work
    • show preparation
  • Volunteer
    • provide perspective
  • Shadowing
    • understand the profession, confirm fit
• Needs of underserved or whichever population you want to work with

Have you used mind mapping before? Did you try this technique for your personal statement, supplemental essay, or interview? Tell us about it in the comments!

Need help mind mapping your personal statement or supplemental essays? Purchase a one-on-one personal statement revision.

Deanna Matzen (PA School Admissions)

Deanna Matzen is a gifted interviewer, editor, coach, and listener. Her passion for the PA profession has drawn her to The PA Life with years of experience as a university professor, Pre-PA advisor, scientist, and professional writer. She has helped hundreds of pre-PAs find their unique story and tell it with confidence and heart. Deanna strives to be a voice that helps others articulate what they want in life while also challenging them to grow into who they are meant to be.

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Webinar: Crafting Your Best PA School Personal Statement

Hosted by Stephen Pasquini PA-C, Deanna Matzen

About this webinar Are you applying to PA school but worried about writing a compelling personal statement that will grab the admissions committee’s attention? Do you want to learn the secrets of crafting a PA school essay that stands out from the crowd and showcases your personality, motivation, and fit for PA school? ​ If so, then you don’t want to miss our webinar on Crafting Your Best PA School Personal Statement. ​ In this webinar, you will learn the following: What a personal statement is and how schools use them. You will understand the purpose and expectations of writing a personal statement and how schools use this information during the admission process. What to do before you start writing. You will learn how to prepare and organize your thoughts, research, and brainstorm your strengths and achievements. A successful structure for your personal statement. You will learn how to craft a clear, coherent, and compelling narrative that showcases your personality, motivation, and fit for their program. Common mistakes to avoid. You will learn how to polish your personal statement and avoid errors that could undermine your credibility or impact. By joining this webinar, you will gain valuable insights and tips on how to write a personal statement that increases your chances of admission to your desired PA school. You will also have the opportunity to ask questions and get feedback from our experienced PA school coaches. ​ Don’t miss this chance to learn how to write your best PA school personal statement. Register now and secure your spot for this webinar. You won’t regret it! ​

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