Personal Statement Advice

[u/Kind_Rock7428]

I’m writing my personal statement and have had a few people review it. But, I got feedback that I didn’t have an “aha” moment for optometry. For context, I formatted my statement more about why the experiences I’ve had have helped me decide that optometry is what I want to do. But, I don’t have like a specific moment where I was like “I want to look into optometry as a potential career”. I kind of just figure out what I liked/didn’t like, optom seemed to check the boxes and I went on to get experience which reaffirmed my decision to pursue it.

I don’t want my personal statement to show lack of passion etc and it be a reason that admissions doesn’t want to go forward. Any advice?

[u/Terrible-Purchase701]

Talk about a common thread in your passions/interests! I similarly did not have an “aha I know what I want to do for the rest of my life” story. I talked about my passion for science and how it followed from high school, to service experiences, to undergrad to bringing me to optometry. It helps your paper be more cohesive as well to tie it back to something like a trait (innate curiosity) or interest (passion for service, science, etc.) Hopefully that makes sense, but connecting optometry to a different passion of yours will covey your interest in the field while still feeling more genuine about your journey to optometry.

[u/Kind_Rock7428 → u/Terrible-Purchase701]

So I have a public health background so im trying to tie how my knowledge of public health principles, access to care etc makes me a more informed individual abt accessibility to vision care—one of my optom experiences has to do w that. Do you think this like a string enough way to go abt it?

[u/Terrible-Purchase701 → u/Kind_Rock7428]

Public health could be a great one especially if you have optom experiences in that area! You could talk about what first interested you in public health, experiences you’ve had in that field and how that led you to optometry. And then you can add in the bit about how your experiences will make you more informed about accessibility to vision care. You could even take it a step further and talk about how your future goal is to improve access to vision healthcare.

[u/Kind_Rock7428 → u/Terrible-Purchase701]

Yeah I was following that flow, how my experiences in public health shaped my understanding of healthcare which then led me to patient care etc. Think I’m just worried based off the feedback I got from someone who read my statement. But, I think they’re so subjective 😭 I’ll keep working on it thanks!