 What's up YouTube? Today we're going to review the three steps you must have for your dental school personal statement through a student essay that was accepted to multiple programs and they were so gracious to share their personal statement with us today. So stick around. Hi, I am Dr. Josie. This is Write Your Acceptance. Thank you so much for joining me. I have students successfully in dental school programs, in specialty residency programs, in medical school. I know what the admissions committee is looking for in your personal statements. So join me and let's start writing yours. Also wanted to mention, if you want to learn how I work with students, make sure to grab your slot with the free 15 minute personal statement chat. I opened up a few more slots, so you definitely have more opportunity. I know that they were full as of late. All right, so let's dive in. Step one, your beginning should establish imagery. It should spark engagement and interest from the audience and it should be kind of a sensorial type of story or engagement. Here we go. I carried a letter that felt as though it weighed 10 pounds. This letter came from the tooth truck of mobile dental program that treats underserved children in southwest Missouri. This letter explained the extensive dental work completed on Corey and informed his guardian that authorities and the school had been contacted due to suspicion of child neglect and abuse. Everything's gonna be all right, buddy. I reassured him as I wiped a tear from his. I hugged Corey and checked his gauze one last time before sending him and the letter off with his first grade teacher. Although unfortunately, our mobile clinic never stayed at one school long enough to know the outcome of Corey's situation. He taught me that everyone deserves to voice their needs or to have someone else amplify their concerns. As a dentist, I will ensure that my most vulnerable patients are treated with the care they deserve and receive excellent dental services that stretch beyond the balance of their dental needs. All right, so notice that the beginning starts with a sensory-driven language. We can feel how heavy this letter is. We don't know if it's a child carrying it. We don't know if it's an adult. We'll learn that soon. It's emotionally heavy, right? It's the weight of the kind of of the choices that they've decided to kind of go with to advocate for the child and then the middle part of this paragraph. We see that the student cares. We have some action as she's walking with him and there's empathy in this section. Although it's very brief, we still have a clear picture of how the student behaves in delicate situations. And then consider the last sentence as a dentist. I will ensure that my most vulnerable patients are treated with the care they deserve and receive excellent dental services that stretch beyond the balance of their dental needs. Consider this like your thesis statement. Not all personal statements will have this and I like to have it at the end of paragraph one or beginning of paragraph two because it really anchors the sentimental emotional, even cerebral, like intellectual journey that this personal statement will take. It forces the student to really narrow in on what's most important to them. And I think that if you have a thesis statement like this, and I use the word thesis statement, but it's not an argument-based, I guess personal statements maybe in the sense you're making an argument for yourself, right? I like these sentences because it allows you to really narrow to that sentiment that what's most important to you, what type of dentist do you want to be? And so, like I said, not all personal statements will have it, but I really like when it's possible. Step two, and this is super important, the body section of your personal statement should have dental experiences and other experiences that you have intentionally sought out. These are active moments that you have sought out to really learn the field and learn your place in the field. So here we go. Living my mission of putting patients' needs first, I jumped at any opportunity to assist at Ellis Dental. One memorable patient taught me how vital it is to be perceptive as a provider. As soon as Dr. O reached for her instruments and I engaged the noisy suction, the patient, who hadn't seen a dentist in 15 years before coming to Dr. O, began to violently shake his body, except for his face, which was frozen with fear. I had never seen dental anxiety like this. I turned down the suction, smiled under my mask, and laid a hand on his arm, encouraging him through the clicking and popping sounds of the extraction. Relief filled the room when the doctor's final push finished the job. I normally wouldn't agree to a difficult extraction like that, Dr. O said, but I know you trust me. I learned that serving patients means acknowledging and honoring all of their traits, even when challenging. I will notice and adapt to my patient's needs to the best of my ability to provide them with excellent care. All right, let's do this paragraph first. I really, really love transitions. I am committed to transitions. I feel like they are the number one key to personal statements to make it sound like it is a building statement. It is one coherent narrative and not just separate little stories about who you are. So in this, the topic sentence, the first sentence of paragraph two, living my mission to putting patients needs first, right? So that in a nice way connects to Corey's story at the beginning. And then it goes into more patient advocacy here in a different way. You want to showcase you in action, right? You want to avoid the stories where you are just passively observing the exchange between the dentist and the patient, and you did nothing, right? So in this moment, the student is helping the patient calm down, is holding their hand, and is really kind of active in the moment. And please, please, please, please, never miss an opportunity to share a lesson, to provide a takeaway, because that is where you really showcase your wide dentistry. But without the story, without the kind of raw evidence, then it's just a bunch of like telly statements, right? So yes, offer the kind of takeaway, but offered after you show you in action. All right, paragraph two of this section. Other times, adapting means stepping into the wondrous world of the patient to inspire a new generation of healthy smiles. Although we didn't speak the same language, my mission at Health Smiles Academy was clear. Therefore, I pulled the group of six to a sink and motion for them to gather around. I showed them how to prep their brushes, then handed them the tube to practice depositing the pace themselves. As of playing a game of Pictionary, I walked the kids through proper brushing technique, adjusting their angles and pressure as needed. Reflecting on this experience, I can begin to understand the importance of helping others establish good habits early on. In doing so, we can break generational fears with the dentist and invite new families to preventative care. I love, love this paragraph. First, here's another great transition, right? Other times, adapting means stepping into the wondrous world of the patient. We know that she adapted to the needs of the patient. We know that that's part of the takeaway of the previous kind of experiences message, right? So now here, we're adapting in a different way. And it's the heart of the lesson for the paragraph. It's really nice in that sense. Then we have a pop culture reference with a Pictionary in the middle, and we can see the brushing lesson occurring. So we have sensorial detail, which is nice. And then this is probably my favorite lesson of the entire personal statement, right? And it's so true. When you have a positive impact on a patient, you're not only impacting that patient at one time, but you're impacting their behavior and relationship to oral health and future generations or their parents' generation. So it's just really kind of, you're impacting a lot more than just that one patient at that one time. So I thought that that was a beautiful moment. Are you having trouble structuring your personal statement? Comment below if you want my feedback. Step three is like end of body section, which is where you can show academic and student leadership experiences and how that has deepened your identity and then your conclusion. So the student's essay. Establishing new habits of unlearning and trenched customs can have its growing pains, yet it will always be worth it. Personally, I have learned how ensuring long-term success can accomplish short-term setbacks. Since my first application in 2019, I've completed a master's program, including a research project to increase my understanding of fundamental scientific topics at a more rigorous level. It continues a little bit with the application. Then, since committing to becoming a dentist, I have gained great insight into what it means to care for people in a patient-centered manner. By adjusting our practice to best fit our patient's needs and keeping education as integral to our profession, I will serve a diverse patient population by caring for their needs today and reimagining their relationship to dentistry tomorrow. So that first mini paragraph before the conclusion. You can do your relationship or leadership role in a pre-dental student organization in another community-oriented in this first body paragraph. You can go into your student organization involvement leadership experiences within a pre-dental student organization, anything that you've done within your community, community partnerships, not necessarily dental, but showing kind of experiences, leadership roles, academic roles that have deepened your white dentistry in a way. It can also connect any kind of school-related experiences, a research project, a class in biology, anything that within the classroom that you've kind of connected to dentistry. In this case, it can also do, it's not a red flag necessarily, but it can also be where you address your kind of reapplication or where you address your pursuing a master's. Why did you do that? That is kind of a part of an extension of that academic experience that has best prepared you for your candidacy today. And then your conclusion really lands a plane with either the growing kind of your sentiment as you're kind of growing identity within dentistry. It could come back to some lessons. It could even come back to one of the experiences that you started with, that spark moment. So there are a few ways to end, but the student did it beautifully. This was a very successful personal statement, and so I hope that was helpful for you. If you found this helpful, please give us a like, comment below, subscribe, and more videos are coming your way. And like I mentioned earlier, if you want to chat about how I work with students, make sure you grab your slot in the three 15 minute personal statement chance. I opened up a couple more slots so that we have more space because I know that they were a little bit full. I'll talk to you soon, hopefully. Take care. Bye.