2014 UCSF MEPN Applicants

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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Hey everyone! Given that applications are due a month from today, I figured it was about time to start a thread. How are everyone's personal statements and applications coming?

I highly recommend that you do not do this. Talking about your own psychological issues in a goal statement is definitely risky and can potentially hurt you, depending on who reads your essay and how you frame the issue. They might worry about your boundaries, and it's just often seen as a red flag. I understand (and commend you) for using your own experience as a launchpad for wanting to help others. However, you are applying to a very intense program and you do not want them to worry about your mental health or ability to make it through.

Try and use an anecdote that is not personal, but is professional (an experience you had working with a patient that made you want to become a PMHNP, for example). Keep it professional, but sincere. I'm sure you have had very meaningful experiences with psych populations, and choosing an anecdote from those experiences is a great idea. Gear your personal statement towards your career goals and how becoming a PMHNP will fulfill them (and how your background relates, blahblahblah). Stay away from making it overly personal.

That's interesting myelin! I've been worried about my personal statement as I feel there are a lot of people that have had direct life experiences that have put them towards nursing. Though I didn't realize they weren't writing about them in their personal statements... Often, I figured that having a reason that sparked one's passion was a sign of what would be sure to be lifelong commitment to a particular specialty.

Thanks for clarifying!

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Unfortunately, it seems that struggles with mental health in particular are (unfairly, in my opinion) stigmatized in personal statements. I think writing about physical health issues, experiences in a hospital, etc., are much more common. Though I would suggest that you should focus your goal statement more on your academic/research/volunteer/professional work (I would argue that those experiences are also "direct life experiences" as well) and how it leads you to want to become a NP, how being a NP achieves your career goals, why UCSF fits you in particular, yadayadayada.

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Thank you very much for your input.

On the website they only mention the goal statement for the application process, but after starting today the actual app also asks for a personal history statement. I was thinking about removing my personal anecdote from the goal statement, and

putting it in the personal statement. But from what you're saying, it sounds like I might be well advised to not mention it at all.

If I were to include it at all (in the personal history statement), I was planning on not going into detail, just a mention that there was strife (family mental health issues, nonspecific, without any emphasis on my own) and psychological professionals corrected it. I have seen you posting on previous UCSF MEPN threads, are you a part of the program?

Again thank you so much for your advice, It's very helpful. A google search will give us a variety of contradictory advice (surely because different programs are looking for different types of essays), and I haven't been able to find any specific info regarding these statements for UCSF, other than the brief paragraph on their website. I found a couple of UCSF examples, both were quite different. One was personal, the other was purely professional but sounded like BS, although very well written BS ("I aspire to maintain a standard of excellence in patient care..").

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If you have any further questions feel free to PM me. I do think it's a risk to disclose personal mental health problems, but if you frame it correctly it could work out okay. Unfortunately I think it also depends on who reads your statement, which you don't have control over. It's a roll of the dice. Best of luck!

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Hi everyone,

I will be applying to the FNP program. I'm having the most difficulty with the diversity essay since I'm not sure what they'll be looking for. Also I didn't perform that well on the GRE :/ so hopefully it's not weighed heavily.

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I feel you on the GRE. On their website it says it is looked at equally, along with experience, service, and academic performance ( if I remember correctly). I read somewhere on a forum (ie I don't know if it is true) that they put more emphasis on the analytical writing, and less on the quantitative. Here's hoping that's true, because my writing was strong while my math was average.

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Does anyone know if common acronyms are acceptable in the goal statement? For instance, my statement is about becoming a Pyschiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP). Thus far, I have followed the standard format of introducing acronyms first, then using them, as I did in the previous statement.

Another example, I'm wondering if I should spell out cognitive behavioral therapy, or just use CBT? They will surely already know what CBT is, and any space saved is great because I am a verbose writer.

Thanks!

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I feel that a lot of what I want to write about (shadowing and volunteer experiences, for example) for my goal statement could be covered in my personal history statement. Can anyone please shed more light on what we should address in the personal history statement? Is the goal statement supposed to be LESS personal? My statements overlap -- at least, my reasons for WHY I want to go into the specialty I chose. I want to avoid repeating information but I feel like many experiences I've had could work in both statements!!

MarshaRabbit: To be safe, I would follow the standard format that you described

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Hey everyone!

Gettin` closer to the deadline! Exciting!

I`m wondering about the letters of rec. I have five recommenders who know me from work, academics and volunteer settings. None of them are nurses, but all work in public health (which is my field as well). I´m not sure what I should ask them to emphasize. What would be the most important skills or qualities? Any ideas? Kdiem and myelin, since you´re in the program, would you have any advice on this?

Does anyone know how to check if our documents have been received? Everything should have arrived by now, but I want to check. And I`d rather not call the office, because I´m pretty sure having a bunch of applicants calling to ask about their GRE scores would get pretty old :-)

As for the two different statements they ask for, my understanding is that the goal statement is more related to your professional goals, and would include why you chose the nursing profession and where you see yourself working in the future. And the personal history is just that- you would talk about how your life experiences drew you to nursing. At least that´s how I understand it! But of course mine have some overlap too :-)

But I wouldn´t talk about something as personal as mental health. It´s not right for mental health to be stigmatized, but it is. We´ll have to work on that once we´re all kick-ass nurse practitioners :-)

Thanks guys!

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Lolo: I found an example of someone's personal history statement on this blog (who was admitted):

The One Year Nurse, a UCSF MEPN student's journey found it very helpful, and have been writing mine in a similar format. I am worried however, that my statement is such a narrative, when other sources say they are simply looking for demographic information. So far, mine reads like a more personalized, more specific goal statement.

Any thoughts on this? I am bisexual, and the instruction say to talk about any "diversity" you have experienced. I did volunteer at a gay youth shelter when I was an adoclescent, but am having trouble bridging my psychiatric experience to "I'm bi."

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You guys have given us great advice about not discussing personal mental health issues. It's unfortunate, because my family history provides the most natural and strongest bridge to my chosen profession, but you are right: After quite a bit of googling, even Psychology Phd programs consider mention of a history of mental illness a red flag.

Hey everyone!

Gettin` closer to the deadline! Exciting!

I`m wondering about the letters of rec. I have five recommenders who know me from work, academics and volunteer settings. None of them are nurses, but all work in public health (which is my field as well). I´m not sure what I should ask them to emphasize. What would be the most important skills or qualities? Any ideas? Kdiem and myelin, since you´re in the program, would you have any advice on this?

Does anyone know how to check if our documents have been received? Everything should have arrived by now, but I want to check. And I`d rather not call the office, because I´m pretty sure having a bunch of applicants calling to ask about their GRE scores would get pretty old :-)

As for the two different statements they ask for, my understanding is that the goal statement is more related to your professional goals, and would include why you chose the nursing profession and where you see yourself working in the future. And the personal history is just that- you would talk about how your life experiences drew you to nursing. At least that´s how I understand it! But of course mine have some overlap too :-)

But I wouldn´t talk about something as personal as mental health. It´s not right for mental health to be stigmatized, but it is. We´ll have to work on that once we´re all kick-ass nurse practitioners :-)

Thanks guys!

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Oops, I meant to mention: It appears there are statuses in the actual application which disclose the status of your documentation. I'm a little worried, my official GRE scores were released a week ago, and it still says they haven't received my scores.

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