An MCAT Personal Statement

Dear MCAT accommodations committee,

You asked me a question, it went something like this;

“Write a personal statement why you feel it is necessary to ‘level the playing field’ on the MCAT exam.”

To write a defense of my disabilities.

After the high school achievements

The pre-med courses

The hours working in a hospital ER

The papers published

After doctors notes and IEP meetings

The 504s written, defended, and revised

The hours of testing and hospital stays

The families torn apart and siblings pushed to the side

It all comes down to this.

And you’re asking me why?

Not if, not how, but why?

Why should you care, and I have to come up with the reason

To prove to you in 500 words what has taken my life

Perhaps,

Instead,

You might prefer,

A jar of the tears my mother cried when her first born couldn’t stand her touch My father’s orange bottles, emptied of the sleeping pills he took when I kept him up at night The fly ball my parents never saw my brother catch The missing birthday gifts when my treatments cost too much

Would that prove my plight to you?

In exchange for extending time?

About the Author

Eva Goren (she/they)

I am a third year undergraduate student at the University of Michigan's LSA school pursuing Biopsychology and the Middle East. I hope to attend medical school after completing my B.S. In my free time I enjoy listening to podcasts, cooking with friends, and water coloring with my roommate.