Personal statement advice?

I realize that when you botch your first year of college then your personal statement should say something about it.
Okay, I can answer that. I f-ed up. My choice to f up my first year was a complicated one so if I write anything more, it will go into a long, long, boring sob story that I don’t want to use (kinda like your grandmother who would tell you a story which would roll into another, then into another since they’re all connected and all you wanted was a piece of candy but now you have to sit through two hours of stories because you don’t want to be rude). I could use my sob story as an excuse, but then I’d be lying (I delt with things just fine) and would feel like I’m trying to guilt the adcoms into an admission.
So, those of you who were in a similar situation, how did you touch on that and then go into answering the “Why you wanna” question? Did you go in depth about it? Did you only write a brief paragraph on the low GPA? Did you touch on it at all?
Any advice is helpful. There’s so many reasons I want to be a doctor it’s hard enough as it is to cram in into one essay, let alone leave room for an explanation of my “rebellion to any and all authority” lol

Actually, Wackie, most advice I have read has stated that you should NOT address earlier transgressions in your personal statement, or if you do, mention them only briefly. The personal statement is your opportunity to let the reader get to know you as a person (beyond a transcript) and what motivates you to become a physician. Unless the poor grades were somehow a catalyst for your decision, I don’t think they are relevant in your statement. I didn’t address academics at all in my personal statement.
Some schools provide a spot on their secondary to explain poor grades/performances. Your personal statement is your opportunity to make the admissions folks say “Wow - we want to know more about this person”. Good recent grades and MCAT are going to have a lot more with getting you an interview than an explanation of poor past grades in your PS.
If you get invited for an interview, you will have a chance there to explain your poor grades. I think I was asked in almost every interview why my grades were so poor in undergrad and so outstanding recently.
My two cents. Take it for what its worth.
Amy

Wackie,
What if instead of thinking about how to explain your messed up first year, you think about how to tell the story of your comeback? Did you do anything special to dig yourself out of the hole? Did you learn anything? Did you apply that lesson later in life? The answers to these questions may or may not give you another approach to your statement.

Well, I haven’t gotten in to anywhere yet, so don’t pay attention to me, but I didn’t put much of my youth into my personal statement, mainly because who I was in my youth was mostly my parents, and who I am now is more important and more relevant to my aspirations.