To write a good medical personal statement, show that you will become a good doctor. But talking about personal experience, good expert advice is to not get too sentimental. Shock tactics in a personal statement will not work. It happens when the applicant describes how somewhere in the woods, someone accidentally sawed off his leg, or something to this nature. It is better not to start the text in this way.
Requirements for a Medical Personal Statement
Some medical schools consider personal statements more strictly, while other schools consider them less. For example, at the universities of Cardiff, Leeds, and Kiel, the extracurricular performance of the application is assessed according to formal criteria, and in Oxford and Imperial College the essays help the commission to make a general impression of the student, to understand whether he or she has the necessary qualities.
Anyway, a personal statement for medical school gives the applicant the opportunity to show what knowledge and experience he or she has already acquired, and to demonstrate the skills needed in medicine. It’s hard to study for becoming a doctor, to show in your personal statement that you have the most serious intentions, and that you will not be afraid of the difficulties.
You can convince the commission by describing the existing work experience – it will prove that you have no illusions about the future profession. Experts warn: it is not enough to list places of employment without any comprehension of the received experience. Very often, admission committees receive personal statements that are more like a shopping list. They would like to hear, for example, about the patient you had to heal. Whether you helped the hospital attendant in the hospital or looked at how the leading clinician worked doesn’t matter for an admission committee – these are equally important.
Think about what you did other than study, and what skills you’ve acquired. Someone may have participated in the scouting movement or was a counselor, helped in the parochial support group, or received the Duke of Edinburgh Prize.
How to Highlight Your Personal Statement for Medical School
Do not be afraid to indicate unusual activities – with their help, you can stand out. If you play in a rock band, you can explain that it’s you who are the creator and leader that determines the path of development. But what is the connection with medicine? Such an experience tells about willpower, and the ability to work in a team and lead that team.
Medical institutions give different advice on how to structure personal statements or the traits that they want to see in applicants. As a result, it isn’t easy to please several schools with one essay. Writing a personal statement so that it meets the criteria of all the faculties you have chosen is about as difficult as going through a minefield. We advise you to write the personal statement focusing on the highest requirements of each of the universities.
If you apply to several universities, find out what requirements are the same, and which are not. There is a certain percentage of the game here. One can find such a formulation that will satisfy the requirements of several universities.
How to Start a Medical Personal Statement
So, you have determined How to Write Personal Statement That Will Get You in College. The next difficulty is where to start. Some teachers advise to proceed immediately to the second paragraph, write an essay to the end, and then pull an interesting statement or quotation out of the text to use as an introduction. We advise you to write the first paragraph at the very end. The first paragraph is often the weakest, so start with the second one – in the description of your experience, a bright phrase can appear, which can easily be moved to the beginning when editing the text.
What should you avoid in the introduction? The worst personal statements begin with the words: “I want to become a doctor because my grandfather was seriously ill.” An admission officer will probably have doubts about the applicant, who was pushed into medicine by personal reasons, in which case it is more logical for a person to become a nurse, not a doctor.
The statement should be necessarily well written and logically consistent, but be careful with complex words. Do not try writing a personal statement by making it smarter with a dictionary. When you write completely differently than your usual style, it’s immediately noticeable.
If you want to become a nurse, you may start your personal statement in the following way:
“Every person in his or her life, sooner or later, faces a choice. No matter how complex it may seem, people have to choose. Since childhood we have been dreaming of becoming adults, going to work as our parents. But childhood passes and it’s time to think seriously: ‘What do I want to become?’ At school this year we have a new subject: vocational guidance courses, where we are told about different professions and we pass tests to determine our professional inclinations. Long thinking, I decided to become a nurse.”
What Are the Difficulties in Writing a Personal Statement
Another difficulty in writing a personal statement is to present yourself from the best possible side and not seem like a braggart. This is a very fine line. There is no need for loud statements proclaiming that you will be an excellent doctor.
Ask for help from the elders, such as teachers or relatives, if you need it, but don’t get too many advisers. Admission officers want to hear the voice of the applicant, not his or her parents. You can write that you want to change the world. So when can it be written about, if not at the prime age of eighteen?
Be honest. Tell us how you fell in love with medicine and why you will be able to withstand all the difficulties of studying. Your goal is to enter in one institution, but if you are accepted into others, it will be a pleasant bonus. When applying, keep yourself a copy of the personal statement and be ready to confirm everything that is written there – some universities use this information as the basis for the interview.
As you can see, writing medical personal statements is not that easy, and if you want to learn more about writing medical essays, check out our blog for more information.