You must have spent countless hours, months, and even years at this point preparing for medical school, right?
Between piling up your resume with relevant clinical experiences and scoring high grades, you think that you are all set to enter medical school. Isn’t it true? Of course, it is!
Well, we bet you are, but there is one teeny-tiny thing left to do. It is one of the final hurdles that you have to face before you can put your foot in medical school. Hmm! What can that thing be? Think think!
Let us tell you! It is none other than writing your personal statement. Oh, that is correct!
This personal statement is not something that you should write in one go. Instead, to write this application, you have to brainstorm, draft, outline, and rewrite your thoughts to address the qualities and experiences that make you suitable for the profession and school.
Here are some expert tips to help you write a perfect medical school personal statement to stand out from the competitors.
5 Tips For Crafting Your Personal Statement
#1 – Tell A Story
In your medical school personal statement, you will get the chance to describe and enlist your top activities. Thus, rather than listing your entire resume, focus on telling the most important part of your life story and how it affected you.
Trust us when we say this! Stories make an excellent tool to assist the admission committee in seeing how you work in a different environment. Furthermore, they can also help the admission officers picture what sort of a doctor you will become.
Keep in mind not to try to squash too many stories in your personal statement. You can add three and a maximum of four stories and add details that help you stand out from your competitors.
If you believe that you are not that good of a writer, then this is not the right time to test your writing skills. So, it would be wiser to contact any online medical personal statement writing service and hire an expert to write your story.
#2 – Show Your Passions And Motivation
Remember how you filled your entire resume with activities you did only to get into medical school? Well, it seems you are not the only one to do so, and the admission officers are well aware that many students performed those activities only to check the box. Well, your personal statement can give you an opportunity to show off the purpose behind each activity that you did. In this way, you will be able to stand apart from the crowd.
#3 – Demonstrate Your Growth
You can always find a lesson in each one of your life experiences. Medical schools are not hunting down a student who has never struggled before in their lives. The entire journey from the medical school classrooms to hospital corridors is not going to be an easy one.
So, the officers do not expect the students to have the perfect MCAT, GPA score or CV. While writing your personal statement, we think it would be wiser for you to think about your growth and how it will apply to your experiences in the near future. By showcasing your resilience and growth, you can prove that you will indeed be a strong medical school student.
#4 – Talk About Your Life Experiences
The blind impulse while tailoring a medical school personal statement is to focus solely on medically related experiences. However, medical schools want to know about your experiences and interests outside of medicine.
Due to the fact that medical training is rigorous and long, these officers want to select candidates who showcase balance and maturity. For instance, if you cannot think about any relevant life experiences that you have had, then worry not. You can always seek a personal statement writer service to help you with this matter.
#5 – Focus On Intrapersonal And Interpersonal Qualities
Display your teamwork skills, your communication style, and your personal qualities that make you an ideal candidate for medical school. The intrapersonal and interpersonal skills are often overlooked when writing a personal statement. However, they are vital in assisting the admission committee to understand whether you are the right fit or not. So, feel free to write about those qualities in your personal statement.
How can I make myself stand out in a personal statement?
If you wish to tailor your personal statement to stand out, you have to show your engagement with the subject. You can write about a topic that you have studied and enjoyed or even a blog post or book you read that made you want to learn more.
How should I brainstorm my personal statement for medical school?
For brainstorming, you must create a list of your skillset and define your life experiences, personality traits, and long-term and short-term goals. Include anything that you find unique, special, impressive or distinctive about your life.
Should we use all 5300 characters for a personal statement?
No, there is no such rule that forces one to fill all of the available space. As a matter of fact, the more focused and cogent a personal statement is and falls short of 5,300 characters, the more it will be stronger. This is because it won’t have any irrelevant material to add more to its length forcibly.
What is an ideal opening sentence for a personal statement?
Start by writing short sentences to capture the interest of the reader. Focus on the reason why you are interested in studying the area you are applying for. Feel free to communicate your enthusiasm regarding it. Do not waffle or write that you want to study a particular field because you find it interesting. Explain what you find interesting about the subject matter.
Summing It All Up!
By incorporating the tips we mentioned above, you can easily write a compelling medical school personal statement and stand out from the crowd. However, if you turn a blind eye to these tips and write a clichéd personal statement, you will most likely make your application end up in the pile of rejected applications. Shudder!
So, identify your defining qualities and communicate openly about why you are the perfect fit for the medical school. Crafting a unique and authentic personal statement will help direct you to that fancy white coat ceremony without a hitch. By focusing on intriguing stories, you can leave no doubt in your admission committee’s mind that you are not only selected but also the perfect candidate to get the seat.