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Personal Statement Strategy

The Medical School Personal Statement – Tips from a Former Medical School Admissions Committee Member

The medical school personal statement can strike fear into the heart of the medical school applicant.

However, it does not have to be that way! Think of this as your chance to set yourself apart from other medical students. With at little bit of work, your personal statement for medical school can tell the medical school admissions committee who you are and why they should want you.

Remember, however, that there are many factors that medical schools are looking for in choosing an applicant. You need to understand all the things that schools are looking for to make your dream of becoming a doctor a reality.

Click here to learn what it takes (in addition to a great medical school essay) to get accepted to medical school.

Now, back to explaining what it takes to write a great personal statement for medical school.

Here is what a lot of medical school essays look like:

I want to be a doctor because I want to help people.

I did research. I did community service. I worked at a hospital.

My dad was a doctor and that’s what made me want to be a doctor.

I will be good in medical school.

The end.

This is an exaggeration, but many medical school admission essays look the same.

Below are some rules to follow to make your medical school admission essay stand out.

If after going through these rules you find that you would like some more medical school essay help

Editing of your statement is also available by MedSchoolCoach here.

MedSchoolCoach is the company I recommend for medical school personal statement help as well as admissions advising. They are all former admissions committee members, which means they know exactly what schools are looking for and what it takes to be accepted. Their rates are also very reasonable compared to other companies. Consulting can cost some money, but think of it as an investment. Whatever you spend now will get you $150,000 to $500,000 for 30+ years, doing something you love. Not a bad return on investment!

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Videos describing the entire admissions process, from choosing to apply to choosing between multiple acceptances
A custom tool to know your chances based on MCAT, GPA and race
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Examples from successful applicants of AMCAS activities, personal statements, secondary essays, descriptions of hardship and descriptions of disciplinary actions
4 hours of recorded interview prep to learn what it takes to ace an interview

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Here are the main rules you want to follow when writing a medical school essay and really any personal writing:

Rule #1: Show, Don’t Tell

A common theme in the medical school personal statement is “I want to be a doctor because I want to help people.” This is probably true, but the problem is this: anyone can say that, and most applicants do say that. You need to show me why that’s true. What experience did you have that made you want to help people? Likewise, don’t just say that you’ve done research or community service. Tell a story only you can tell about it and what it taught you that will make you a good doctor.

Here’s part of a sample medical school essay that shows that you want to help people:

I could smell the rotting garbage in the streets. I was far from home in my third week in Guatemala as part of a medical mission. The people were so poor, but so grateful. I was working with Pedro, bandaging a cut on his hand after an accident sharpening his machete. He looked up at me and said “Gracias, amigo.” Those simple words lifted my spirits. My work here was making a difference, small as it might be. I want to continue to make that difference and feel the joy of helping others through a career in medicine.

What’s good about this: It shows that you want to help people by your experience and it’s an experience that only you had. Individuality is the key to the medical school personal statement.

Rule #2: It’s story time

This goes along with show don’t tell, but your medical school personal statement should be a collection of your experiences and what they taught you. Those experiences should have taught you things that will make you a good doctor. Remember to think from the perspective of the reader. The reader wants to know who you are and that you have developed certain character traits through your experiences. These should include things like service, compassion, integrity, dedication, diligence, tenacity, leadership, etc.

Everyone will be trying to show that they have those qualities, but you will have the advantage because you will
show the reader by your experiences that you have those qualities.

Most of the applicants will have those qualities. Your job is to show how you got them or how you use them.

Tell a story, then tell what it taught you. How will that lesson make you a good doctor? This is what will make your personal statement for medical school stand out.

Rule #3: Make it entertaining. If you’re not having fun writing it, they’re not having fun reading it!

Remember that the people reading these have read many, many medical school personal statements. If you are telling stories that are meaningful to you, that will come across and make it an entertaining read for the person reviewing your application.

If you’re not having fun writing it, they’re not having fun reading it. I’m repeating this because it’s so important. Remember this as your write all of your essays, including the medical school personal statement, your descriptions of activities, and your secondary application essays. Use humor if that is one of your talents. If someone laughs while reading your essay, that’s a good thing. It may be the first laugh the person reading all these medical school essays has had in a while.

Rule #4: Don’t make it too personal

While you want to show who you are in your medical school personal statement, you don’t want to give up too much. This can be a fine line, but just keep this principle in mind: Don’t write anything that you don’t want the interviewer to ask you about. Do that and you’ll be fine.

For example, your medical school admission essay is not the time to bring up your past as a juvenile delinquent. If you do
this, you need some medical school essay help!

Rule #5: Have other people read your medical school personal statement

At the end of the day, writing is about how other people respond to what you have written. Have someone look through your medical school essay.

The ideal person to review your medical school essay will be someone who is a good writer and who will give you honest feedback about your personal statement for medical school. Don’t just choose people who will say your essay is great even if it’s not. Your mom probably falls under this category. Your boyfriend or girlfriend probably does too.

You probably don’t need professional editing unless:

You can’t find someone who is a good writer to review your essay
You’re explaining hardships
English is not your first language

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If one of these or other reasons is the case, a good editor really comes in handy. The company I recommend for this is MedSchoolCoach.

The idea here is to turn your personal statement for medical school from something good to something that will jump off the page for the admissions committee and make them want you!

The Basic Outline

Your medical school personal statement should look something like this:

Introduction

Hook: Something that immediately grabs the reader’s attention. From the sample medical school essay above, the first sentence was “I could smell the rotting garbage in the streets.” That’s something interesting that makes the reader want to keep reading.
Story time: Tell your first story.
What it taught you: What character trait/quality does this experience demonstrate or what did the experience teach you? In our example this part read as follows: “My work here was making a difference, small as it might be. I want to continue to make that difference and feel the joy of helping others through a career in medicine.”

Body Paragraphs

Same as introduction
You only want the medical school personal statement to be about one page. So, don’t get carried away.
Here’s part of a sample medical school essay from my personal statement:

Not only have I had the chance to be a mentor, I have had the chance to be mentored by inspiring physicians. I sat in the small whitewashed room with Dr. Petrie at the red cross building in El Fuerte, Mexico, waiting for our next patient. Dr. Petrie had flown us from Fullterton, CA to Mexico at his own expense in his 4-seater yellow Bonanza aircraft. A man in cowboy boots and hat came into the small whitewashed room with his family, rolled up his plaid sleeve and showed us a large growth on his right bicep. Dr. Petrie asked a few questions about it and whether he wanted it removed. When the man said yes, Dr. Petrie replied with a smile, “So you don’t want to look like a strong man anymore?” There was a sense of relief in the laughter of the man and his family. They knew that the person who would perform the surgery cared not just about the growth but about the man.

Conclusion

Summary of your qualities learned/demonstrated by your experiences. You want the reader to finish reading your personal statement for medical school with an understanding of how these experiences will make you a great doctor.
Power statement: The last sentence/few sentences should give the reader something to remember. Here are the last sentences from my medical school essay, which you can use as a sample medical school essay:
- …They knew that the person who would perform the surgery cared not just about the growth but about the man. I
  want to be that kind of doctor. The kind who shows he cares with a smile. The kind that takes the time not only to prescribe, but to educate. The kind dedicated to healing and helping. That’s who I want to be.

Outlining your essay

As I’ve been editing medical school personal statements, I’ve been giving some advice that I think would be useful. When you write your personal statement for medical school, start by outlining it in the following way:

- Start with your initial interest in medicine
- Then track your progress through your most meaningful experiences
- By the end, we should see how your interest in medicine turned into a passion for medicine.
- It can also be useful to have an “MO” as you write. The committee should have a good idea of what your main interest in medicine is. It might be service, research, an interest in the human body, or something else. Whatever it is, it should be clear by the end of your essay.

A Few Other Key Points

Use names. Using names makes the personal statement for medical school more, well, personal.
Be active and specific in your language. When you do your description of activities in AMCAS, use active language. For example, instead of writing “Mentor” in your heading, write “Mentor to Sam, 10 year old with cerebral palsy.” This is more personal and more descriptive. Instead of “worked at Albertson’s” write “Courtesy Clerk at Albertson’s.” Then tell your story and what it taught you in your description, always remembering that the reader is looking for things that will make you a good doctor. This is the key of great medical school essays.
Don’t be afraid to make it short. The medical school essay should only be about one page long. In fact, AMCAS limits your medical school personal statement to 5300 characters (about one page). Likewise, the descriptions of activities should not be too long. One of my best activities was “Husband and Father” and the description was “the best, hardest, most rewarding thing I do.” Memorable and unique. That’s what you’re going for in the medical school personal statement.
Block left. This means do not indent your paragraphs. It’s easier for the eye to read this way and it looks better. Remember that the reader is reading many medical school personal statements and this will give him or her a break for the eyes.

Using professional editing services

As I said above, there are many medical school personal statement editing services available online and even through your college. You can use your premed office or many schools have a writing center where people who are good writers can review your statement.

However, your personal statement for medical school should not be something you leave to
chance. Your best bet is to work with someone who has experience with the medical school personal statement from the other side of the admissions table. As I said above, the company I recommend for medical school essay help is MedSchoolCoach.

The reason I like this company is because they are all doctors who have had experience on a medical school admissions committee. That means they know exactly what it is that schools are looking for. They also have an excellent success rate and have helped students get into top tier schools like Harvard medical school.

I also like them because their prices are very reasonable, even compared to other companies with less specialized experience. They offer personal statement editing along with many other options to help you achieve your goal of becoming a doctor. Remember, the personal statement for medical school is only part of the equation. MedSchoolCoach offers complete packages (which include medical school essay help) for a great price. Click here to go to their site.