Second to the taking the MCAT, writing the personal statement might be the most dreaded part of the medical school application. Personally, it felt like everything was riding on those few paragraphs. Everything I’v done as a premed and hope to do in the medical field paired down to only 5,300 characters. When first sitting down to write the essay, I found myself staring at an empty word document, drawing blanks, seemingly forgetting why on earth I wanted to be a doctor in the first place. Needless to say, I needed help.
As many of you sit down to start your application, I can only imagine how many felt the way I did. Hopefully, with this blog post, I can provide somewhere to start, a bit of guidance, and equip you with the tools you’ll need to write a strong personal statement.
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WHERE TO BEGIN
Even though your personal statement is the story of your own journey, it can be really difficult to know where to start. Not everyone has a clear defining moment when they knew they wanted to pursue medicine, and we all know the premed path isn’t linear but rather full of ups and downs. Here’s what I recommend doing:
- Write out a list of characteristics that describe a good doctor, and how you’ve demonstrated them. Are physicians dedicated, empathetic, hard-working? Did you spend 100 hours on a project to help others, or spend 2 years on a research project that never worked the way you planned? Come up with concrete examples of why you fit those descriptions and how they.
- Think about your overall flow – your beginning, middle, and end. Your personal statement is your story, and like any story, should have some sort of clear beginning, middle, and end. For a lot of students it looks like this: BEGINING: what started your interest in medicine; MIDDLE: what did you do to explore that interest; END: what makes you certain medicine is right for you. I shared the last few paragraphs of my personal statement on my Instagram if you’re interested in seeing how I put these themes together.
- Don’t worry about a catchy opening first. In fact, my introduction paragraph was the last thing I wrote. As someone who doesn’t consider themselves a strong writer, I dreaded the idea of forcing a dramatic opener or witty first line, so I saved it for last. Don’t feel pressure to have the perfect opening right away, focus on the meat of the personal statement first.
- Read other student’s personal statements. Before I started I was curious how another student’s tackled this monstrous feat, and reading other people’s essays really helped me gather my own thoughts. Accepted is a website that offers 10 different personal statements you can read. **Of course, use these essays as inspiration, not templates nor substitutes for your own words and ideas.**
WHAT TO DO ONCE YOU HAVE A DRAFT
Great! You’ve started your personal statement and now have a complete draft, what next?
- Don’t touch it for a few days. Assuming you didn’t want until the month before the application opens, once you’ve written your essay I recommend giving it some space. When you come back, you’ll have “fresh eyes”, a clearer perspective. Then, try to read it as an objective third party. Do the examples make sense,
- Make sure you describe characteristics, not state them. Remember the earlier tip? In your essay, you want to describe how you fit the characteristics that make a great doctor. However, you want to describe them, not state them. Meaning, your essay should not read, “As president of XYZ, I was dedicated to my club.” Instead, it should read something along the lines of, “As president of XYZ, I spent 3 hours every night after studying to plan trips for my club members, stayed late with faculty working on grants to fund future projects, and partnered with outside organizations to provide additional resources for the community.” Clearly, the person in the second example was dedicated, but didn’t need to use the word.
- Choose your editors wisely. While you might (or might not) want to show your essay to everyone, I suggest keeping your number of editors to 3-4 people maximum. First, there are simply too many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone has slightly different writing styles and preferences, and not everyone knows what an admissions committee is looking for. Second, I recommend having someone who is familar with the purpose of the personal statement for medical school and someone who is extremely knowlegable about grammer and sentance structure to read it. The latter is extremeley important if you, like myself, have a tendancy towards run on sentances and typing like you speak (whoops). Find a few people you trust and who will help you make sure you’re producing a great essay.
OTHER TIPS
- Don’t be afraid to start over. For months before the application cycle started, I thought I had my personal statement locked in. Then, one day, I had another idea and scrapped 90% of my original essay. Many people I know have written 5-6 different versions of their essays before landing on a final draft.
- Don’t be afraid to use outside resources. If you’re struggling to write the essay itself, or don’t have anyone who can edit it, I suggest using outside help, if you can. For example, this book is a great resource (shown below). (In fact, everything Medical School Headquarters produces is gold and I highly recommend it!) Secondly, if you can afford for someone to review it who is trained to review personal statements, it may be worth it. I know the medical school application is already expensive, but paying someone to edit your essay will ensure there are no major laps in your story, no grammatical errors, and that you’re truly putting your best foot forward.
3. Don’t be too hard on yourself. The entire medical school application process can be taxing both mentally and physically. So remember, your personal statement is an opportunity to show schools why you are going to be a great physician, not a burden to bear. See it as your chance to share your story, and don’t compare your journey to others, yours is what makes you unique and is what will make you an incredible doctor one day.
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For me, the personal statement was one of the most difficult pieces of my med school application to gather. But it doesn’t have to be that scary. If you are as lost as I was, hopefully this post helps to steer you in the right direction.
As always, feel free to reach out if you ever have any questions or if there is anything else I can do to help!
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