Many websites that give tips on writing personal statements for medical school always emphasize on creativity, originality, and uniqueness. Well, all these elements are important. But in order to secure better chances for admission, you should also pay attention to the basics of writing an admission essay. Time to Edit Blog shares some basic tips on how to write a personal statement that will stand out. Here are some of them:
Follow the instructions given by the specific school
While most schools will require a personal statement, they may ask you to write about different things.
Some schools have their own set of questions for you to answer through your essay. This is why you have to inquire first about the requirements before you write your first draft. This way, you know what kind of topics to choose from and how to make your essay more noteworthy.
However, other schools may want to know about more specific aspects about yourself. So, does this mean if you are applying to 7 schools, you have to write 7 different personal statements? No. Usually, students will write a personal statement and change certain parts of it for different schools.
Just make sure that you change some details every time you write for certain schools. Personalize your essays according to their standards.
Don’t make excuses on your personal statement for medical school
If you want to explain a particular grade, you can use an addendum (just another separate short paragraph paper you hand in to the admissions committee offering an explanation, if one is necessary.
As much as possible, concentrate on your accomplishments. A personal statement should only be few pages long. This is why you have to choose a subject matter that could help you win the attention of the admissions panel and make them see you as a good candidate.
Be unique
An admissions committee member has to read thousands of applications, half of which will likely all have the required GPA/Test scores to get into the program. So you absolutely have to stand out in the applications pool. Every person has a story, this is your chance to tell yours.
You can be unique by speaking through your own voice. You should also include unique experiences and add details. Just make sure that you write about specific experiences and not too general themes. This excerpt from another article shares some insights about this:
When writing any kind of essay (including an essay for a class), it’s important to talk about specific experiences instead of general ones. Otherwise, your essay could be writing by anyone, as opposed to you. Instead of writing, “My parents are immigrants, and I learned a lot about hard work from them,” explain in detail specifically what you learned about hard work from them. Tell stories of things they did that demonstrated their work ethic and what you learned from these.
Before you write your personal statement for medical school, it pays to know the basics of admissions essay writing. Again, you have to inquire about the requirements and follow the instructions given by the school. Don’t make excuses for your failures and be unique.
