personal statement for medical school

Discussing Your Preferred Specialty in Your Personal Statement for Medical School

Discussing your preferred specialty in your personal statement for medical school is one way to get that application in the bag.  A clear statement of what specialization you want to focus on is an important part of the personal statement for medical school that applicants are required to make.

Why state a desired specialization in your personal essay

Because personal essays often do not specify a certain topic, you can use a portion of the essay to talk about the specialty in medicine that you wish to pursue.  In most cases, students are rarely expected to follow through with the specialties that they state in the personal statement for medical school.  With the length of time it takes to study medicine, most students often experience liking one specialization after another before finally settling down on one specialization for good.  This being said, it is still a good move to state one or two specializations in medicine that you are interested in.  This is one way to tell the readers that you have done your homework, that you are exposed enough to the medical field to know what kinds of specializations interest you and what doesn’t, and that you have a clear picture of where your career in medicine is headed.

How to choose a specialization

There is really no wrong way to go about choosing a specialization that you can put in your personal statement for medical school.  For one, you may already have a specialization in mind as a result of the influences of the people around you, or as a consequence of having a favorite hobby or particular interest of study.  For example, an applicant may want to specialize in surgery to follow in a parent’s footsteps, while another applicant may want to pursue a career in dermatology or cosmetic surgery after suffering a traumatic incident that affected her appearance.  Others may simply want to pursue a field of specialization that they have the most interest in.  If you have no idea what specialization interests you, do your homework.  Do some research on the many kinds of medical specializations and choose the one that intrigues you best or the one that you think you can be good at.

Why choose a specialization

Choosing a specialization is one of the most important aspects of studying medicine.  While it is true that general practice is also a rewarding field of medicine, a specialization may be the more favored option for those who want to add more challenge to their medical careers.  Specializations also carry with them the promise of prestige and more money, something that one may not necessarily get with general practice.

How to discuss a preferred specialization in your essay

In order to effectively tell the admissions officers that a particular specialization is what really interests you, it is important to make use of several tools.  Perhaps the best tool is using personal experiences to color your explanations on why you are focused on a particular field of medicine and not on another.  As an example, you might have had a mother who suddenly died of an unknown cause and this led to an interest in investigative medicine.  Or, you may have an ideal experience dealing with older people and this naturally led you to want to study geriatrics.  No matter what the reason is, tell it using a personal story or anecdote to add your own touch.

In the end, mentioning a specialization or two in your personal statement for medical school need not be a daunting task.  As long as you know the areas of medicine that interest you and you know how to take advantage of personal stories in order to express this fact more effectively, you can expect your essay to be one that admission officers will enjoy reading.

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