It is very important to make a draft when writing your medical school essay. You can?t just pass an essay the first time you wrote it. It takes more than that. To ensure a perfect and complete medical school essay you must be vigilant in drafting and redrafting your work. It only takes one error for your essay to be rejected. Most common errors to look out for when drafting are grammatical errors. That?s why a lot of revisions are necessary for you to make a perfect essay, one that will get you admitted into the school you?re applying to.
Make sure you answer the question
After all the drafting and re-drafting you?ve done, you must be confident and sure that you have a complete essay. Mistakes could still be committed so always put in mind the topic of the essay, the question the school has thrown at you. Read your personal statement thoroughly and ensure that you have made your point regarding the question at hand. Only answer the question asked from you and don?t make your essay longer or fancier by adding other details. This will just confuse your reader and could give your essay a chance for rejection.
Make sure you stay focused on the topic
The essay should always be in line with the topic. You don?t start your essay with your work experiences, and in the middle or in the end you write about how you wanted to be a doctor. Stay focused on the topic. Write an outline to be organized and make sure your outline also goes with the chosen topic.
Make sure that essay is unique and compelling
The most important thing to remember is to make a unique essay. Admissions officers will get bored and may reject your work if they find a similarity in your work with the other essays or from past applicants’. Make sure you get their interests right from the start with personal experiences. Get their minds set to your work by sharing your best career experiences. Give them one story they haven?t heard or will not hear from other applicants. Always stay true, and your essay?s uniqueness will follow.
Related links:
Journalism experience – Using your journalism experience as an edge in writing personal statements
Specialization in Medicine – why discussing specializations in admission essays are important
Anecdotes in essays ? Using anecdotes in personal statements
Medical School Application ? Using a personal approach for med school admission essays
Personal Statement Guide ? Tips on writing a personal statement
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.
Photo Credit : alexandralee
Why Being Part of the School Paper Pays Off When Writing Your Personal Statement for Medical School
There are several reasons why being part of the school paper pays off when writing your personal statement for medical school. One of the ways to attract the attention of admissions officials is to have an impressive curriculum vitae. Students who have exemplary records, both in their academic performance and extracurricular activities during their college years will have a better chance of being noticed than those who have sparse entries in their CVs. One of these extracurricular activities that can help you is being part of the school paper.
Benefits of school paper experience for medical school application
One extracurricular activity that will get you some attention is previous experience working for the school paper. Aside from the fact that it will paint a picture of you as someone who did not limit himself or herself to the four corners of the classroom while in college, experience with the school paper will also expose you to different kinds of people, give you an experience handling various kinds of responsibilities, and help you improve your ability to express yourself through writing, all of which you can use to your advantage, whether its applying for medical school or practicing as a full-fledged doctor.
Many experts agree that a personal statement for medical school should reflect the student and should show good written communication skills. There is no better way to hone these skills than to be part of a school paper way before you apply for medical school, and especially in a setting where good communication skills is the primary requirement. Working for the school newspaper will also allow you to use your critical thinking skills and creativity in order to solve problems, the same kind of skills that will prove useful in the hospital and any other medical setting.
Another way through which experience with the school paper can help you with your application to medical school is that the job will give you plenty of opportunities to accept correction for your mistakes. When writing a personal statement for medical school, you are expected to revise, revise, and revise some more before handing your essay to the panel. Previous experience with the school newspaper, where due diligence, expertise in checking out the facts, a willingness to accept correction for your work, and the willingness to revise your pieces as often as needed will make the revision of your personal statement come naturally for you.
Indeed, previous experience with the school newspaper, whether you worked for the high school organ or the college publication, will provide nothing but benefits for you, especially if you are applying for medical school. Aside from helping paint a picture of you as someone who has diverse interests and is willing to pursue them, the fact that you worked for a newspaper will help you persuade the admissions panel that you have the qualities and characteristics, such as the ability to think creatively and critically and the willingness to learn, that make a good candidate for medical school.
Photo Credit : hapinachu
How to Effectively Use Anecdotes in Your Personal Statement for Medical School
Learning how to effectively use anecdotes in your personal statement for medical school can help keep your personal statement personal. This is often the advice of admission
experts when asked what it takes to make an interesting personal statement for medical school. Aside from starting off your personal statement with a captivating one-liner, keeping the tone of your personal statement reader-friendly is another important way to get the attention of admission officers.
Personal anecdotes to spice up a personal statement for medical school
Using a personal and interesting anecdote is one effective way to personalize your
medical admission essay. A personal statement for medical school that revolves around personal details about the applicant will make the applicant sound more human, and his or her experiences more real. Stories that the officer can read will put him or her in the experience of the applicant and give him or her what he or she wants: an idea of who the applicant is. Of course, how the essay is written, how and what kinds of words are used, and how the ideas are brought together will also give one an idea of the applicant’s skills with grammar and written communication. Using personal anecdotes will give the reader a deeper sense of the personality of the applicant.
Using personal anecdotes also lowers the risk of making an essay that is too wordy. A personal statement for medical school may at times require a bit of technical know-how here and there, but in general, you use simple words to get the point across. If you keep it simple, you avoid using words that will require a reader to open a dictionary in order to understand your essay.
As much as possible, anecdotes should be about certain experiences that played a part on your decision to become a doctor. The worn out phrase ‘I want to help people’ is no longer what admission officers like to hear from applicants. They want your personal essay for medical school to show, rather than tell them, why you want to become a doctor. You can best do this using anecdotes as concrete examples.
Choosing what anecdote to tell
One dilemma that stumps most applicants is choosing what anecdote to tell. With all the experiences you’ve had in your lifetime, there are a lot of personal experiences that you can choose from. But how do you choose the right one?
The best course would be to know what characteristic that you are most proud of and choose an anecdote that shows how you exercised that characteristic in real life. For example, instead of saying that you are a person of compassion, tell of the time when you used your vacation to go on a mission to Africa to help feed hungry refugees. If you want to tell of your ability to stay calm under pressure, tell of the time when you and a bunch of people got stuck in the elevator and how you handled the situation so that no one would freak out. Choosing anecdotes carefully is very important, because even with the right anecdote you still run the risk of sounding too cocky, or worse, someone who likes to embellish. Keep your words simple and stick to the truth, because the personal statement is not really the place for your achievements, real or imagined.
In the end, you can choose to use different anecdotes for different parts of your essay. Or you can use one anecdote for the whole essay and use it to tie the whole thing together. Using personal anecdotes is a good way to keep the essay an interesting read. However, you have to make sure that the anecdote fits and that all of it is truthful.
Photo Credit : pit-yacker
So, you’ve finally got a call after sending your personal statement for medical schools. You then confirmed the appointment date and place. What else do you need to ensure the success of getting in? Here are a few tips on how to wow the admissions panel for that medical school interview that could change the course of your life.
*Dress to impress
Formal settings such as an interview with the admissions panel means donning a suit that would make you look professional and respectable. Keep jewelry to a minimum and skip the glittery eyeshadow. Instead, opt for neutral colors that are easy on the eyes. Shoes should be of comfortable fit as well. For women who prefer wearing heels, make sure that you can walk in them. Men should also try to tame those spikes in the hair, at least for a few hours, and wear clean and pressed suits with a tie. Instead of the usual sneakers, wear leather shoes that go well with your suit. Though fragrance can be worn, keep it also to a minimum so you won’t distract your interviewer.
*Check body language
Though popular advice tells you to relax during an interview, it doesn’t mean you can slouch or spread your legs when sitting down. Sit properly on the chair in a position that is comfortable for you, without coming across as lousy or disrespectful. Maintain eye contact with interviewers during conversations to convey attentiveness and professionalism
*Be true to yourself
Even though you’re out to impress the admissions people with your achievements, don’t brag too much about the achievements you’ve included in your resume or mentioned in personal statement for medical school. Also don’t make up or exaggerate information during the interview. Though it may seem easy to make up one lie and the next, it’s harder to cover up for these once you’ve built a life out of false facts. Instead of risking your reputation, just be honest and tell the truth. If you really are deserving of a slot in med school, you don’t have to make up lies just to get in.
* Keep your cool and stay polite
Engaging in polite conversation with other people never did anyone bad, despite the fact that some interviewers can challenge and intimidate you in the process. Don’t lose your cool when instances like these happen. Remember that your fate lies in the hands of these interviewers who have read your personal statement for medical school. How you act and speak toward them can have severe consequences on your application. The interview is just another type of test that you have to go through. You should be able to maintain grace even under pressure to secure that slot in medical school.
Photo Credit : careerfashion
