personal statement for medical school

By devoting hours meant for sleeping to studying in med school, you may be considered a “night owl”. But instead of looking for prey, med school owls keep their eyes on sheet after sheet of class readings, in preparation for the next day’s exam or recitation. While this may seem like the norm in med school, it’s a sorry state to be in especially if your health and class standing is put at risk. Here are a few tips to make all-nighters in med school easy as counting sheep.

Stay away from the sugar

While sugar and caffeine-laden food and drinks do keep you up, these affect your concentration the following day. Instead of downing pots of black coffee or consuming a big bag of candy-covered chocolates on the eve of an exam, try snacking on protein-rich food. Food rich in protein such as cheese can help increase your memory skills. Try snacking on crisp fresh fruits such as apples and pears for a natural pick-me-up effect minus the calories.

Catch some Zzz’s

Though this goes against the whole idea of an all-nighter, grab some sleep if you can. If you just want to take a nap, wake up, and go on studying, ask a classmate to wake you up at a desired time. As a medical student, you should already know that not getting enough sleep or rest can be detrimental to you. Not only will your health suffer from it, but you’ll also  tend to perform poorly during daytime. Your concentration and moods are affected, the same way that your decision-making skills may be impaired due to the lack of sleep.

Frequent all-nighters can be avoided if you pay attention to your classes and find time to study during the day. Studies even show that students who pull all-nighters frequently just waste their efforts, as they become more prone to low GPAs. Don’t let all-nighters be your cover up for procrastinating, instead do what you need to do as soon as you can.

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So what makes a doctor good? Is it the brains? Is it the people skills? Or, is it because one came  from a reputable medical academic institution such as Harvard Medical School? Read on for a list of some of the qualities that help doctors become successful in the field despite the erratic schedules and the heavy caseloads.

Doctors must be people persons

Aside from being a medical maverick and genius, good doctors also need to have people skills, especially when interacting with a lot of patients, who may be confused or emotionally befuddled about their conditions.  Breaking the bad news is also never easy for most doctors. Though this part of the job is also described as one of the hardest tasks doctors do, learning how to tell family members the right way takes time and experience.

Doctors must pay attention to detail

Dr. House is deemed the medical Sherlock Holmes due to his keen observations skills. In the TV series, House makes use of psychology and take hints his patients’ lives. Real-life doctors, on the other hand, should possess the same dogged interest even in the little things such as lumps that could turn into cancer or a twitch that may actually be a symptom of a life-threatening disease. Attention to detail makes the job of doctors easier, allowing them to diagnose and treat patients more effectively.

Doctors must value time and use it wisely

You don’t outgrow your schedules when you graduate from med school. In fact, doctors are known to lead such scheduled lives to make sense of all the things happening around them. Time management skills could be honed while still studying in med school. Consider making a time table of the things that you need to do such as studying for pharmacology from 8pm to 10pm. Be sure to accomplish your tasks up to 10pm, so you could go to that late dinner, have a night cap with friends, or hit the sack right after. Setting a deadline also encourages doctors to think faster and come up with solutions even in a short time.

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The field of medicine also has venues for publishing articles, scientific papers, and other resource material that can be used to advance knowledge on medical conditions and treatments. To regulate and standardize formats, the American Medical Association has developed a set of guidelines for the proper citation of references that are used in the text of research papers. These research papers can be about the latest developments in the fields of medicine, science, and even health care. The AMA style is used by medical practitioners, journalists, professors, and even students in the medical field when citing references in their papers.

General guidelines in AMA style

When writing scientific papers to be published in medical journals and reviews, proper citation should be used. All of the sources are listed at the end of the article according to their order of use or appearance in the paper. Making use of numbers instead of bullets, each source must be listed at the end of the text. The elements such as book title, author’s name, date it was published, among others, should be separated by periods.

Book citations
Include page numbers if the specific pages are quoted in the article. Use the <last name>,<first name>, <middle initial> format when citing the author of the book. Below is the order or chronology of the items when citing from book sources.

Chronology for book citations:
* author’s name
* chapter title
* editor’s name/translator’s name
* book title
* volume number
* book edition
* place of publication
* book publisher
* copyright year
* page numbers

Journal citations

If book citations require you to mention the full first name of the writer, journal citations only require the last name to be spelled out in full. The format for writing author’s name would then be <last name>,<first name initial>,<middle initial>.

Chronology for journal articles:
* article title and subtitle
* abbreviated name of journal
* year of publication
* volume number
* supplement number
* page numbers

Internet citations

Internet sources are now credited by the AMA; just be sure to use information from reputable sources. Cite what kind of Internet material was used as a reference and enclose it in brackets.

Chronology for Internet sources:
* author’s name
* article or webpage name
* URL source
* date accessed

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Medical education in the US is open to everyone, even to foreign students like you. American students and foreign students are given equal opportunities when it comes to medical school admissions. Medical students are chosen based on academic excellence and medical potential, not racial origin or religious beliefs. The requirements for medical admissions, however, is not the same for American and foreign students. Here are some application tips for foreign students like you who wish to study in a US medical school.

Practice in speaking fluent English

Because English is always the language used in teaching medicine, you need to practice your English communication skills before applying to US medical schools. Both written and verbal forms of English are important to help you adapt to the advanced education system in medical school. All research papers and medical reports must be written in English while group discussions and oral reports must also be delivered in English. Learning how to write and speak English is not only advantageous to your academic performance, but also to your social life. Being fluent in English gives you more confidence in interacting with your professors and fellow students.

Write an amazing personal statement

The US academic curriculum is different from other countries, so American medical school applicants have an advantage when it comes to the required subjects. You can increase your chances of admissions, though, by writing an amazing personal statement. Most admissions evaluators are especially interested in reading personal statements from foreign students like you. The information they will look for your personal statement is the explanation on why you would rather study in a US medical school. To get their approval, write a brief comparison between the education system in your country and in the US. You may also share that learning medical concepts from a different perspective might be beneficial for the advancement of medicine in your country. Write an amazing personal statement, but keep it as honest as possible.

Medical school is tough for both American and foreign students. Academic excellence and medical success is not measured by skin color or geographical location. The key to being a great doctor is in you. If you persevere enough to reach for the stars, then you will be rewarded with sweet success.

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