personal statement for medical school

There is no established convention that judges what a good personal statement is. What matters really is achieving a quality written personal statement that would convince the people behind the selection process that you are the right one.

Following are top 5 tips to achieve the “quality” desired:

1.Make an attractive and coherent structure. Even if in the future a computer will be programmed to read admission essays, coherence would still matter. Without a logical order, even a machine will end up confused. But the fact is humans read and evaluate admission essays. Just imagine how many applicants are there, say hundreds, the person doing the job must be attracted to a personal statement written in a brief and concise manner. Put some logic in your structure, and better be brief than end up being misunderstood.

2.Choose a focus relevant to you and the school. A personal statement writer need not labor putting all the best things about him/her. Here, a prior knowledge about the core values and philosophy of the school an applicant wishes to enter is of big help. Focus on the things about you that would convince the evaluators that you are the right person to be admitted. Do not try to be funny or force humor in your essay. It will not add any value to attain your objective.

3.Make a good transition. An essay that is “all over the place” would reflect an unsavory personality. The most difficult task for a reader is getting across several paragraphs that would take time to understand how these are connected. Use appropriate transition phrases and clauses to give hint to the reader that another idea is being introduced. Logical sequencing, like “general to specific” and “specific to general” approaches, is helpful in managing transition of ideas. Showing a chronological flow is also a good way to make transitions orderly.

4.Give examples. Do not just tell, much more brag, about your competencies. It pays a lot better to show what you’ve got by giving concrete examples of accomplishments or achievements in the field one wishes to enter. A brief description of your relevant high school awards or how well have you managed to solve a related problem would help the evaluator understand better what you can do.

5.Be mindful of correct grammar and syntax. It would be embarrassing to be telling a lot about one’s outstanding achievements in a badly written essay. Correct grammar reflects how diligent you are. Correct usage of language signifies a quality possessed by a highly competent future professional. But it does not mean, however, that your essay would look more like a term paper than a personal statement. We can always write in a not-so-formal fashion yet grammar and correct usage is not compromised.

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The most important thing to guard against when writing a personal statement is unwittingly revealing information that would likely be used as a basis not to admit you.

Here are the things one must not forget to put in a personal statement:

1.Answers to all questions asked. Keep in mind admission administrators would want to see specific information related to the particular program being applied for. This is shown by the difference in the questions asked in varied programs, so if you are applying for more than one, you would need to prepare a separate personal for the other program. Adapt your essay to the set of questions asked in the program applied for. Do not force to answer different sets of question with the same essay.

2.Positive traits, but do not lie on your weaknesses. As much as possible, list all related traits and qualities that you possess and try to coherently elaborate how these will help you in the future. Do not hide if there is a weakness in your application. Be honest to admit it but point how these will be prevailed over by your other positive traits. You may also point out that such inadequacy is only temporary.

3.A thesis about yourself. All the information put into your personal should support the thesis floated about you. It must weave a picture that shows who you are, a person who will survive the academic program applied for.

4.Your goals. Do not forget that sharing your goals will indicate your serious desire to be admitted in the program you have applied for.

And here are things that should never be put in a personal statement:

1.Academic discussions. You are not yet admitted in the academic program, so do not indulge in academic discussion at this stage.

2.Empty, overused and vague words (e.g., beautiful, rewarding, meaningful, invaluable, etc.)

3.Minor or not-so-important points about you. Be sure to place only the relevant ones. The person in charge of admission has many things to read.

4.Humor. Do not try to be funny; it does not work in this case.

5.Things about politics, religion and your personal emotions. Such things are not within the ambit of the selection criteria. Politics and religions are subjects of human freedom, and one should avoid such discussions as it may impair the freedom of other.

6.“I’ve always wanted to be…” is a big no-no. It is obvious that you are a wannabe doctor, lawyer, etc. because you are applying for admission.

7.Sales pitch. You should not use gimmicks to promote yourself like someone involved in sales.

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