Unless your institution provides specific questions to answer that you are limited to answering (how boring), here is your chance to shine and let your guard down, just a little bit. There is some latitude allowed in the personal statement that might not be as well accepted in a personal interview or other aspects of the application. Some applicants feel that they want their statement to be a guide for the interview to follow. The chances of that happening are slim, but it does allow you to say what you might not get a chance to say in the interview or elsewhere in the application.
Traditionally, the personal statement would elaborate on why you want to go to medical school, or this medical school (or whatever kind of school), what your strengths are and why you are more qualified to be here than the applicant sitting beside you. Things like that. But that is all factually listed in other portions of the application. Furthermore, you can’t be qualified to be a doctor until you go to medical school, that’s why you want to go to medical school, so you can’t just illustrate how great you are at medicine. As opposed to a vocational applicant, who would be expected to be professionally competent to be considered for a position. If you search the web for examples of personal statements, you will find too many to read and almost all of them will be of little use as a guide for the applicant to a professional school.
So, you start your statement with, “I’m good at science and want to help people.” Yeah right. You and the other 75,000 medical school aspirants in the US this year. But, what makes you different, special or the applicant that will just wow the admissions committee?
You write a statement that espouses the uniqueness that you feel you have to offer, the unusual life experiences you’ve had, the problems you’ve overcome, etc. Then take a break for a day or so and go back and read the statement with the view that every other applicant wrote the same thing. Now try to think of ways to say the same thing with an emphasis on trying to be different or approach the same qualities from a different approach. Try to think like the reader, ask yourself what the writer is trying to say. If you are having trouble being detached (really, do it anyway), have someone else critique the statement for you.
This is a personal statement, so be personable. You are unique and have had unique experiences. Share the personal aspects of yourself and your life that make up that uniqueness. The uniqueness does not have to be medical or science oriented. Every doctor has a life outside medicine, so there is no reason you shouldn’t have one, also. Talk to other applicants and ask what they plan to write, then don’t write about that, whatever it is.
Rather than give you a bunch of examples of fictitious personal statements, let me ask you to consider the different types of personal statements you might use.
Historical; How have you arrived at where you are now? What was the defining moment or event that convinced you to become a doctor? Was it a person, an event or a series of events, a tragedy or even a personal experience that influenced you?
Goal oriented; You want/will go to medical school, regardless of whether this particular interview is successful or not. You have that burning desire, the drive that can only be satisfied by going to medical school. When, where or how did your desire begin? What do you plan to accomplish by being a doctor? What will you do if you don’t get accepted from this interview? What will you do if you don’t get accepted this year?
Problem-oriented; Did you start from a less than spectacular beginning? What was the turning point? Was it poor grades, finances, lack of family support, poverty or some other obstacle? Are you motivated by knowing that you will not continue on the path you’ve been on up until now?
Achievements; Maybe you’ve published papers, worked on research teams in college, invented a device or done something that you feel the admissions committee needs to know about and will be impressed by. Maybe you have a prior professional career to talk about, prior military experience or Peace Corps experience. Maybe you surfed the Great Barrier Reef or climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Whatever it was, let them know in as exciting and riveting way as you can.
Fiction with a point; Remember your creative writing class. Say you have a muse and are a gifted writer. One of the following genres might carry a message that accurately reflects you or your journey (in any of the above categories) through fiction. A fable is a fiction using non-human characters or inanimate objects that speak and act in human ways to present a moral point. A parable is the same as a fable except excludes non-human and inanimate objects, using only humans. An allegory uses a metaphor to deliver a less than obvious broader picture about worldly issues than the storyline would imply. This may be the riskiest form of personal statement, but I bet it will be one the most unique.
Whatever you write, edit, proofread, fact check, spell check and grammar check it many times, especially after any revision. If you use online or computer software based programs to do this, use more than one. They don’t all agree. If you use a real person to bounce the statement off of, use more than one. They don’t all agree. Not everybody likes the same book.
Do not, I repeat, do not plagiarize. You might think that the readers couldn’t possibly have read what you’ve stolen, but at least one will have seen it. That does not mean that you can not repeat what others have said. It means that if you do, you must give appropriate credit. Go back to your English writing class notes or a writer’s handbook to do it correctly.
Use of a ghostwriter is questionable. Make sure that they can actually write better than you. If you seek the assistance of someone else, you should still do all of the writing and be involved in the editing. If you are not involved, you will be less familiar with the “voice” of the statement and may be caught trying to explain something you are clueless about. The statement should reflect your vocabulary, your intellect and your passion. Not those of someone else. By all means, though, get help if you are not a good writer.
Your Uncle Dave.
Weary