Advice & Insight From Personal Statement Specialists
In need of a step-by-step blueprint on how to succeed in writing your medicine personal statement? Look no further – We’ve got some great top tips which will help you to secure 4 Medical School offers.
Although writing your personal statement might seem daunting think of it as a great opportunity to show off all your talent to admissions tutors.
The first month and a half of year 13 will whiz by. During this time, your A2 studies, extracurricular activities and coursework will begin competing with your time to write your personal statement. To avoid last minute stress do not put off starting the writing process, no effective personal statement was written on the first attempt. Its highly recommended to draft your personal statement in the summer term of year 12, this giving you the summer holidays and September to finesse your work and get other people’s insights.
Most students find it very challenging to phrase a punchy, captivating introduction. It might be wise to split your personal statement into smaller bitesize chunks. You do not have to tackle each subsection in order but just try to get something down on paper to give you a first draft and something to work on. Its best to get all your key points and content down on paper and worry about phrasing and flow later down the line.
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Creating a mind-map or initial paragraph plan can help you to categorise your ideas and points. You should include a paragraph reflecting on why medicine – this may also be referenced in your introduction so the key to success here is to add a personal touch through work experience references. Think about what you have done, seen and experienced and most importantly what it told you about a career in medicine. Ensure that you convey why your work experience was important and beneficial; did it give you an insight into the day in the life of a doctor, realistic expectations about the career, test your suitability for the career or expose you to the skills and attributes required by doctors? Be specific and consider mentioning specific patients or cases, but ensure to maintain confidentiality. Medics need to be rounded individuals who engage in extracurricular activities. You want to show that when you are a doctor meaning and purposiveness in life can be sparked from sources outside the hospital 4 walls. Showcase your non-academic achievements; schemes you’ve been involved in like Young Enterprise or your hobbies and related achievements. Not only are you aiming to show enthusiasm for your extracurricular activities but inform tutors of what skills you learnt and why they are important in medicine. Dedicate a paragraph to describing what super curricular activities you have done. Reading medical journals, books and engaging in science based activities will help you to show you have a level commitment to learning and deepening your knowledge. Try to think of activities you have done that show that you can think for yourself as an independent learner. What impact has this activity had on your existing knowledge and how has it developed your study skills. Remember to conclude your personal statement summarising your skills and passion for studying medicine.
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Your personal statement is essentially a persuasive essay for admission tutors. As with any essay, clarity, being concise and using appropriate and precise English is essential.
Consider the phrasing throughout, it can be tempting to use a thesaurus to provide a sense of flare, however, endless synonyms and hyperbolic phrases lose the punchy and attention-grabbing style you are aiming for. You’re aiming to explicitly persuade your reader, so avoid rhetorical questions and rather get straight to the point. You need to make your personal statement personal whilst avoiding the use of too many lists or phrases beginning “I”. You don’t want to come across as if your begging the admissions tutors for a place – avoid sob stories or hyperbolic generic phrases such as “passion” and “privilege” . Steer away from quotes. It can be useful to brainstorm some linking words such as Moreover and Furthermore so that sentences are not too convoluted.
Using paragraphs provides structure and flow separating each topic logically. Try to link your paragraphs together and avoid repeating your points of ideas throughout the statement.
Check your personal statement meticulously for grammatical, spelling and punctation errors. It may be beneficial to give a draft to a language teacher asking them to purely correct the work rather than providing content insight. Ensure you meet the character requirements set by UCAS.
Be confident in your abilities and talents, learn from the mistakes of others mentioned in this article and do yourself justice in what you write.
