Writing a successful medical personal statement as part of your UCAS university application that gets you noticed can be difficult, however, we have a checklist of what you should include so you have an excellent starting point. In addition to this, The Future Medic provide personal statement coaching with our dedicated and experienced tutors. In this post, we provide you with that checklist, as well as information about what we can do to help you on your journey to study medicine.
How to structure your medicine personal statement
Your personal statement should follow this structure:
- An introduction
- The main body- the longest part
- A conclusion
Introduction
In your introduction, you will introduce yourself and this will be the first impression that your reviewer will form of you, so it needs to be strong. Include an overview of what the reviewer is about to read. A great way to start your statement is, to be honest, sincere and clear about who you are. Don’t repeat what you have written in the main body of your statement but it needs to reflect what your personal statement is all about.
Main body
The main body of your personal statement for medicine is the biggest part of your personal statement as this is where you should go into detail about why you want to be a doctor, how you can contribute, what qualities you have and back this up with your skills and experience as well as demonstrate your research into the medical field and your university of choice. It’s important not to make bold claims or false promises here, but to be open and honest about your expectations and goals.
Conclusion
A conclusion draws everything in but it still needs to end strong because it will be what leaves a lasting impression on the reviewer. It’s important not to include any new information in this section; you aren’t writing a story so there’s no need to end on a cliffhanger either.
A great way to end your statement is to reiterate your passion and how you can contribute to medicine in the niche you would like to specialise in. End with an overarching statement of everything you have included about yourself.
Within this structure, you should include the skills and experience you possess, which will help you at university, what attracts you to a career in medicine and why you want to apply to study the course you have chosen.
What to include in your personal statement: an overview
Here is an overview of the general points you need to make in your statement and tips on how to get started in writing your personal statement.
- The first thing you need to do is brainstorm ideas that you think would suit your personal statement. Think about why you want to work in the medical profession and what experiences, skills and qualities you have that will mean you will be successful as a student and a qualified professional.
- Be honest in your personal statement and write about your true authentic self. Don’t try to be someone else or use cliches, as the reviewer will have read hundreds of personal statements, so similar ones will blend into the background.
- Start strong and end stronger. You want to make sure your opening statement is something that will grab the reviewer’s attention, and you want to end it with something they will remember so you leave a lasting impression.
- Your passion for medicine and the subject area you’re applying to study should ooze off the page. Discuss your interest in medicine and why you’re motivated to embark on a challenging profession.
- Include any relevant work experiences and skills but don’t simply list them, as this doesn’t tell the reviewer much about you. Explain why you think your skills and experiences are relevant to the subject you’re applying to study.
- Demonstrate that you have done your research both of the medical profession and the university you’re applying for. Tell them how you can contribute to a current hot topic in the medical world or how you would be successful at their university.
Remember that the length of your personal statement is only around 500-1000 characters, so you must make every word count. Here are some tips on using your word count wisely by starting and ending on a high.
A 5-step checklist for your medicine personal statement
When brainstorming ideas for your personal statement, ask yourself the following 5 questions and use these questions as a checklist to make sure you’ve included everything you need to.
- What draws you to medicine?
- What makes a good doctor?
- What do you know about the medical profession?
- What skills and experiences do you have that have prepared you for a career in medicine?
- Have you structured your personal statement in the right way?
What you should avoid putting into a personal statement
In this section, we have provided examples of what not to include, so your personal statement doesn’t stand out for the wrong reasons.
- Don’t use cliches and quotes as this comes across as unoriginal and too forced
- You don’t need a miraculous story about why you want to become a doctor so don’t spend hours coming up with a backstory, just be honest and include the reasons why.
- Don’t waffle, and by this we mean don’t go on and on and never truly get to the point. Before writing, think about what you want to say and be clear. Jot down notes first before you start writing so you can clearly structure each point
- Don’t repeat yourself or provide too much information about your personal life, use the points above about mentioning your knowledge of the field and the university
- You don’t need to include your own medical experiences or history
- Watch out for grammatical errors or spelling mistakes as this comes across as sloppy and unprofessional
- Don’t include information they already have such as academic results or where you have studied.
The importance of a personal statement for medical school
If you want to get into medical school, you can’t do it without submitting an outstanding personal statement because yes universities do read them! So, how important is a medical personal statement? The answer is, very, so you need to get it right.
Your personal statement is the first point of contact for your chosen universities that you’re applying to, has to you. It should tell them who you are, what skills and experience you have that make you suited to the medical profession and why you are attracted to a career in medicine.
Sound simple? Well, not quite. Competition is fierce and we mean, really fierce. We don’t say this to deter you from applying, quite the opposite, we want you to write the best personal statement you can to give yourself the best chance of securing an interview.
Get support
Knowing if your personal statement is good is difficult to determine, particularly for someone with no experience in going through the process before. Use our checklist and tips, followed by a follow-up browse of the services we provide at The Future Medic, including coaching you through and checking your personal statement, to make sure your personal statement is good enough to secure that ever-important meeting.
We provide personalised 1-1 coaching and offer packages that best suit your needs including helping you to prepare for the UCAT exam and prepping you for an interview. We have dedicated, experienced British doctors who have been on the admissions board of their respective universities and therefore know what to look for in a personal statement.
So there you have it, a checklist of what to include and information about The Future Medic and how you can improve your chances of success. Contact us today to get started.
