A personal statement for medicine is the first impression you make to medical school, so it’s very important to get it right. A good personal statement increases your chances of getting an interview and being accepted into your chosen medical school, so you need to start your personal statement strong and finish your personal statement even stronger.
A personal statement is your chance to tell the reviewer why you want to study medicine, why you will be suited to it and your passion for medicine. Essentially, you’re telling them why they should choose you. Last year, 2022, was considered the hardest year to enter medical school. We don’t intend to put you off, but to stress the importance of getting it right if you’re set on becoming a medical professional.
In this post, we introduce ourselves, The Future Medic and tell you how we can help to make your personal statement as good as it can be.
Ask a tutor for help
At The Future Medic, our team of doctors have read through thousands of personal statement for medical school as part of the admissions process and knows precisely what is required to make your personal statement special and unique. We’ve got some amazing support options to help you craft the perfect personal statement.
Our tutors sit on medical school interview panels and have vast experience in medical education- this level of tutoring is not guaranteed elsewhere! Our Personal Statement Coaching Services provide wonderful benefits for any aspiring medical student:
- Access to experienced British doctors, medical education specialists, and tutors who have coached and interviewed thousands of applicants.
- 24/7 access to your tutor doctor through a dedicated WhatsApp group.
- Tailor-made feedback on your personal statement which is specific to you.
- Help even if you need to write your personal statement from scratch.
- Personalised 1-1 lessons, with all the attention on you.
- A relaxed tutoring environment- our coaching isn’t like a classroom, where only one teacher has to cater to 30 students!
- You can use our tutoring service from the comfort of your home without having to travel to a physical location.
- The option is unlimited coaching hours or between 1-20 hours.
- Quick turnaround for feedback, within as little as 24 hours or 1 week.
- Guidance on how to make your medicine application stand out.
- Improved confidence for the interview stage at your dream medical school.
- It saves you time and stress, allowing you to focus on your A-Levels, UCAT admissions test and other commitments.
With experts on your side, your chances of getting accepted into medical school under very competitive personal circumstances will increase your hopes of getting into the school of your choice becomes far more likely.
To find out more about how we can help and what makes a good personal statement, we have provided with some of our top tips on how to write a personal statement.
What to include in a personal statement
In this section, we’ll look at what makes a successful personal statement for medicine, including the formal structure and things that you shouldn’t miss out on that will make your statement stand out and a success.
The structure
Your personal statement should follow this structure:
- An introduction
- The main body- the longest part
- A conclusion
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.
- 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.
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.
Starting your personal statement
Knowing how to start a personal statement can be challenging. Like an author beginning a novel, they have all the ideas, the passion and the motivation to write it, but many spend hours staring at a blank page, unable to start. The introduction is usually the hardest part of writing anything, especially your personal statement, so here are a few tips to get you started with a strong opening.
- Choose your strongest points and open with it
- Back up your claims in your introduction with evidence
- Open with why you are so passionate about medicine
- Avoid generic terms and common reasons.
First impressions matter, so start as you mean to go on. Intrigue the reviewer and make them believe in your ability right from the beginning. If you don’t, it’ll be an uphill struggle from there.
How to end your personal statement
Knowing how to end your personal statement can be equally tricky, but you have so much material to use by this point. The ending should be a conclusion so everything you have discussed. You shouldn’t simply repeat what you have said in your introduction or main body, but it should be a closing statement that brings everything together.
Here are some great tips on how to end your personal statement for medical school:
- Consider the current situation in medicine and bring everything together in your personal statement about your experience and skills and how this can contribute towards current medical practice, and how you can be an asset to the field.
- Don’t make any new points in your conclusion, as these points will be devalued anyway if you leave them to last, as though they are an afterthought.
- Create a powerful statement that draws attention to the passion for medicine that you have portrayed in your personal statement.
A final word
So, how do you know if your personal statement is good? Well, start off by using the tips in this post. Avoid cliches, always back up your claims with evidence such as your skills and experience, make sure your passion for medicine comes across and remember to include why you want to be a doctor. Ensure your statement follows a well organised structure, and you keep the momentum going throughout. Try not to repeat yourself but summarise the main points in your conclusion.
The best thing you can do to check that your medical personal statement is the best is can be, is to speak to one of our tutors at The Future Medic to increase your chances of moving onto the next step in your medical career.
