Medical School: The Personal Statement

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Hi guys! These are some additional things and a summary from my video on personal statements. Hope its's helpful :) 

Till next time! 

Sammi 

XOXO

BASIC LAYOUT - each title = a paragraph

  1. Opening statement - nice catchy, interesting and unique statement 

Avoid the following: 
  • From a young I have wanted to do Medicine..
  • I have always wanted to do medicine...
  • Growing up, I always had an interest in medicine...
  • I want to help people...
  • I like help people...
  • I like science...
  • I like the human body/ human biology...
  • Medicine is a science and an art...
  • Avoid anything that describes what Medicine is 
Try to do the following:
  • If you start with a quote/ statistic, try not to be be pretentious 
  • If you start with a statistic, make sure its true! 

2. Why medicine? - specific to you

  • Avoid telling the reader why people want to do medicine in general. Make this specific to you 
  • Describe the ONE THING that made you decide that medicine is the right thing for you then expand on it 
  • You will be asked about this at interview 

3. Why not anything else? 

  • Describe here the unique things that medicine offers compared to any other career choice 
  • Usual things are obviously diagnostic skills, practical skills, ability to know what to do when things take a turn for the worst 
Things to avoid 
  • Helping people 
  • Saving lives 
  • Learning science 
You can do all the above in other career choices. 

4. What have you done to make sure this is the right pathway?

  • Work experience 
  • Volunteering 
  • Looking after relatives 
  • Shadowing 
  • Summer school 
  • Research 
  • Have you spoken to med students/ doctors 
  • Do you understand the challenges/ limitations of medicine? 

5. What have you done to prove that you're good enough? 

  • Leadership 
  • Strong academic profile 
  • You have passed your exams first time, every time 
  • Have you done more than the generic number of subjects - not a requirement but if you have then write about it! 

6. Are you a well rounded person? 

  • What do you do in your spare time 
  • Do you have a life outside school/ academics 

7. Conclusion 

  • Something that lingers in the mind 
  • What would it mean to you to be given the opportunity to study medicine and to ultimately be a doctor?

GENERAL NOTES 

1. 4 Medicine Choices, 1 Back Up 

Applying for Medicine on UCAS gives you a maximum of 4 Medicine choices and 1 non medicine, back-up choice. Most people apply to Biomedical Science/ Medical Science so their personal statement will cover for these choices anyway. But if you want to apply for something completely different, e.g. Maths, then you need to incorporate something about Maths in your personal statement. This is difficult given the limited space you have.

2. UCAS Basics for personal statement 

  • At least 1000 characters 
  • Maximum 4000 characters 
  • Maximum 47 lines 
Write your statement in a WORD/ PAGES/ iNOTEs/ WHATEVER document and then transfer to the UCAS portal. Note that non Microsoft word formats may be difficult to transfer directly to the UCAS portal because some characters are not recognised... Be mindful of this and read your statement from start to finish once you've uploaded onto the UCAS system. 

3. Don't lie! 

Its very tempting to make things up to make your statement stand out but you are easily caught out by the admissions tutor! You need to be prepared to talk about EVERYTHING on your statement at interview IN DEPTH and if you can't, you are unlikely to be offered a place. 

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