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2023 Medical School Personal Statement Ultimate Guide (25 Examples Included)
25 medical school personal statement examples, plus a step-by-step guide to writing a unique essay.
Part 1: Introduction to the medical school personal statement
Part 2: a step-by-step approach to writing an amazing medical school personal statement, part 3: in-depth analysis of a top-5 medical school personal statement, part 4: unique vs. clichéd medical school personal statements: 10 key differences, appendix: medical school personal statement examples.
You probably know someone who achieved a solid GPA and MCAT score , conducted research, shadowed physicians, engaged in meaningful volunteer work, and met all the other medical school requirements , yet still got rejected by every school they applied to.
You may have even heard of someone who was rejected by over 30 medical schools or who was shut out by every program two years in a row, despite doing “all the right things.”
It’s also common to come across people who have incredibly high stats (e.g., a 3.8 GPA and a 518 MCAT score) but didn’t get into a top-10 or top-20 medical school.
With stories like these and the scary statistic that over 60% of medical school applicants do not matriculate into medical school in any given year , it’s hard not to be anxious about the admissions process and wonder how you’ll ever get into medical school .
We bet you’ve puzzled over why so many qualified applicants are rejected beyond the fact that there are too few spots. After all, you’ve noticed how some applicants receive many interview invitations and acceptances, whereas others receive few or none.
The main reason why many qualified applicants are rejected from every med school—or significantly underperform expectations based on their admissions profile—is that they do not stand out on their application essays.
While the need to stand out holds true for every piece of written material on your applications, your personal statement is the single most important essay you will have to write during your admissions process. It’s especially important to get right because it allows you to show admissions committees how your story sets you apart among other qualified candidates (i.e., your competition). Moreover, the quality of your personal statement has a significant influence on your admissions success.
Of course, this means that writing a great medical school personal statement comes with a lot of pressure.
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Medical school personal statement challenges and opportunities
As you prepare to write, you’re probably concerned about:
Choosing the “right” topic
Making sure your essay is unique and not clichéd
Your essay clearly highlighting why you want to go into medicine
Whether it’s what admissions committees are looking for
The good news is that the AMCAS personal statement prompt—“Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school”—is intentionally vague and gives you the opportunity to write about anything you want in up to 5,300 characters (including spaces), which roughly corresponds to 500 words or 1.5 single-spaced pages.
In other words, you have complete control over how you show admissions committees the following:
Who you are beyond your numbers and your resume (i.e., why you? )
The reasons you want to go into medicine (i.e., why medicine? )
Remember that admissions committees want to accept people , not just a collection of GPAs, MCAT scores, and premed extracurricular activities. Your personal statement and other written materials must therefore clearly highlight the specific qualities and experiences that would make you an excellent physician.
If your essay does this, you’ll have a leg up on other applicants. On the other hand, a clichéd personal statement will bore admissions readers and consequently make them less interested in admitting you.
Put another way, your personal statement is your best opportunity to stand out—or to look like everyone else who reads tons of sample essays, tries to “play it safe” with boring anecdotes, and ends up in the rejection pile.
What this personal statement guide covers
As you begin drafting your essay, you might find yourself perusing countless medical school personal statement examples online, at your college’s premed counseling office, or from friends who applied to med school a year or two ago. But remember that the sample personal statements you find on Student Doctor Network, Reddit , premed blogs, or at your college’s pre-health advising center are the same ones that everyone else is looking at and attempting to imitate!
To help you avoid common pitfalls and write a memorable personal statement, we wrote a comprehensive guide to help you get one step closer to earning your white coat rather than having to reapply to med school .
At a high level, this guide covers the following:
A step-by-step approach to producing a standout personal statement (Part 2)
A paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of a top-5 personal statement (Part 3)
Key differences that separate unique vs. clichéd personal statements (Part 4)
Medical school personal statement examples (Appendix)
Upon reviewing this guide, you’ll have all the information you need to go from having no topic ideas to producing a personal, meaningful, and polished essay. Throughout the guide, you’ll also come across various “special sections” that address common questions and concerns we’ve received from applicants over the years.
And if you’re left with lingering questions about how to write a personal statement for medical school, just submit them in the comments section at the end of the guide so we can answer them, usually within 24 hours.
Without further ado, it’s time to begin the writing process.
When should I begin to write my med school personal statement?
The earliest we recommend you begin working on your personal statement is fall of your junior year. That way, even if you decide to go to med school straight through (i.e., without taking a gap year or two), you will have completed a bulk of the extracurriculars that you will cover on your application and will also have an essay that describes your current thoughts and feelings about medicine. But regardless of whether you apply straight through or apply post-undergrad, it’s a good idea to begin working on your personal statement during the fall or winter preceding your application cycle (e.g., start writing your essay between September 2021 and January 2022 if you intend to apply during the 2022–2023 application cycle) so that you have plenty of time to write a great essay and can take full advantage of rolling admissions by submitting your primary application early.
Before writing, the typical applicant does two things:
Pulls up their resume and attempts to identify the experience that is “most unique” or “most authentic”
Searches for essay sample after essay sample, hoping to be inspired by someone else’s writing
Eventually, students begin to read every sample essay they can get their hands on, hoping that consuming countless examples will give them the “aha moment” they need to produce their own personal statement.
Here’s the problem: Without understanding why an essay is strong, you risk producing a cliche essay based on some “template” you came across.
With this “template approach,” you’ll risk making your essay sound like someone else’s, which is a sure-fire way of producing a clunky or clichéd essay. This is precisely why we included the numerous sample personal statements at the end of this guide.
We also don’t believe that reviewing your CV or thinking through your personal experiences to identify the “most unique” topic ideas is a valuable approach to brainstorming your personal statement. This “resume-first” approach tends to lead to writing an introduction that may not communicate your intended message, especially because it might not flow with the remainder of your experiences.
So, what should your personal statement include? Over the years, our students have found the most success by taking our “qualities-first” approach—thinking through the impression they want to leave on adcoms and then selecting the experiences that best highlight those qualities.
How to write a great personal statement introduction (Goal: Engage the reader)
Before you begin to write, we recommend that you:
Develop a list of qualities you want to demonstrate; and
Think of events or situations that highlight these qualities.
Then , you should write about one of these events or situations in a way that demonstrates these qualities and captures the reader’s attention.
The myth of the "perfect topic"
Every topic can lead to a standout or average personal statement, depending on how compellingly you write it. In other words, there's no such thing as a "good" or "bad" essay topic, only strong or weak execution. Many students delay working on their personal statement until they discover the “perfect topic,” but no such topic exists. We’ve read incredible essays and weak essays on pretty much every topic. What mattered was how the writer linked the topic with their personal path to medicine. We should reinforce a point mentioned in passing in the previous paragraph: pretty much every medical school personal statement topic has been used at this point. You can stand out by sharing your personal stories, unique insights, and eye-opening experiences, not by writing about a brand-new topic, as so few exist.
Step 1: List your greatest qualities.
To answer the personal statement prompt more easily, focus again on the question of what you want admissions committees to know about you beyond your numbers and achievements.
We’re not talking about your hobbies (e.g., “I followed Taylor Swift to every concert she performed in the U.S. during this past year”), although you could certainly point to aspects of your lifestyle in your essay to make your point.
Instead, we’re talking about which of your qualities –character, personality traits, attitudes–you want to demonstrate. Examples include:
Extraordinary compassion
Willingness to learn
Great listening skills
Knowledge-seeking
Persistence
And so on. If you have difficulty thinking of your great qualities (many students do), ask family members or close friends what you’re good at and why they like you. It might be awkward, but this exercise really helps because others tend to view us very differently from how we view ourselves.
Finally, choose the two or three qualities that you want to focus on in your personal statement. Let’s use compassion and knowledge-seeking as the foundational qualities of an original example for this guide.
We cannot overstate how important it is to think of the qualities you want to demonstrate in your personal statement before choosing a situation or event to write about. Students who decide on an event or situation first usually struggle to fit in their qualities within the confines of their story. This is one of the biggest medical school personal statement mistakes we see students make.
On the other hand, students who choose the qualities they want to convey first are easily able to demonstrate them because the event or situation they settle on naturally highlights these qualities.
I listed several qualities I can demonstrate, but I'm not sure which to choose. Can you say more?
Your personal statement represents just one part of your much larger application. You'll have opportunities to demonstrate several of your great qualities through your AMCAS Work and Activities section, your secondary essays, and even your interviews. Therefore, any two or three qualities you want to convey through your personal statement will work; don't stress about figuring out the "perfect" ones, as no such thing exists. And when in doubt, ask family members and friends.
Step 2: When or where have you demonstrated these qualities?
Now that we’re off our soapbox and you’ve chosen qualities to highlight, it’s time to list any event(s) or setting(s) where you’ve demonstrated them.
We should explicitly mention that this event or setting doesn't need to come from a clinical experience (e.g., shadowing a physician , interacting with a young adult patient at a cancer center, working with children in an international clinic) or a research experience (e.g., making a major finding in cancer research during your gap year ), although it’s okay if it involves an extracurricular activity directly related to medicine.
In fact, since most students start their essays by describing clinical or research experiences, starting off with something else–travel (e.g., a camping trip in Yellowstone), volunteering (e.g., building homes in New Orleans), family (e.g., spending time with and learning from your elderly and ill grandmother back home in New Hampshire), work (e.g., helping out at your parents’ donut shop)–can help you immediately stand out.
Let’s start with the example of building homes in New Orleans. Why? Because we could easily demonstrate compassion and knowledge-seeking through this experience. Notice how the qualities we select can choose the story for us?
Step 3: Describe your event as a story.
Here’s where the art of writing a great personal statement really comes in.
Admissions officers read thousands of essays, most of which are very clichéd or dry. Therefore, it’s critical that you stand out by engaging the reader from the very beginning. The best way by far to capture admissions officers early is by developing a story about the event or situation you chose in Step 2 at the start of your essay.
Keep in mind, however, that the same event can be written about in a boring or engaging way. Therefore, the story or topic you choose is less important than how you pull it off.
Let’s look at an actual example of how the same event can be described in a routine vs. compelling manner:
One of my most eye-opening experiences came when I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in New Orleans during the summer months of 2014. Up to that point, I had only heard about the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina nine years earlier. Although pictures and stories of the aftermath compelled me to volunteer, it was not until I observed the emotional pounding the people of New Orleans had experienced that I developed a greater sense of compassion for their plight.
Compelling:
New Orleans was hot and humid during the summer months of 2014–no surprise there. However, for a native Oregonian like me, waking up to 90-degree and 85%-humidity days initially seemed like too much to bear. That was until I reflected on the fact that my temporary discomfort was minute in contrast to the destruction of communities and emotional pounding experienced by the people of New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina nine years earlier. Although pictures and stories of the aftermath compelled me to understand its effects on the community and volunteer, actually building homes and interacting with the locals, like nine-year-old Jermaine, who cried as I held his hand while we unveiled his rebuilt home, taught me that caring for people was as much about lifting spirits as making physical improvements.
Many people may feel the routine example is pretty good. Upon closer look, however, it seems that:
The focus is as much on New Orleanians as the applicant
The story is not particularly relatable (unless the reader had also volunteered there)
There isn’t much support for the writer actually being touched by the people there
On the other hand, the compelling example:
Keeps the spotlight on the applicant throughout (e.g., references being from Oregon, discusses her reflections, interacting with Jermaine)
Has a relatable plot (e.g., temporary discomfort, changing perspectives)
Is authentic (e.g., provides an example of how she lifted spirits)
Does my essay need to have an “aha moment,” that is, the moment when I decided to become a doctor? I’ve noticed that so many medical school personal statement examples include one.
Your essay does not need to include an “aha moment.” In fact, many of the best med school personal statements we’ve read do not include such a moment. Students who believe they need to mention an “aha moment” in their personal statement are typically falling into the trap of writing what they believe the reader wants. But frankly, the reader simply wants to learn about your personal and professional path to medicine. We’ve polled many students over the years about whether they had an experience that immediately switched them on to medicine. Our findings indicate that only 10 percent of students have experienced a moment where they knew they wanted to become a doctor and never looked back. The other 90 percent either knew they wanted to become a physician since childhood, had a growing interest in medicine over years, or came to the realization during or after college.
Step 4: Demonstrate your qualities.
(Note: This section applies to all aspects of your essay.)
“Show, don’t tell” is one of the most common pieces of advice given for writing personal statements, but further guidance or examples are rarely provided to demonstrate what it looks like when done well.
This is unfortunate because the best way to understand how standout personal statements demonstrate qualities through an engaging story is by reading two examples of the same situation: one that “tells” about a quality, and another that “shows” a quality.
Let’s revisit the last sentence of each story example we provided in the previous section to better understand this distinction.
Telling (from the routine story):
…it was not until I observed the emotional pounding the people of New Orleans had experienced that I developed a greater sense of compassion for their plight.
Showing (from the compelling story):
…actually building homes and interacting with the locals, like 9 year-old Jermaine, who cried as I held his hand while we unveiled his rebuilt home, taught me that caring for people…
Notice how the second example demonstrates compassion without ever mentioning the word “compassion” (hence no bolded words)? Moreover, the same sentence demonstrates knowledge-seeking:
Although pictures and stories of the aftermath compelled me to understand its effects on the community and volunteer, actually building homes and interacting with the locals ...
That’s what you’re going for.
Think about it. Whom do you consider to be more kind:
A person who says, “I’m really nice!”; or
A person who you've observed doing nice things for others?
Clearly, the second person will be viewed as more kind, even if there's no real-world difference between their levels of kindness. Therefore, by demonstrating your qualities, you will come across as more impressive and authentic to admissions committees.
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How to write strong personal statement body paragraphs (Goal: Describe your path to medicine)
After writing your opening paragraph to engage the reader, it’s time to write the meat and potatoes of your personal statement. Specifically, it’s time to discuss experiences that helped you grow and led to you to pursue medicine.
What personal statement topics should I avoid?
Put differently, "What should I not write about in my personal statement?" There are no specific topics that you should definitely avoid in your essay. Unfortunately, you will hear many people tell you not to bring up certain things—a parent who is a physician, a physical health or mental health condition, sports participation, volunteering abroad, etc. However, all of these anecdotes or topics can be the foundation for strong personal statements, but also weak ones; what matters is your writing approach.
Step 5: Discuss your most formative experiences that led you to medicine.
Return to your list from Step 2 (When or where have you demonstrated these qualities?) and choose one to three more experiences/areas (e.g., research, clinical work) that led you to medicine.
Why choose no more than four experiences total?
Because you should be aiming for depth over breadth (remember, you’re working with a 5,300-character limit for both AMCAS (MD application) and AACOMAS (DO application). Rather than discuss everything you’ve done, apply the following five-step formula to expand on key experiences in the body paragraphs of your personal statement:
Discuss why you pursued the experience
Mention how you felt during the experience
Describe what you accomplished and learned
Discuss how your experience affected you and the world around you
Describe how the experience influenced your decision to pursue medicine
Does the guidance in this resource apply to DO personal statements as well?
Yes, for the most part. We cover similarities and differences between AMCAS and AACOMAS personal statements in detail in our MD vs. DO guide .
Below are two examples–one routine and one compelling–to demonstrate how to achieve this:
Shadowing the neurosurgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital and witnessing their unwavering dedication to their patients and patients’ families helped me realize that I wanted to make a similar impact on people's lives.
This sentence doesn't answer the “Why medicine?” question (for example, you could greatly impact people's lives through law or teaching), nor does it demonstrate your qualities (although it makes the neurosurgeons look really good).
I was initially frustrated while shadowing neurosurgeons and caring for patients (e.g., conversing with them during downtime and providing anything in my power to make them comfortable, such as extra pillows, water, or snacks) at Massachusetts General Hospital because many patients recovered very slowly–and sometimes not at all. I wondered whether these experiences would deter me from pursuing medicine. Therefore, I was surprised when the opposite occurred. The physicians’ unwavering dedication to their patients and families' expressed gratitude–even in their saddest days–provided more than enough confirmation that medicine was the path I should pursue to make a similar physical and emotional impact on people's lives.
By going deeper about an experience, this example allowed the student to convey:
How they felt (“I was initially frustrated while shadowing…”)
How they were affected (“…the opposite [of determent] occurred”)
How they were influenced to pursue medicine specifically
Collectively, the student demonstrated their compassion, personal growth, and desire to pursue medicine.
(Note: Discuss your formative experiences in the body paragraphs in chronological order, as long as it doesn’t disrupt your essay’s flow. For example, if you choose to write about one experience in 2014 and another in 2013, write about your 2013 experience first, even if you wrote about the 2014 experience in your introductory paragraph. Having a clear timeline makes it easier for the reader to follow along.)
How many experiences should I cover in my personal statement?
If you’re like most students, you should cover somewhere between three and four personal or professional experiences in your personal statement. Beyond four, and you risk covering too much and not achieving sufficient depth; your essay might read like a narrative. Fewer than three, and your experience descriptions might get too wordy. That said, every essay is different, so you might be able to write a fantastic personal statement with fewer than three experiences or more than four. In fact, one of the best personal statements we’ve ever helped a student produce focused on a single 24-hour time period that spanned two separate experiences.
How to write a memorable personal statement conclusion (Goal: Tie it all together)
It’s (almost) time to end your personal statement and move on!
The concluding paragraph should highlight three things:
Your positive qualities (you can mention them explicitly here rather than “show” them)
Perspectives gained from your formative experiences
Your passion for medicine
Additionally, the best essays somehow refer to their introductory paragraph’s story to “close the loop.”
Step 6: Reemphasize your qualities, perspectives, and passions.
Focusing on experiences in your introduction and body paragraphs that convey your greatest qualities helps you develop a consistent theme throughout your essay. It also makes closing your essay much easier.
To demonstrate this, we’ll show you how New Orleans volunteering and neurosurgery shadowing can be tied together to reemphasize compassion and knowledge-seeking, highlight perspectives gained, and communicate a strong desire to pursue medicine.
The consistent theme throughout my extracurricular work is that, whereas I initially pursue experiences–clinical, volunteer, or otherwise–to learn, what sticks with me even more than newfound knowledge is the compassion I develop for the people I serve. Furthermore, I have realized that there is a multitude of ways to serve, such as treating people’s physical ailments, offering empathy for anxious family members, or leaving my comfort zone to help a struggling community. These perspectives, coupled with my lifelong fascination with the human body’s complexities, leave no doubt that medicine is the path through which I want to use my abilities to make a positive holistic impact on people’s lives. I hope 9-year-old Jermaine knows that I was equally touched by his gratitude for a rebuilt home, and how his reaction was partly responsible for me devoting my career to help others feel the way he did on that hot and muggy summer day.
Let’s see whether this concluding paragraph checks all three boxes:
Positive qualities (“knowledge-seeking” and “compassion,”): check
Perspectives gained from formative experiences (“…realized that there is a multitude of ways to serve”): check
Passion for medicine (“medicine is the path through which I want to use my abilities to make a positive holistic impact on people’s lives”): check
This paragraph also gets bonus points for looping Jermaine in one final time.
Essay conquered.
Does the guidance in this resource apply to TMDSAS personal statements as well?
Yes, though the TMDSAS personal statement offers a 5000-character limit vs. 5300 characters for AMCAS and AACOMAS. You can learn more about the Texas medical school application by reading our TMDSAS guide , which includes examples of a successful personal statement, personal characteristics essay, and optional essay.
Final thoughts
Your medical school personal statement offers a unique opportunity to share your story and describe your path to medicine–however you want to.
Rather than dive right in and list the extracurricular experiences that you think will most impress admissions committees, consider what impression you want to leave them with. In other words, which of your qualities do you want to be remembered for?
Once you've identified your defining qualities, the task of communicating why you are specifically fit for medicine becomes much easier. Through engaging stories, you can leave no doubt in readers' minds that you're not only qualified for this field, but also the right person for the job.
If you've ever read an article or forum post offering “tips” on how to write a great medical school personal statement, you've probably been given clichéd advice with very little supporting information, like:
“Be yourself”
“Offer a unique angle”
“Show, don’t tell”
“Get personal”
“Don’t use clichés”
“Be interesting”
“Check for grammar and spelling errors”
And so on. Here’s what usually happens when you read tips like these: You understand the information, but you’re still stuck in the same place you were before reading the article. You continue to stare at the blank document on your computer, hoping you’ll have an “aha moment.”
Unfortunately, “aha moments” rarely, if ever, come. Much more typically, students procrastinate and/or end up writing about extracurricular and personal experiences that they think admissions committees (adcoms) will be impressed by.
The problem is that if you don’t get your personal statement right, you can compromise your entire application.
If you’re a high-achieving applicant with a strong GPA, MCAT score , and rich extracurricular activities , you may get into less desirable schools than you’d hoped. If you’re an applicant on the borderline, you may not get in at all.
On the other hand, writing a powerful medical school personal statement provides adcoms insights into who you are as a person and as a budding physician. More importantly, it helps maximize your odds of admission in an increasingly competitive process.
We want you to be part of this latter group so that you can get into the best schools possible. Therefore, we figured it would be valuable to share a paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of a medical school personal statement that helped one of our students get into their dream school, which also happens to be ranked in the top 5 of the U.S. News & World Report Best Medical Schools rankings.
Throughout the analysis, we apply our internal essay evaluation framework, QPUD , which stands for the following:
You can apply the QPUD framework to analyze your own writing. You’ll soon learn that the best personal statements aren’t produced by accident, but rather through multiple thoughtful iterations.
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Full-length medical school personal statement with analysis
Before we get into the weeds with our analysis, we encourage you to read the personal statement example in its entirety. As you go through it, you should keep the following questions in mind:
Does the applicant demonstrate qualities that are desirable in a physician? If so, which ones?
Is the personal statement mostly about the applicant, or other people?
Could anyone else have written this personal statement, or is it unique to the applicant?
Does the personal statement cover too much, or is there real depth ?
Here’s the personal statement sample:
Sure, it was a little more crowded, cluttered, and low-tech, but Mr. Jackson’s biology classroom at David Starr Jordan High School in South Los Angeles seemed a lot like the one in which I first learned about intermolecular forces and equilibrium constants. Subconsciously, I just assumed teaching the 11th graders about the workings of the cardiovascular system would go smoothly. Therefore, I was shocked when in my four-student group, I could only get Nate’s attention; Cameron kept texting, Mercedes wouldn’t end her FaceTime call, and Juanita was repeatedly distracted by her friends. After unsuccessfully pleading for the group’s attention a few times, I realized the students weren’t wholly responsible for the disconnect. Perhaps the problem was one of engagement rather than a lack of interest since their focus waned when I started using terminology—like vena cava—that was probably gibberish to them. So, I drew a basic square diagram broken into quarters for the heart and a smiley face for the body’s cells that needed oxygen and nutrients. I left out structure names to focus on how four distinct chambers kept the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood separate, prompting my students with questions like, “What happens after the smiley face takes the oxygen?” This approach enabled my students to draw conclusions themselves. We spent much of class time going through the figure-8 loop, but their leaning over the table to see the diagram more clearly and blurting out answers demonstrated their engagement and fundamental understanding of the heart as a machine. My elation was obvious when they remembered it the following week.
Ever since my middle school robotics days when a surgeon invited us to LAC+USC Medical Center to unwrap Tootsie rolls with the da Vinci surgical system, I’ve felt that a physician’s role goes beyond serving patients and families. I feel an additional responsibility to serve as a role model to younger students—especially teenagers—who may be intrigued by STEM fields and medicine. Furthermore, my experience in Mr. Jackson’s classroom demonstrated the substantial benefits of assessing specific individuals’ needs even when it requires diverging slightly from the structured plan. Being flexible to discover how to best engage my students, in some ways, parallels the problem-solving aspect I love about medicine.
Clinical experiences go even further by beautifully merging this curiosity-satisfying side of medicine with what I feel is most fulfilling: the human side of care provision. My experience with a tiny three-year-old boy and his mother in genetics clinic confirmed the importance of the latter. Not only was I excited to meet him because he presented with a rare condition, but also because he and his chromosomal deletion had been the focus of my recent clinical case report, published in Genetics in Medicine. While researching his dysmorphic features and disabilities, other patients with similar deletions, and the possible genes contributing to his symptoms, I stayed up until 4 AM for several weeks, too engrossed to sleep. What was more exciting than learning about the underlying science, however, was learning about the opportunity to meet the boy and his mother in person and share my findings with them.
As soon as I walked into the examination room, I noticed the mother avoiding eye contact with the genetic counselor while clutching her son to her chest. I sensed her anxiety and disinterest in hearing about my research conclusions. The impact of her son’s condition on their daily lives probably transcended the scientific details in my report. So despite my desire to get into the science, I restrained myself from overwhelming her. Instead, I asked her to share details about the wonderful interventions she had procured for her son—speech and physical therapy, sign language lessons, special feeds, etc. Through our conversations, I realized that she was really looking for reassurance—for doing a great job caring for her son. I validated her efforts and offered relief that there were other families navigating similar difficulties. As the appointment progressed, I observed her gradually relaxing. Rather than feel weighed down by the research findings I was eager to get off my chest, I felt light as well.
At the end of the appointment, the mom offered to let me hold her son, who gazed back at me with his bright blue eyes. While cradling the little boy humanized the medical details, the mother’s gesture displayed profound trust. Above all, this experience allowed me to recognize that interactions between a patient plus family and their doctor are more than intermediary vehicles to treatment; they are critical and beneficial in their own right. Learning this affirmed my longstanding desire and eagerness to become a physician. While research is essential and will surely always trigger my curiosity, I want my work to transcend the lab bench. Specifically, I want to continue engaging with patients and helping them through life’s difficult moments—with physical treatment and genuine support. And since working with each patient constitutes an entirely different experience, I know my medical career will never cease to be fulfilling.
(Word count: 835; Character count: 5,223)
What if some of the experiences I choose to write about in my essay aren't directly related to medicine?
No worries. Medical school admissions committees look to admit individuals with qualities befitting good doctors. These qualities can be demonstrated through experiences directly related to medicine, as well as through experiences that seemingly have little to do with medicine but cast a very positive light on you. That said, your personal statement should include at least one experience directly related to medicine. In your essay, you'll want to briefly describe how your interest in medicine developed, followed by how you consistently pursued that interest.
Now, let’s analyze the entire personal statement paragraph by paragraph and answer the questions posed above.
Paragraph 1
The applicant does a great job of engaging the reader. While reading the paragraph, it’s easy to get transported to the classroom setting they describe due to the level of detail provided. (e.g., “crowded, cluttered, and low-tech,” “Cameron kept texting, Mercedes wouldn’t end her FaceTime call…,” “leaning over the table”) The applicant also highlights their service work in the community, and hints that the school may be in an underserved part of town.
The applicant contrasts the chaotic, distracted classroom with the attention and enthusiasm students exhibit after their educational intervention. This “transformation” reflects positively on the applicant because it demonstrates that they can get creative in addressing a difficult situation.
At this point, we don’t yet know about the applicant’s passion for medicine, but we learn about their interest in biology, teaching, serving, and working directly with people. All of these activities can be pursued through medicine, so the transition to medicine later in their personal statement can be seamless.
Q: Does the applicant demonstrate qualities that are desirable in a physician? If so, which ones?
Patient, assumes responsibility, flexible (e.g., “I realized the students weren’t wholly responsible for the disconnect. Perhaps the problem was one of engagement rather than a lack of interest since their focus waned when I started using terminology—like vena cava—that was probably gibberish to them. So, I drew a basic square diagram…”)
Commitment to helping students/people learn and understand (e.g., “prompting my students with questions…,” “My elation was obvious when they remembered it the following week.”)
P: Is the paragraph mostly about the applicant, or other people?
While the applicant discusses others in the introduction (e.g., the 11th graders, Nate, Juanita), there’s no question that they are the primary and most interesting character in the paragraph.
U: Could anyone else have written this paragraph, or is it unique to the applicant?
Although all competitive applicants participate in service work—many within schools—the writer makes this paragraph their own by doing the following:
Including highly specific details about the setting, environment, and students
Describing their thoughts, insights, and emotions whenever possible
D: Does the paragraph cover too much, or is there real depth?
This paragraph is a model of depth. The applicant describes how they taught a single biology lesson during a single class period at a single school. It doesn’t get much more focused than that.
Does my personal statement's introduction paragraph story have to be about an experience during college or beyond?
Not necessarily. That said, if you write your introduction about an earlier-than-college experience, you'll want to quickly transition to your college and post-college years. While medical schools want to learn about your most formative experiences, they really want to know about who you are today.
Paragraph 2
The applicant effectively uses the second paragraph to provide context, about their early interest in medicine and in mentoring youth. It becomes clear, therefore, why the applicant started off their essay writing about a teaching experience in an 11th-grade classroom.
In addition, the applicant quickly transitions from a non-medical service experience to introduce reasons behind their interest in medicine. For example, the applicant describes how they intend to serve patients and families through the field, as well as scratch their own problem-solving itch to help people.
Another important piece to highlight is how the applicant uses showing vs. telling differently across the first two paragraphs. Whereas the introductory paragraph primarily shows qualities (e.g., “So, I drew a basic square diagram…”), the second paragraph primarily tells (e.g., “Being flexible to discover how to best engage my students…”).
Because the applicant proved their flexibility in the introduction (i.e., by showing it), they can claim to be flexible here (i.e., by telling it). On the other hand, if the applicant called themselves flexible from the outset without providing evidence, they may have come across as arrogant or unobservant.
Beyond describing their early interest in medicine (i.e., “Ever since my middle school robotics days when a surgeon invited us to LAC+USC Medical Center…” there is little demonstration of qualities here. Nevertheless, the goals for this paragraph—transition to medicine, describe at a high level what draws them to medicine, set up later stories about problem solving—are clearly achieved.
The second paragraph highlights hypothetical individuals (e.g., patients and families, specific individuals) to describe the applicant’s medical interests.
Between the early experience observing the da Vinci surgical system and continuing the discussion of Mr. Jackson’s classroom, it would be very difficult for another applicant to convincingly replicate this paragraph.
The applicant certainly covers more experiences here than in the intro, but they do so to bridge the service discussion with the upcoming discussion of medical experiences. Notice also how this paragraph is intentionally kept short. The goal isn’t to get too deep into their middle school experiences, or to do more telling than necessary. Make the transition and move on so you can achieve more depth later.
Does my med school personal statement need to discuss a challenge I experienced?
It’s a common misconception to think that you have to highlight some major adversity to sound impressive. It’s true that some students have experienced greater challenges than others and their process of overcoming those challenges has led them to develop qualities befitting a great doctor. But what matters is your ability to discuss your commitment to becoming a physician and the insights you developed about your place in the medical field via personal and extracurricular experiences.
Paragraph 3
The third paragraph immediately builds off of the preceding one by letting the reader know that even more fulfilling than satisfying their own curiosity (and problem solving) is providing care to real people. This is a very important disclosure because the reader may be wondering what the applicant’s primary motivation is. As a medical school applicant, you must convey a “people first” attitude.
The applicant then dives right into what sounds like a fascinating research experience that not only results in a publication (to be discussed further in their AMCAS Work and Activities section ), but also leads to actually meeting the patient with the rare genetic condition. The applicant’s approach clearly integrates their passion for research and clinical work.
The paragraph also ends with a strong “hook.” The admissions reader is left wondering how the meeting with the boy and his mother went, so they will continue to read attentively.
Curious and hard-working (e.g., “While researching his dysmorphic features and disabilities, other patients with similar deletions, and the possible genes contributing to his symptoms, I stayed up until 4 AM for several weeks, too engrossed to sleep”)
Accomplished (e.g., “my recent clinical case report, published in Genetics in Medicine .”)
Once again, the applicant does a masterful job of incorporating storytelling and other characters (i.e., the boy and his mother) to convey the qualities that will make them a great doctor. In other words, this paragraph isn’t really about the boy and his mother, but rather how the applicant prepped for their meeting with them.
Between the upcoming meeting with the three-year-old boy and his mother, researching the boy’s genetic condition, and getting published in a specific journal, it’s basically impossible to replicate this paragraph.
The applicant maintains focus on how their interest in service and research can be applied to help real people. They take it one step further by highlighting a specific time when they did just that. There is no additional fluff, tangential information, or competing storylines.
Does my personal statement need to have a "hook"?
The short answer: Yes. But as with most things related to medical school admissions, the answer is more complicated. A "hook" is a sentence or story, typically presented in the opening paragraph, intended to grab the reader's attention. Because adcoms read tons of applications each year, it's important that they're engaged from the start. Otherwise, it's very likely that they will discount the remainder of your personal statement and your odds of getting into their school will drop precipitously. Unfortunately, many medical school applicants go overboard and force a dramatic story in hopes of presenting a hook—a trauma they observed in the ER, an emotional moment with a patient, and so on. The story might be marginally associated with the rest of their essay but will largely be viewed as a cheap way to capture attention. To be clear, there is nothing inherently wrong with discussing a difficult medical counter, personal difficulty, or any other particular type of story. However, your selection must be associated with the qualities you want to demonstrate across your entire essay and serve as its foundation. In addition, your hook need not be your opening sentence. It could be the entire first paragraph, a cliffhanger at the end of your opening paragraph, or even a second paragraph that was set up by the first. The goal is simply to ensure that you're engaging your reader early and setting the tone for the remainder of your essay.
Paragraph 4
As soon as I walked into the examination room, I noticed the mother avoiding eye contact with the genetic counselor while clutching her son to her chest. I sensed her anxiety and disinterest in hearing about my research conclusions. The impact of her son’s condition on their daily lives probably transcended the scientific details in my report. So, despite my desire to get into the science, I restrained myself from overwhelming her. Instead, I asked her to share details about the wonderful interventions she had procured for her son—speech and physical therapy, sign language lessons, special feeds, etc. Through our conversations, I realized that she was really looking for reassurance—for doing a great job caring for her son. I validated her efforts and offered relief that there were other families navigating similar difficulties. As the appointment progressed, I observed her gradually relaxing. Rather than feel weighed down by the research findings I was eager to get off my chest, I felt light as well.
The applicant right away begins to describe their meeting with the boy and his mother. We understand that while the applicant was ready to share their research with the family, the mother appears anxious and is more interested in understanding how she can help her son.
It should also be noted that the applicant does not judge the mother in any way and offers supporting evidence for their conclusions about what the mother must’ve been thinking and feeling. For example, rather than just call the mother “anxious,” the applicant first describes how she avoided eye contact and clutched her son tightly.
The applicant once again demonstrates their flexibility by showing how they modified their talking points to fit the family’s needs rather than satisfy their own curiosity and self-interest. Moreover, they highlight not only the approach they took with this family, but also the impact on their care. For example, after discussing how they validated the mother’s care efforts, the applicant mentions how the mother relaxed.
Socially aware (e.g., “I noticed the mother avoiding eye contact with the genetic counselor while clutching her son to her chest. I sensed her anxiety and disinterest in hearing about my research conclusions. The impact of her son’s condition on their daily lives probably transcended the scientific details in my report.”)
Flexible (e.g., “So despite my desire to get into the science, I restrained myself from overwhelming her. Instead, I asked her to share details about the wonderful interventions she had procured for her son—speech and physical therapy, sign language lessons, special feeds, etc.”)
Socially skilled and validating (e.g., “Through our conversations, I realized that she was really looking for reassurance—for doing a great job caring for her son. I validated her efforts and offered relief that there were other families navigating similar difficulties.”)
At first glance, it may appear that this paragraph is as much about the mother as it is about the applicant. After all, the mother procured various services for her son and has done a marvelous job of caring for him.
Nevertheless, the applicant is not competing in any way with the mother. By demonstrating their flexibility and social skills, the applicant reinforces great qualities they’ve demonstrated elsewhere and remains at the top of our minds.
In isolation, perhaps. However, at this point in the personal statement, along with the loads of insights, thoughts, and feelings, there’s no question that this story is unique to the applicant.
This paragraph is another model of depth. The applicant goes into highly specific details about a memorable experience with a specific family. There’s significant showing vs. telling, which continues to maintain the reader’s engagement.
Paragraph 5
How many people should i ask to review my personal statement.
Typically, we recommend that no matter than two people—people who have experience evaluating med school personal statements—review your essay. Everyone you show your essay to will have an opinion and suggest changes, but trying to appease everyone usually leads to diluting your own voice. And even if your personal statement is great, someone will eventually identify something they perceive to be an issue, which will only exacerbate your anxiety. Two people is a good number because you can receive more than one opinion but avoid the problem of having too many cooks in the kitchen.
The final paragraph accomplishes three key goals:
Concluding the story about meeting the boy and his mother;
Bringing the applicant’s insights full circle; and
Restating their interest in medicine while offering a preview of what type of physician they intend to be.
By describing how they built a trusting relationship with the patient and his mother, the applicant deliberately continues the theme of patient-centered care ultimately being more important to them—and to medicine—than underlying pathologies and interestingness of various medical scenarios.
Although the applicant does not circle back to the classroom story in the introduction, they close the loop with the personal statement’s central and most important story. In addition, they end on a high note by mentioning how enthusiastic they are about their medical career.
Trustworthy (e.g., “At the end of the appointment, the mom offered to let me hold her son, who gazed back at me with his bright blue eyes.”)
Insightful (e.g., “Above all, this experience allowed me to recognize that interactions between a patient plus family and their doctor are more than intermediary vehicles to treatment; they are critical and beneficial in their own right.”)
Patient-centered and caring (e.g., “While research is essential and will surely always trigger my curiosity, I want my work to transcend the lab bench. Specifically, I want to continue engaging with patients and helping them through life’s difficult moments—with physical treatment and genuine support.”)
This paragraph is all about the applicant. Even the detail about cradling the boy highlights their earlier efforts in building trust with the family. After this brief conclusion to the story, the applicant explores their own developing insights about the field and how they intend to practice medicine in the future.
In combination with the insights shared in this paragraph, the story and details up to this point round out the personal statement uniquely.
Conclusion paragraphs should summarize insights and information presented earlier in the personal statement. The applicant does a fine job of solidifying their longstanding interest in medicine without adding significant new details, knowing they can cover additional stories throughout their secondary applications and during interviews .
Can you say a little more about how I can write my essay so that it's clear I want to go into medicine and not another health care field?
- A long-term commitment to medically-relevant experiences
- A clear understanding of what medicine entails that other fields don't
At various points while writing your personal statement, you may wonder whether your essay is “good enough.”
The goal of this guide isn’t to allow you to compare your personal statement to the sample we’ve provided. Rather, we want you to have a framework for evaluating your work to ensure that it conveys your outstanding qualities, engages the reader, and describes your authentic journey to medicine.
If you’re like most applicants, you’re worried about choosing a clichéd medical school personal statement topic . You fear that your application may be thrown into the rejection pile if you fail to present yourself in a unique way.
To help you avoid common pitfalls and write a memorable personal statement, we’ve highlighted eight different ways that unique personal statements differ from clichéd ones.
We’ll first describe the clichéd approach and describe why it’s problematic. Then we’ll provide specific writing techniques you can use to make your essay truly stand out.
Clichéd Approach 1: Only discussing experiences that you think make you seem the most impressive.
Most applicants begin writing their essays by choosing the experience(s) that they think will help them stand out to admissions committees. By focusing on specific experiences that applicants think will impress the admissions committee (e.g. clinical shadowing, research, and volunteering), students often forget to demonstrate their unique qualities.
Let’s see how this becomes a problem.
In your AMCAS Work and Activities section, you may have included your experience conducting chemistry research for three years, shadowing in a clinic for two years, volunteering as an English tutor for underserved youth in Chicago for six years, volunteering with a medical mission trip to Haiti for two summers, and serving as president of a premed organization for one year.
Given these choices, most students would choose to write about clinical volunteering in Chicago or their medical mission trip to Haiti because they think these experiences were most impressive. If you take one of these two approaches, you would probably start the essay by describing an interaction with a very ill patient or one with whom you experienced a language barrier.
An essay about clinical shadowing could start something like this:
Clichéd introduction
I used to eat lunch with Felipa on Wednesdays. She was always very nervous when she came in to get her blood drawn, and she liked to speak with me beforehand. Although she was suffering from breast cancer, she had a positive attitude that made the doctors and the nurses feel like one big family. Her positive attitude helped lift the spirits of other patients in the room. Throughout my lunches with Felipa, she would tell me how she still cooked dinner every day for her husband and two young kids. She brought that same compassion to the hospital, always with a contagious smile. I endeavored to give her the best care by offering her water and chatting with her on her chemo days. However, I was always bothered that I could not treat Felipa’s cancer myself. This powerlessness I felt inspired me to pursue medicine to help future patients battle this horrible illness by discovering new treatments.
While we gain some information about the applicant’s motivations to study medicine (e.g., to help future patients…by discovering new treatments ), it explores a common topic (i.e., a realization that came during clinical shadowing) with a typical delivery (i.e., written broadly about interactions with a specific patient).
The paragraph does not do a good job of painting a picture of the applicant, as we don’t learn about her standout qualities or other aspects of her identity.
Moreover, if we replace “Felipa” with another name, it becomes clear that any applicant who engaged in a similar shadowing experience could have written this paragraph. This is not to say that an essay that includes shadowing will always be clichéd. After all, the topic is only one aspect of your personal statement.
Remember, there are no good or bad topics. Rather, there are strong ways—and poor ways—to write about these topics.
Instead of asking if your topic is “good” or “bad,” you should be asking yourself whether your essay has a “typical” or “standout” delivery.
You want your personal statement to be written so engagingly that it serves as a pleasant interruption to the admissions committee member’s routine. Surprise them when they rarely expect to be surprised.
Unique Alternative 1: Demonstrating the qualities that make you distinct by choosing experiences that highlight your best characteristics.
The best personal statement writers decide which qualities they want to emphasize to admissions committees before choosing a certain experience. Then, they focus on a specific event or situation that captures the admissions committees’ attention by telling a detailed story—oftentimes a story that does not overtly involve medicine.
By deciding on your qualities beforehand, you will choose a story that authentically delivers your intended message.
Don’t be afraid to select an experience or story that strays from the typical, “impressive” premed extracurricular activity. After all, med schools want to accept applicants because of their wonderful qualities and unique attributes, not because of a specific experience or extracurricular activity.
Let’s imagine that the same applicant from the previous example chose to write about her community involvement outside of medicine.
From her list of extracurricular activities, she could choose to write about volunteering as an English tutor or being the lead saxophone player in a campus jazz ensemble. By picking one of these options, this student could write an entirely unique personal statement introduction.
Let’s see how an effective essay might begin with her volunteer work as an English tutor:
Unique introduction
I could feel the sweat rolling down my back as twenty first graders stared at me. It was July in Chicago, and the building where I volunteered as an English teacher twice a week did not have air conditioning. I had volunteered as a one-on-one tutor for the past six years, but this was my first time teaching a large group. The students, largely from working-class, Spanish-speaking households, reminded me of myself, as I grew up as the daughter of two Mexican emigrants. I personally understood the challenges the students faced, and I wanted to use my own experience and knowledge to help set them on the path to academic success.
This introduction would likely stand out to an admissions committee member not only because it discusses something other than clinical shadowing but also because it demonstrates the writer’s commitment to her community, and it reveals something about the applicant’s personal background.
Should I mention bad grades in my personal statement?
In most cases, no. With limited characters, your primary goal for your personal statement should be to tell medical school admissions committees why you will be an excellent doctor. Admissions committees will already see your grades. If you use too much space discussing your poor grades during freshman year or some other time, you'll draw even more attention to the red flags on your application and lose a golden opportunity to demonstrate your impressive qualities. One exception is if you received poor grades due to some extraordinary circumstance, such as recovering from a significant accident or illness. Even then, you might want to discuss your poor grades in another section of your application, such as a secondary essay.
Clichéd Approach 2: Listing your qualities and accomplishments like you are explaining your resume.
When many students begin writing their personal statements, they “tell” and don’t “show”.
Even though the advice to “show, don’t tell” is commonly given, students rarely know what it actually means to demonstrate or “show” their qualities rather than simply listing them.
We’ll provide an overly simple example to highlight why “telling” your qualities is such a problem:
Ever since I was a kid, I have received excellent grades and have excelled at all things related to science. My success in conducting chemistry research and my numerous presentations at biochemistry conferences is testament to my ability to succeed as a doctor. In fact, my family and friends have encouraged me to pursue this route because of my academic success.
While we learn that the applicant thinks that he is a great student who is excellent at science, and we learn that his family believes that he should pursue medicine because of his academic success, we do not actually see any evidence of these qualities. Sure, he tells us that his family thinks that he is brilliant, but we do not know why they think he is brilliant.
Unique Alternative 2: Showing, and not telling, the applicant’s qualities.
When you demonstrate your best qualities through examples, you provide a more authentic glimpse about the type of person you really are.
For instance, if you read the following sentences from two different applicants, who would you think was more caring?
Applicant 1: I am very empathic.
Applicant 2: Volunteering with elderly Japanese women has taught me how aging immigrants face cultural barriers while also navigating health problems, from diabetes to cancer.
Even though Applicant 1 says that they are empathic, you probably picked Applicant 2, even though she never uses the word “empathic” (or a synonym) in her sentence. As the reader, you were able to extrapolate how empathic that applicant is by seeing what they do.
Returning to the introductory paragraph with Felipa from example 1, we can see that the typical introduction “tells” about the applicant’s qualities, whereas the standout paragraph “shows” the applicant’s qualities. Let’s look at some examples to clarify:
I endeavored to give her the best care… (giving)
This powerlessness I felt inspired me to pursue medicine to help future patients… (inspired)
I had volunteered as one-on-one tutor for the past six years, but this was my first time teaching a large group. (dedicated, risk-taking)
I personally understood the challenges the students faced, and I wanted to use my own experience and knowledge to help set them on the path to academic success (giving, empowering, empathetic)
Is it OK to discuss a mental health condition in my med school personal statement?
You might have heard that, given the stigma surrounding many mental health conditions, that you should avoid discussing them in your personal statement, no matter what. However, as with many things related to med school essays, the answer depends on the specific condition, severity, and reason behind sharing it. Certain conditions have more stigma associated with them than others and are therefore more difficult to sensitively incorporate in your personal statement. But regardless of your specific mental health condition or its severity, it’s important to ask yourself why you would share it. For instance, if the primary reason for sharing your mental health condition is to show adcoms how much adversity you have overcome, then you should probably leave out your condition or reconsider why you would share it. However, if your reason is to describe the insights you developed about people and about medicine, or how your condition served as a springboard for you to pursue certain activities, then it might be worthwhile to share. Writing about mental health conditions in your personal statement should be approached delicately, so make sure to work with someone who has experience doing so.
Clichéd Approach 3: Stating that you want to be a physician to help people or talking about how being a doctor is such an honor.
When you ask medical school applicants why they want to be a doctor, they usually say that they want to help people. While you should include this fact in your personal statement, it can be difficult to articulate why you want to help people or how you will help them in a way that is not clichéd.
Most applicants will probably write some version of the following in their personal statement:
I want to be a physician because I want to help people who are sick. It would be an honor to serve people in need.
The problem with these statements is that any applicant could have written them. Every doctor wants to help patients who are sick or in need.
Failing to offer a specific reason for your motivation to become a doctor or a specific way in which you plan to help your patients will make it hard for the admissions committee to see what unique approaches and insights you will bring to medicine.
Unique Alternative 3: Explaining specific ways that you intend to help patients or specific reasons why you want to help patients.
To make your statement more convincing, you could add a specific method that you will use to help patients. Consider the following example:
I want to become a physician to provide reassurance to a patient awaiting their lab results, and laughter to a patient who needs an uplift after a week of chemotherapy.
Whereas any medical school applicant could have written the statement in the clichéd example, the statement in the unique example demonstrates specific qualities about the applicant. By explaining that certain patients might need reassurance while others might want laughter, the applicant shows us that they are empathic and sensitive to the needs of individual patients.
To make your statement more authentic, you can also explain why you are drawn to a specific aspect of medicine or a certain demographic of patients. Let’s look at another example:
As a woman with PCOS, I want to improve the field of women’s health so that I can provide other young women comfort and reassurance as they come to terms with their bodies.
This applicant shows that she is passionate about women’s health by connecting her desire to enter medicine to her own health condition. This statement suggests that she will use her own experience to empathize with patients when she becomes a physician.
Should I mention my desired specialty in my med school personal statement?
Probably not. Admissions committees want to recruit students who are incredibly curious and open to different training opportunities. Highlighting a desire to enter a specific specialty might make you seem closed off. That said, it's perfectly fine to express a commitment to serving certain communities or a desire to address specific issues so long as you don't inadvertently box yourself in.
Clichéd Approach 4: Focusing too much on characters who are not you.
The previous two approaches focus on how your personal statement introduction should tell a story. And what do we need for a great story? A character!
Applicants often make another character (e.g. a family member, patient, a physician they shadowed or worked under) the most compelling and interesting character. But when you give or share the limelight with another character, you make it easy for the admissions committee to forget the most important person in the story: YOU. You should be the star of your own personal statement.
We are not saying that you should avoid including another character in your personal statement. In fact, including other characters in your statement reminds the admission committee that you have had a positive impact on other people.
However, these other characters must be used to demonstrate your qualities. These qualities can come from an insight you had while interacting or observing them.
We see how this becomes a problem in the clichéd paragraph from example 1. Felipa and the applicant are both main characters. Indeed, we don’t even read about the applicant or their insights until the seventh sentence. Who knows? Admissions committees might even offer Felipa an interview instead of you.
Unique Alternative 4: Maintaining the focus on the main character—you!
In contrast, the unique paragraph from example 1 about the English tutor in Chicago tells us about the applicant’s passions, commitments, and initiative. Let’s revisit the example:
I personally understood the challenges the students faced, and I wanted to use my own experience and knowledge to help set them on the path to academic success.
Even though she writes about tutoring first-grade students in Chicago, their role in the story is to highlight how she is dedicated to helping her community and empowering students from backgrounds like hers. The students never get in the way of us learning about the applicant.
Now, you may be worried that focusing on you and your qualities will make you come off as arrogant or cocky to the admissions committee. By letting the stories do the talking for you, your personal statement will avoid making you appear egoistical. On the other hand, saying that you are a “good person” or “brilliant” without telling a story can make you seem arrogant.
With only 5,300 characters, you should aim to keep the emphasis almost entirely on you.
Clichéd Approach 5: Focusing too much on describing the activity itself.
Many applicants will write about clinical shadowing, volunteering, or research at some point in their personal statements. Sometimes, however, applicants are so excited by the activity that they forget to include themselves in the experience.
For instance, an applicant looking to highlight their work in a prestigious lab might write:
Working in Dr. Carpenter’s lab, an endowed professor at Harvard Medical School, was exhilarating. The main research project was an experiment that explored how rats responded to various stimulant medications. Our results demonstrated that one of the drugs we tested on the rats may have significant promise for treating Alzheimer’s disease.
While this paragraph demonstrates the student’s familiarity with and excitement about original research, it does not tell us much about the applicant’s specific characteristics or contributions. We learn about the research project in Dr. Carpenter’s lab, but we don’t know what qualities or insights the applicant has gained from conducting the research.
Unique Alternative 5: Unique statements explain how you made an impact through an activity and how the activity impacted you.
While you may think that highlighting a research experience with a famous doctor or in a prestigious lab will bolster your application, writing about it in your personal statement may actually harm you if you do not highlight your own accomplishments and traits.
Focus on activities where you had an impact, even if the activity itself does not seem impressive. Consider the following examples:
Applicant 1: While working in Dr. Smith’s lab, I managed five interns. To make the lab a more congenial environment, I started a weekly lunch hour where we could all discuss our different research projects. This opportunity gave the interns more confidence to talk about their individual lab work, which made it easier for the entire research staff to collaborate on different experiments.
Applicant 2: Working in Dr. Martin’s lab with five other interns taught me the importance of serving on a team. When one of our experiments failed, I made sure that the group met to discuss the results. I offered advice to my lab mates on how they could obtain better results on the next trial. This experience taught me the importance of learning new research methods from my peers to achieve the best results possible.
We do not know whether Applicant 1 or Applicant 2 are working in prestigious labs or with prestigious PIs. However, we do learn that Applicant 1 has shown leadership skills and initiative by working to make the lab a more collaborative space.
Similarly, even though Applicant 2 highlights her lab’s failures, we nevertheless discover that she is a team player, eager to learn from her fellow researchers, and does not let failure stop her. She sounds like someone you might want to have in your medical school study group.
I feel like I don’t have enough space to write everything I want. What should I do?
You shouldn't try to fit everything into your personal statement. In fact, if you try to cover everything within the 5,300-character limit, you'll end up covering nothing well. Remember that your complete application includes multiple written sections: your personal statement, Work and Activities section, and secondary application essays. You should aim to provide admissions committees with a holistic view of who you are across your entire application, not solely through your personal statement. Your personal statement should be used to offer a bird's eye view of who you are and your path to medicine, whereas your AMCAS Work and Activities section and secondary essays should cover the finer details.
Clichéd Approach 6: Articulating an idea without explaining how it relates to your qualities or insights.
Even when some applicants pick unusual topics, they forget to relate those experiences to why they want to be a doctor. Consider the following applicant who has a passion for running.
Applicant 1: I am passionate about running and encouraging others to run because it is good for everyone’s health. That is why I have spent years running marathons and coaching cross country in my free time.
While the applicant says that he is excited about running because it is “good for everyone’s health,” we do not exactly see what the applicant means. Most people believe that exercise is good for your health already, so this applicant would need to explain why he believes running is important, and how his passion for running relates to medicine.
Unique Alternative 6: Explaining your thought process, critical thinking, and decision-making abilities.
When you make an obvious claim (e.g., exercise is good for your health), you should explain why you personally believe this. By drawing on specific evidence and observations, you can show the admissions committee what unique and specific insights you have about a so-called obvious idea.
Applicant 2: After my sister started to run, she began to lose weight. I also noticed that her depression waned and that she regained energy, which manifested in her eagerness to socialize with family and friends. While I always knew that exercise was important, I never believed that it could entirely change a person. This experience led me to believe that exercising can serve as a form of medicine.
Whereas Applicant 1 makes a general claim about running, Applicant 2 draws on a specific, personal example by connecting his sister’s running habit to her holistic health. He mentions her weight loss, improvements in mental health, and increase in energy. In other words, we see why the applicant believes that running provides a health benefit.
Clichéd Approach 7: Writing an overly dramatic first sentence.
Recalling writing courses from high school and college, applicants often try to “hook” the reader’s attention by beginning with a dramatic first sentence. Because of this, applicants sometimes begin their essays with a dramatic moment that fails to offer insight into the applicant’s motivations for studying medicine.
Let’s look at the following first sentence by an applicant who worked in the ER.
It felt as if the world was going to end on that faithful day in the ER when I first witnessed someone die.
This introduction is typical of students writing about clinical shadowing. Rather than showing how he is unique, this statement simply demonstrates that the applicant has had a challenging experience during clinical shadowing.
Unique Alternative 7: Introducing your personal statement with a unique observation or idea that you will further develop in subsequent paragraphs.
Instead of dramatizing or hyperbolizing an experience, you can make your introduction truly unique by making a claim about an idea, insight, or observation that tells the admissions committee why you are excited by medicine. Let’s see how the applicant who wrote about running in example 6 might begin their statement in this way:
For my sister and me, running is a form of medicine.
Even though this example is not as dramatic as the previous one, it catches the reader’s attention by making a unique claim that the reader will want to know more about. The reader will see that the applicant is thinking critically and creatively about what medicine means to him.
Clichéd Approach 8: Writing about various experiences without showing how they are connected.
Even when applicants have thoughtfully selected a few experiences that demonstrate their personal qualities, they sometimes fail to create a “bigger picture” in their personal statement and, consequently, in their entire medical school application. In other words, the experiences described in their essay do not connect or cohere around a central theme.
A personal statement without a theme will come across as unfocused and, most likely, unmemorable. Even if each section of your essay is well-written, if they don’t together add up to highlight something larger, admissions officers will be left without a clear takeaway of who you are and what your goals and motivations are for entering medicine.
Unique Alternative 8: Connecting the experiences in your essay through a common theme.
A theme will serve as the connective tissue that holds everything in your personal statement together. What’s more, it provides a lens through which adcoms will remember you.
For example, if your personal statement discusses playing jazz saxophone, volunteering with children at a community garden, and scribing in an emergency room, you might begin by writing about how studying jazz taught you the value of improvisation, a quality you then brought to the fore while volunteering with children and working as an ER scribe. With a central theme of improvisation, your essay will provide a clear takeaway of you as flexible, adaptable, and creative (i.e., the qualities you decided to highlight).
Alternatively, some applicants choose more concrete themes that focus their essays around a central interest. For instance, perhaps your personal statement describes growing up in a rural community without access to adequate primary care, which led you to eventually volunteer with a mobile clinic for agricultural workers and intern in the public health department of your state. You’ll likely be remembered as “the applicant who’s passionate about improving rural health.”
Just as your personal statement is the foundation of your medical school application, your theme is the foundation of your personal statement. Therefore, it’s important that your personal statement’s theme is reflected throughout your medical school application, including in your Work and Activities section and secondary essays.
Clichéd Approach 9: Moving abruptly from one section of your personal statement to the next.
A theme isn’t the only tool that’s important for connecting the different components of your personal statement; you also want to ensure that you’re using effective transition sentences when moving from one idea to the next.
You can think of theme as the macro glue and transitions as the micro glue that make your personal statement cohere. Without smooth transitions, your personal statement will come across as choppy and your ideas may appear unlinked, making your theme seem illogical or unclear.
Unique Alternative 9: Using effective transitions to smoothly link different experiences and ideas.
There are a number of ways to transition from one experience or idea to the next. Here are a few, along with examples of transitional phrases that can help you build bridges between different parts of your personal statement:
You can show logical consequence or how one event led to another (e.g., “As a result,” “For this reason,” “Therefore”)
You can describe experiences in chronological order (e.g., “Next,” “Since then,” “After”)
You can point out the similarity between two things (e.g., “Similarly,” “Additionally,” “Furthermore”)
You can highlight the contrast between two things (e.g., “Even though,” “Despite,” “However”)
You can give an example (“For instance,” “By doing X,” “When I embarked on Y”)
However (no pun intended!), it isn’t strictly necessary to use transitional phrases or sentences between every section of your personal statement. Sometimes, the logic between ideas will be obvious through simple description, and excessive transitions may get in the way of smoothness and flow.
To learn more, we recommend this resource on transitions from the University of Wisconsin.
When should I aim to have my personal statement finalized by?
We recommend having a final version of your personal statement completed by May 15 of your application year so you can take full advantage of the rolling admissions process. To learn more about writing and submission deadlines, you’re encouraged you to review the ideal medical school application timeline .
Clichéd Approach 10: Writing in a way that can be replicated by other applicants.
Admissions committees are eager to learn about what makes you distinct from your peers, why you want to pursue a career as a physician, and what you will contribute to their school and the larger medical community.
If your personal statement reads like a completely different applicant could have written it, admissions committees will struggle to differentiate you from your competition.
Our earlier example of the applicant who describes her shadowing experience with Felipa does not offer any information specific to her. We do not learn about her physical appearance, town of origin, culture, country of origin, hometown, etc. There simply are not enough details or unique insights that paint a portrait of the applicant.
Unique Alternative 10: Writing a personal statement that could have only been written by you.
At any point while writing the draft of your personal statement, asks yourself whether another applicant could have written it. If the answer is “yes,” you have two options:
You can return to the first few paragraphs of your essay and add distinct details about yourself, such as your town of origin, physical appearance, etc., to help the reader visualize who you are better.
Start over. If you find that it is too difficult to add details about your life story and standout qualities in your original essay, then you may need to start over by including different stories and experiences that show how you are unique.
Let’s look at how you might revise a clichéd sentence to come across as more unique:
Applicant 1: I developed a passion for helping people by volunteering at the local soup kitchen.
Applicant 2: Growing up in rural Idaho, I had no idea how many people in my community lived in poverty until I started to volunteer at the local soup kitchen.
Whereas any applicant who has volunteered at a soup kitchen could have written the first sentence, only someone who grew up in rural Idaho could have written the second sentence.
As a bonus, the second statement also shows us a realization that the applicant has about her hometown, which suggests that she is thinking critically about her environment.
In your essay, you can include several unique details, including state of origin, country of origin, religion, hobbies, studies and research outside of medicine, creative pursuits, family’s culture, physical appearance, health history, special talents, language abilities, etc. Admissions committees look for candidates that can bring unique insights and different perspectives to their programs.
While certain details can help paint a meaningful portrait of you, it is important to remember that the personal statement is not a work of creative writing.
For example, including details about the color of your shirt and the type of shoe you were wearing may help make the story in your personal statement more vivid, but these details fail to offer insights about your unique qualities or your life experiences. Admissions committees will be interested by your unique traits, not the look of your clothes.
How can I know when my personal statement is ready to submit?
- It highlights your great qualities;
- It clearly describes your path to medicine—or discusses experiences that led you to develop key insights about the field;
- It tells the actually story of your desire to become a physician and not what you believe someone wants to hear;
- It is highly personal and could have only been written by you; and
- It is devoid of spelling or grammatical errors.
By following these instructions on how to avoid clichés, you can write a memorable personal statement that stands out to admissions committees.
Whereas writing a clichéd personal statement will likely cause your application to end up in the rejection pile, crafting an authentic, unique personal statement will help lead you to your white coat ceremony.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.
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I partly grew up in Bangkok, a city in which there are more shopping malls than there are psychiatrists. I did this math as soon as I found out that my older sister had attempted suicide outside of a shopping mall. The stigmatization of mental illness is still widespread in Thailand and as a result, the hospital and my family treated her case as anything but an attempt on her own life. At the time, I was reading “The Yellow Wall Paper” in school, a story about inadequately treated postpartum depression in the 1890s. I saw parallels, as my sister had begun to look gray after the birth of her daughter. I repeatedly voiced my concerns, but no one listened to me. No one was addressing her health from a broader perspective, and as a result, she was left to fend for her own mental health. She was powerless, and I felt powerless too.
This blindness for mental wellbeing in my society confounded me, so I chose to study it further at UT Austin. When I began working at the Dell Seton Medical Center, however, my idealism about patient-centered care was quickly put to the test when I was regarded with cynicism due to my own identity. One afternoon, a diabetic patient approached me for assistance in applying for food stamps. Although he was visibly in discomfort, he refused the chair I pulled out for him. While we gathered information, he gruffly asked me where I was from. “America,” I answered. Unsatisfied with my answer, he repeated his question eight more times until I caved and answered with my ethnicity. Following this, he grew impatient and kept insisting he could complete the process with another shift. But I knew arranging transport would be difficult and costly. Determined to turn the interaction around, I soldiered on with the application process. I discovered that he had a daughter, and I asked about her interests. He grew animated as he talked lovingly about her, and I completed my work. Commuting home in the dark, I beamed; I was able to build rapport and assist someone who did not initially believe in me.
I strove to supplement my education with parallel experiences in research and volunteer work. In a course about stigma and prejudice, I discovered that minority status was a marker for increased IL-6 inflammation, and that individuals primed with stereotypes about race, sex, or disease suffer greatly, but often invisibly. Walking out of lecture, I planned out how I could implement these findings in my own work. During data collection for a community sleep study, I applied my renewed perspective on the phone with a participant. I sensed exasperation in her voice, so I sincerely thanked her for her time. Suddenly, she began to wail into the phone. As her personal story unraveled, I found out that experiences of racial discrimination had breached every area of her life, including her healthcare—as a result, she felt alienated and left with inadequate treatment. When she expressed thoughts of suicide, I began to panic. But I kept my voice composed, reinforced her resilience, and gained a verbal confirmation that we would speak the next day. The disempowering marginalization she felt mirrored my sister’s situation years ago. But this time, I was equipped with my education.
The more I learned about the social determinants of health, the clearer it became that healthcare was inherently social. This solidified my interest in medicine and motivated me to pursue research in social psychology. As I trained on how to code facial expressions for my honors thesis, I shadowed Dr. Sekhon, a geriatric psychiatrist, at an assisted living facility. One of his patients was an injured former athlete who was having trouble standing. His wife held back tears as he grimaced and repeatedly referred to “passing on.” Dr. Sekhon studied his patients’ face intently, and then, instead of altering medications or suggesting tests, he encouraged his patient to stand for 10 seconds longer each day. There was a shift in the room, and I could measure it by the expressions on their faces. The man’s eyes wrinkled in a genuine smile and his wife’s enthusiastic agreement reflected Dr. Sekhon’s success. The way a physician could read facial expressions to address what the patient did not verbalize was incredibly powerful—I was awestruck.
Inspired by this observation, I wrote my honors thesis on the relationship between power and health outcomes. Experiences of disempowerment and of illness magnify one another, but a doctor can empower someone in their most vulnerable moments by connecting with them. Much like my sister, many patients need clinicians that address both physical and invisible hardships. I am eager to be part of a new generation of healthcare providers with sensitivity to the diverse ways that people communicate distress and wellbeing. One patient at a time, we can shift archaic mindsets deeply rooted in our communities, and ensure that every life we touch receives socially and culturally competent care. For me, studying medicine means being part of something bigger by empowering others—and myself—along the way.
Paragraph 1 Analysis
The applicant begins their essay by immediately (and effectively) putting their unique upbringing in conversation with their family-inspired interest in medicine. Even though they do not say anything directly about an interest in medicine in this paragraph, we can see that the applicant is clearly passionate about doing the right thing, and about helping people in general. We can also see that they are aware of a gap that needs filling and a stigma that needs addressing.
Thoughtful/empathetic/high moral principles - Despite cultural resistance to mental healthcare, the applicant understands the value of protecting one’s mental wellbeing, and that it is an essential aspect of a healthy life. They take the initiative to listen to their sister, to carefully watch for signs of illness, and to advocate for her even in the face of a society pushing against them.
The paragraph is about how much the applicant cares for their sister, and that makes it personal. Even though the sister is a huge part of this paragraph, and even though Bangkok itself almost reads like a character on its own, the applicant’s careful reflections connect all of these outside sources to who they are and what they value.
The geographical, cultural, and familial details make this paragraph unique. Also notice how the applicant is able to discuss their sister’s suicide attempt without it feeling appropriative or self-serving, since they connect the trauma to a larger cultural issue that the applicant wants to address.
Even in the first paragraph, there is depth that will be fleshed out in the rest of the essay: The applicant sees something wrong in their culture, and is determined to fix it. The applicant is also showing an awareness of just how complicated and imperfect the healthcare system can be, demonstrating a perspective that is nuanced, mature, and compelling.
Paragraph 2 Analysis
Notice how the applicant takes the essay in a different direction than we expected after reading the first paragraph. We move from an anecdote about their sister nearly committing suicide to a seemingly unrelated anecdote about a prejudiced patient. The connecting thread between these two stories, of course, is the applicant. Their reflections on and reactions to both situations highlight their character, which is what the personal statement is all about. We also see another take on how it feels to encounter someone’s resistance to your own voice and perspective, just as the applicant encountered resistance in the face of their efforts to advocate for their sister.
Gumptious/perseverant - Most people would have a hard time helping the patient described in the above paragraph. Prejudiced, unkind, and ungrateful, he seems like a nightmare to work with. And yet the applicant shows us that, despite his rude, racist behavior, they remained strong, patient, and helpful, turning the situation into something more positive for both of them. This ability to face adversity and overcome it is a very desirable quality for any physician to possess. It also shows that the applicant knows how to adapt and problem solve in a high stress situation, putting the needs of the patient before their own, albeit justified, frustration.
As always, although the paragraph tells us the story of a particular patient, it is truly about the applicant’s interaction with that patient.
The specificity of this story makes it utterly unique to the applicant. Also, the applicant is demonstrating a nuanced and unique ability to transition between seemingly disparate experiences in paragraph one versus two.
The depth of this paragraph is rooted in the qualities it highlights in the applicant, as outlined above. As such, the strategy here is doubly effective: Not only are we reading an engaging moment of narrative, we’re also gaining some insight into why this was particularly meaningful for the patient.
Paragraph 3 Analysis
The process of personal growth. This essay does a fantastic job of highlighting the applicant’s personal growth through potent anecdotes and life experiences. This allows the applicant to show how they've changed and brings the personal statement to life. Notice how they set this up in the first paragraph when writing about their sister’s mental health. “She was powerless, and I felt powerless, too.” Later, when the applicant speaks to a patient over the phone and realizes the “disempowering marginalization” she felt, they remark, “But this time, I was equipped with my education.” Adcoms realize that the path to an MD doesn’t start and end at clearly defined points. The process of “becoming” a doctor is a road you will travel even after you’ve earned your white coat. Learning will continue as you grow in your career. You may not have a story of discrimination to tell, but we’ve all experienced moments of personal growth. Positively highlighting your growth is a great way to show your resilience and determination to succeed in medicine.
After detouring from the first paragraph’s anecdote to share with us the prejudice they’ve experienced directly, the applicant returns to the story of their sister’s attempted suicide, but this time the story has a comparative function. By juxtaposing the helplessness they felt in regards to their sister with the empowering experience on the phone, we can see that the applicant has not only grown, they’ve also shown real initiative in taking on a societal problem head on.
Determined/collected/resilient - Despite the emotional impact of being reminded of their sister’s near-death, the applicant pushes forward, collecting themselves and utilizing their education to make a real impact.
Empathetic - The applicant is able to stay calm in a high stakes situation because they are unconditionally empathetic towards the caller.
The paragraph is about the applicant’s genuine desire to help other people. We see a real passion in their desire to make an impact in regards to high-stakes issues, which allows us to get to know who they are not only as a potential physician, but as an advocate as well.
The connection to the first paragraph makes this paragraph unique both narratively and structurally.
The depth of this paragraph can be seen in its comparison to the first paragraph. Where the applicant initially felt powerless in the face of suicide, now they have matured and become better equipped to tackle such a high-stakes situation.
Paragraph 4 Analysis
The applicant provides us with three important details in this paragraph: First, that they trained to code facial expressions, second, that they shadowed Dr. Sekhon, and third, that they were inspired by the shadowing experience. Notice how their education immediately comes into play in discussing the expressions on the patients, and how the interest in the depth of facial complexity speaks both to their interest in mental health and their empathy.
Observant - Although an important aspect of your pre-med career, shadowing is sometimes a difficult experience to write about, for obvious reasons. What about the experience is interesting, if you were merely a shadow? How do you personalize work that nearly every applicant is going to have done? This applicant makes themselves stand out by telling the story of Dr. Sekhon and the retired athlete in such detail that they are indirectly showing us how careful and observant they are.
Although the narrative in this paragraph is entirely focused on other people, the thematic core belongs to the applicant, because the paragraph is about their observation of and reaction to this incident, more so than the incident itself.
The details of this office visit, combined with the hard skills the applicant is displaying and the awareness of a physician whose values they will want to embrace in their own way, make this paragraph unique.
This paragraph has depth in an indirect sense—the way the applicant was inspired is the most important point that the writing gets across.
Paragraph 5 Analysis
To conclude their essay, the applicant employs a tried and true formula: connecting the introduction to the conclusion. By reintroducing their sister into the narrative, we as readers come full circle. We remember where the applicant began, what influenced them, and how they have evolved over the course of their life, an evolution mirrored in the way the essay itself has developed.
Ambitious - This applicant has big dreams. They want to make an authentic change in the healthcare system, and since we’ve seen them mature throughout the essay, we believe that they’re capable of enacting such changes. Since they outlined this desire to make change from the very beginning, we also get a sense of how enduring and consistent it truly is, furthering our respect for the applicant’s goals.
Humble/social - Despite their ambition, the applicant is clearly aware that in order to make a real change, they will have to team up with others.
This concluding paragraph is quite clearly all about the applicant—their goals, ambitions, and values.
Although some of the sentences are broad, the paragraph remains unique due to the references to the sister, as well as the details about the applicant’s honors thesis. Connecting broad goals with specific details helps this conclusion feel more concrete, and less generalized and abstract.
The depth here is in what the applicant tells us directly, speaking to their desire as reiterated throughout the essay: “We can shift archaic mindsets deeply rooted in our communities, and ensure that every life we touch receives socially and culturally competent care.”
4 Medical School Personal Statement Examples
The personal statement can be one of the most challenging parts of your medical school application process. You want to show admissions committees the qualities that make you stand out while avoiding cliches. After all, a lot is riding on this essay. Don’t panic. We’ve done our homework, talked to insiders, and gathered firsthand personal statements to help you get started.
Getting Started
Before diving into the personal statement examples, here are some tips on framing your experiences to wow admissions officers.
1. Stick to your real-life experiences . While it’s great to express what you want to do in healthcare in the future, that doesn’t really set you apart. All premed students have goals for what they’ll do in the medical profession, but this often changes after time in medical school. Telling a personal story instead gives admission committee members a look at who you already are and if you have the qualities they deem desirable for med school.
Feel free to mention specialties you’re passionate about and touch on your clinical experience, but make sure the experiences you discuss are unique.
2. Build an in-depth narrative. Nobody wants to read a blanket summary of your research experience. This is your chance to get passionate and demonstrate some communication skills. Explain the driving force behind your desire to work in the medical field.
The old writing rule comes into play here: “show, don’t tell.” You will always capture your reader’s attention more by telling a story than by explaining a circumstance. Medical school admissions committees are no different. Showing them your strong work ethic — or dedication, or whatever personal quality you want — without just saying, “I have a strong work ethic” will have a greater impact.
3. Don’t include metrics. Admissions officers already have access to your GPA and MCAT scores. If they want to know how you did in biochemistry, they can find out. Don’t waste space here. If you’re concerned about those numbers, it’s much more important to nail the personal statement and secure a secondary application and eventual medical school interview.
4. Know the character limits — and try to meet them. Both AACOMAS and AMCAS applications have a character limit of 5,300. You do not necessarily need to use all 5,300 characters, but you also don’t want it to be under 3,000. You want to use as many as possible while staying on topic and being relevant. A too-short essay can look careless.
5. Get comfortable with revising . You’ll do it a lot. Expect your first draft to be just that – a first draft. This writing process will take several weeks, if not months. Once you’re confident in your essay, ask for feedback. Avoid asking family members (unless they’re experts in the field of medicine). Instead, have professors, mentors, and peers read it and offer notes.
|| Read more about capturing readers from the first paragraph with our Medical School Personal Statement Storytelling Guide . ||
6. Use coaching to craft the perfect essay. Personal statements like the ones below only come after countless hours of brainstorming and writing drafts. However, with MedSchoolCoach , you’ll work with professional writing advisors step-by-step to develop an impactful medical school personal statement.
|| Check out more Tips for Writing a Personal Statement ||
Personal Statement Example #1
Our second essay contest winner was a medical student who made their submission an AMCAS personal statement . It serves as a great and effective medical school personal statement example . We also thought it was a good read overall!
A four-letter word for “dignitary.” The combinations surge through my mind: emir? agha? tsar? or perhaps the lesser-used variant, czar? I know it’s also too early to rule out specific names – there were plenty of rulers named Omar – although the clue is suspiciously unspecific. Quickly my eyes jump two columns to the intersecting clue, 53-Across, completely ignoring the blur outside the window that indicates my train has left the Times Square station. “Nooks’ counterparts.” I am certain the answer is “crannies.” This means 49-Down must end in r, so I eliminate “agha” in my mind. Slowly, the pieces come together, the wordplay sending my brain into mental gymnastics. At the end of two hours, I find myself staring at a completed crossword puzzle, and as trivial as it is, it is one of the greatest feelings in the world.
As an avid cruciverbalist, I have a knack for problem-solving. I fell in love with another kind of puzzle in college: organic chemistry. While some of my peers struggled with its complexity, the notion of analyzing mass spectroscopy, IR spectrums, and H-NMR to identify a specific molecule invigorated me. The human body was a fantastic mystery to me in my biology classes. Intricacies such as hormonal up- and down-regulation pulled at the riddler in me; I was not satisfied until I understood the enigma of how the body worked. Graduate school at Columbia was an extension of this craving, and I chose a thesis topic to attempt to elucidate the sophisticated workings of neuro-hormonal balance peri-bariatric surgery.
In non-academic settings, I also pursued activities that would sharpen my intellect. The act of teaching is a form of problem-solving; a good teacher finds the most effective way to convey information to students. So I accepted the challenge and taught in both international and domestic settings. I assumed leadership positions in church because it forced me to think critically to resolve conflicts. In the lab, I volunteered to help write a review on the biological mechanisms of weight regain. It was precisely what I loved: isolating a specific human phenomenon and investigating how it worked.
I believe medicine and puzzles are in the same vein. After participating in health fairs, working at a clinic, and observing physicians, I understand that pinpointing a patient’s exact needs is difficult at times. In a way, disease itself can be a puzzle, and doctors sometimes detect it only one piece at a time – a cough here, lanugo there. Signs and symptoms act as clues that whittle down the possibilities until only a few remain. Then all that is left is to fill in the word and complete the puzzle. Voila!
Actually, it is more complicated than that, and inevitably the imperfect comparison falls through.
I distinctly remember a conversation I had with a psychiatric patient at Aftercare. He had just revealed his identity as Batman — but it turns out he was also Jesus. During downtime between tests, he decided to confide in me some of his dreams and aspirations. He swiftly pulled out a sketchpad and said confidently, “When I get better, I’m going back to art school.” Any doubts stemming from his earlier ramblings vanished at the sight of his charcoal-laden sheets filled with lifelike characters. “They’re… really good,” I stammered. I was looking for the right words to say, but there are times when emotions are so overwhelming that words fail. I nodded in approval and motioned that we should get back to testing.
Those next few hours of testing flew by as I ruminated on what I had experienced. After working 3 years at the clinic, I got so caught up in the routine of “figuring out” brain function that I missed the most important aspect of the job: the people. And so, just as the crossword puzzle is a 15×15 symbol of the cold New York streets, a person is the polar opposite. Our patients are breathing, fluid, and multi-dimensional. I’ve come to love both, but there is nothing I want more in the world than to see a broken person restored, a dream reignited, to see Mr. Batman regain sanity and take up art school again. The prospect of healing others brings me joy, surpassing even the most challenging crosswords in the Sunday paper.
This is why I feel called to a life in medicine. It is the one profession that allows me to restore others while thinking critically and appreciating human biology. I am passionate about people, and medicine allows me to participate in their lives in a tangible way, aligned with my interest in biology and problem-solving skill.
The New York Times prints a new puzzle daily, and so does the Washington Post, USA Today, and the list continues. The unlimited supply of puzzles mirrors the abundance of human disease and the physician’s ongoing duty to unravel the mystery, to resolve the pain. A great cruciverbalist begins with the basics of learning “crosswordese,” a nuanced language; I am prepared to do the same with health, starting with my education in medical school. Even so, I am always humbled by what little I know and am prepared to make mistakes and learn along the way. After all, I would never do a crossword puzzle in pen.
||Read Our First Essay Contest Winner: Considerations Before Applying to Medical School ||
||Read The Formula For A Good Personal Statement | |
Personal Statement Example #2
Student Accepted to Case Western SOM, Washington University SOM, University of Utah SOM, Northwestern University Feinberg SOM
With a flick and a flourish, the tongue depressor vanished, and a coin suddenly appeared behind my ear. Growing up, my pediatrician often performed magic tricks, making going to the doctor feel like literal magic. I believed all healthcare facilities were equally mystifying, especially after experiencing a different type of magic in the organized chaos of the Emergency Department. Although it was no place for a six-year-old, childcare was often a challenge, and while my dad worked extra shifts in nursing school to provide for our family, I would find myself awed by the diligence and warmth of the healthcare providers.
Though I associated the hospital with feelings of comfort and care, it sometimes became a place of fear and uncertainty. One night, my two-year-old brother, Sean, began vomiting and coughing non-stop. My dad was deployed overseas, so my mother and I had no choice but to spend the night at the hospital, watching my brother slowly recover with the help of the healthcare providers. Little did I know, it would not be long before I was in the same place. Months later, I became hospitalized with pneumonia with pleural effusions, and as I struggled to breathe, I was terrified of having fluid sucked out of my chest. But each day, physicians comforted me, asking how I was, reassuring me that I was being taken care of, and explaining any questions related to my illness and treatment. Soon, I became excited to speak with the infectious disease doctor and residents, absorbing as much as possible about different conditions.
I also came to view the magic of healing through other lenses. Growing up, Native American traditions were an important aspect of my life as my father was actively involved with native spirituality, connecting back to his Algonquin heritage. We often attended Wi-wanyang-wa-c’i-pi ceremonies or Sun Dances for healing through prayer and individuals making personal sacrifices for their community. Although I never sun danced, I spent hours in inipis chewing on osha root, finding my healing through songs.
In addition to my father’s heritage, healing came from the curanderismo traditions of Peru, my mother’s home. She came from a long line of healers using herbal remedies and ceremonies for healing the mind, body, energy, and soul. I can still see my mother preparing oils, herbs, and incense mixtures while performing healing rituals. Her compassion and care in healing paralleled the Emergency Department healthcare providers.
Through the influence of these early life experiences, I decided to pursue a career in the health sciences. Shortly after starting college, I entered a difficult time in my life as I struggled with health and personal challenges. I suddenly felt weak and tired most days, with aches all over my body. Soon, depression set in. I eventually visited a doctor, and through a series of tests, we discovered I had hypothyroidism. During this time, I also began dealing with unprocessed childhood trauma. I decided to take time off school, and with thyroid replacement hormones and therapy, I slowly began to recover. But I still had ways to go, and due to financial challenges, I decided to continue delaying my education and found work managing a donut shop. Unbeknownst to me, this experience would lead to significant personal growth by working with people from all walks of life and allowing me time for self-reflection. I continuously reflected on the hospital experiences that defined my childhood and the unmatched admiration I had for healthcare workers. With my renewed interest in medicine, I enrolled in classes to get my AEMT license and gain more medical experience.
As my health improved, I excelled in my classes, and after craving the connections of working with others, I became a medical assistant. In this position, I met “Marco,” a patient traveling from Mexico for treatment. Though I spoke Spanish while growing up, I had little experience as a medical interpreter. However, I took the opportunity to talk with him to learn his story. Afterward, he became more comfortable, and I walked him through the consultation process, interpreting the physician’s words and Marco’s questions. This moment showed me the power of connecting with others in their native language. As a result, I began volunteering at a homeless clinic to continue bridging the language barrier for patients and to help advocate for the Latinx community and those who struggle to find their voice.
My journey to becoming a doctor has been less direct than planned; however, my personal trials and tribulations have allowed me to meet and work with incredible people who have been invaluable to my recovery and personal development. Most importantly, I have seen the value of compassionate and empathetic care. Though I have not recently witnessed any sleight of hand or vanishing acts, what healthcare providers do for patients can only be described as magic.
I look forward to bringing my diverse background as a physician and expanding my abilities to help patients in their path to healing.
||Read: But I Don’t Have 15 Activities ! | Apply to Med School After 3rd or 4th Year? ||
Personal Statement Example #3
Student accepted to Weill Cornell
My path to medicine was first influenced by early adolescent experiences trying to understand my place in society. Though I was not conscious of it then, I held a delicate balance between my identity as an Indian-American and an “American-American.”
In a single day, I could be shooting hoops and eating hotdogs at school while spending the evening playing Carrom and enjoying tandoori chicken at a family get-together. When our family moved from New York to California, I had the opportunity to attend a middle school with greater diversity, so I learned Spanish to salve the loss of moving away and assimilate into my new surroundings.
As I partook in related events and cuisine, I built a mixed friend group and began understanding how culture influences our perception of those around us. While volunteering at senior centers in high school, I noticed a similar pattern to what I sometimes saw: seniors socializing in groups of shared ethnicity and culture. Moving from table to table and language to language, I also observed how each group shared different life experiences and perspectives on what constitutes health and wellness. Many seniors talked about barriers to receiving care or how their care differed from what they had envisioned. Listening to their stories on cultural experiences, healthcare disparities, and care expectations sparked my interest in becoming a physician and providing care for the whole community.
Intrigued by the science behind perception and health, I took electives during my undergraduate years to build a foundation in these domains. In particular, I was amazed by how computational approaches could help model the complexity of the human mind, so I pursued research at Cornell’s Laboratory of Rational Decision-Making. Our team used fMRI analysis to show how the framing of information affects cognitive processing and perception. Thinking back to my discussions with seniors, I often wondered if more personalized health-related messaging could positively influence their opinions. Through shadowing, I witnessed physicians engaging in honest and empathetic conversations to deliver medical information and manage patients’ expectations, but how did they navigate delicate conflicts where the patients’ perspectives diverged from their own?
My question was answered when I became a community representative for the Ethics Committee for On Lok PACE, an elderly care program. One memorable case was that of Mr. A.G, a blind 86-year-old man with radiation-induced frontal lobe injury who wanted to return home and cook despite his doctor’s expressed safety concerns. Estranged from his family, Mr. A.G. relied on cooking to find fulfillment. Recognizing the conflict between autonomy and beneficence, I joined the physicians in brainstorming and recommending ways he could cook while being supervised.
I realized that the role of a physician was to mediate between the medical care plan and the patient’s wishes to make a decision that preserves their dignity. As we considered possibilities, the physicians’ genuine concern for the patient’s emotional well-being exemplified the compassion I want to emulate as a future doctor. Our discussions emphasized the rigor of medicine — the challenge of ambiguity and the importance of working with the individual to serve their needs.
With COVID-19 ravaging our underserved communities, my desire to help others drove me towards community-based health as a contact tracer for my county’s Department of Public Health. My conversations uncovered dozens of heartbreaking stories that revealed how socioeconomic status and job security inequities left poorer families facing significantly harsher quarantines than their wealthier counterparts.
Moreover, many residents expressed fear or mistrust, such as a 7-person family who could not safely isolate in their one-bedroom and one-bath apartment. I offered to arrange free hotel accommodations but was met with a guarded response from the father: “We’ll be fine. We can maintain the 6 feet.” While initially surprised, I recognized how my government affiliation could lead to a power dynamic that made the family feel uneasy. Thinking about how to make myself more approachable, I employed motivational interviewing skills and small talk to build rapport.
When we returned to discussing the hotel, he trusted my intentions and accepted the offer. Our bond of mutual trust grew over two weeks of follow-ups, leaving me humbled yet gratified to see his family transition to a safer living situation. As a future physician, I realize I may encounter many first-time or wary patients; and I feel prepared to create a responsive environment that helps them feel comfortable about integrating into our health system.
Through my clinical and non-clinical experiences, I have witnessed the far-reaching impact of physicians, from building lasting connections with patients to being a rock of support during uncertain times. I cannot imagine a career without these dynamics—of improving the health and wellness of patients, families, and society and reducing healthcare disparities. While I know the path ahead is challenging, I am confident I want to dedicate my life to this profession.
Personal Statement Example #4
Student Accepted to UCSF SOM, Harvard Medical School
Countless visits to specialists in hope of relief left me with a slew of inconclusive test results and uncertain diagnoses. “We cannot do anything else for you.” After twelve months of waging a war against my burning back, aching neck and tingling limbs, hearing these words at first felt like a death sentence, but I continued to advocate for myself with medical professionals.
A year of combatting pain and dismissal led me to a group of compassionate and innovative physicians at the Stanford Pain Management Center (SPMC). Working alongside a diverse team including pain management specialists and my PCP, I began the long, non-linear process of uncovering the girl that had been buried in the devastating rubble of her body’s pain.
From struggling with day-to-day activities like washing my hair and sitting in class to thriving as an avid weightlifter and zealous student over the span of a year, I realized I am passionate about preventing, managing and eliminating chronic illnesses through patient-centered incremental care and medical innovation.
A few days after my pain started, I was relieved to hear that I had most likely just strained some muscles, but after an empty bottle of muscle relaxers, the stings and aches had only intensified. I went on to see 15 specialists throughout California, including neurologists, physiatrists, and rheumatologists. Neurological exams. MRIs. Blood tests. All inconclusive.
Time and time again, specialists dismissed my experience due to ambiguous test results and limited time. I spent months trying to convince doctors that I was losing my body; they thought I was losing my mind. Despite these letdowns, I did not stop fighting to regain control of my life. Armed with my medical records and a detailed journal of my symptoms, I continued scheduling appointments with the intention of finding a doctor who would dig deeper in the face of the unknown.
Between visits, I researched my symptoms and searched for others with similar experiences. One story on Stanford Medicine’s blog, “Young Woman Overcomes Multiple Misdiagnoses and Gets Her Life Back”, particularly stood out to me and was the catalyst that led me to the SPMC. After bouncing from doctor to doctor, I had finally found a team of physicians who would take the profound toll of my pain on my physical and mental well-being seriously.
Throughout my year-long journey with my care team at the SPMC, I showed up for myself even when it felt like I would lose the war against my body. I confronted daily challenges with fortitude. When lifting my arms to tie my hair into a ponytail felt agonizing, YouTube tutorials trained me to become a braiding expert. Instead of lying in bed all day when my medication to relieve nerve pain left me struggling to stay awake, I explored innovative alternative therapies with my physicians; after I was fed up with the frustration of not knowing the source of my symptoms, I became a research subject in a clinical trial aimed at identifying and characterizing pain generators in patients suffering from “mysterious” chronic pain.
At times, it felt like my efforts were only resulting in lost time. However, seeing how patient my care team was with me, offering long-term coordinated support and continually steering me towards a pain-free future, motivated me to grow stronger with every step of the process. Success was not an immediate victory, but rather a long journey of incremental steps that produced steady, life-saving progress over time.
My journey brought me relief as well as clarity with regard to how I will care for my future patients. I will advocate for them even when complex conditions, inconclusive results and stereotypes discourage them from seeking continued care; work with them to continually adapt and improve an individualized plan tailored to their needs and goals, and engage in pioneering research and medical innovations that can directly benefit them.
Reflecting on the support system that enabled me to overcome the challenges of rehabilitation, I was inspired to help others navigate life with chronic pain in a more equitable and accessible way. Not everyone has the means to work indefinitely with a comprehensive care team, but most do have a smartphone. As a result, I partnered with a team of physicians and physical therapists at the University of California San Francisco to develop a free mobile application that guides individuals dealing with chronic pain through recovery. Based on my own journey, I was able to design the app with an understanding of the mental and physical toll that pain, fear, and loss of motivation take on patients struggling with chronic pain. Having features like an exercise bank with a real-time form checker and an AI-based chatbot to motivate users, address their concerns and connect them to specific health care resources, our application helped 65 of the 100 pilot users experience a significant reduction in pain and improvement in mental health in three months.
My journey has fostered my passion for patient-centered incremental medicine and medical innovation. From barely living to thriving, I have become a trailblazing warrior with the perseverance and resilience needed to pursue these passions and help both the patients I engage with and those around the world.
Related posts:
- The Medical School Personal Statement: Getting Started
- How to Get into Med School When You’re Not Pre-Med
- How to Succeed on Medical School Interview Day
- Why Students Must Connect with Faculty Beyond the Classroom
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Medical Doctor CV Guide, Tips & Example
Seeking to advance your medical doctor career? An effective medical doctor CV is the place to start. We have the perfect guide to craft a great CV for a medical doctor, with tips on what to include, must-add skills and how to use a CV Builder to your advantage.
Start by editing this medical doctor CV sample template or explore our 40+ CV templates to find the best one for you.
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Doctor CV example (text version)
Perry Warrick
Miami, FL 33009 555 555 555 (555) 555-5555 [email protected]
Summary Statement
Adept medical doctor with eight years of practice experience. Dedicated to exemplary patient outcomes and following all necessary medical procedures with the use of the latest industry equipment and technology. Strong focus on listening to and addressing patient concerns and answering all questions in terms patients can easily understand. Willingness to work with all members of the medical team and listen to their suggestions and input to improve results and maximize patient satisfaction. Specialized as a general internist during residency, providing me with knowledge of a range of health issues that impact internal organs.
Core Qualifications
- Information management
- Test result interpretation
- Patient assessments
- Equipment management
- Infection control
- Pain management
- HIPAA regulations
- Communication and empathy
Florida International University Miami, FL M.D. Clinical Medicine
Florida International University Miami, FL Bachelor of Science Biological Sciences
Work Experience
May 2013 – Current Keralty Hospital Miami – Miami, FL Family Doctor
- Diagnose, treat and prevent various physical injuries and diseases in adults and children.
- Form and build relationships with up to 50 patients to make them feel at ease and gain their trust.
- Refer patients to specialists and prescribe medication or treatment options when necessary.
April 2009 – May 2013 Jackson Memorial Hospital – Miami, FL Attending Doctor
- Supervised 10 medical students, fellows and residents.
- Increased new patient intake by 15 percent through recommendations and marketing strategy.
- Identified serious conditions and emergency situations and immediately referred to hospital for prompt care.
June 2006 – April 2009 HCA Florida Mercy Hospital – Miami, FL Resident Doctor
- Conducted physical exams on an average of 12 patients per day to diagnose illnesses and create patient histories.
- Interpreted lab information to provide patients with proper treatment.
- Attended medical conferences to learn how to better treat and connect with patients and become a more well-rounded doctor.
- Learned how to work with other members of the medical team, including nurses, other physicians, specialists, and anesthesiologists.
Research Experience
- Research Lead, Florida International University, 2017 Worked and participated in thesis assessment of “Medicine Culture in the 21st Century” (2017).
- Gathered, arranged and corrected research data to create representative graphs and charts highlighting results for presentations.
- Research Assistant, University of Central Florida, 2015 Collaborated with the leadership team to identify relevant questions and determine the best methods of collection.
- Validated 60% of incoming data to check information accuracy and integrity while independently locating and correcting concerns.
Certifications and Licenses
Florida Medical License, The Florida Board of Medicine – Updated 2022 License# 123456
Relevant Skills
- Proven and effective communication skills with patients, families and other medical professionals.
- Leadership abilities to lead and manage practice staff in providing patients with quality care.
- Highly organized, which allows me to keep appointments, records and patient details in order.
- Able to quickly and properly diagnose patient conditions in emergency situations to ensure they receive the treatment they need as soon as possible under controlled conditions.
- Detailed-oriented, which reduces mistakes made in patient treatment, diagnosis and medication administration.
- English Native or Bilingual
- Spanish Professional Working
Hobbies and Interests
When I’m not practicing medicine, I enjoy flying drones, crocheting and sewing to maintain manual dexterity. I also enjoy writing short stories when I have the time and I offer free medical services down at the community center every weekend. I’ve recently taken up meditation, which has improved my focus at work and my personal relationships.
5 essentials of a top medical doctor CV
Contact details.
The contact information section needs to have all the necessary information. It must have your full name, city, state and zip code. Include your phone number, email address and link to your LinkedIn profile. If you have a professional website e or any other professional networking website profile, add them in this section.
Personal statement
The personal statement section is your introduction to the hiring manager. Sometimes called the professional summary , it consists of five sentences or less where you introduce yourself by presenting your strongest skills, best professional accomplishments and years of experience. Always tailor it to the job description to grab the recruiter’s attention.
Skills help hiring managers determine what you can accomplish and how you work with others. In this section, display a mix of hard and soft skills in a bullet points format. Make sure to include skills from the job advertisement. Also, remember that soft skills like bedside manner, diversity, cultural competence and interpersonal skills are particularly important for medical doctors.
If this is your first job or residency, include transferable skills from other opportunities, like internships, research work and volunteer commitments.
Work history
Your work experience tells the story of your career. Narrate yours in reverse-chronological order and include the institutions’ names, locations and dates of employment. Under each job, have at least three measurable achievements by adding numbers and percentages. For example, the number of patients seen during the day, the percentage of improved diagnoses, the number of increased referrals, etc.
If this is your first job, include relevant work experience in community service, volunteer experiences and internships.
An academic institution can make a difference in the career of a medical doctor. Use a bulleted list to include the school name, degree and graduation year. If it has been more than 10 years, you can skip it. Include any academic accomplishments, like research conducted or important memberships.
See why My Perfect Resume is a 5-star resume builder
Action words for a stand-out medical work cv.
To craft a powerful resume, you need action words. These verbs help tell the story of your career and accomplishments directly and unequivocally. Their use makes an impact on the recruiter and helps you stand out from other candidates.
Here’s a short list of action words for a medical doctor CV:
- Rehabilitated
These verbs can help you create a great medical doctor CV. If you want to make this process easier, our CV maker can help you write a fantastic CV for a medical doctor with step-by-step guidance, expert suggestions and download in multiple formats.
Top skills for a medical doctor CV
Make sure that your skills section shows what the employer is looking for. Carefully read the job advertisement and include relevant skills that match yours.
A few skills you could include are:
- Analytical thinking
- Active listening
- Communication skills
- Decision-making
- Differential diagnosis
- Family medicine
- Patient care
- Patient evaluation
Certifications for a medical doctor
Certifications play an essential role in a medical doctor CV. It adds value and confidence to your career and knowledge, plus it certifies that you are prepared to practice in your specialty. Ensure that all the required state and federal licenses and certifications are included in your CV. Add any other job-related certifications that could make you stand out from the pool of applicants. There are several certification options for medical doctors, such as:
- American Board of Internal Medicine Certification (ABIM)
- American Board of Medical Specialties Board Certification (ABMS)
- American Board of Medical Specialties Continuing Certification
- American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Continuing Certification
Pair your CV with a matching cover letter
Medical Doctor CV FAQ
1. what to include in a cv for a medical doctor job.
A medical doctor CV must always include five primary sections:
- Contact information
- Personal profile
- Job history
Then, your CV can include any number of sections, like:
- Professional memberships or associations
- Presentations
- Publications
- Certifications and licenses
- Volunteer experience
- Related hobbies and interests
The best way to know what to include is by reviewing the job description requirements.
If you need guidance to start, use the medical doctor CV sample on this page.
The easiest way to determine what sections to add to your CV and how to fill them out is by reviewing the essential requirements of the job description. Match the job requirements to your qualifications and add them to your CV.
2. What is the difference between a resume and the CV of a medical doctor?
Resumes and CVs both offer a look into your career, with key differences. A resume is a snapshot of your career, typically a one-page document whose format depends on your years of experience. A CV is a longer, more detailed document that provides an in-depth look at your career. It includes information on projects, publications, honors, awards and more. As a medical doctor, CVs also play an important role in your medical residency match.
3. How can I create a good CV for a medical doctor?
A good CV for a medical doctor must be thorough and make an impact.
- Create separate sections for extra training, certifications, awards and honors.
- Use active words to describe your career and achievements.
- Include any research you’ve participated in or collaborated in with the results, if available.
- Add a section focused on community initiatives and volunteer work.
- Create subcategories for your skills under the skills sections. For example, a technical section for your computer knowledge, a soft skills section for communications and people skills, and a hard skills section for industry-specific skills.
Do’s and don’ts for building a medical doctor CV
- Use measurable achievements to describe your medical doctor skills and experience.
- Use action words to make an impact on your medical doctor CV.
- Tailor your CV to your target medical doctor job.
- Use keywords from the job description throughout your medical doctor CV.
- Format your medical doctor CV so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
- Lie about your medical doctor experience and skills.
- Boast about your “incomparable” medical doctor abilities.
- Include irrelevant personal information such as your ethnicity and age.
- Add skills and experience that do not pertain to medicine.
- Forget to proofread. A medical doctor CV with errors is unprofessional.
Top 4 tips for acing a medical doctor interview
Research the company or institution before your interview..
Before the interview , you must make time to learn about the company, its mission, goals and values. This knowledge will help prepare you for the interview and to get a feel for the company culture. Plus, it will show the hiring manager your genuine interest, commitment and desirable skills for candidates.
Practice at home.
Get ready for your interview by researching the most commonly asked questions in an interview. For example:
- What attracted you to this company?
- How do you determine priorities?
- What is the biggest mistake you’ve made?
Perform a mock interview with the help of a friend. Tell them to ask interview questions and provide feedback on your answers. Write down the answers and continue to practice on the days leading up to your interview. Practice in front of a mirror to work on your body language.
Prepare questions for your interview.
Asking questions at the end of your interview not only helps you clear up any concerns, it also shows your enthusiasm for the role. Prepare at least three questions to impress the recruiter.
Here are a few examples of questions to get you started:
- What are the expectations for this role?
- What have been the biggest challenges in the hospital?
- What is the relationship between the administrative and medical sides?
- How would you describe the hospital culture?
- How often are administrative meetings held?
Gather your references.
A medical doctor will need references when applying for a new position or starting their career. Be one step ahead and contact former managers and colleagues to be potential references. This group of people should be able to vouch for you, your work ethic and your skills. Explain to them where you are in the process and let them know they could receive a phone call or email. Also, ask ahead of time if they could prepare a letter of recommendation for you.
If this is your first job, request references from professors, classmates, volunteer coordinators, or someone that can corroborate your skills.
Resume examples for the next step in your medical career
- Medical Equipment Technician Resume
- Speech Language Pathologist Resume
- Er Registration Clerk Resume
- Clinical Documentation Improvement Specialist Resume
- Dialysis Technician Resume
- Medical Coding Specialist Resume
- Medical Records Specialist Resume
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- Ultrasound Technician Resume
- Ob Gyn Medical Assistant Resume
- Ekg Technician Resume
- Pediatrician Resume
- Anesthesia Technician Resume
- Hospital Volunteer Resume
- Certified Lactation Consultant Resume
- Resident Medical Officer Resume
- Anesthesiologist Assistant Resume
- Clinical Trial Associate Resume
- Chiropractic Assistant Resume
- Pediatric Medical Assistant Resume
- Hse Officer Resume
- Intake Coordinator Resume
- Clinical Director Resume
- Emergency Department Technician Resume
- Nuclear Medicine Technologist Resume
- Ophthalmic Assistant Resume
- Intensive Care Physician Resume
- Registered Mri Technologist Resume
- Health Information Technician Resume
- Optometrist Resume
- Doctor Resume
- Physician Assistant Resume
Cover letter examples for the next step in your medical career
- Clinic Administrator Cover Letter
- Medical Direct Support Professional Cover Letter
- Doctor Cover Letter
- Emt Cover Letter
- Paramedic Cover Letter
- Radiologic Technologist Cover Letter
- Speech Language Pathologist Cover Letter
- Surgical Technologist Cover Letter
- Medical Technologist Cover Letter
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Medicine Personal Statement Example 38
I survived. Born 6 weeks premature, if it wasn't for medicine, I may not have lived.
From the earliest stages I have had a fascination with the sciences and my first 'Encyclopaedia of Science' incited an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and understanding of these subjects.
Some bad advice at the age of 17 persuaded me to study for a law degree. My enthusiasm for this subject gradually diminished and a return to a science orientated degree was what I desired. As an Undergraduate of Biomedical Science, I now believe I have a formidable platform upon which I can move on to pursue a medical career. I want a career that is dynamic and centered on a strong scientific background, which can be applied whilst interacting with patients in a clinical surrounding on a daily basis.
In order to explore my fascination with medicine I have undertaken varied and relevant work experience, in both a hospital and a care home. Whilst working at the Royal Blackburn Hospital, I had the opportunity to shadow current medical students, where I learn't various procedures such as catheter and cannula insertion, in addition to playing an active role in practical demonstrations using SimMan. Shadowing junior doctors on the Gastroenterology Ward allowed me to begin to understand the structure of a hospital. I was able to appreciate the high level of teamwork required between the consultant and other healthcare professionals. This ensured the treatment given to patients was both efficient and effective.
I was privileged to have the opportunity to interact on a one to one basis with patients, which enabled me to tailor my communication skills to suit the patient and their situation. My time in hospital concluded with a presentation, which I presented to the junior doctors and a consultant regarding my experience, which further enhanced my communication skills. I gained great admiration for the consultant, who was able to instill belief and reassurance within his patients, even in the most extreme circumstances.
Equally, my time spent at Viewfield Care Home allowed me to converse with patients on a regular basis, whilst developing my nursing skills. Both these experiences gave me an extensive insight into the fundamental characteristics which a doctor must possess, namely being caring, competent and approachable at all times, all of which I believe are key qualities of my personality. Reflecting upon these experiences has reinforced my desire to pursue a career in medicine, for which I now have resolute determination.
Beyond the academic field I have participated in a number of activities, which have developed skills I believe will aid my development in a medical degree. Sport has always had an educational influence in my life. In particular, I have played ice hockey at a competitive level since the age of fifteen, where I was captain of the Blackburn Ice Hawks, and more recently where I have acted as a Player/Coach for Newcastle University Ice Hockey Club.
These experiences have vastly improved my leadership skills, my ability to work effectively as part of a team as well as providing me with a deep sense of satisfaction when helping others to achieve their goals. In addition, during my education and work experience I have commanded various positions of responsibility.
Last year I was assigned the position of Deputy Head of Security at the Students' Union. At school I was entrusted with being a Prefect and House Captain. Clearly, time management and organisation has always been a necessity for me as it has been essential in order to incorporate my studies, sporting commitments and part time work.
I believe I possess a suitable personality to undertake the demands of being a medical student and doctor, as I thrive in challenging situations, both mental and physical, while at all times remaining competent and demonstrating both empathy and integrity.
Profile info
This personal statement was written by JamesNo20 for application in 2009.
JamesNo20's university choices University of Newcastle Upon Tyne Cardiff University The University of Manchester The University of Sheffield
Green : offer made Red : no offer made
Related Personal Statements
Tue, 19/05/2009 - 03:13
i guess there is no way one could right better than this. i dont think medical schools can gauge the interest of one in medicine by personal statements because all students fake up.
excellent Personal statement
Tue, 17/08/2010 - 23:30
excellent Personal statement.rlly good.i need help with my ps aswll.am stuck at it.can u plz help me with mine?????am jst cryin contiously.:(.cant evn think ov any good start.:(.plzzzzz get bk2 me on dis [email protected]
OMG this is greaattt!
Tue, 14/09/2010 - 19:07
OMG this is greaattt! As if you didnt get offers from 4 unis!! x
Thu, 23/09/2010 - 16:49
This was great
Tue, 28/09/2010 - 22:48
This was brilliant. Succinct, to the point and passionate, well done :)
you are unbelievably
Tue, 05/04/2011 - 23:24
you are unbelievably intelligent i would appreciate it if you could contact me at [email protected] i need all the advice like assistance in order to succeed
This is amazing; newcastle is
Sun, 01/05/2011 - 19:30
This is amazing; newcastle is definitely my first choice, but can you please give an honest answer of why you didn't get accepted into the others. I would really appreciate it!
Well done! Newcastle Med school is the best by far !
Hi, now nearly completing my
Tue, 03/05/2011 - 16:10
Hi, now nearly completing my 2nd year, I thought I would have a look back here and see if this had helped anyone.
I am honestly unsure as to why I got rejected from the other three, but suspect it was due to my low UKCAT score. Newcastle is a fantastic uni and would recommend it to anyone. The teaching and facilities are fantastic.
it might b personal so sorry
Tue, 13/09/2011 - 09:06
it might b personal so sorry in advance but what did u get for your ukcat? because i got low/average score of 600 so was wondering wether it would be a waste of choices to apply to manchester.
there are grammar mistakes xx
Sun, 18/09/2011 - 16:58
hey! wow that is amazing.
Tue, 04/10/2011 - 17:46
hey! wow that is amazing. love the way you started it. im in the midst of writing mine but its not going to well at the minute =) haha. good luck with the future x
Wed, 05/10/2011 - 22:57
Really thought the first sentences were full of impact. Well done. Wishing you all the best for the future.
I survived. After reading
Thu, 14/06/2012 - 14:08
I survived. After reading this personal statement, only medicine coud save me. I almost died.
One of the best PS I have
Sat, 27/10/2012 - 09:37
One of the best PS I have read. Definitely 5 stars!!
Your first line is very good,
Sat, 09/03/2013 - 14:18
Your first line is very good, it engaged me as reader to find out how you survived a premature birth..but following that sentence you transitioned into your fascination with science and interest in medicine as a career. I think you could possibly expand further on your attention hook and explain how that made you wanted to study medicine. Your PS "tells" a lot about what you have done to pursue your goals, but it does not quite "show" the reader why.
Wed, 25/09/2013 - 21:37
i LOVED the first sentence. fantasticc
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Medicine Personal Statement Inspiration – James (UCL)
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This is part of a series of blog posts wherein members of the 6med team attach and comment on their own medicine personal statements. James shares his personal statement that helped him successfully gain an offer from UCL to study Medicine.
Please be aware that these examples are meant purely for the sake of inspiration, and should absolutely NOT be used as a model around which to base your own personal statement. UCAS have a rather strict system that detects plagiarism .
Successful UCL Medicine Personal Statement
First, take a read through this successful UCL personal statement and then we will break down each section and analyse it.
“For several months this year, I volunteered at a school for children with mental and physical disabilities. One particular student caught my attention, a violent and withdrawn boy. By patiently encouraging him to engage in activities through a toy caterpillar, I found a way to connect with him. The experience highlighted the importance and value of every human life, of having compassion for others, and of being aware of other people’s needs and problems aside from our own. Medicine is a lifelong endeavour; it is an opportunity for me to contribute to an expanding scientific field, as well as confront the physical, social and emotional challenges that face humanity.
As a naturally inquisitive person, my fascination with science has led to a profound interest in the human body. My wider reading included “The Music of Life” by Denis Noble, which gave me a better understanding of the physiological functions within the body and the interaction of genes with the environment, cells and organs. Further study of the applications of genetic engineering resulted in me writing a paper on the use of nanotechnology in Medicine. This discussed the relation of current scientific research to the management of various pathologies; the task required me to scrutinize secondary sources and gave me stronger analytical skills. Realising that this combination of science and practical undertaking appealed hugely, I sought some real world experiences to confirm my career choice.
Earlier this year, I undertook work experience in a Renal Unit of my local hospital. This gave me the opportunity to attend ward rounds and clinics, as well as observe dialysis and venous catheter insertion. Through talking to patients, the physical, and at times, mental fragility of some individuals surprised me. The empathy shown by the doctors inspired me deeply. A junior doctor recounted her tough experiences; there were instances where she was confined to a desk organising paperwork, and occasions where she didn’t get any sleep. However, her involvement with patients was satisfying, and seeing them progressively improve motivated her. From these experience, I appreciate how being a doctor can be gruelling, but also very gratifying. Above all, I realise the importance in having moral fibre, perseverance and humility.
Every Wednesday for four months I shadowed my local GP. Watching him give both medical and social advice with such understanding and clinical skill to people from every race, culture and faith made me realise the importance of primary care, good communication and careful allocation of resources.
As a concert pianist, I have gained experience in handling stress and performance anxiety. I perform at a local hospice every week and through successful piano competitions, I had the honour of playing at the Jacqueline De Pre Hall in Oxford. I enjoy conveying the emotion of a piece of music in a beautiful and hopefully profound way. As a school mentor and piano teacher for younger students, I developed skills in passing on information effectively and in listening to others with patience and respect. My experience in representing the school in badminton and hockey has given my stronger teamwork abilities, which I was able to apply in helping organise the school charity week, in which we raised £16,000. I hold positions of responsibility as a school prefect and founder of two societies, where I teach students musical theory and philosophy. Having also been a St John first aider for three years, I gained experience in making others feel comfortable in times of close contact and in assessing situations quickly and effectively. I also enjoy helping out at community events. Finally, I enjoy acting, and also performing magic; being able to instil wonder and joy in others is priceless.
I believe I have the humility, scientific acuity and empathy to become a committed doctor and to face the challenges ahead in my chosen career.”
Now, we’re going to take apart this personal statement and have a look at what makes it work.
Remember, though, we’re not going to teach a set formula, but instead, instil some general principles you can use when you’re writing your own.
Personal statements are ‘personal’ after all, so try not to put across things that don’t faithfully reflect your own experiences, understanding and individuality.
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UCL Medicine Personal Statement Analysis
“For several months this year, I volunteered at a school for children with mental and physical disabilities. One particular student caught my attention, a violent and withdrawn boy. By patiently encouraging him to engage in activities through a toy caterpillar, I found a way to connect with him.”
The first paragraph is often the hardest the write, and there are a number of ways you can go about it.
Whatever you write, always try to captivate the reader – although sometimes unavoidable, the first few sentences run a high risk of being clichéd. One possible way to sound more gripping is by richly conveying a personal experience, either as a volunteer or during your work experience.
Of course, this isn’t the only way: if you have a strong personal reason for studying medicine (which is actually quite rare among students) or just a strong interest in the sciences, make sure it comes across in the first paragraph, phrasing it in a more interesting and unique manner if possible; remember though, it’s important to always favour a more introspective and honest account of your experiences instead of something unrealistic and unnecessarily flamboyant.
“The experience highlighted the importance and value of every human life, of having compassion for others, and of being aware of other people’s needs and problems aside from our own.”
Following the purely descriptive account of the boy, the model statement goes on to reveal what the writer learnt from the experience.
This is an important point: it’s never about what you did, it’s about what you gained from the experience . Many students make the mistake of simply describing all the things they did during their hospital placement or whilst volunteering.
Instead, medical schools are looking for students that are able to reflect upon their experiences , and you’ll be doing this for the rest of your career as you input reflections onto your NHS ePortfolio.
“Medicine is a lifelong endeavour; it is an opportunity for me to contribute to an expanding scientific field, as well as confront the physical, social and emotional challenges that face humanity.”
Throughout the application process, medical schools are looking not just for an understanding of the medical course, but medicine as a career.
The writer here shows an awareness of medicine as a profession that requires continuous learning and growth, as well as an opportunity to do good in the world. Of course, there is some flowery language here, but the writer carefully chose this sentence to offer a convincing ending to the opening paragraph.
“As a naturally inquisitive person, my fascination with science has led to a profound interest in the human body.”
The next paragraph begins with one aspect of the writer’s desire to study medicine: scientific interest. Ultimately, no matter how much you want to care for people, studying medicine requires some degree of interest in the biological sciences, otherwise, you may as well serve people through a number of other fulfilling career paths, as a social worker, for example.
Note how this opening sentence sets the scene for the paragraph to come – it clearly marks a scientific theme. The language used is also richly descriptive, with words and phrases such as ‘naturally inquisitive’, ‘fascination’, and ‘profound’ adding colour to the sentence. Too often students fail to pick up a thesaurus and can end up sounding grey, unexciting and almost apathetic towards the things they talk about in some areas of their statement.
Never underestimate how the careful choice of language can add a new dimension to your personal statement.
“My wider reading included “The Music of Life” by Denis Noble, which gave me a better understanding of the physiological functions within the body and the interaction of genes with the environment, cells and organs. Further study of the applications of genetic engineering resulted in me writing a paper on the use of nanotechnology in Medicine. This discussed the relation of current scientific research to the management of various pathologies; the task required me to scrutinize secondary sources and gave me stronger analytical skills.”
The next few sentences provide support for the natural inquisitiveness and scientific interest the writer claimed to have.
Wider reading isn’t always necessary, but rather a nice addition to more academic personal statements. It’s usually the case that students applying to the more traditional and research-orientated universities (Oxbridge, UCL, Imperial, etc.) offer a few sentences showcasing their interest in scientific research and topics outside of their science curriculum.
If do you want to include a book you’ve read, make sure you know what it’s about so that you can write a concise, perceptive description about it in your PS, just like the writer has done here. We would advise against emphasising A-level choices too much and focus on things you’ve read or done outside the curriculum; certainly avoid talking about how high your grades are as this is a prerequisite for studying medicine anyway.
If scientific research plays a lesser role in your reasons for applying to medicine, then dedicate more space for work experience, volunteering and extra-curricular activities.
Personal Statement Inspiration & Examples Articles
Dentistry Personal Statement Examples – KCL (Emmy)
Dentistry Personal Statement Examples – KCL (Saif)
Dentistry Personal Statement Examples – Cardiff (Eera)
Dentistry Personal Statement Examples – Barts (Malikha)
Graduate Entry Medicine Personal Statement – Samah (Cambridge)
Reapplying to Medicine – Anton’s Personal Statements
“Realising that this combination of science and practical undertaking appealed hugely, I sought some real world experiences to confirm my career choice.”
Flow is important when it comes to writing your personal statement – don’t make the mistake of making the act of writing your personal statement a listing exercise, like you would for a curriculum vitae.
There should be some hint of an underlying narrative or flow to your writing; in terms of structure, each paragraph should have some theme – in this model statement, the writer has a paragraph on science, hospital work experience and volunteering, for example.
If you’re a fantastic writer (and most of us aren’t), then you may have already put together a beautiful story of how you discovered your passion for medicine and feel comfortable not sticking with a more conventional structure. If you’re not a strong writer, then we recommend you make your personal statement very thematic and simply use nice ‘linking sentences’ that bring together different themes between paragraphs. For example, the writer here draws the scientific paragraph to a close and links to the next paragraph, which talks about work experience.
“Earlier this year, I undertook work experience in a Renal Unit of my local hospital.”
Your description of where and when you did work experience should be short and snappy. There’s no need to give the full name of the hospital, and as a quick writing tip, try to avoid starting sentences with ‘I’.
“This gave me the opportunity to attend ward rounds and clinics, as well as observe dialysis and venous catheter insertion.”
You should then move on to what you actually did, keeping the descriptions as concise as possible.
Remember, medical schools don’t care how many ward rounds you’ve been on or that you’ve even worked at a hospital (although hospital experience is rather important). What is important is that you explain the things you’ve picked up and realized as a result of your experience.
“Through talking to patients, the physical, and at times, mental fragility of some individuals surprised me.”
The writer here first demonstrates they took opportunities to speak to patients, which is one of the most important things you can take away from a hospital placement.
Medical schools want to know you’re able to communicate with real patients and reflect upon your conversations with them. In this case, the writer succinctly reveals a first-hand experience of how patients can be weak, fragile and utterly dependent on doctors and others to support them.
“The empathy shown by the doctors inspired me deeply.”
The writer then goes on to reflect on how the doctors treated these patients and offers one of the most important qualities needed in all doctors , that is empathy .
Note again how this sentence is phrased – it sounds more genuine and meaningful than a sentence such as ‘Empathy is important in doctors’, which is something a lot of students would write.
Always write about what you learnt and realized through your experiences in an authentic manner, it’s much more powerful than phrasing things in a way that suggests you’re just saying it to earn points.
“A junior doctor recounted her tough experiences; there were instances where she was confined to a desk organising paperwork, and occasions where she didn’t get any sleep. However, her involvement with patients was satisfying, and seeing them progressively improve motivated her. From these experiences, I appreciate how being a doctor can be gruelling, but also very gratifying.”
At the same time, you should also be aware that personal statements can be a checklist exercise, with medical schools scrutinizing every sentence you write in order to determine whether you understand what being a doctor is about.
One of the important things you should include is the realities of being a doctor. All too often doctors are over-glamourized by students in their personal statements, with some going as far as saying doctors are trained to deal with all complications, which clearly isn’t true.
Instead, dedicate one or two sentences to the less attractive side of medicine, as the writer has done here. Examples of areas you could talk about may include the stress of long hours or having to break bad news to patients . Of course, you don’t want to leave any negative sentences hanging, so tactfully counter them by adding on positives that more than make up for some of the downsides of being a doctor.
Are you feeling stuck with your Personal Statement?
We also have a ton of Personal Statement resources available on our Free Personal Statement Resources page. Our top guides to check out include:
Check out these articles and more to learn how to write an amazing personal statement!
“Above all, I realise the importance in having moral fibre, perseverance and humility.”
As you’ll come to realize when writing your personal statement, fitting everything you want to mention into 4,000 characters isn’t easy.
This model statement clearly makes sacrifices with the content it includes – in this hospital placement paragraph, only two main qualities are covered: empathy and the realities of being a doctor.
There is no doubt that the writer could have included much more – but it’s more effective to go into detail on one or two of the most significant themes, and then just list or briefly talk about other things that the writer picked up from his experiences. In a nutshell, you should sit down and have a think about which of the most important qualities you can and want to portray through your work experience, and sacrifice the less powerful content.
In terms of writing tips here, the writer uses the rule of three (and this technique is used throughout this model statement) when listing: this is a way of making things sound nicer, but also allows the writer to include more high-yield content.
“Every Wednesday for four months I shadowed my local GP.”
The writer starts a new and shorter paragraph here, and this is purely for the sake of clarity. Do avoid writing long paragraphs and aim to split them into organized chunks if possible.
“Watching him give both medical and social advice with such understanding and clinical skill to people from every race, culture and faith made me realise the importance of primary care, good communication and careful allocation of resources.”
Again, the writer doesn’t give much of a description of what he did at the GP surgery, and neither is there much space to do so. Instead, it is more important to reflect on what you learnt and realized through whatever experiences you have undertaken.
“As a concert pianist, I have gained experience in handling stress and performance anxiety. I perform at a local hospice every week and through successful piano competitions, I had the honour of playing at the Jacqueline De Pre Hall in Oxford. I enjoy conveying the emotion of a piece of music in a beautiful and hopefully profound way.”
The penultimate paragraph talks about the writer’s extra-curricular skills and qualities developed through such activities. Never just list a bunch of hobbies you do – instead, always reflect on how you’ve developed your skills, making sure the qualities and skills you talk about are relevant to a future career in medicine.
The writer here uses the word ‘profound’ again – as a writing tip, it is good practice to avoid using the same adjectives or verbs again or close to each other in a piece of prose; ‘powerful’ may be a more suitable word here.
“As a school mentor and piano teacher for younger students, I developed skills in passing on information effectively and in listening to others with patience and respect. My experience in representing the school in badminton and hockey has given my stronger teamwork abilities, which I was able to apply in helping organise the school charity week, in which we raised £16,000. I hold positions of responsibility as a school prefect and founder of two societies, where I teach students musical theory and philosophy. Having also been a St John first aider for three years, I gained experience in making others feel comfortable in times of close contact and in assessing situations quickly and effectively. I also enjoy helping out at community events. Finally, I enjoy acting, and also performing magic; being able to instil wonder and joy in others is priceless.”
It’s important to watch out in this section of the personal statement: many extremely talented students apply for medical school, and it’s easy to run the risk of sounding arrogant if the way you phrase things isn’t carefully considered. In fact, this is a risk for all stages of the application !
One way to avoid sounding arrogant is to talk about how you ‘developed’ your skills, opposed to you already possessing them. For example, there’s a subtle difference between ‘I was given the responsibility to be a school mentor due to my strong communication skills’ and ‘I’ve developed strong communication skills through being a school mentor’.
Although the difference is certainly subtle, it can give you a sense of being humble, especially if you have impressive traits.
“I believe I have the humility, scientific acuity and empathy to become a committed doctor and to face the challenges ahead in my chosen career.”
The ending of this model statement isn’t particularly novel and many personal statements finish with something similar. It is important though to have a closing paragraph that links together your principal themes and affirms your suitability for medicine: in this case, the writer chooses scientific acuity, empathy and humility to be his big three qualities; moreover, the writer also slips in a few other qualities expected in medics, emphasising a commitment and readiness to overcome the challenges that are sure to come in the future.
Although simple, short and nothing original, the content in the closing paragraph was carefully chosen – it does the job and most importantly leaves a positive impression, which is the aim of the game.
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The new physician personal statement
We write personal statements when we apply to medical school and residency. They serve as a sort of window to our soul, our reflections and aspirations, our physician vision and mission. I was doing some soul-searching, and I found my medical school personal statement. The following is a snippet from it:
I believe that the purpose of medicine, of the restoration of health, is to remind people of their own mortality and humanity, and those of others. Intricately related to such a recovery is the rediscovery of the preciousness of life, the rediscovery of the hope they had for certain goals in their lives. With renewed health and reestablished hope, people can seek to find projects to work on that will leave positive marks on their lives. The physician’s aspiration is to give his/her all in attempting to enable people to realize their goals: to help them to aim towards a project and to be inspired to live life. -->
I reviewed what my daily physician activities consisted of and compared it to my personal statements. Not surprisingly, I did not find any of the following in my personal statements:
“I want to spend a lot of my time going back and forth with insurance companies so that they will pay for the tests and treatments I ordered for my patients.”
“My dream is to spend my time clicking boxes on a screen instead of being with the patient in front of me.”
“I look forward to hearing patients call me ‘stupid Dr. Yoo’ and threaten to call the CEO of the hospital if they do not get a specific medication they want prescribed to them.”
After four and half years of practicing medicine in a conventional hospital-affiliated outpatient primary care office and doing my soul-searching, I said to myself, “This is not why I wanted to become a physician.” It was clear to me that I needed to move away from this situation that I never wanted to be in nor want to stay in. The office staff members say to me, “What are we going to do with your patients? They are not going to take it well.” I know a part of me will miss being part of the lives of the patients I have cared for here, but I cannot help smiling because I know that I made such a great decision for myself and thank myself for pursuing my authentic physician life.
I wrote a new personal statement for myself and actually ended up keeping the entire above paragraph from my medical school personal statement because it is still true for me today. Here are a few snippets from other parts of it:
I will heal and inspire others using all of my medical training as well as my interests, skills, and abilities outside of medicine while remaining true to my values and having maximal control over my priorities, projects, and patient care delivery.” “I am definitely going to go on a three-month-long ramen-sushi-hot springs tour in Japan.
Do some soul-searching of your own by digging up the personal statements you wrote for your applications to medical school and/or residency and compare what you wrote then to your current life and career situation. Then write a new personal statement for yourself, one with today’s reflections and aspirations, your vision, and mission that describes your authentic physician life. It may be eye-opening, healing, life-changing for you as it was for me.
Francis Yoo is a family physician turned entrepreneur and is the author of Physician Freedom: Living Your Authentic Physician Life . He can be reached at his self-titled site, Dr. Francis Yoo .
Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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CV personal statement examples
Landing job interviews in requires a strong personal statement at the top of your CV.
Essentially, your CV personal statement is a brief paragraph which appears at the very top of your CV – and it’s aim is to summarise the benefits of hiring you and encourage employers to read your CV in full.
In this guide I have included 14 CV personal statement examples with helpful notes under each one, followed by a detailed guide of how to write your own personal statement that will win you lots of interviews.
CV templates
14 CV personal statement examples
To start this guide, I have included 10 examples of good personal statements, to give you an idea of how a personal statement should look , and what should be included.
Note: personal statements are generally used by junior candidates – if you are experienced, check out our CV profile examples instead.
Graduate CV personal statement (no experience)
Although this graduate has no paid work experience, they compensate for it by showcasing all of the skills and knowledge the have gained during their studies, and demonstrating how they apply their knowledge in academic and personal projects.
Graduate CV personal statement (part time freelance experience)
This candidate has graduated with a degree in biochemistry but actually wants to start a career in digital marketing after providing some digital freelance services to fund their studies.
In this case, they haven’t made much mention of their studies because they aren’t relevant to the digital marketing agencies they are applying to. Instead they have focused their personal statement around their freelance work and passion for the digital field – although they still mention the fact they are degree educated to prove their academic success.
School leaver CV personal statement (no experience)
This candidate is 16 years old and has no work experience whatsoever, but they compensate for this by detailing their academic achievements that relate to the roles they are applying for (maths and literacy are important requirements in finance and accountancy roles).
They also add some info on their extracurricular activities and school work-placements, to strengthen this student CV further.
Top tips for writing a CV personal statement
- Thoroughly research the jobs and companies you are planning to apply for to identify the type of candidate they are looking for – try to reflect that in your personal statement
- Don’t be afraid to brag a little – include some of your most impressive achievements from education, work or personal life
- Focus on describing the benefits an employer will get from hiring you. Will you help them to get more customers? Improve their workplace? Save them time and money?
- If you have no work experience, demonstrate transferable workplace skills from your education, projects, or even hobbies
School leaver CV personal statement (part time experience)
Although this person has only just left school, they have also undertaken some part-time work in a call centre alongside their studies.
To make the most of this experience, they have combined their academic achievements with their workplace exposure in this personal statement.
By highlighting their GCSE results, summer programme involvement, work experience and expressing their ambitions to progress within sales, this candidate really makes an appealing case for hiring them.
College leaver CV personal statement (no experience)
This candidate has left college with good grades, but does not yet have any work experience.
To compensate for the lack of workplace exposure, they have made their A level results prominent and highlighted skills and experience which would benefit the employers they are targeting.
Any recruiter reading this profile can quickly understand that this candidate has great academic achievements, a passion for IT and finance and the ability to transfer their skills into an office environment.
College student CV personal statement (freelance experience)
As this student has picked up a small amount of freelance writing work during their studies, they have made sure to brag about it in their personal statement.
They give details on their relevant A level studies to show the skills they are learning, and boost this further by highlighting the fact that they have been applying these skills in a real-life work setting by providing freelance services.
They also include key action verbs that recruiters will be looking for , such as creative writing, working to deadlines, and producing copy.
Academic CV personal statement
Aside from junior candidates, the only other people who might use a personal statement, are academic professionals; as their CV’s tend to be more longer and detailed than other professions.
This candidate provides a high level overview of their field of study, length of experience, and the roles they have held within universities.
School leaver CV personal statement with and sports experience
Although this person has no work experience, they are still able to show employers the value of hiring them by selling their other achievements and explaining how they could benefit an organisation.
They expand on their sports club involvement to demonstrate their teamwork, leadership skills, communication and motivation, which are all important traits in the workplace, and will be looked upon favourably by recruiters and hiring managers.
They also draw upon their future plans to study business studies and take a part time job, to further prove their ambition and dedication.
History graduate CV personal statement
This history graduate proves their aptitude for both academic achievement and workplace aptitude by showcasing valuable skills from their degree and voluntary work.
They do this by breaking down the key requirements for each and showing how their skills could be beneficial for future employers, such as listening, communication, and crisis management.
They also describe how their ability to balance studies alongside voluntary work has not only boosted their knowledge and skills, but also given excellent time management and organisational skills – which are vital assets to any employer.
Law graduate CV personal statement
This legal graduate makes the most from their work university work placements by using it to bulk out the contents of their CV personal statement.
They include their degree to show they have the necessary qualifications for legal roles, which is crucial, but more importantly, they showcase how they applied their legal skills within a real-life work setting.
They give a brief overview of the types of legal professionals they have been working alongside and the type of work they have been carrying out – this is all it takes to get the attention of recruiters and show employers they have what it takes to fulfil roles in the legal sector.
Medical student CV personal statement
This medical student proves their fit for the role by showcasing the key skills they have gained from their studies and their work experience placements.
In just these few sentences, they are able to highlight the vast amount of experience they have across different disciplines in the industry, something which is particularly important in the medical sector.
As they have not graduated yet and are still studying, they have provided proof of their most recent grades. This can give the recruiter some indication as to the type of grade they could be graduating with in the near future.
Masters student CV personal statement
This masters student has started by specifying their area of study, in this case, accounting, and given details about the specific areas of finance they are most interested in. This can hint towards their career goals and passions.
They have then carefully listed some of the key areas of accounting and finance that they are proficient in. For example, business finance, advanced corporate finance and statistics.
They have also outlined some of the transferable skills needed for accounting roles that employers will be looking out for, such as communication, attention to detail and analytical skills.
Finance student CV personal statement
As this finance student has recently undertaken some relevant work experience, they’ve made sure to shout about this in their personal profile.
But more than this, they have included a list of some of the important finance skills they gained as a result of this work experience – for example, financial reporting, processing invoices and month-end reconciliations.
Plus, through power words and phrases such as ‘prevent loss’ and ‘ improve upon accuracy and efficiency’, they have also showcased how they can apply these skills in a workplace setting to benefit the potential employer.
Internship CV personal statement
This digital marketing professional has started their personal profile by outlining their most relevant qualifications and work experience, most notably their freelance role as a content manager.
They have also provided examples of some of the key marketing skills that potential employers might be looking for, including very detailed examples of the platforms and tools they are proficient in – for example, LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest.
They have then closed their statement by giving a detailed description of the type of role or opportunity they are looking for. In this case, an in-house position in a marketing company.
How to write a personal statement for your CV
Now that you’ve seen what a personal statement should look like and the type of content it should contain, follow this detailed guide to one for your own CV – and start racking those interviews up.
Guide contents
What is a CV personal statement?
Cv personal statement or cv profile, personal statement format, what to include in a cv personal statement.
- Personal statement mistakes
How to write persuasively
A personal statement is a short paragraph at the top of your CV which gives employers an overview of your education, skills and experience
It’s purpose is to capture the attention of busy recruiters and hiring managers when your CV is first opened – encouraging them to read the rest of it.
You achieve this by writing a tailored summary of yourself that explains your suitability for the roles you are applying for at a very high level, and matches your target job descriptions .
One question candidates often ask me is , “what is the difference between a personal statement and a CV profile?”
To be honest, they are almost the same – they are both introductory paragraphs that sit at the top of your CV… but there are 2 main differences
A personal statement tends to be used more by junior candidates (graduates, school leavers etc.) and is relatively long and detailed.
A CV profile tends to be favoured by more experienced candidates , and is shorter in length than a personal statement.
Note: If you are an experienced candidate, you may want to switch over to my CV profile writing guide , or example CV profiles page.
To ensure you grab recruiters’ attention with your personal statement, lay it out in the following way.
Positioning
You need to ensure that your personal statement sits at the very top of your CV, and all of it should be totally visible to readers, without the need to scroll down the page.
Do this by reducing the top page margin and minimising the space taken up by your contact details.
This will ensure that your whole personal statement can be seen, as soon as your CV is opened.
We have a Word CV template which can help you to get this right.
Size/length
Your personal statement needs to contain enough detail to provide an introduction to your skills and knowledge, but not so much detail that it bores readers.
To strike the right balance, anything between 8-15 lines of text is perfect – and sentences should be sharp and to-the-point.
As with the whole of your CV or resume , your personal statement should be written in a simple clean font at around size 10-12 to ensure that it can be read easily by all recruiters and employers.
Keep the text colour simple , ensuring that it contrasts the background (black on white is best) and break it into 2 or even 3 paragraphs for a pleasant reading experience.
It should also be written in a punchy persuasive tone, to help you sell yourself and increase your chances of landing interviews , I cover how to do this in detail further down the guide.
Quick tip: A poorly written CV will fail to impress recruiters and employers. Use our CV builder to create a winning CV in minutes with professional CV templates and pre-written content for every industry.
Once you have the style and format of your personal statement perfected, you need to fill it with compelling content that tells recruiters that your CV is worth reading.
Here’s what needs to go into your personal statement…
Before you start writing your personal statement, it’s crucial that you research your target roles to find out exactly what your new potential employers are looking for in a candidate.
Run a search for your target jobs on one of the major job websites , look through plenty of adverts and make a list of the candidate requirements that frequently appear.
This research will show you exactly what to include in your personal statement in order to impress the recruiters who will be reading it.
Education and qualifications are an important aspect of your personal statement, especially if you are a junior candidate.
You should highlight your highest and most relevant qualifications, whether that is a degree, A levels or GCSEs. You could potentially go into some more detail around modules, papers etc. if they are relevant to the roles you are applying for.
It’s important that you discuss the experience you have gained in your personal statement, to give readers an idea of the work you are comfortable undertaking.
This can of course be direct employed work experience, but it doesn’t have to be.
You can also include:
- School/college Uni work placements
- Voluntary work
- Personal projects
- Hobbies/interests
As with all aspects of your CV , the content should be tailored to match the requirements of your target roles.
Whilst discussing your experience, you should touch upon skills used, industries worked in, types of companies worked for, and people you have worked with.
Where possible, try to show the impact your actions have made. E.g . A customer service agent helps to make sales for their employer.
Any industry-specific knowledge you have that will be useful to your new potential employers should be made prominent within your personal statement.
For example
- Knowledge of financial regulations will be important for accountancy roles
- Knowledge of IT operating systems will be important for IT roles
- Knowledge of the national curriculum will be important for teachers
You should also include some information about the types of roles you are applying for, and why you are doing so. Try to show your interest and passion for the field you are hoping to enter, because employers want to hire people who have genuine motivation and drive in their work.
This is especially true if you don’t have much work experience, as you need something else to compensate for it.
CV personal statement mistakes
The things that you omit from your personal statement can be just as important as the things you include.
Try to keep the following out of your personal statement..
Irrelevant info
Any information that doesn’t fall into the requirements of your target roles can be cut out of your personal statement. For example, if you were a professional athlete 6 years ago, that’s great – but it won’t be relevant if you’re applying to advertising internships, so leave it out.
Generic clichés
If you are describing yourself as a “ dynamic team player with high levels of motivation and enthusiasm” you aren’t doing yourself any favours.
These cliché terms are vastly overused and don’t provide readers with any factual details about you – so keep them to a minimum.
Stick to solid facts like education, skills , experience, achievements and knowledge.
If you really want to ensure that your personal statement makes a big impact, you need to write in a persuasive manner.
So, how do you so this?
Well, you need to brag a little – but not too much
It’s about selling yourself and appearing confident, without overstepping the mark and appearing arrogant.
For example, instead of writing.
“Marketing graduate with an interest in entering the digital field”
Be creative and excite the reader by livening the sentence up like this,
“Marketing graduate with highest exam results in class and a passion for embarking on a long and successful career within digital”
The second sentence is a much more interesting, makes the candidate appear more confident, throws in some achievements, and shows off a wider range of writing skills.
Quick tip: A poorly written CV will fail to impress recruiters and employers. Use our CV builder to create a winning CV in minutes with professional templates and pre-written content for every industry.
Your own personal statement will be totally unique to yourself, but by using the above guidelines you will be able to create one which shows recruiters everything they need.
Remember to keep the length between 10-20 lines and only include the most relevant information for your target roles.
You can also check our school leaver CV example , our best CV templates , or our library of example CVs from all industries.
Good luck with the job hunt!
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Doctor Personal Statements Samples For Students
46 samples of this type
During studying in college, you will surely need to craft a lot of Personal Statements on Doctor. Lucky you if linking words together and organizing them into relevant content comes naturally to you; if it's not the case, you can save the day by finding an already written Doctor Personal Statement example and using it as a template to follow.
This is when you will certainly find WowEssays' free samples collection extremely useful as it contains numerous skillfully written works on most various Doctor Personal Statements topics. Ideally, you should be able to find a piece that meets your requirements and use it as a template to build your own Personal Statement. Alternatively, our expert essay writers can deliver you an original Doctor Personal Statement model crafted from scratch according to your individual instructions.
Good Personal Statement On PhD in Law
I am a second-generation Cuban American and the first generation in my immediate family to attend and graduate from college as well as to pursue studies in Law School. I received my Bachelors degree in Marketing from the University of Florida with a minor in Mass Communications. In college I was a member of the Pre-legal Honor Society and held the position of advertising chair.
Organizational Leadership Personal Statement Examples
Good example of personal statement on university admission.
My ultimate goal since I started my academic career in biology was to count myself among the foremost professionals in the field; much of that relates closely to receiving as complete an education as possible and taking a challenging, full-time position as a college professor. After having completed two years of MCB combined with a dissertation at XX
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Biomedical Diagnostics Degree Personal Statement Example
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From childhood, it has been my dream to be a doctor and it has been a great source of pride in me to have been able to realise this dream in the last few years. Furthermore, my professional medical experience has enabled me to realise that I am fascinated by the human heart and its inner-mechanics. As a result, it is my honour to request that I be accepted on to the Cardiology Fellowship and I wish to do so in Canada as it is my understanding that its cardiology training is amongst the best in the world.
Personal Statement On Getting a PhD in Marketing
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Over the past few years, I have attained a blend of diverse scientific knowledge, time management and analytical skills. Being born in a period where science thrives and is persistently employed as a foundation to resolve all individual’s problems, I yearn for the knowledge it bestows. Life as a student at University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia, brought rewards and challenges that I think promoted and contributed volumes of positive effort into my temperament.
Joining the Medical Field Personal Statement Examples
Reflecting on my personal experiences, I appreciate the extensive impact of science in my life. I was born and brought up in Mekele in Ethiopia. The region was plagued by drought and civil war. As a result, people endured a lot of suffering and they strived to survive. Staying healthy was akin to a violent brawl. There was a shortage of doctors and medical supplies. A lot of people lost their lives, a fact that bothered me. Similarly, access to education in such an environment was almost impossible.
Masters In Public Health (Mph): Personal Statements Examples
System control personal statement examples, good personal statement about ahmad aalam, medicine personal statement, financial mathematics personal statement, example of personal statement on dental school, cardiology fellowship personal statement example.
I graduated from the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine in 2009 and have been working as a doctor since then. I have thoroughly enjoyed this time and I am now keen to complete a fellowship in Cardiology. This field of medicine in the reason I decided to train as a doctor; I have a huge interest in cardiology and, in particular, cardiovascular diseases, and am keen to pursue a lifelong career in the field.
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Medical School Personal Statement Examples and Analysis
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A strong medical school personal statement can take many forms, but the most impressive ones share several features. A winning statement obviously needs to be well written with perfect grammar and an engaging style. Also, a standout personal statement needs to be personal . The AMCAS application used by nearly all United States medical schools provides a simple prompt: "Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school." The personal statement clearly needs to be about your motivation. How did you become interested in medicine? What experiences have affirmed that interest? How does medical school fit into your career goals?
The structure and precise content of the statement, however, can vary greatly. Below are two sample statements to illustrate some possibilities. Each is followed by an analysis of the statement's strengths and weaknesses.
Medical School Personal Statement Example #1
The walk across campus was excruciating. During my first year of college, I had gotten strep throat for the second time in a month. When antibiotics didn’t seem to be working, my doctor found that strep had led to mono. Worst of all, I had developed hiccups. Yes, hiccups. But these weren’t just any hiccups. Every time my diaphragm spasmed, I had such a stab of severe pain in my shoulder that I nearly blacked out. Needless to say, this was strange. The fatigue and sore throat made sense, but torturous knife-in-the-shoulder hiccups? I immediately headed for the urgent care facility at my university’s medical center. The walk seemed like miles, and every hiccup brought a stifled scream and a stop to my progress.
I grew up in rural New York, so I had never been to a teaching hospital before. All of my childhood doctors, in fact, had moved to my area to get their medical school loans repaid by agreeing to practice in an underserved community. I had four different doctors growing up, all of them perfectly competent, but all of them overworked and eager to do their time so they could move on to a “better” job.
I’m not sure what I expected when I set foot in the university’s medical center, but I had certainly never been in a massive medical complex that employs over 1,000 physicians. What mattered to me, of course, was my doctor and how she would fix my demonic death hiccups. At the time, I was thinking an epidural followed by a shoulder amputation would be a good solution. When Dr. Bennett arrived in my examining room, she immediately sent me to x-ray and told me to bring the films back to her. I thought it was odd that the patient would do this ferrying, and I found it even more strange when she put the images up on the illuminator and viewed them for the first time with me by her side.
This was the moment when I realized that Dr. Bennett was much more than a physician. She was a teacher, and at that moment, she was not teaching her medical students, but me. She showed me the outlines of the organs in my abdomen, and pointed to my spleen that was enlarged from mono. The spleen, she explained, was pushing on a nerve to my shoulder. Each hiccup dramatically increased that pressure, thus causing the shoulder pain. Apparently I wouldn’t need my shoulder amputated after all, and Dr. Bennett’s explanation was so wonderfully simple and comforting. Sometime during my visit to the hospital my hiccups had stopped, and as I walked back across campus, I couldn’t help marveling at how strange the human body is, but also what a pleasure it is to have a doctor who took the time to teach me about my own physiology.
As my interest in medicine grew and I added biology and chemistry minors to my communication studies major, I started looking for shadowing opportunities. Over winter break of my junior year, a dermatologist from a nearby town agreed to let me shadow him full time for a week. He was a family acquaintance who, unlike my childhood doctors, had been working out of the same office for over 30 years. Until that January, however, I really had no idea what his job was actually like. My first impression was one of disbelief. He began seeing patients at 6 a.m. for 5-minute consultations during which he would look at a single area of concern for the patient—a rash, a suspicious mole, an open sore. Around 7:00 a.m., regularly scheduled appointments began, and even here, he rarely spent more than 10 minutes with a patient. His workday was over by midafternoon in time to get in some skiing (golf in warmer months), but he would still see upwards of 50 patients in a day.
One would think with that kind of volume, the patient experience would be impersonal and rushed. But Dr. Lowry knew his patients. He greeted them by name, asked about their kids and grandkids, and laughed at his own bad jokes. He was deceptively quick and efficient, but he made patients comfortable. And when he discussed their medical issues, he pulled out a remarkably battered and dog-eared copy of Fitzpatrick’s Clinical Dermatology to show color photos of their condition and explain what next steps, if any, were needed. Whether a patient had a benign seborrheic keratosis or melanoma that had gone untreated for far too long, he compassionately and clearly explained the situation. He was, in short, an excellent teacher.
I love biology and medicine. I also love writing and teaching, and I plan to use all of these skills in my future medical career. I’ve been a lab TA for Human Anatomy and Physiology, and I wrote articles for the university newspaper on flu prevention and a recent outbreak of whooping cough. My experiences with Dr. Bennett and Dr. Lowry have made clear to me that the best doctors are also excellent teachers and communicators. Dr. Lowry taught me not just about dermatology, but the realities of rural medicine. He is the only dermatologist in a 40-mile radius. He is such a valuable and integral part of the community, yet he will be retiring soon. It isn’t clear who will replace him, but perhaps it will be me.
Analysis of Personal Statement Example #1
With its focus on rural medicine and the importance of good communication in health professions, the statement's topic is promising. Here's a discussion of what works well and what could use a little improvement.
There is much in this personal statement that the admissions committee will find appealing. Most obviously, the applicant has an interesting background as a communication studies major, and the statement successfully shows how important good communication is to being a good physician. Medical school applicants certainly don't need to major in the sciences , and they need not be apologetic or defensive when they have a major in the humanities or social sciences. This applicant clearly has taken the required biology and chemistry classes , and the additional skills in writing, speaking, and teaching will be an added bonus. Indeed, the statement's emphasis on doctors as teachers is compelling and speaks well to the applicant's understanding of effective patient treatment.
The readers of this statement are also likely to admire the applicant's understanding of the challenges rural communities face when it comes to health care, and the end of the statement makes clear that the applicant is interested in helping address this challenge by working in a rural area. Finally, the author comes across as a thoughtful and at times humorous person. The "demonic death hiccups" are likely to draw a smile, and the understanding of Dr. Lowry's contributions to the community reveals the author's ability to analyze and understand some of the challenges of rural medical practices.
On the whole, this is a strong personal statement. As with any piece of writing, however, it is not without some shortcomings. By telling two stories—the experiences with Dr. Bennett and Dr. Lowry—there is little room left to explain the applicant's motivation for studying medicine. The statement never gets very specific about what the applicant wants to study in medical school. The final paragraph suggests it could be dermatology, but that certainly doesn't seem definitive and there's no indication of a passion for dermatology. Many MD students, of course, don't know what their specialty will be when they begin medical school, but a good statement should address why the applicant is driven to study medicine. This statement tells a couple of good stories, but the discussion of motivation is a little thin.
Medical School Personal Statement Example #2
My paternal grandfather died of rectal cancer when I was 10 and my grandmother died of colon cancer two years later. Indeed, numerous family members on my father’s side of the family have died of colorectal cancer, and these are not beautiful and peaceful deaths. No dosage of opioids seemed to alleviate the pain caused by tumors that had spread to my grandfather’s spine, and the numerous rounds of chemotherapy and radiation were their own form of torture. My father gets frequent colonoscopies in an effort to avoid the same fate, and I will soon be doing the same. The family curse isn’t likely to skip a generation.
Five years ago, my favorite uncle on my mother’s side of the family was diagnosed with triple hit lymphoma. Doctors gave him, at best, a few months to live. He was an avid reader and researcher who learned everything he could about his disease. Walking with a cane because of tumors in his leg, he attended a medical conference, inserted himself into a conversation with a top cancer researcher, and managed to get enrolled in a clinical trial for CAR T-cell therapy. Because of his inquisitiveness and assertiveness, he is still alive today with no signs of cancer. This type of happy outcome, however, is more the exception than the rule, and in an ideal world, a cancer patient should not have to reject his doctor's diagnosis to seek his own cure.
My interest in oncology certainly stems from my family history and the ticking time bomb within my own genes, as well as my general fascination with understanding how living things work. The field also appeals to my love of challenges and puzzles. My early childhood was one big blur of giant jigsaw puzzles, scouring the countryside with a magnifying glass, and bringing home every newt, salamander, and snake I could find. Today, those interests manifest themselves in my fondness for mathematics, cellular biology, and anatomy.
In contemporary medicine, there is perhaps no greater living puzzle than cancer. Ken Burns’ film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies really brings home how little we understand the disease. At the same time, it’s encouraging that this 2015 film is already out-of-date as new and promising treatments continue to emerge. Indeed, it’s an exciting time for the field as researchers make some of the most significant advancements in cancer treatment in decades. That said, some cancers remain remarkably elusive, and so much more progress is needed. My volunteer work at the university’s Cancer Center has made this need clear. So many patients I’ve met are suffering through chemotherapy not with a hope of beating cancer, but with the modest hope of living just a little longer. They often aren’t wrong to have such modest expectations.
My interest in oncology isn’t limited to treating patients—I also want to be a researcher. During the past year and a half, I’ve been a research assistant in Dr. Chiang’s laboratory. I’ve gained extensive experience conducting literature reviews, handling rodents, measuring tumors, genotyping, and creating genetic samples using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Some of my fellow lab assistants find the work tedious and repetitive, but I view each piece of data as part of the bigger puzzle. Progress may be slow and even halting at times, but it is still progress, and I find it exciting.
I’m applying to your joint MD/PhD program because I firmly believe that research will make me a better doctor, and working directly with patients will make me a better researcher. My ultimate goal is to become a cancer research professor at an R1 university’s medical school where I will treat patients, educate the next generation of doctors and researchers, and make headway in defeating this terrible disease.
Analysis of Personal Statement Example #2
With its laser-sharp focus on oncology, this statement stands in sharp contrast to the first example. Here's what works well and what doesn't.
Unlike the first writer, this applicant does an excellent job revealing the motivation behind attending medical school. The opening paragraphs bring to life the damage cancer has done to the applicant's family, and the statement as a whole convincingly shows that oncology is an area of interest for both personal and intellectual reasons. The applicant's volunteer work and research experiences all center on cancer, and the reader has no doubt about the applicant's passion for the field. The applicant also has remarkably clear and specific career goals. On the whole, the reader gets the sense that this applicant will be an ambitious, focused, motivated, and passionate medical student.
Like the first example, this personal statement is generally quite strong. If it has one significant weakness, it is on the patient care side of medicine. In the first example, the applicant's admiration for and understanding of good patient care stands at the forefront. In this second statement, we don't have much evidence of the applicant's actual interest in working directly with patients. This shortcoming could be addressed by going into more detail about the volunteer work at the university Cancer Center, but as is, the statement seems to present more interest in research than patient care. Given the interest in research, the applicant's interest in an MD/PhD program makes sense, but the MD side of that equation could use more attention in the statement.
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Medicine Personal Statements
Submitted by anonymous
Medicine Personal Statement
My initial interest in medicine stemmed from my excitement of Human B...
The combination of the sciences, the latest technologies and social i...
Submitted by Oriana
Shadowing a doctor on a geriatric ward, I witnessed tears, arguments ...
Submitted by Subhasis
The undiagnosed death of a relative in India, which was later found t...
Submitted by Neha
Global Health Personal Statement
Healthcare is a broad field and my interest began when I volunteered ...
Submitted by Martha
Through my mother’s recent diagnosis and treatment of stage 3 metasta...
Submitted by Sinead
Austerity, junior doctor strikes, and even Brexit, are said to have b...
Submitted by Denise
Seven years ago, I witnessed the deterioration of my grandmother's he...
Submitted by Haroon
The decision to study medicine isn't one made upon one mind-blowing e...
Submitted by Holly
It is the degree of uncertainty that brings excitement and interest i...
Medicine Personal Statement Advice
Your UCAS application comprises your educational attainment info, a reference, and a personal statement. Together, this data helps provide a fuller picture to the universities on your list, and the personal statement is the aspect which you have most control over. It pays dividends, therefore, to produce the best possible medicine personal statement. Make a list of your strengths and achievements, and add to it whenever you gain something new and noteworthy. Which are the strongest skills to recommend you as a student of medicine? These points can form the skeleton of your medicine personal statement structure. Every strength should be supported by evidence. For example, if you write that you have a passion for biology in your Medicine personal statement, how can you prove that? Maybe you’ve attended clubs, read around the subject, or entered competitions. Don’t worry about how to end a personal statement: it’s not a novel. As long as it seems complete (and not like the laptop has been whisked away from you, mid-writing), it doesn’t need to be a literary spectacle. Just round things up neatly, summarising your main reasons for applying and key assets as a future medical professional. Mention your motivation for choosing this course. If you’re drafting a Bristol medicine personal statement, don’t be too specific about the location, as it’s likely one of several on your list, but you should be specific about the subject: why do you want to study medicine? What are your ambitions? Any work or voluntary experience can be useful in an application. Good veterinary medicine personal statement examples might include details of a voluntary role in an animal shelter, or a part-time job as a dog walker. In fact, any life skills can be included. A busy schedule can be evidence of strong organisational skills; re-sitting a year at college can be proof of commitment and a strong work-ethic; interpersonal skills developed while travelling or working can enhance medicine gap year personal statements.
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Writtle Uni College
103 courses
107 courses
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285 courses
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353 courses
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343 courses
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203 courses
Edge Hill Uni
216 courses
258 courses
Uni of Glasgow
986 courses
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409 courses
Home — Essay Samples — Life — Nurse — Medicine Personal Statement Example
Medicine Personal Statement Example
- Subject: Life
- Category: Professions & Career , Life Experiences
- Essay Topic: Nurse , Personal Statement
- Published: 14 May 2019
- Downloads: 23
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Medicine Personal Statement Examples
Last updated: 05/10/2022
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Your UCAS personal statement is a chance to showcase the skills, attributes and experiences which make you suited to studying medicine. This can be quite a daunting prospect, especially when you have to boil all that down to just 4,000 characters or 47 lines.
In this article, we will:
- Give you a flavour of what our Personal Statement Course offers, by examining examples of personal statements
- Help you learn what you should and shouldn't include in your personal statement
Interested in dentistry? Check how out dentistry personal statement examples .
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Introduction, example 1
Introduction, example 2, main body, example 1, main body, example 2, conclusion, example 1, conclusion, example 2, strong personal statement example, weak personal statement example, what should your personal statement include.
To get into medical school , your personal statement should:
- Demonstrate meaningful insight into the profession, in the form of work experience or independent research. This could be partly based on medical books or podcasts when medical work experience is not possible
- Reflect on your strengths, weaknesses and experiences
- Mention your extracurricular activities
- Discuss your academic interests and achievements
'At the moment I am working towards A-Level Chemistry, Biology and Maths. I achieved my AS-Level in Spanish but decided to drop it to focus on my more medically relevant subjects. I’ve been dreaming of studying medicine since I was a young child, and this was only reinforced when I contracted measles during my primary school exams. This affected my performance, but I found that this motivated me rather than discouraged me. A particularly inspiring doctor was heavily involved in helping me deal with the pressure. I was inspired by her to become a doctor myself and help others in a similar way. I am particularly interested in science and as such the practical side of medicine interested me. I’ve always enjoyed chemistry and biology the most, and have best learned when trying to link the pure science I learn in school back to it's practical and useful real-world applications. This is what is particularly interesting about medicine to me - you can apply pure, evidence-based science in a clinical and practical setting to have an obvious positive effect. Inspired by this interest, I invested in a subscription to the New Scientist magazine. I’ve read about a huge number of fascinating discoveries and how they’ve been applied in medical settings.'
This introductory section has some promising features, but there are areas the author could improve:
- The introductory sentence doesn’t catch the reader’s attention or hold much relevance for a medical personal statement - this sentence would be better suited to a subsequent section on the author’s academic achievements, and it would need to be supplemented with a suitable explanation as to why this choice of subjects is relevant for medicine.
- The author uses an anecdote to illustrate why they first developed an interest in medicine. This is a good idea, but the anecdote they choose is not the most suitable. It references ‘primary school exams’, which uses the cliché of wanting to do medicine from a young age. This is not only overused, but is also underdeveloped.
- The applicant mentions feeling under pressure for these primary school exams. This won’t fill the reader with confidence that the author will be able to cope with the demands of medical school and a career as a doctor.
- The introduction should open with the anecdote rather than academic achievements. A strong and memorable opening line will catch the admission tutor’s attention, and gives the student an opportunity to summarise why they want to study medicine.
- It is far too long. A good introduction should be around 4-6 lines.
There are some parts of the introduction that are more positive:
- The part discussing why they enjoy chemistry and biology is useful - it links their love for pure science back to the passion they mentioned earlier for helping people. This demonstrates the blend of empathy and interest in science that medical schools will be looking for.
- The same part also introduces the candidate’s reading of medical literature, which they could choose to discuss in more depth later in the statement or which might be something that interviewers could choose to examine in more detail.
'From a young age, my real fascination in life has been science - in particular, the incredible intricacy of the human body. My passion to discover more about its inner workings fuelled my motivation to study medicine, and the challenging yet rewarding nature of the job leaves me certain that I want to pursue it as a career. I think that my chosen A-Levels have only made me more determined to become a doctor, while simultaneously allowing me to develop and improve my skills. I have become a better problem-solver by studying physics and maths, while also learning the importance of accuracy and attention to detail. I’ve particularly enjoyed chemistry, which has again helped me improve my problem solving skills and my ability to think rationally and logically. Throughout my chemistry and biology A-Levels, I’ve been required to engage in practical work which has taught me how to design and construct an experiment. I’ve also become better at communicating with other members of my team, something I witnessed the importance of during my work experience in A&E. During recent months, I’ve started reading more medical publications such as the Lancet and the British Medical Journal. I’ve been particularly interested in how this evidence-based science can be applied to clinical practice to really make an impact on patients.'
This introduction contains some useful reflection and demonstrates some insight, but it really is quite jumbled. The main areas of weakness are as follows:
- The content is good but much of it would be better suited to a later section and should be explored in more detail while being linked back to medicine (for example, the whole second half could be included in a longer segment on academia).
- The applicant mentions that they improved their problem-solving skills. How did they do this? Why is this important in medicine?
- They say that medicine is demanding but that this attracts them to the job. What experiences have they had to show the demanding nature of it? Why does this attract them to it?
- The author also briefly mentions a stint of work experience in A&E, but the rushed nature of the introduction means that they can’t go into detail about the experience or reflect on what exactly they learned from it.
- Similar to Example #1, this introduction includes some clichés which detract from the author’s overall message - for example, that they have wanted to do medicine from a young age or that they love science (with no further explanation as to why).
- It is far too long. Again, an introduction should be a succinct summary of why you're interested in medicine, and not a brief account of all of your experiences.
The better parts of this introduction include the following:
- The author does demonstrate that they can reflect on the skills they’ve improved through experience - for example, the analytical and problem-solving skills they gained from chemistry.
- The candidate shows an understanding of the link between evidence-based science and clinical application when discussing how they did further research around their physics course. This shows a good level of curiosity and insight.
'I first became interested in studying medicine when I carried out a work experience placement with my father an elderly care specialist. I really enjoyed the experience and it gave me a deeper insight into the challenges doctors face. I now believe that I better understand the resilience - both mental and physical - that doctors need to cope with the heavy workload and emotional challenges. A few months ago I was given the opportunity to attend work experience in St Mary’s hospital in Manchester where I visited and observed many different specialties and areas of the hospital like A&E and the labs and witnessed how doctors carried out their jobs. For the past year I’ve been doing some other volunteering work too, such as, taking meals around to patients on the ward, asking them about their experience in the hospital and just chatting with them about how they’re feeling. They’re often delighted to have someone to talk to especially during Covid when they weren’t allowed to receive visitors. I saw how my communication and empathy made a real impact on the mood of the lonelier patients. I spent a few days working in the same hospital, shadowing doctors and Allied Health professionals in the stroke ward. I became much more familiar with the process doctors used for treating stroke patients, and developed an understanding of the role that physiotherapists and occupational therapists have in their rehabilitation. On top of that I organised a placement with the emergency medicine doctors and spent time in the haemapheresis unit at St Mary’s.'
This example does contain some of the features we look for in a complete main body section but could definitely be made better:
- The main issue with this is the list-like presentation, which goes hand-in-hand with a general lack of reflection or insight. Although it is good to discuss your work experience in your personal statement, it would be far better if the candidate focused on just one or two of the experiences mentioned but went into far more detail about what they learned and the insight they gained. For example, after mentioning the role of Allied Health Professionals in the rehabilitation of stroke patients, they could go on to discuss how they came to appreciate the importance of these healthcare workers, and how the contribution of all these individuals within the multidisciplinary team is so important to achieving good outcomes.
- Statements like ‘I [...] witnessed how doctors carry out their jobs’ make it seem as if the candidate really wasn’t paying attention. They need to explain what they mean by this. Were they impressed by the doctors’ effective teamwork and communication skills, or perhaps by their positive attitude and morale? Did they seem well-trained and effective? What did they learn from this that might help them in the future?
- Similarly, the student simply states that they saw the effect of empathy on patients: ‘I saw how my communication and empathy made a real impact on the mood of the lonelier patients.’ This adopts a ‘telling’ approach, when the student needs to adopt a ‘showing’ approach. Simply telling us that they saw something does not adequately demonstrate an understanding of why those qualities are important, or indeed, what they actually mean. What does it mean to have empathy? What does that look like in real terms? How did they use it? What was the effect? Showing the tutor that you are empathetic is important, but simply saying it is disingenuous and shows a lack of understanding.
- The candidate spends a number of characters name-dropping the exact hospital they visited and its location, which isn’t the best use of valuable space, as it has no real impact on the message they’re trying to convey.
- Generally, it isn’t a good idea to talk about work experience with family members. Of course, this might be the reality, but try to have some other placements that you’ve organised yourself so that it doesn’t appear as if your family are doing all the hard work for you. At the very least, you could simply leave this information out.
- There are a few errors of grammar and punctuation here, especially regarding the use of commas. It’s important to use a spell checker or to ask an English teacher to check your work for you before submitting your statement.
The better features of this example are:
- The candidate does show some insight into the role of a doctor when they talk about the resilience required by doctors to cope with the hard hours and challenging conditions. They just need to reflect in this way in other parts of the section, too.
- The author has clearly done a lot of work experience and is right to discuss this in their personal statement. Just remember that you don’t need to squeeze in every single little placement.
'I was pleased to be appointed as head boy in my last year of school, and as part of this role I headed up the school safety office. I carried out inspections of the dormitories, roll calls and helped in the running of school festivals and activity days. The office I was in charge of needed to ensure the safety of every student in the school and I helped plan and lead drills to prepare the students for storms, floods and fires. This role has made me a far better leader, and I also believe that I am now far more calm and logical when working under pressure or in uncertain situations. I’ve been an editor on the online school blog for over 2 years now and the experience has taught me how to work effectively in a team when under time pressure. In order to meet my deadlines I needed to remain motivated even when working independently, and I think that the diligence and work ethic I’ve developed as a result will be incredibly useful to me as a medical student. I took on the role of financial director for both the table tennis club and Model United Nations at my school. At first I struggled with the weight of responsibility as I was in charge of all of the clubs’ money and expenditures. However, I am now a far more organised individual as I came to appreciate the value of concise paperwork and of keeping a record of my actions. I not only manage the funds of the table tennis club but am also a regular member of it. I often play independently, and the lack of a specific coach means that I have to identify my own strengths and weaknesses. I am now far better at being honest about my weaknesses and then devising strategies for working on them. The sport has also allowed me to demonstrate my ability to work well in a team, but also to get my head down and work independently when necessary.'
This example is generally well written and showcases some of the features of a good main-body section. However, there are some places the candidate could have done a better job:
- This section would benefit from the ‘show, don’t tell’ approach. Instead of explaining specific situations or events through which the candidate demonstrated certain attributes, they simply state them and then link them vaguely to a more general role or activity.
- The bigger problem, however, is that the author mentions a wide range of skills but falls short in linking these back to medicine. For example, after reflecting on their role in the school safety office and the leadership skills they developed as a result, the author could talk about the senior role that doctors have within the multidisciplinary team and the importance of good leadership in a medical setting. Similarly, the author mentions their ability to work independently but should really round this off by describing how this would benefit them in medical school, as the ability to progress your learning independently is crucial to success there. The student mentions an understanding of and proficiency with paperwork and recording their actions. Doctors must constantly do this when writing notes for each patient, so the candidate should really try to mention this in their statement to explain why their skills would be useful. The mention of teamwork could be followed by an explanation of why it is important in a medical setting and how the applicant witnessed this during their medical work experience. Finally, when the student talks about being able to identify and work on their weaknesses, they could use this as an opportunity to demonstrate further insight into the medical profession by discussing the importance of revalidation and audit in the modern NHS or talking about how important it is for doctors to be able to work on their areas of weakness.
Better aspects of this example:
- The applicant doesn’t simply list the activities they have been a part of, but also explains what they learned from these and the skills and attributes they developed as a result. This reflective ability is exactly what assessors will be looking for.
- The tone of the section is appropriate. The applicant doesn’t appear arrogant or over-confident, but at the same time, they manage to paint themselves in a good light, highlighting their range of skills relevant to medicine.
- This example uses the character count effectively. Unlike the earlier examples, almost all of the sentences here serve a purpose and are succinct and to the point.
- They demonstrate a wide range of skills, most of which are very relevant to medicine.
' I am a resilient and empathetic individual and I think that I have the qualities to thrive despite the social and academic challenges of university. Through my work experience I’ve gained an insight into the difficulties doctors face but this has not dampened my enthusiasm. My placements and voluntary work have only strengthened my commitment and dedication to studying medicine.'
The effectiveness of a conclusion depends on the rest of the statement before it, so it is hard to judge how good a conclusion is without seeing what the candidate has mentioned in the rest of their statement. Assuming this follows on logically from the statement, however, we can say that this conclusion is generally good for the following reasons:
- It is brief, to the point and highlights that the student holds some of the skills doctors need (this would of course need to be backed up with examples in the other parts of the statement).
- The author doesn’t introduce any new ideas here, as that would be inappropriate, but rather reiterates their determination, which is exactly what admissions tutors want to see.
- The author demonstrates a balanced understanding of the demands of a medical career and thereby shows that this is a decision they have made rationally while considering all the implications of their choice.
As is always the case, however, this conclusion could still be improved.
- The mention of the social challenges of university is a bit too honest, even though these exist for everyone. Mentioning them here could give the impression that the student struggles socially (which is not something they would want to highlight) or that they intend to dive into the social side of university at the expense of their studies.
- If the candidate really insists on mentioning the social side, they should at least do this after discussing academics, and they should do it in the body of the statement, where they have space to explain what exactly they mean.
- The student describes themselves as empathetic. This should be avoided, as it should be evident from the statement itself..
'Over the years I have built up a large and extensive set of medical work experiences and volunteering opportunities. These have allowed me to demonstrate my ability to communicate effectively and work in a team, and they will allow me to become a more diligent student and effective doctor. I think that this, alongside my ability and strength of character mean that I should be considered for this course. I am excited to get started and begin to put my skills to good use.'
This is, again, a reasonably strong conclusion. It gives a succinct and to-the-point summary of why the author believes they should be selected to study medicine and shows their excitement for starting this journey. However, there are some parts of this example that could be improved:
- The author mentions 'ability' and 'strength of character.' These are nebulous terms and not specific to medicine or a medical degree in any way.
- The mention of a 'large and extensive range of medical work experiences' indicates overconfidence. Medical applicants are not expected to have any medical ability or any 'large and extensive range' of medical experience, nor is it probable that this candidate actually does (otherwise they wouldn’t need to go to medical school in the first place). Rather, medical students need a suitable set of skills and attributes in order to make the most of their medical education and become an effective doctor.
- On a similar note, the applicant says that their range of medical work experience will make them a better student and doctor, but this is only true if they can reflect on their experience and learn from it. Impassively watching an operation or clinic without properly engaging with it won’t make you a better doctor in the future.
We’ll now go on to look at an example of a good personal statement. No personal statement is perfect, but this example demonstrates a good level of reflection, engagement and suitability to study medicine (we know this because the writer of this statement went on to receive four offers.)
It goes without saying that plagiarism of any of these examples is a bad idea. They are known to medical schools and will be flagged up when run through plagiarism detection software.
Use these as examples of ways you could structure your own statement, how to reflect on experiences, and how to link them back to medicine and demonstrate suitable insight and motivation.
'It is the coupling of patient-centred care with evidence-based science that draws me to medicine. The depth of medical science enthrals me, but seeing complex pathology affecting a real person is what drives home my captivation. As a doctor, you are not only there for people during their most vulnerable moments but are empowered by science to offer them help, and this capacity for doing good alongside the prospect of lifelong learning intrigues me. In recent years I have stayed busy academically - despite my medical focus I have kept a range of interests, studying Spanish and German to grow my social and cultural awareness and playing the violin and drums in groups to improve my confidence when working in teams and performing. This is similar to the team-working environment that dominates in medical settings, and I have found that my awareness of other cultures is a great help when interacting with the hugely diverse range of patients I meet during my volunteering work. The independent projects I am undertaking for my A-levels teach me how to rigorously construct and perform experiments, process data and present findings, developing my written communication. My work experience showed me the importance of these skills when making patients’ notes, and of course, medical academia must be concisely written and well constructed and communicated. Maths teaches me to problem-solve and recognise patterns, vital skills in diagnosis. Over the past two years, I have actively sought out and planned work experience and volunteering opportunities. My time last year in Critical Care showed me the importance of communication in healthcare to ensure patients understand their diagnosis and feel comfortable making decisions. I saw the value of empathy and patience when a doctor talked to a patient refusing to take her insulin and suffering from diabetic ketoacidosis. They tried to understand her position and remain compassionate despite her refusal. My experience deepened my insight into the realities of a medical career, as we were at the hospital for more than ten hours a day with breaks and lunches cut short by bleeps or calls from the ward. This helped me understand the physical resilience required by staff as I also came to appreciate the immense emotional burden they often had to bear. Despite this, the brilliant staff remained motivated and compassionate which I found inspirational. The Brighton and Sussex Medical School work experience and Observe GP courses I completed put emphasis on the value of holistic, patient-centred care, introducing me to specialities I had not previously considered such as geriatrics and oncology. Inspired by my experience I explored a variety of specialisms, reading memoirs (Do no harm) and textbooks (Oxford handbook of clinical medicine) alike. I investigated medical politics with my English persuasive piece, discussing the ethics behind the junior doctor strikes of 2016. I have been volunteering in a hospital ward since January, which helps improve my confidence and communication skills when talking to patients and relatives. I showed my ability to deal with unexpected situations when I found a patient smoking whilst on oxygen, and acted quickly to tell nurses. Over lockdown I felt privileged offering lonely patients some tea and a chat and seeing their mood change - it taught me that medicine is about treating patients as individuals, not a diagnosis. My work on the hospital door taught me to stay calm and interact assuredly with visitors, vital skills in public-service jobs like medicine. I coach tennis at a local club, planning and running sessions for younger children. I am responsible for players' safety and must manage risk while showing leadership qualities by making the sessions fun and inclusive. As a player, I am part of the self-run performance team, which forces me to better my ability without coaching. This means developing self-reflection and insight into my weaknesses, which I know to be integral skills for medics. One of the doctors I shadowed during my work experience was just starting her revalidation process and I saw the importance of self-awareness and honest reflection in meeting her targets and becoming a better doctor. I achieved my Gold Duke of Edinburgh certificate of achievement (and the Bronze and Silver awards), exhibiting my commitment and ability to self-reflect and improve. On our Silver expedition, we experienced severe rain, showing resilience by continuing when our kit was wet from day one. My diligence and academic ability will allow me to thrive in medical school, and I have the prerequisite qualities to become a compassionate and effective doctor. Despite the obstacles, I am determined to earn the privilege of being able to improve peoples' health. This is something that excites me and a career I would happily dedicate my life to.'
Strong personal statement example analysis
Introduction.
This statement is a good example of how a personal statement should be constructed and presented. The introduction is short and to the point, only dealing with the candidate’s motivations to study medicine while also demonstrating an insight into what the career involves.
They demonstrate their insight briefly by mentioning that medicine involves lifelong learning. This is often seen as one of the challenges associated with the career but here they present it as an advantage, which makes them seem more suited to the career and marks them out as a curious and interested individual who enjoys learning.
The introduction's final sentence offers an opportunity for interviewers to probe the candidate further, to explore their curiosity and ask them to explain what exactly attracts them to lifelong learning. An astute candidate would recognise this and try to think of a suitable answer in advance.
Paragraph 2
The second paragraph opens the body of the statement by exploring the author’s academic interests. As with some of the previous example body paragraphs, the writer shows their reflective ability by explaining what each of their subjects taught them and the skills they developed and demonstrated as a result. They improve upon this further by linking these skills back to medicine and explaining why they are important for doctors.
This paragraph demonstrates the author’s work-life balance by showing their varied interests in languages and music, all without wasting characters by saying this directly. They also mention the diverse range of patients they encountered during their volunteering, which again implies an empathetic and conscientious nature while showing an insight into a medical career (particularly regarding the vast diversity and multiculturality of the patient cohort treated by the NHS).
Their explanation of the relevance of maths could be more detailed, but again this could be something the applicant is hoping to be questioned on at interview. The candidate comes across as thoughtful and multi-talented with the ability to reflect on their decisions and experiences and with a suitable insight into how their strengths would play well into a medical career.
In this particular paragraph, there isn’t much explanation as to how they drew their inferences about what a medical career entails from their volunteering and work experience (and what exactly these entailed), but these are explored in more detail later in the statement.
P aragraphs 3 and 4
The next two paragraphs discuss the candidate’s work experience, beginning with a single work experience placement in detail. This is a better approach than the large lists of placements seen in the previous example body paragraphs. The author talks about a specific scenario and shows that they paid attention during their shadowing while also illustrating their ability to reflect on these experiences and the precise skills involved.
The skills they mention here - communication, empathy, resilience - are skills that they specifically talk about developing and demonstrating through their activities in other parts of the statement. This shows that they have taken their learning and used it to inform the focus of their personal development. They also not only state that these skills are important for medics, but also explain why this is. For example, they explain that communication is important in helping patients relax and engage with their healthcare and that resilience is required to deal with the antisocial hours.
In this section, the applicant briefly mentions a specific medical condition. This shows that they were engaging with the science during their placement and also provides interviewers with an opportunity to test the applicant’s scientific knowledge. Knowing this, the candidate would likely research diabetic ketoacidosis in order to be able to impress the panel.
The author mentions some other virtual work experience opportunities they’ve been involved with and sets themselves up to discuss what these placements taught them. They then go on to explain the actions they took as a result of this, showing that they really engaged with the virtual placements and could identify what they learned and their areas of weakness. This is linked well to further reading and research they carried out, which illustrates their curiosity and engagement with medical science and literature.
The reference to the junior doctor strikes at the end shows that they have engaged with medical news as well as the ethical side of medicine, which is something that many medical schools place a lot of emphasis on at interviews. Ideally, this section would explain how exactly they explored these different specialties and illustrate what they learned and how they developed their learning from the books mentioned.
Paragraphs 5 and 6
These paragraphs discuss the applicant’s hospital volunteering and other extracurricular activities. The applicant doesn’t just state that they’ve volunteered in a hospital but goes into depth about the precise skills they developed as a result. They include an anecdote to illustrate their ability to react quickly and calmly in emergency situations, which is a great way to show that they’ve been paying attention (though this should really be backed up with an explanation as to why this is important in medicine).
The candidate also shows their patient-centred approach when discussing how they cared for demoralised patients (again illustrating empathy and compassion). This style of healthcare is something that the modern NHS is really trying to promote, so showing an awareness of this and an aptitude for applying it practically will really impress your assessors.
The author demonstrates another core attribute for medical students when talking about how their work on the front door of the hospital improved their confidence in communication, and they once more link this back to medicine. This last section could benefit from further explanation regarding the nature of their work on the hospital door and exactly how they developed these skills.
In the second of these sections, the candidate simultaneously reflects on the skills they learnt from their tennis and explains how these apply to medicine, showing insight into the profession by mentioning and showing awareness of the process of revalidation. This will show assessors that the candidate paid attention during their work experience, reflected on what they learned and then identified a way they could work on these skills in their own life. The author name-checks the Duke of Edinburgh award but then goes on to explain how exactly this helped them grow as a person. They link back to resilience, a skill they mentioned in an earlier section as being important for medics.
Conclusion to this personal statement is succinct and direct. Although clichéd in parts, it does a good job of summarising the points the candidate has made throughout the statement. They demonstrate confidence and dedication, not by introducing any confusing new information, but rather by remaking and reinforcing some of the author’s original claims from the introduction.
The following example illustrates how not to approach your personal statement. Now that you’ve read through the comments on the previous example passages and complete example statement, try going through this statement yourself to identify the main recurring weaknesses and points for improvement. We’ve pointed out a few of the main ones at the end. You can even redraft it as a practice exercise.
' The combination of science with empathy and compassion is what attracts me most to a career in medicine. However, I wanted to ensure that the career was right for me so I attended a Medic Insight course in my local hospital. I enjoyed the course and it gave me new insight - the lectures and accounts from medical students and doctors helped me realise that medicine was the career for me. I was also introduced to the concept of the diagnostic puzzle which now particularly interests me. This is the challenge doctors face when trying to make a diagnosis, as they have to avoid differential diagnoses and use their skills and past experiences to come to a decision and produce the right prognosis. In order to gain further insight into both the positives and downsides of being a doctor, I organised some work experience in my local GP’s surgery. I managed to see consultations for chest pain, headaches, contraception and some chronic conditions which was very interesting. I also sat in on and observed the asthma clinic, which proved to be a very educational experience. During my experience, I tried to chat to as many doctors as possible about their jobs and what they enjoyed. I recently took up some work volunteering in a local elderly care home. Many of the residents had quite complex needs making it arduous work, but I learned a lot about caring for different people and some appropriate techniques for making them feel comfortable and at home. I became a better communicator as a result of my experience Nevertheless I really enjoyed my time there and I found it fulfilling when the patients managed to have fun or see their family. I appreciated how doctors often have high job satisfaction, as when I managed to facilitate a resident to do something not otherwise available to them I felt like I was making a real difference. My academic interests have also been very useful in developing skills that will be crucial as a doctor. I chose to study Physics and business at a-level and these have helped me develop more of an interest in scientific research and understanding; I’ve also become a more logical thinker as a result of the challenging questions we receive in physics exams. I know how important communication is as a doctor so I chose to study Mandarin, a language I know to be spoken widely around the globe. I was the lead violin in my school orchestra and also took part in the wind band, showing that I was willing to throw myself into school life. I really enjoyed our school’s concert, in which I had to perform a solo and demonstrate that I could stay calm under pressure and cope with great responsibility and i think that I’m now a better leader. This skill has also been improved in roles within my school on the pupil council and as form captain, which have improved my self-confidence. I needed to work hard in order to achieve my bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh awards, and have dedicated much of my time outside school to this endeavour over the past few years. I endured weekly sessions of Taekwondo, worked voluntarily in the charity shop Barnardo’s and took part in violin lessons. As I’ve demonstrated throughout this statement I have an affinity for music, and so at university I plan to get involved with orchestras and bands. I also want to widen my horizons and discover new interests and hobbies, while trying to make new friends and cultivate a good work-life balance. I’m also keen to hike in the university’s surrounding territories. If I were allowed to study medicine, it would not only allow me to achieve one of my life goals, but to prove to you that I can become an effective, and successful doctor. I am absolutely dedicated to the study of medicine and know that I have the prerequisite skils and qualities to thrive in medical school and become a credit to your institution.”
Weak personal statement example analysis
- This personal statement does have some promising features, but overall it isn’t well structured and lacks appropriate reflection and insight. You can see this by comparing it to the good example above. The author in this poor example very rarely describes what exactly they learned or gained from an experience and rarely links this back to medicine.
- It reads quite like a list, with the candidate reeling off the experiences they’ve had or activities they’ve taken part in without going into any real depth on any of them. They also use some vocabulary that implies that they really weren’t enjoying these experiences, such as when they speak of ‘enduring’ their time doing Taekwondo or of caring for residents being ‘arduous’ work. You don’t have to enjoy every activity you take part in, but implying that caring for people - a huge part of the job you are applying for and claiming to enjoy - is something you consider a chore isn’t a great start. This statement also has some questionable grammar and punctuation errors, which raises a red flag. Don’t forget to proofread your statement carefully before you submit it.
- The candidate often starts off their sections in a promising way - for example, by stating that they started volunteering in a local GP practice to gain more insight into the profession - but they rarely actually follow through on this. You never find out what insight the candidate actually gained or how they used this to inform their decision to apply for medicine.
- Such lack of explanation and specificity is a theme throughout the statement. In the introduction, they say that personal accounts and lectures confirmed their wish to become a doctor, but they don’t actually explain how or why. They mention that their school subjects have helped them think more logically or improved their communication skills (which is good), but then they never go on to explain why this is relevant to medicine. They talk about leadership and self-confidence but again don’t link this back to the importance of self-confidence and the prominence of leadership in a medical setting.
To create an effective medicine personal statement, you need to provide plenty of detail. This includes concrete experiences demonstrating qualities that make a good doctor. If you can do this authentically, humbly and without selling yourself short, your personal statement will be in very good shape.
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Writing your medical CV
Read our tips and advice for creating a medical CV that reflects you and your career. BMA members can access BMJ Careers CV checking service at a discounted rate.
CVs are a valuable part of any doctors portfolio, no matter what grade or specialty and regardless of how you apply for jobs during your career.
Your CV should tell the story of you and your career. Even at a glance, it should be clear why you are the best person for the role you are applying for.
Tailoring your CV
Aim for around two to three sides of A4 paper, to accompany your online application and portfolio. An academic CV will inevitably be longer as you will need to include research and publications.
Mandatory information on every medical CV should include your personal details, national training number and general medical council registration, as well as any relevant associations and memberships.
There is no absolute template for a medical CV, however depending on your area of interest, use the following as a basis:
- current employment
- career or employment history
- education and qualifications
- courses, meetings and conferences
- publications and research.
Generally, CVs start with your most recent job and work back chronologically through your career. For most doctors, this would change on a yearly basis.
Make sure to include location, grade and specialty for each position, highlighting the most pertinent experience.
Depending on your specialty you may find that it is beneficial to expand on your clinical experience and skills, so consider including a section on 'Clinical Skills', thinking about your sub-specialty and how this fits into your practice.
List all your qualifications starting with your most recent first. Include the educational institution and year of qualification, as well as your current grade.
Write all of your awards in a chronological list, starting with your most recent award.
Again, highlight the most pertinent awards that relate to the position you are applying for.
Doctors use royal college post-nominal letters (or letters after their names) in their professional descriptions to show that they have obtained the relevant accreditation.
Their use, however, might be interpreted as denoting that the doctor retains current membership of the relevant body.
Therefore, if their membership has lapsed, it carries a risk (albeit remote) of referral to the GMC for investigation.
We advise doctors who have passed their membership exams and have been admitted as members of their royal colleges, but whose membership has currently lapsed, to include in brackets the year when the membership accreditation was last acquired, eg 'MRCGP (2003)'.
Consider keeping all of the courses, meetings and conferences you have attended as a separate updated list and then add the most important or current ones to your CV as you are tailoring it.
For many individuals this section has the potential to become a long list of dates, that could be off putting to read.
Another approach to counteract this would be to group courses, meetings and conferences together into one succinct sentence.
Depending on your academic interests and your specialty this section can vary in length.
List your publications as they would appear in the journal, with names of all authors involved, highlighting your name in bold if there are multiple authors.
Add the title of the published entry, journal, year, pages, and PMID (PubMed identifier or PubMed unique identifier) number.
As you progress through your career you will complete a number of Audits / Quality Improvement Plans (QIP). If you are regularly involved in these, make sure you highlight your role with concrete examples from your experiences.
For example: 'I have been involved in 10 audits, where I devised, created and implemented the work'
This allows you to highlight the most relevant clinical projects or audits, rather than simply write a long list.
We suggest the following steps:
- Outline the quality improvement work that you have been engaged with including the year, the type of audit, the location and the number of patients involved, if relevant
- Succinctly summarise what you were assessing and what your specific role was on the project
- If you then did a re-audit, what change or outcome did this bring to the service
As you progress, teaching will become a more significant part of your CV. You may be a mentor, involved in PACES teaching, or are teaching juniors on a regular basis.
With teaching experience, it is important to think about the range of teaching you are delivering, the setting that it takes place in and whether it is one-to-one, group work or large scale teaching settings.
It is also useful to consider how you monitor and evaluate the success of your teaching and include these details in your CV.
Whilst not a mandatory section, sharing your interests outside clinical practice allows you to show off your personality, giving further insight into you as a person and as a doctor.
There are generally two options for presenting your references.
You can state that your references are 'available upon request'. Or you can provide referees, with the first usually being your current employer and the second a previous employer.
Make sure you include their name, job title and correct contact details.
Have your CV checked by BMJ Careers experts
BMJ Careers offer a comprehensive CV-checking service for all doctors considering their next career move.
What the service includes
- A comprehensive CV check by medical CV and careers experts.
- 20-minute consultation call to discuss recommendations.
- A reduced rate of £60 (incl.VAT) for BMA members (£75 non-member rate).
How to book your consultation
- Sign in to BMJ Careers using your BMA login details and upload your CV.
- Purchase your CV check by selecting the option for BMA members - ensure you use the same email address on the payment form as that used to upload your CV.
- BMJ Careers will be in touch within three working days to arrange a convenient time to call and discuss your CV.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about the CV checking service, please email BMJ Careers .
Where to apply for jobs
- See our guide to specialty training applications using the Oriel system
- Search for jobs on the NHS jobs website
- Use BMJ careers to find jobs across the UK
As a junior doctor or higher specialty trainee, most people produce a CV that is part of their portfolio assessment. In addition to this, at your ARCP (Annual Review of Competence Progression) or RITA (Record of In-Training Assessment) for example, a CV can be a good way of succinctly writing what you have achieved since your previous review.
For GPs, a CV remains a key requirement when applying for posts, whether as a locum, salaried or partner position.
Similarly for consultant posts, a CV can be cited as an accompaniment to your application through the NHS jobs portal.
As a BMA member, access our learning resources to get help with your medical CVs and prepare for interviews.
- NHS Health Education England - preparing your medical CV
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25 medical school personal statement examples, plus a step-by-step guide to writing a unique essay Part 1: Introduction to the medical school personal statement Part 2: A step-by-step approach to writing an amazing medical school personal statement Part 3: In-depth analysis of a top-5 medical school personal statement
Personal Statement Application for Junior Doctors' Certificate of Merit Name : xx Position : FY1 Doctor Site : Royal Free Hospital An explanation of why you wish to be considered for an award, including a brief summary of your teaching and academic support of UCLMS students and evidence of relevant
Personal Statement Example #1 Our second essay contest winner was a medical student who made their submission an AMCAS personal statement. It serves as a great and effective medical school personal statement example. We also thought it was a good read overall! A four-letter word for "dignitary."
Junior doctor CV CV templates CV templates The documents above are great CV examples for an experienced GP, junior doctor and physician associate. It demonstrates their experience and education to date in a professional, concise and organised fashion - without overloading the reader with information.
Here is an example of a personal statement written for graduate school admission: Jean Smith Personal statement for master's program in educational policy and analysis Columbia College of Education "I held my first college textbook when I was a 23-year-old college freshman.
Medicine Personal Statement Example 1 My love of science is just one of my reasons for choosing to study medicine at university. Medicine Personal Statement Example 2 I have been interested in medicine since childhood. This curiosity began, when at the age of five I saw a video of child birth. Medicine Personal Statement Example 3
During the surgery I was asked to talk to the patient and here I learnt the significance of a calm, warm manner to reassure the patient during this daunting experience. I found that patient safety and comfort is paramount during all aspects of surgery to alleviate discomfort and promote an appropriate recovery.
A good CV for a medical doctor must be thorough and make an impact. Create separate sections for extra training, certifications, awards and honors. Use active words to describe your career and achievements. Include any research you've participated in or collaborated in with the results, if available.
How to Write a Personal Statement Start by sharing details about yourself: Answer the question "who are you?". You can mention positive things about yourself like "highly experienced Digital Marketer" or "I recently graduated with a Masters in Foreign Diplomacy."
Medicine Personal Statement Example 39 Prevention is better and not just cheaper than cure. I learnt this, when the dentist that handled my cousin's dental surgery told me that the surgery would have never been an alternative if only my cousin had avoided too much of sugary things especially chocolates.
"A junior doctor recounted her tough experiences; there were instances where she was confined to a desk organising paperwork, and occasions where she didn't get any sleep. However, her involvement with patients was satisfying, and seeing them progressively improve motivated her.
They are not going to take it well." I know a part of me will miss being part of the lives of the patients I have cared for here, but I cannot help smiling because I know that I made such a great decision for myself and thank myself for pursuing my authentic physician life.
14 CV personal statement examples To start this guide, I have included 10 examples of good personal statements, to give you an idea of how a personal statement should look, and what should be included. Note: personal statements are generally used by junior candidates - if you are experienced, check out our CV profile examples instead.
Organizational Leadership Personal Statement Examples Since I have been a youngster, one of my lifelong goals was to study medicine purposefully to aiding and healing the sick in the best way. As I am committed to the utmost public health, I am enthusiastic to share my personal skills and compassion and patient relational communication.
Here are three examples of medical school personal statements to use as a reference: Example 1 "My father's last words were 'thank you.' He looked up at the hospice physician, took his hand and whispered those words before taking his last breath. I had never considered medicine as a career path until my father got sick.
Medical School Personal Statement Example #1 The walk across campus was excruciating. During my first year of college, I had gotten strep throat for the second time in a month. When antibiotics didn't seem to be working, my doctor found that strep had led to mono. Worst of all, I had developed hiccups. Yes, hiccups.
Good veterinary medicine personal statement examples might include details of a voluntary role in an animal shelter, or a part-time job as a dog walker. In fact, any life skills can be included. A busy schedule can be evidence of strong organisational skills; re-sitting a year at college can be proof of commitment and a strong work-ethic ...
Speaking to junior doctors and medical students taught me that a career in medicine can entail a high workload and long hours which understandably makes it a stressful profession at times. Personally, I enjoy weight lifting as a stress reliever. ... Medicine Personal Statement Example. (2019, May 14). GradesFixer. Retrieved February 13, 2023 ...
Statements like 'I [...] witnessed how doctors carry out their jobs' make it seem as if the candidate really wasn't paying attention. They need to explain what they mean by this. Were they impressed by the doctors' effective teamwork and communication skills, or perhaps by their positive attitude and morale?
As a junior doctor or higher specialty trainee, most people produce a CV that is part of their portfolio assessment. In addition to this, at your ARCP (Annual Review of Competence Progression) or RITA (Record of In-Training Assessment) for example, a CV can be a good way of succinctly writing what you have achieved since your previous review.