You probably know a student having the best GPA and MCAT score to date, conducted impeccable research, shadowed physicians, engaged in relevant and meaningful volunteering tasks and met all other medical school requirements.
Yet, they got rejected.
You also may have heard of someone rejected by over 20 schools, or rejected out of all other programs for 2 consecutive years, despite taking all the right steps.
It is also common to come across people having super high statistics but did not end up in a top-notch school.
Sad part is that, 60% of medical school applicants are rejected by medical school. This is not a surprise because gaining admission into medical school is really hard.
Everyone wonders why so many qualified applicants are rejected despite the fact that there were considerable slots available.
After all, you have noticed how applicants are called for interviews and acceptances, while others are left out.
The main reason this happens is because applicants do not make their application stand out from others. They often fall down in their application essays.
While this point is true for all piece of written material on your applications, your med school personal statement is important, and it needs to be done right. This allows you to show admissions committees how your story sets you apart from other candidates i.e. the competition.
Moreover, the quality of your personal statement influences the chances of your admission to medical school. Yes, writing a great personal statement for medical school comes in with loads of pressure.
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Challenges and opportunities in writing personal statements
You are mostly concerned about the following things when you begin writing one:
- Selecting the right topic.
- Making sure the essay is unique.
- Your essay clearly highlights why you want to study medicine and be a part of it.
The good news is that the AMCAS personal statements prompt –“Use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school.” – is intentionally unclear and gives students opportunity to write about the things they want.
In other words, you have complete control over how you show admissions committees the following:
- Who you are beyond your skills and resume.
- Reasons you want to be a part of medicine.
Keep in mind that the admissions committees of medical university of the America want to accept students, not a collection of scores and activities.
Your personal statement and other written materials must highlight specific qualities and experiences that can make you an exceptional physician.
If your essay nails it, you will be able to outpace other applicants. On the other hand, a cliché personal statement will bore the admissions readers, which will make them lose interest in admitting you.
How to make personal statements?
In other words, the personal statement is your opportunity to beat competition. Before we even start, I recommend you to develop a list of qualities you would like to demonstrate, and think of events that highlight these qualities.
Then you should write about one of these events or situations to help demonstrate your qualities whilst capturing the reader’s attention.
This is how you should nail it with your personal statement:
- List down your greatest qualities.
- Where or when were you able to demonstrate these qualities?
- Describe the event as a story.
- Demonstrate your qualities.
- Discuss formative experiences that brought you to medicine.
- Emphasize again on your qualities, passions and perspectives.
Keep in mind that using the aforementioned points, your personal statement should be convincing, captivating and communicating. You cannot write it like a fairy tale, leave it bland, overload details or go negative beyond bounds.
The aforementioned points for creating your personal statement will offer you a unique opportunity to share your story. It will also help you describe your path to medicine, the way you want to.
Rather than diving in directly and listing the extracurricular experiences you believe will impress the admissions committee, consider the impression you want to leave with. You should always be remembered for positive qualities.
Once those qualities have been identified by you, the task of communicating ‘why you should be selected for medical school’ becomes much easier.
Via engaging stories, you can never leave a doubt about yourself in the readers mind. You also prove yourself to be one qualified for medical school as well.