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Medical school applicants have to write two kinds of
personal statements: a general statement for the
AMCAS and a more specific secondary statement for
each individual school they are applying to.
Your primary (or AMCAS) statement will be sent to
every school you apply to. It should convince an
admissions committee that you have what it takes to
be a successful medical student and a good doctor.
It should explain who you are, why you want to be a
physician, and what special qualities, experience,
or abilities you would bring to the study of
medicine.
Your secondary statement will be read only at the
school you submit it to. Use it to explain why you
want to study medicine at this particular school and
why you are an especially good fit for the school.
The good part about having your personal statements
read is that it means the admissions committee
thinks you’re competitive. If your MCAT score, GPA,
and other qualifications didn’t stand up against the
top part of the applicant pool, the committee would
have already put your file aside.
The bad part about having your personal statements
read is that no one pays much attention to it until
a relatively advanced stage of the selection
process. Your statements need to be not just good
but exceptional to help you stand out in the
readers’ minds from all the other applicants who
have similarly shining profiles.
To achieve that goal, write a personal statement
that:
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Is well organized and well expressed. Your statement is not just an
example of how well you can write. It’s an example
of how well you can think. Use it to show the
admissions committee that you can connect ideas and
organize information, thoughts, and feelings.
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Communicates clearly. You’ll spend your medical career working with
teams of people to carry out complex tasks. Show the
committee members that you appreciate the importance
of communicating information concisely and clearly.
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Has personality. Your statement is the one part of the written
application where you can show the admissions
committee the human being behind your stats.
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Tells a story. Stories stick in reader’s minds more effectively
than arguments do.
Law School Personal Statements
Graduate School Personal Statements
General Tips on Writing Personal Statements
Personal Statement Checklist |
