I know a lot of you have felt stuck with this part of the med school application process so I made a checklist for you!
Run your personal statement by this test:
- Do you have an enticing opening statement? Start strong- first impressions count!
- Does everything tie back into the main question- why medicine and why YOU will be a good physician?
- Is your essay about your experiences or YOU?
- Did you restate your resume (don’t do this)? Or highlight a few key experiences and tell a story (do this)?
- Instead of talking about broad lengths of time throughout do you zero in on specific moments in time? This evokes more emotion and feels more sincere and relatable.
- Is the tone/voice authentic and passionate? Or dull and methodical?
- Are you showing or telling? Don’t make statements about your personality- but demonstrate it through examples!
- Actually read your essay as though it isn’t yours…would you accept this person? What makes this candidate standout?
- How do you feel when you read it? Are you confident enough in the picture you painted of yourself to spend thousands of dollars on applications… or could you be happier with it? Keep tweaking that statement until it makes you proud!
- Have at least 2 other people given you constructive feedback?
- Did you brag enough? Don’t be afraid to brag :). You are trying to sell yourself to an admissions committee that sees thousands of these a cycle! If you are too dull you won’t stand out, so try to shine through that essay!
I spent around 3 months tweaking my personal statement so don’t be discouraged if it’s taking longer than you thought.
Cheering for you ALWAYS!!