Telling Your Story in the Personal Statement

The personal statement to get into medical school can be daunting. What can you write to convince the medical school admissions committee that you are a qualified and worthy applicant? Though intimidating, the personal statement also confers a great opportunity to separate yourself from the pack.

To start, the personal statement is not meant to be a regurgitation of your resume and your

accomplishments. That much will already be clear to the admissions committee in the rest of your application. Use the personal statement to stand out from the thousands of other applicants with similar credentials, experiences, and test scores.

The personal statement is your chance to tell your story, and it generally is helpful to write it as such. Every good story has a beginning, middle, and end, and your personal statement can follow this same framework. The main story you are trying to tell here is why you want to go to medical school. Why do you want to be a physician, and ultimately, why would you make a good physician?

When thinking about your answers to these questions, consider a specific experience that helped you understand your career direction. At this stage, many students worry, as you may not have had that “aha” moment or major life event pertaining to medicine. This is OK, and oftentimes, may actually benefit you in avoiding some typical personal statement cliches. Nonetheless, you will still want to consider a specific, detailed encounter that can help guide your answer to these questions, even if it may seem mundane or ordinary. There is beauty in the mundane, and routine experiences can still be incredibly meaningful.

Ultimately, the practice of medicine revolves around caring for patients, which may come in many different forms. As such, when telling your story of why you want to be a physician, it is helpful to think about a specific patient encounter that resonated with you. For some, this may have been a positive experience when you were a patient. For others, consider your experiences shadowing physicians or working or volunteering in a hospital. These patient encounters may also occur outside of “traditional” healthcare settings. Maybe you were a camp counselor and your experiences caring for children reaffirmed your desire to become a pediatrician. Or, perhaps your summer lifeguard job revealed your passion and abilities in caring for people in high-pressure environments. Write down three experiences that stand out to you and see which one draws you in the most. Which experience best helps you tell

your story?

Next, it is important to consider how exactly to tell that story. Though physicians are scientists and inherently driven by facts, your story can not merely be a list of facts about your experience. Textbooks tend to be boring since they are precisely this – a conglomeration of facts. A good story is vivid, and colorful, and pulls the reader in from the start. Use detail when recounting your experience and painting your picture. Were there any notable aspects of the environment? What specific words did the physician

use? What emotions were present in the patient?

Along these same lines, show, rather than tell, the reader why your experience is meaningful to you and your desire to practice medicine. This is also an opportunity to showcase the values that would make you a good physician. Consider ways to show that you are empathetic, caring, kind, and compassionate without outright stating that you embody these attributes. You may also use your story as a means of showing your determination and ability to persevere in challenging situations.

As you begin to flesh out your story, put pen to paper early in the process. It’s common to feel paralyzed by the sheer stress of needing to write a personal statement. There will be countless thoughts swirling in your mind (or maybe none at all), and often, just starting to write can help organize your thoughts and get them out of your head. As you write, see what thoughts and messages you like and what doesn’t quite fit. Write, revise, delete, and so on. This process is not meant to be neat and easy, but your story will slowly evolve and come together. By the end, you should have a concise and

impactful story, and the admissions committee will understand who you are as a human being and why you will make a good physician.

Contact Holistic Admissions Advising today to meet with our medical school advisors and let us help you craft your perfect personal statement. We’re here to help you tell your story.