A personal statement is one of several components required for submitting an AMCAS, AACOMAS, or TMDSAS application for admittance to medical school. When done correctly, the personal statement can be a great opportunity to make yourself stand out as a candidate and show off your skills and your desire to work in medicine. However, crafting the perfect personal statement takes planning, time, and a lot of hard work.
This guide provides tips and resources for how to write the best possible personal statement and provides examples of what not to do.
Before you even start writing the essay itself, you need to figure out what you're going to write about. The best way to do this is to think about what the schools you're applying to want to know.
Start by creating a bullet-point list of your personal experiences, accomplishments, and aspirations as they apply to the following questions:
1. Why do you want to work in medicine and what type of medical career do you want to have?
2. What do you want to go to the specific school that you're applying to? (NOTE: If you're applying to more than one school, make sure to customize the essay to each school).
3. Why would you be an asset to the school you're applying to?
4. What have you done to prepare yourself for the challenges of medical school? Take this time to list out any activities, volunteer projects, internships, coursework, or personal experiences that you have done.
For additional assistance with writing and revising your personal statement, contact Ms. Brekke or Ms. Straker in the UMA.
Gail Brekke: gabrekke@pvamu.edu
Kathleen Straker: kastraker@pvamu.edu
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