Hello Aspiring Physicians!
I am humbled and honored that so many of you have reached out to me for advice and just to talk things through in regards to your medical journey. I hope that my words continue to excite, motivate, teach and guide you to become that awesome doctor that so many of our patients need.
This next topic is a biggie – the personal statement! And specifically the personal statement for medical school. You will be asked to write a personal statement for residency and fellowship but I feel like the personal statement for medical school application is so important. Just think that this is the only part of your application where your uniqueness will shine and you will standout from the rest of the applicants. Yes, GPA and MCAT scores matter but if there are 10,000 students applying for 200 spots in medical school and 4,000 of you have the same GPA, volunteer/shadowing experience and hours then how will the admissions committee decide who to offer an interview. That’s where the personal statement comes in to play.
But the real question is how do you convey everything about yourself in 400-500 words or however many word limitations they give you. It doesn’t matter if you have no clue what to write or you have way too much to write. It’s a challenging process but one that will open that door for you to medical school. The difficult part is that you have no idea what the admissions committee is looking for in your personal statement. What is going to peak their interest? How do you grab their attention in the first couple of sentences so they don’t put your application in the waitlist pile? What “doctor” qualities are they looking for? Ugggghhhh! So much stress – I get it. I absolutely get it.
But Remember – EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELL!!
I am not on any medical school admissions committee. But I have experienced the process and I have been on the other side of the table interviewing others. I was one of those applicants that had a lot to say in my personal statement because I took almost 6 years off after college to pursue another dream of mine. So I had an abundant amount of life experiences which was great but also daunting to figure out which experiences should I mention in my personal statement. How do you convey to some strangers your passion for being a doctor and that you will be a great doctor? I can tell you that I wrote about 10-20 different drafts for my personal statement. I came into medical school with a great GPA but average MCAT scores so I knew that I had to nail my personal statement.
If you can convey through your personal statement 1) your motivation 2) what excites you 3) what challenges you 4) where you are successful and 5) your passion then you will write a fantastic personal statement. What that means is you have to take a step back and do a little self-analysis and soul-searching. Remember you are competing against thousands of other students who may have wanted to be a doctor since they were 8 years old. Admission committees do not want to hear that same story that you want to be a doctor to help people or you injured yourself as a child and you were around a lot of doctors. These types of statements are not going to get you through the rigor and challenges that you will experience during medical school. In my personal statement, I spoke of overcoming some failures and tragedies in my life that were not easy to write but they showed how I developed as a person and that’s what they want to hear. How did you learn from a mistake, failure, tragedy? Or how have you changed or developed as a person?
There are many paid services on the internet that will help you with your personal statement. I would like to offer you a FREE service. I will look over your personal statement and give you some helpful, honest feedback. If you send me your personal statement I will read it over and send you back any changes that will improve it or make it stronger. My hope is that you will get good positive feedback from an unbiased source but more importantly from an orthopedic surgeon who has been through it all.
If you are interested just send your personal statement to my email at no cost:
aspiringphysicianacademy@gmail.com
I will give you feedback within 48-72 hours. I do still have to run my practice but I am devoted to seeing you succeed and am happy to help.
Sincerely,
Your Med Mentor
