Things You'll Need:
- Time (at least 3-4 days)
- Introspection
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Step 1
The personal statement should be one page long or about 5300 characters.
Your personal statement should describe why you want to become a doctor without being trite, banal or boring. You need to prove that you are fully committed to a medical career. -
Step 2
Before you start writing, arrange to shadow or interview a few doctors. Admissions committees favor this approach and it is more likely you will know that this is the right career choice if you see firsthand the life of a doctor.
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Step 3
Your essay should focus on why you want to become a doctor or better yet what type of doctor you want to be (either a specialty or a general physician). Don’t fall into the trap of writing about what a caring person you are, lot of people are caring and empathetic, it doesn’t make you doctor material.
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Step 4
Your overall essay should be connected, if it is disjointed, the admissions committee won’t be interested. Know The Broad Theme of your essay.
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Step 5
This is your opportunity for your personality to shine, you should include points about yourself that the admissions board won’t find in the rest of your application
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Step 6
Need ideas? 3 things to focus on: explain how you know you want to be a doctor, explain what you have done to achieve this goal (besides getting straight As and a 45 on your MCATs) and any special hardships/challenges you have faced that influenced your decision to become a doctor
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Step 7
Edit, edit, edit, and more edit -- a good personal statement cannot be written in one night, it can always be improved upon and one should take a lot of time, thought, and consideration into what they are writing about
