Medicine Personal Statement: Key Points

1. Plan the statement

This should always be done before you even begin writing the personal statement. Planning ensures that when you write the personal statement, it will flow smoothly and logically, something admissions panels always look out for!

When it comes to planning, the following points should be followed:

- Write down all the relevant experiences that have happened in your life eg GP surgery work experience, hospital work experience, volunteering in a care home, summer work in NCS, renovating a house, football, anything!

- Once the previous point is done, take each experience and write down what are the main things you learnt, eg learning to work in a team, managing difficult team members etc. Try and it keep it natural and honest, then it will flow more easily

- Excellent guidelines you can follow for ideas on the relevant skills required in medicine include Good Medical Practice by GMC and Outcomes for graduates 2018 by GMC

2. Structuring each paragraph

The following structure should be followed when writing each paragraph in the personal statement excluding the introduction and conclusion.

1. What is the experience?

This is your descri ption and should be kept to only 1-2 lines maximum and to the point. Example: I shadowed a doctor in the GP surgery.

2. What did you learn?

This should make up the bulk of your paragraph as this is where you write down everything you learnt and reflect upon. Medical Schools love reflection and is something you will do from the moment you enter medical school all the way to qualifying as a consultant.

3. How is this relevant to medicine?

This should be added to the end of your explanation, it only needs to be a few lines but it should explain how the skills you learnt are relevant to medicine. Eg Empathy is essential when it comes to building a rapport with the patient.

3. Grammar and English

- Make sure your grammar and english is perfect, do not shorten words eg say `I have` instead of `I`ve`

- Always get someone to check your personal statement for grammar and english

- Do not use flowery words, keep the language simple, it makes it easy to read and shows maturity

4. Further Point English

- Ensure every sentence you write has value to it and shows something you learnt or is relevant to medicine

- Example: `I shadowed a doctor in the GP surgery. It was fascinating to see how gentle the GP was speaking with the patient, paying attention when taking a history and listening to the patients concerns.`

- This can be turned to `Shadowing a doctor in my local surgery, I learnt the importance of actively listening to the patient`s concerns and showing empathy where appropriate. Empathy is vital as it allows the patient to build a rapport with the doctor, therefore allowing the doctor to gather information essential for providing holistic care for the patient.

- The above paragraph also shows the structure followed, descri ption first, then what you learnt and finally how it is relevant to medicine, also notice how it is being kept to the point.