5 Stages Of Writing Your Medical School Personal Statement

1. Conviction

You just realized that a career in medicine is your calling and you are ready to embark on possibly one of the longest journeys to medical school. You sign up for all the volunteering events and join all the service clubs because you cannot wait to be that helping hand the world has been waiting for. You look at the doctors you meet and think to yourself, “I will be just like them one day.”

Every procedure you watch propels you to study your anatomy book again and again. Every patient you meet solidifies your passion to do more for him or her in years to come. Every pre-med friend you have pushes you to beat the curve and take on more extracurricular activities than you thought you had time for. You will do whatever it takes to emerge as a promising med school applicant.

2. Excitement

You are starting to work on your personal statement for the AMCAS. The past few years of hard work and the experiences you have accumulated have led up to this. You start your draft determined to show the admissions committee how exceptional and unique you are. You are not one of a million, you are one in a million.

The AMCAS is not an obstacle for you, it is an opportunity for you to shine just as you have done so time and time again. You are a compassionate leader who is committed to helping others and have demonstrated ability to teach, research, and volunteer in a clinical setting. Your recommenders adore you and your mentees look up to you. You are what every medical school is looking for and you are exciting to show them.

3. Doubt

You show some trusted mentors your personal statement and realize that you are not so special at all. They tell you that your love for science and innate passion for helping others is too mundane. Those life experiences that have sincerely shaped why you want to be a doctor are too cliché. Those genuine feelings of empathy are seen as too grandiose to be actually true. Some phrases are too strong and others are too weak.

After writing eight distinct drafts, you still do not have a theme. It seems that no matter what you write, you just do not sound convincing enough. Every sample personal statement you read is better than anything you can ever write. Then you start to think, maybe you do not want to be a doctor that bad. Other occupations might bring you the same level of satisfaction. Maybe you have been an imposter this whole time.

4. Reassurance

You realize that the personal statement is not necessarily personal. Moreover, the critics you have gotten are in no way a judgment of who you are as a person. It is fine that your raw, genuine feelings and perspectives are too cliché or too unbelievable.

After all, you are a rare INFJ, and only Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and Dr. King will truly understand why you are innately qualified to be a doctor. Since the moment you decided to pursue medicine, you have gained the skills and experiences to become a great doctor. All you have to do in your personal statement is to persuade the admissions committee of this fact in a way that they understand.

5. Breakthrough

You finally find the ultimate way to convey who you are to the admissions committee. You have the foolproof anecdote that grabs the reader within the first 30 seconds.

Your life events show not only your commitment to academic excellence but also your fun-loving personality. No matter how someone reads your personal statement, he or she cannot help but find you incredibly interesting and completely worthy of an interview.

You have crafted the perfect personal statement and ready to submit one of the most crucial applications of your medical career.