Personal Statements for Health Professional Programs
When applying to a professional program, your personal statement
will serve as an interview on paper. Admission committees want to
learn information about you that cannot be gleaned from transcripts
and MCAT scores. Your statement should demonstrate that you are
more than a conscientious student, explain your motivation for
entering your chosen field, and confirm that you have the maturity
to succeed in their program and as a health-care professional.
Your statement must be well-written. Proving your ability to
communicate is essential as you embark on a career in which
interpersonal skills, including being able to work with colleagues
and connect with patients and clients, are vital. Above all else,
you should be sincere. The statement should be an accurate
reflection of your experiences, aspirations, and motivations. In
combination with the in-person interview, if required by the
program, your personal statement will give admission committee
members a window into what type of student, colleague and
practitioner you will be.
Getting Started
It is often difficult to write about yourself. You do not want
to come across as boastful, nor do you want to seem insecure or
incompetent. Yet, you must be specific about yourself. General
statements, such as how you have always wanted to help people or
that you will strive to live up to an idealized version of a doctor
or dentist, are unlikely to sway the committee in your favor. To
begin getting personal, you can list out what experiences, both
positive and negative, led you to want to enter your chosen field.
You should also write out your career goals and what type of
preparation, including coursework, internships, shadowing and
mentoring opportunities, and volunteer work, in which you have
engaged. You can ask family, friends and colleagues what traits
best describe you and what examples make them think of you in that
way. Keep in mind not everything you list will make it into your
statement. However, these lists can help you see connections
between the activities you have chosen and the person you have
become. They will also provide you with some ideas regarding on
what theme or experience to focus your statement. The more cohesive
the statement is, the better it reflects on you.
While looking over your lists, look for common themes. Is there
any particular experience that will allow the admission committee
to understand you and your motivations better? Is there an
experience that demonstrates that you can empathize with others?
Committee members rather know one or two things about you that
define you as a person and the type of professional you will be
than a laundry list of experiences and accomplishments. When
writing about yourself, it is best to demonstrate your abilities
and motivations through an example or story and not just through a
declaration. For example, instead of stating you are well-organized
or love working with people, provide an example of how you
organized a complex event or volunteer regularly to work one-on-one
with people. Even a negative experience, if it provided you with a
lesson, can demonstrate your ability to self-reflect and grow as a
person.
Medical School Personal Statements
If you are applying to medical school, you should consider what
skills medical schools expect their own graduates to have. For
example, Indiana University School of Medicine organizes its
program around the "Nine Competencies." The nine competencies
include the following skill sets: (1) effective communication; (2)
basic clinical skills; (3) use of science to guide diagnosis,
management, therapeutics, and prevention; (4) life-long learning;
(5) self awareness, self-care, and personal growth; (6) social and
community contexts of health care; (7) moral reasoning and ethical
judgment; (8) problem solving; and (9) professionalism and role
recognition. (See IUSM, Nine Competencies.) If you can show that
you are well on your way to developing some of these competencies,
you will have given the committee good reason to consider you a
strong candidate for its program.
Keep Writing
Once you begin writing, keep in mind that your statement will
likely go through many drafts. You should ask friends, family,
professors, advisors and supervisors to review and comment on it.
Is it an accurate reflection of you? Does it move them? Does it
answer the questions asked on the application? Is it well-written?
If the answer is no to any of the above questions, keep working on
your statement. As you edit, the below lists will help guide
you.
Do:
- Answer the questions asked
- Follow any formatting guidelines
- Use a consistent theme or tell a story to make your statement
cohesive
- Self-reflect on your experiences and motivations instead of
just reiterating them
- Demonstrate your abilities with examples
- Include relevant information about the program to which you are
applying
- Have others read your statement
- Edit, edit, edit
Do Not:
- Write your autobiography
- Write your résumé in prose form
- Use clichés
- Be too general
- Be gimmicky
- Be funny
- Be overly dramatic
- Begin with a quote
- Write about someone else
- Spend your entire statement recounting information found
elsewhere in your application
For more information see:
Or stop by the Office of Pre-Graduate & Pre-Professional
Advising for The Butler Premed Society's "Guide to Writing a
Personal Statement."