“Admissions Committee members are looking for individuals who are motivated, academically prepared, articulate, socially conscious, and knowledgeable about the profession.”
-AADSAS manual, 2013
Purpose of the Statement
Provide a personal (but not informal) “picture” of you. Demonstrate qualifications for and commitment to medicine
Present yourself beyond the MCAT & GPA numbers
Convey passion for and understanding of what you are getting into; that you have gone through a process of careful reflection and self-examination
Suggestions and Tips
Be heartfelt, genuine, and mature.
Know about the schools to which you are applying.
Don’t use unusual or shock-value information.
Consider your readers.
Read before you write. Answer the question.
Follow guidelines (5300 character MD, 4500 DENT, OPT, POD and DO.)
Organize by first doing self-reflection.
If you have nothing to say, take this as important information.
Talk about you. More importantly, highlight your view of the world, patients and their experience, medicine.
Convey empathy and a sense of other-directedness. It’s not all about YOU.
Don’t pretend you know what it is like to be a doctor, dentist, etc
Possible Topics (Pick and choose. Don’t use them all!)
Do not copy and paste from your personal statement
Do in 2-3 weeks after receipt. Don’t procrastinate!
Side Note: Sample Secondary Prompts
What does it mean to you to enter into a profession?
If selected for an interview, what one life experience would you most like to talk about?
At XXSOM, we are committed to building a superb educational community with students of diverse talents, experiences, opinions, and backgrounds. What would you as an individual bring to our medical school community?
Please feel free to use this space to convey any additional information that you might wish the Committee to know.
MD/PhD Essays
MD/PhD Essay: 3000 characters-describe why you want the dual degree, what specific research interest you have and questions you want to explore
Significant Research Experience Essay: 10,000 characters –describe big picture of the work of the lab(s) and 1) what is known 2) holes in the current research 3)hypothesis 4) your specific work on the project