While your GPA and MCAT score are crucial for acceptance to medical school, another important factor is your personal statement. It’s one of the few areas of your application where you showcase your qualities, insights, and experiences in your own voice. Even though the prompt is simply “use the space provided to explain why you want to go to medical school,” your statement should answer two questions:

  • Why do you want to be a physician — and not another career in medicine, research, social work, or advocacy?
  • Why will you be a successful medical student and physician?

This is a quick guide to what makes a personal statement successful — the pearls — and the common mistakes to avoid — the pitfalls.

Pearls

  • Use vignettes, anecdotes, and very specific stories to illustrate the competencies you want to emphasize.
  • Construct a clear theme or thesis statement and carry it throughout.
  • Use names in your stories — you can change them for privacy.
  • Strive for formal vocabulary while keeping your authentic voice.
  • Transition well. This is one of the hardest things to do, which is why outlining first is massively beneficial.
  • Put yourself in the mind of the reader — practicing physicians volunteering their time on admissions committees.
  • Be transparent rather than opaque and theoretical.
  • Use spell-check.
  • Include insightful reflection on your experiences.
  • Adhere to the character limit (5,300 for AMCAS/AACOMAS; 5,000 for TMDSAS).

Pitfalls

  • Crafting a timeline that simply reiterates your resume or CV.
  • Being overly negative about medicine, physicians, or experiences. Discuss hardships, then focus on your growth through them.
  • Using the statement as a platform to sell religious or political beliefs.
  • Describing shadowing without saying what you did with those skills — the committee wants to know what you can do.
  • Colloquial language: slang, abbreviations, contractions, idioms.
  • Sentences that are too long and convoluted.
  • Using “I” too much.
  • The savior complex.
  • “Medicine is not only X, but also Y and Z” — or any iteration of it.

Want a physician’s eyes on your draft?

We edit personal statements with you — from brainstorm to final draft — through the lens of someone who has read them on admissions committees.

See Personal Statement Editing

Want this as a printable reference? Download our free Personal Statement Writing Resource Guide.