Personal Statement Prompts
DPM:
You will answer the following prompt in the "Essays" section of AACPMAS: "State below why you are interested in becoming a Doctor of Podiatric Medicine. Provide information about your development for a career in Podiatric Medicine. Your essay should be limited to 4500 characters." Your statement should not be a list of experiences. Use your essay to tell them something they do not already know about you. The personal statement is your first chance to provide medical school admissions committees with personal information about your qualifications and your reasons for choosing this particular career. The personal statement is your first opportunity to present yourself as an exciting and unique applicant who deserves a closer look.
MD:
Your personal statement should answer the question, "For what reason would you like to go to medical school?" AMCAS permits 5300 characters for your personal statement. Your personal statement ought not to be a CV/Resume of past extracurricular activities. The Work/Activities segment will be a rundown of your past experiences. Utilize your article to disclose to them something they don't think about you. Use your essay to tell them something they do not already know about you. The personal statement is your first chance to provide medical school admissions committees with subjective information about your qualifications and your reasons for choosing a particular career. At the end of the day, the personal statement is your chance to introduce yourself as an interesting and one of a kind candidate who deserves a more intensive look at their application.
DO:
Your personal statement should answer the question, "Why osteopathic medicine?" The formal prompt is the following: In the space provided, write a brief statement expressing your motivation or desire to become a DO. AACOMAS allows 4500 characters for your personal statement. Your personal statement should not be a list of experiences. The Experiences and Achievements sections will be a list of your skills. Use your essay to tell them something they do not already know about you. The personal statement is your first chance to provide medical school admissions committees with subjective information about your qualifications and your reasons for choosing this particular career. In other words, the personal statement is your first opportunity to present yourself as an exciting and unique applicant who deserves a closer look.
Top Tips on Writing You Medical School Personal Statement
Rundown your qualities and traits that are related to your personal experiences
Take your list of extracurriculars and compose 2-3 characteristics in each experience. This will help give character to your personal statement.
Make a draft without character count.
Dump every one of your thoughts on a word document and simply continue composing. Try not to stress over language structure, spelling, or linguistic structure. That's what the editing process is for. This is the time to spill out your ideas.
Start with an attention grabber.
Admissions will be readings hundreds and thousands of applications, and if you want yours to stand out, add an attention grabber. This will draw the reader's attention and make them hooked on your personal statement.
Make it personal and reflective.
Make your personal statement reflective because it shows your critical thinking and ways to connect experiences with what you want to do in the future. Tip: try to add in parallelism to your current and future self.
Be honest
This is very important because this gives authenticity to the personal statement. Admissions want to see what kind of person you are on a personal level, not just grades and MCAT scores.
Avoid a massive list of activities and experiences.
Don't repeat your entire application in your personal statement. Save the characters/words to express who you are. Admissions will already see your list of extracurriculars.
Proofread it many times
Ask friends, health advisors, current medical students, English professors, etc. to edit and give feedback.
