Building Your Personal Statement - Part One

Hi Guys,

Ahhh I'm so sorry for the lateness of this post - I wish I had a proper explanation for it, but alas, I don't. I could blame the sequence of tests I had in the last two weeks of term, the endless family Christmas parties or indeed, the Harry Potter 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, currently scattered on the floor of my bedroom that I am still yet to complete three days on, but the short answer is I was just lazy.

This post is arguably rather premature, because as you know, I'm only in year 12, and haven't actually written the all important personal statement yet. However, I've decided that I'm going to do this in two parts:

• Part One (this post) will cover ideas of things to put in your personal statement, as I thought that this is something that my lovely readers would benefit from hearing earlier, so you could start doing these things, to then write about when the time comes;
• Part two (is likely to come around September-ish) will cover tips on how to actually put those 4000 characters together. 

[Quick disclaimer: This is all information that I've been told, and are just tips that I think may be useful. It's in no way a comprehensive list as to how to get into medical school!]

Okay, here goes...

1. Work Experience - Yes, I know, I rabbit on about this a lot, but I've heard that it's perhaps the most valued thing that universities look for. No work experience = no proper insight into what medical/social careers are like = no assurance that the career is for you. Universities want students that are committed to their course, and there is simply no way of knowing if you don't know what the career is like. Crucially, however, there is no use in just mentioning what you've done, because they're not interested in that. They want to hear about what you've taken from these placements, and it's important to present yourself as being well informed. [Cheeky plug: check out my post on work experience for ideas of what you could do.]
2. Explain why you want to do this course - This is your opportunity to highlight how enthusiastic you are about studying medicine. It's important to link this to any work experience and perhaps your current studies, as well as showing your depth of knowledge about medicine. 
3. Extra curricular activities - Universities want to hear about your grade 7 piano, and county level cricket, because these activities build skills that aren't normally developed in the classroom. Make sure you draw particular attention to those team-working/communication/leadership skills that you've got from participating in these activities. 
4. Awards - These could be things like essay writing, sporting achievements, academic awards from school, NCS, duke of Edinburgh, music awards... The list goes on! These provides evidence for your hard work and passion for things that may not be academic too, which is particularly important for the long and difficult journey that is medicine, as well as presenting you as a well rounded person. 
5. Relevant courses - There are loads that you may have done - these certainly aren't essential, but provide evidence for your wider interest in your subject. For example, this may be a Headstart or Smallpeice course, or possibly even courses run by local hospitals. I recently attended  'A Day in the Life of a Doctor' course at my local hospital, and one of my friends attended one in plant sciences. Regardless of whether they're directly relevant to medicine (biology and chemistry courses are awesome too), these show your eagerness to learn beyond the syllabus, which is a very attractive trait in a candidate.

I hope this has been helpful! Please leave any of your own suggestions below :)

Thanks for reading xx