The truth is there’s no “correct way” to write a personal statement.
Yes, most personal statements consist of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion, but…
Each of us has our own stories, experiences, and characteristics that make us special and that have contributed to our career goals.
There is however a wrong way to write a personal statement.
Through my experiences working as an executive recruiter fro a health sciences center and applying to medical school, I’ve learned the common mistakes people make when writing their personal statements and how it affects your candidacy.
In this article, I highlight these personal statement blunders so that you can avoid them and submit a personal statement that will impress the selection committee.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Using the Wrong Tone
A mistake that many often make is having an informal tone when writing their personal statement.
Many of us fall into this trap because it is easier to write. However, it’s not the type of writing that your audience appreciates.
In most cases, the audience for your personal statement will be academic faculty or administrators.
This audience is focused on teaching, clinical experiences, and scholarly activity. (They usually need all three to get tenure, so it’s what most professors care about regardless of the institution or program.)
They spend their time reading and writing academic papers and they expect those who are applying to get into their school to have an affinity for professional writing.
Based on this information, your tone should be professional.
The goal is to connect with your reader while still presenting yourself professionally enough to show your ability to become their peer in the future.
(Note: You can still include personal story to set up your essay, while still maintaining your professionalism.)
Not Grabbing Your Audience’s Attention
Your audience has read hundreds of personal statements before… so you want to grab their attention early and keep it to the end.
How do you do this?
- Start with a Personal Story
- Try to connect with your audience early with a personal story that sets up an essay. You could talk about almost any experience that you can relate to your passion for going into medicine or that has allowed you to develop characteristics that would be beneficial as a doctor. This could be about your upbringing, your culture, volunteering, etc. Something that makes you uniquely… you.
- Dive Deep into Your Experiences
- Don’t just talk about your experiences. Talk about how your experiences were significant to you.
- How did they impact your career goals? What did you learn?
- Avoid Repetition
- Try to vary your word choice and paragraph formatting. Three body paragraphs with identical formatting can quickly bore your reader.
Not Answering the Question
You can write the most beautiful personal statement in the world and have it count against you.
How?
By not answering the question.
Before you submit any personal statement or secondary, double-check that you’re answering the prompt.
If you’re unsure after your review your draft. Try to find ways you connect what you said to what the committee is looking for.
The goal is to find a way to connect your main points to support the message or theme of your essay. (This theme should answer the prompt).
Why does this matter?
An essay that doesn’t specifically answer the prompt can send the wrong message:
- You don’t care enough to read the prompt.
- You can’t follow directions.
- You’re using an essay from another application and didn’t care enough to write a new one.
Note that it’s okay to reuse your essay ideas especially for secondaries but make sure to adjust it to each school’s specific prompt and mission.
Making Your Essay Too “Wordy”
Efficiency is the key to every great personal statement.
Your audience is a group of extremely busy professors and professionals.
They want to be able to see that you’re a good match for their institution, quickly and easily.
After each draft of your essay, make sure that every sentence has a purpose for being there.
As you review, look at each sentence and ask yourself these questions:
Does it need to be that long?
Is it presenting new information or rewording something you already said?
Does it fit with the rest of your essay?
Can I make this point in a shorter more efficient way?
You only have so many words to convey why they should accept you.
Don’t waste them!
Use every character of the word count to support why you’re best person for them to accept.
Being Too Humble
Writing about yourself can be one of the hardest things you can do and has left many of us staring at the blinking cursor when writing our personal statements.
This happens because of our humility.
Humility is an excellent trait to have when working in healthcare but… it’s terrible for personal statements.
Remember: You’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point, so don’t sell your self short.
I recommend having someone who knows you well to look at your essay periodically throughout your writing process.
Their job should be to remind you of all of the amazing things about yourself that you may have forgotten.
It’s easy to cut things out of your essay for the fear of coming off egotistical. But your personal statement is your time to shine and can be what sets you apart from other applicants.
Honorable Mentions
Here are a couple more tips for editing your personal statement to perfection.
- Triple Check for Spelling Mistakes.
- Make sure that nothing you write violates HIPAA or can be taken as violating HIPAA.
- Don’t take every edit your given.
- Having someone edit your essay is essential for catching mistakes and improving essays, but if you take every suggestion your editor makes… your essay can become disjointed. Edits are important but make sure the tone matches the rest of the personal statement. At the end of the day, it’s your essay and its your voice that matters.
Thank you!
Thank you for reading my article. I hope this post helps you on your path toward achieving your goals.
Remember: You can manifest your own path. There’s no right way to get achieve your dream. But there is always a way.
After you write your amazing personal statement, check out my article on how to make the right impression during your medical school interviews!
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Really comprehensive article – love this, G!
Thanks Adeena!
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