AMCAS Personal Statement Examples: a Step by Step Guide for Writing
AMCAS has over 140 MD granting institutions, to which thousands submit yearly. You as a student need to stand out, a very difficult feat when you’re dealing with thousands of other candidates with very similar backgrounds to you. A good personal statement is the key to standing out of the crowd. It’s easy to seem unique when your personal statement is well-written and reveals interesting facts about you that won’t apply to others.
Steps for Writing Perfect Personal Statement
How can you get the best personal statement samples? Follow these tips and you’ll be amazed at how much easier writing can be.
- Do some research: Look at the programs you want to get into. What is important to them?
- Brainstorm: Jot down some notes and questions.
- Make an outline: Use your brainstorming stuff to create an outline with a solid structure to build on.
- Fill it in: Make sure you’re using your own words.
- Get some proofreading help: It’s much easier to see your mistakes when someone else points them out, so recruit some help.
Great Personal Statement Tips
Need a really great personal statement? Here’s what you keep:
- The reasons why you want to study what you want to study
- Your qualification
- Quick explanations for any bumpy parts in your transcript
- Positivity
- Relevant transferrable skills, but only relevant ones
And here’s what you get rid of:
- Anything remotely untrue – they can tell
- Plagiarism
- Jokes
- Cliches
- Sweeping statements
The basic questions you can ask yourself to tell if you should keep something are is it true, and it is relevant. These two questions are at the heart of the personal statement. Stick to them, and you’ll be sure to have a statement that works for you.
Trends and Buzzwords for Personal Statement
Current AMCAS trends are towards brief personal statements that stick to what’s important. Remember, this is a short essay (about one page and one paragraph) with a hard character count. You need to make sure that you’re incorporating only what’s important. Likewise, using your own voice is increasingly important for standing out as an application; you want to make sure you sound like you!
Thus, buzzwords are mainly action verbs and relevant medical terminology for your interests. Make sure you check out the programs you plan to apply to, to check what they want. This will give you a better chance of getting in.
Sample AMCAS Personal Statement
If you’re better with examples than instructions, here’s a quick sample to show you what an outline might look like for this task.
- First section: Why are you interested in medicine? What drew you to this field? Focus on concrete steps in college, not childhood.
- Second section: What makes you a great candidate to be a doctor? Talk about why you can succeed.
- Third section: What should an admission officer know about you that the application can’t convey?
- Fourth section: If there are any uneven spots in your application or past, smooth them out.
- Fifth section: Wrap it up nicely and neatly with a few closing words.
Get the Personal Statement You Need
Medicine is one of the foundational industries of our society. There can never be too many doctors. That’s why we want to help you do your very best in your med school applications. Let us help you get through the stress and pressure of this process with as little fuss as possible.