What to Avoid in Your Personal Statement Medical School

When you write your personal statement medical school, you have to know the pitfalls that you have to avoid. John Hopkins University has some tips. Read on to know some of them.

Avoid cliches on your personal statement medical school

How many times do you think admissions committees have read the phrase, I want to become a physician because I like science and I want to help people?

Phrases such as the one mentioned above won’t grab the attention of the admissions committee. So avoid them. Instead, try to be original. Write through your own voice.

Avoid showing that your application is a manifest destiny

You have not always known that you want to be a physician (or dentist, etc.). See above. Similarly, who cares if everyone has always said that I would make a good physician. What do they know?

Instead of saying that your decision is prompted by a calling, you can just state your real reason. The most important thing is you should be sincere and honest.

Avoid aiming for grandiosity

Claiming that you plan to cure cancer (or HIV, or healthcare disparities, or anything else) shows a grave lack of understanding of whatever problem you are planning to solve.

You have to get real. You should not give the  impression that you are a hopeless dreamer who dreams of changing this world.

Avoid being insincere

This includes information that may be factually accurate but is presented in a misleading way.

Being insincere include discussing info that is probably true but presented in a wrong way.

Harvard Business School shares some interesting points about sincerity:

Sincerity

The secret of success, said the French novelist, essayist, and dramatist Jean Giraudoux, is sincerity. Once you can fake that you’ve got it made. Though Giraudoux was being humorous, he touched on a fundamental truth about writing–that sincerity, or at least the appearance of sincerity, is crucial. Nothing alienates readers faster than insincerity in any form–hyperbole, hype, hypocrisy, untruth. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating your readers’ ability to recognize insincerity. Write honestly.

You have to use an honest voice. Remember that the admissions panel reads thousands of essays every year and for sure, they have a way of seeing through your lies.

When you write your personal statement for medical school, you have to avoid the pitfalls of writing cliche, being too self-centered, and aiming too high for grandiosity. You also have to avoid being insincere.

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