How to Start a Personal Statement

While there is a lot of flexibility with this essay, it’s difficult to decide how to start a personal statement. What is the best way to brainstorm so that your essay is truly personal? If you are just starting your personal statement or in a writing block, these tips will help inspire new ideas for your essay.

Telling an admissions committee your life story in 5300 characters is definitely a big ask but it’s not impossible. If you’re anything like me, the thought of boiling down my entire premed journey into a short page and a half narrative was no easy task. I wrote more drafts of my personal statement that I care to count. But when it came time to submit my primary application, I was really happy with the final product.

In this post, I’ll be sharing 5 helpful tips on how to start a personal statement so that you can submit something unique to admissions committees that reflects who you are.

Tip #1: Create a List

Ideally this process begins your freshman year of undergrad. So if you are a freshman reading this, way to get ahead of the game! I recommend keeping a list of stories and experiences. Whether those be from patient encounters, volunteer experiences, etc., you should detail what you learned from each account and including some reflective sentences. The most important trait of a personal statement is that it’s personal. The truth is, many people apply to medical school and many will share similar experiences. What you learn is what makes you unique! So write a paragraph on some of your most impactful experiences. Whether you have been working on this list over years or simply jotted a few sentences on a couple experiences in one sitting, take a step back and look for common or connecting themes between the experiences. Words like “education” or “service” or “research,” or any key words that come to mind can be helpful in creating a storyline throughout your statement.

The most important trait of a personal statement is that it’s personal. The truth is, many people apply to medical school and many will share similar experiences. What you learn is what makes you unique!

Tip #2: Create a Personal Mission Statement

While I know this sounds cheesy, this can be a great springboard to start your personal statement. Your mission statement should be more than, “I want to be a physician so that I can serve others through providing medical treatments.” This is very generic and could probably be said for any medical school applicant. Be specific, be unique! If you need somewhere to start, look up some of your top schools, favorite non profit organizations, or even businesses, and read their mission statements to get an idea of how specific they are and what kind of language is used. Once you have created that mission statement, select experiences that a) illustrate how you have lived out that mission and b) discuss how you will use that experience to fulfill your mission in the future (a.k.a. What you learned from the situation, what traits you developed, etc.)

Tip #3: Get Talking

If you’re anything like me, writing is not my strong suit. I do, however, love having conversations. Whenever I hit a writing block in drafting my personal statements, talking with someone always helped get my creativity going again. Talk to your parents, friends, a premed advisor, or even yourself. Seriously, you can talk with yourself! Just start recording an audio or video file of yourself talking about why you want to be a physician. You would be surprised at how well you can articulate yourself and this can be a great way to get some thoughts down on paper when you listen back to the recording. We tend to talk about things we are passionate about, so while it may sound silly, it’s a great way to at least get the ideas flowing.

Tip #4: Get Some Inspiration

Obviously with this one you have to be careful. I don’t recommend reading a ton of sample personal statements, but reading a few can be helpful to get an idea of possible ways to structure a personal statement. Some personal statements start with a story, others are written more chronologically. Reading a few can help you get an idea of how you want to tell your own story. You can also get some inspiration from watching Youtube videos. There are videos out there of medical students and physicians discussing why they chose this path. You might find that you resonate with them and they can highlight experience in your life you may not have thought of before.

Tip #5: Forget Your Delete Button

Many premed students strive for perfection. This can be great but also super debilitating. Come to terms with the fact that you will write many drafts of your personal statement. It is perfectly okay to have disconnected thoughts and run-ons in your first draft. It is completely normal to not have your best descriptors and most advanced vocabulary in your first draft. Getting words down on a document is a great start. If you start early enough you will have time to perfect your syntax, word choice, and the flow of your essay. So stop typing a few words and deleting them. Just write and see where it takes you.