Core Ideas on Writing a Medical School Statement of Purpose

Medical school application can be very challenging. You need to overcome various obstacles. These include entrance exams, interviews, and med school personal statements. One of the most crucial requirements is the admissions essay. Fortunately, Sinai Urban Health Institute has some essential ideas on how you can write a winning medical school statement of purpose.

On medical school statement of purpose language and writing style

Do not exaggerate the language used.

Pretend that you are being charged for each word you write. How can you keep the imaginary cost down?

Do not use quotations, cliches or questions.

Avoid medical terminology unless absolutely necessary to convey a point. A layperson should be able to easily understand your essay.

Don’t forget to spell and grammar check.

The technicalities of writing should be given much importance. The language and the writing style are as important as the content of your personal statement. Write with sincerity. It is also important that you avoid using highfalutin words because they make you sound detached and superficial.

On the content of your med school statement of purpose

Highlight your accomplishments but do not sound arrogant. Even one bad sentence can bomb your essay and leave the committee worried about who you are.

Avoid wordiness. This is the most common mistake I see people usually make. Keep your personal statement to less than one standard, single-spaced page.

Make an outline. This really does make a large difference in the quality of the final essay.

Talking about your good points such as your achievements is a brilliant idea. However, you have to ensure that you don’t sound too proud and too good to be true. This could be deterimental to your application. It is also a good thing if you write direct to the point. Avoid beating around the bush for this could bore the readers.

It is also important that you choose your subject matter well. According to this excerpt from another article, you should write about the following:

# Research or work experience

# Educational background

# Immediate and long-term goals

# Reasons for deciding to pursue graduate education in a particular field and at a particular institution

# Maturity

# Personal uniqueness-what you would add to the diversity of the entering class

Of course, there are more interesting topics to write about. You can brainstorm for topics and then select one which you are comfortable writing about.

When you write your statement of purpose, you have to make sure that the language is personal yet not to informal. You also have to make sure that there are no errors in grammar. For the content, you have to choose a topic that would be describe who you are.

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