Preparing Your Medical School Application Essays as You Apply to Schools with the Most Competitive Medical Specializations in the US
Applying to any medical school is hard enough. Applying to the best medical schools with the most competitive specializations in the country, where competition is the name of the game, is going to be ten times harder. Medical school hopefuls who want to attend the best medical schools in the country need make sure their application requirements are up to par and even better than those of other candidates. This will involve not only the most extraordinary of CVs or the best MCAT scores, but also having the most unique personal essay you are capable of making.
With the hundreds and possibly thousands of medical school applications that flood the top medical schools every year, admission personnel will have a hard time letting anyone else go if all came with high MCAT scores, exemplary grades and wide and diverse extracurricular activities. If you have all of these, it only makes you one among the hundreds of hopefuls who also wish to get into the school you wish to get into. Your best bet at tipping the scales to your favor is by making a favorable and attention-getting individual impression through your personal statement for medical school.
Know what the school looks for
Different schools look for similar traits in their applicants such as integrity, emotional maturity, compassion and an innate desire to care for others, to name a few. However, saying that you have all these and more in your application essay simply will not do. Your essays will convey more than just your capabilities and why you are qualified to be a medical student. It will also show admission officers how well you are with grammar and vocabulary, how good you are at organizing your thoughts on paper and how you convey all the characters that they are looking for without having to say them outright.
One important thing to remember is to start your essay with a compelling opening line or lines, known to essay writers as ‘the hook.’ In some instances an *interesting hook, whether it’s a famous quote or a small personal anecdote, will determine whether your essay gets read or gets dumped into the rejection pile. Admissions experts usually prefer a personal statement for medical school that starts in an interesting manner since this gives off the impression that the writer is someone who can direct attention his way and is therefore worth a second look.
Another very important tip is to make sure that your essay follows a coherent structure. You can do this by the rereading and rewriting your essay as needed. Breaking your essay into two or three sections that flow coherently into each other will make your essay a pleasant read and will lessen your chances of being misunderstood. It will also give off the impression that you like organization and structure in the things you do. An essay that is all over the place will give off an impression of a haphazard nature.
Finally, use personal anecdotes that are related in some way to the school you are applying to. Knowledge of the core values of the school will help you sift through the many personal anecdotes that you may have accumulated through the years in order to select the one that your admission panel can relate to the most.
Bottom line: Preparing a personal statement for medical school will not only require a good grasp of writing or grammar, but also good knowledge of your desired school as well. Choosing to know your school and tailoring your essay to what the school’s admissions panel can relate to the most will get you several steps ahead of the hundreds who are hoping to get that big break as you are.
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