Avoid Trite Anecdotes in Your Medical School Personal Statement
By Michelle A. Finkel, Insider Medical Admissions Founder
“The gentle and prompt treatment Grandma got from the emergency physician made me realize I wanted to be a doctor too.”
“The cardiologist was so skilled, I committed myself to becoming an internist just like her.”
“The moment the doctor helped me with my asthma flare, I knew that I, too, wanted to go into the medical field.”
Some candidates devote a significant portion of their medical school personal statements to describing a universal experience that initially piqued their interest in medicine or a particular specialty. I mean no disrespect to anyone’s ill family member, but writing about your personal experience with the medical field is overused, and it may bore your admissions reader. Just because your sentiment is genuine, it is unlikely to be compelling reading or a strategic means to distinguish you from the hundreds of other applicants whose medical school personal statements share the same themes. In other words, the medical staff who impressed you so much when they were caring for your loved one does not reflect anything about your qualifications.
There are exceptions to this rule: If you can swiftly move from a brief personal medical story to your research on a related topic you may be able to pull the personal medical anecdote off. For example, if an applicant had a family member with autism and was consequently motivated to do NIH research on the disease, the personal medical story might be a means to introduce her research and associated publications. (This is a rare scenario.)