You want your medical school application to make it to the top of the accepted pile. Your medical school personal statement and secondary essays are one way to make your application really stand out. How do you choose which of your lifetime of experiences to include in your application?
Let’s see what the 7 signs are that indicate that an experience belongs in your med school application. View the short video below for more information:
Full video transcript
Hello, this is Linda Abraham with Eye on Admissions. I recently presented a webinar for medical school applicants on how to write about their three most significant experiences.
I found myself trying to define what makes an experience meaningful and worthy of that designation. I also realized that all applicants really have to figure out what their most meaningful experiences are and which they should include in their applications.
So I came up with these 7 signposts of significance, and here they are:
1. The experience should involve some real time-commitment on your part.
2. It should reveal you making a contribution to an individual, an entity, or an organization.
3. You want the experience to reveal, to show you in a leadership role, to show your leadership qualities. And this is true for all forms of graduate admissions.
4. The experience should be in some way transformative. It should have changed the entity, the organization, another individual, or perhaps you.
5. You want the experience to demonstrate your commitment to, or qualification for, your chosen field.
6. Most of your experiences in your essays should be, unless the question instructs otherwise, in the last two years. I’m not saying you can never go back farther, but the bulk should be recent.
7. Relevant. Is the experience somehow relevant to your studies or to your professional goals after your studies?
Again, the more of these qualities that are in the experience, the more likely it should go into one of your application essays or personal statements.
This is Linda Abraham with Eye on Admissions. Thank you very much for listening.
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Related Resources:
• Ace the AMCAS Essay, a free guide
• 5 Pointers for a Stand-Out Med School Personal Statement
• What Should I Write About? Making a Difference