I need help forming some sort of personal statement.

Definitely focus on your strengths and skills. Give examples to back everything up. Have a good read of the website to get an idea of what kinds of students they're looking for.


Quote if you want a reply!
BSc Biochemistry University of York
Working towards a PhD at Queen Mary University of London

Thanks for answering. I know for a fact that they are looking for bright, outstanding students. Here are my strengths: I am patient, optimistic, perseverant, and I like a good challenge. My teachers give me a citizenship mark of outstanding on my report cards. I usually see the good side of things, I don't like to think bad thoughts. I chose to do the IB (International Baccalaureate) instead of the American AP because I felt that I needed a challenge. I have good time management skills, as I have a lot of extracirriculars and I balance that with the rigorous coursework of IB.
So basically I need to elaborate on that? They're asking what I can contribute, so I should base my answer on those?

I would say that in your statement, you should avoid just stating personal qualities- you need to back them up with evidence, like where you have discussed your time management skills. You could use examples from study, or extra curriculars.

It might also be worth thinking about the activities you'll be doing during the summer school- e.g. if you are expected to work as part of a group, talk about times when you have shown good teamwork.

So the summer school is basically and introduction to how medical school is like in the UK. I wish to attend the course in July. Here is a link to the website: http://www.oxford-royale.co.uk/course/medical-school-preparation

Prior to the course, I will be taking an anatomical and physiological course at the local community college in my city in June (a type of post-high school university but there are no 4 year degrees). The summer school will be talking a lot about preparations for the medical school. I have some experience in regards to the BMAT/UKCAT because I bought books about them a year ago and studied them. Down at the Learning Objectives section they included some things that the course aims to do and some things that students will be able to get out from the course. For example it says that "students will be able to identify medicals they would like to apply", I already have an idea to what medical schools I want to apply to. At transferable life skills, they mention self-assessment, time management, and working with others, which I have had experience with in classroom presentations and academic clubs. I also have some experience when it comes to argumentation because of debate club in my school, along with some classroom discussions. Also, I will be taking a communication skills course at the community college as well in June.