Medical personal statement advice!

I have been giving very conflicting information regarding my medical personal statement.

Having followed many books and advice from the medic portal, I structured my personal statement to be mainly constructed around my personal experiences and the skills/qualities I have which are key as a medic, as I was lead to believe since everyone who applies for medicine is intelligent, there is no need to talk about my individual subjects etc

My 6th form head and Biology teacher have both told me they hate my personal statement because I haven't included enough on my academic side, and they believe it should be a 80% academic 20% personal split.

Can anyone help me out? Who is right/wrong in this case?

Anyone with previous medical admission experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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I have been giving very conflicting information regarding my medical personal statement.

Having followed many books and advice from the medic portal, I structured my personal statement to be mainly constructed around my personal experiences and the skills/qualities I have which are key as a medic, as I was lead to believe since everyone who applies for medicine is intelligent, there is no need to talk about my individual subjects etc

My 6th form head and Biology teacher have both told me they hate my personal statement because I haven't included enough on my academic side, and they believe it should be a 80% academic 20% personal split.

Can anyone help me out? Who is right/wrong in this case?

Anyone with previous medical admission experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Posted from TSR Mobile

The 80% acedemic , 20% personal split is, in my opinion, wrong.

When I wrote my personal statement it was mainly my experiences/ work outside of college/ sixth form and the skills I gained from it. I didn't mention anything about my school work within school because your right, everyone who applies to medicine will be AAA candidates. Perhaps the only academic things you should mention are any special awards you received within school and any additional qualifications (eg: EPQ type things) other people have not done.

The breakdown people usually use for statements is;

* Intro (usually why you want to study medicine, or this can come at the end)
* 3-5 paragraphs - each one about a diffrent skill and/or experience you have done
* 1 paragraph about your hobbies/intrests
* Final few lines to sum up your application- usually using loads of power words.

Hope this helps!

There really needs to be very little about your academics. After all, all your grades are included on ucas. If your sixth form is worried they can put it in your reference.

Your ps should be a reflection on why you want to do medicine (and showing what you understand medicine to be like) and how you have gained some of the necessary skills (communication, empathy etc) for medicine.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I have been giving very conflicting information regarding my medical personal statement.

Having followed many books and advice from the medic portal, I structured my personal statement to be mainly constructed around my personal experiences and the skills/qualities I have which are key as a medic, as I was lead to believe since everyone who applies for medicine is intelligent, there is no need to talk about my individual subjects etc

My 6th form head and Biology teacher have both told me they hate my personal statement because I haven't included enough on my academic side, and they believe it should be a 80% academic 20% personal split.

Can anyone help me out? Who is right/wrong in this case?

Anyone with previous medical admission experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Posted from TSR Mobile

There's a reason your biology teacher is a biology teacher; they're not a doctor! Unless they are university admissions tutors they don't really know too much! The 80/20 split is nonsense. Write what sounds personal to you but just try to include work experience and volunteering things too.

I had teachers advising me to do all sorts of weird and unnecessary things in mine such as writing about my a level choices in detail which I decided wasn't that important.


Posted from TSR Mobile

I have been giving very conflicting information regarding my medical personal statement.

Having followed many books and advice from the medic portal, I structured my personal statement to be mainly constructed around my personal experiences and the skills/qualities I have which are key as a medic, as I was lead to believe since everyone who applies for medicine is intelligent, there is no need to talk about my individual subjects etc

My 6th form head and Biology teacher have both told me they hate my personal statement because I haven't included enough on my academic side, and they believe it should be a 80% academic 20% personal split.

Can anyone help me out? Who is right/wrong in this case?

Anyone with previous medical admission experience would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Hi there!

Since you've mentioned us (The Medic Portal), we thought we would reply directly.

Firstly, let us say that we have seen many instances of two admissions tutors, even from the same university, disagreeing on the merits of a personal statement. So, there's no perfect one-fits-all solution.

However, you can make your personal statement generally appeal to the majority of assessors by making sure you tick the key boxes.

When it comes to academics, it depends what you mean by this. If you mean speaking in detail about the sciences and areas of scientific research beyond the A-Level syllabus, then that is certainly a plus. For Oxbridge, it is especially important you demonstrate a keen interest in science.

However, if you are speaking about doing well at A-Level Biology or Chemistry, feedback we have had suggests this will be considered: a) a given, since you're applying to medicine; and b) a duplication of what can be seen from AS scores and A2 predictions.

Medicine is highly competitive, and good GCSEs and A-Levels are a minimum requirement. That's why people we speak to suggest a focus on work experience, volunteering, and study beyond the syllabus to demonstrate your understanding of the career path and your motivation to pursue it.

Hope this helps. More on our website here:

https://www.themedicportal.com/application-guide/personal-statement/

The Medic Portal

Thank you for your reply! I used your review service and it was extremely helpful and really helped sculpt my personal statement into what it is now!

She was referring to my a levels in school which is why I didn't really agree with what I was saying, and my biology and chemistry teachers are including in my reference how I've researched science outside of school e.g science conference, should I not repeat this in my personal statement?

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