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What to do last minute for Medicine Personal Statement?

I'm going into Y13 and was planning on doing Natural Sciences at uni, until about 2 weeks ago when I decided to do Medicine instead. I have just realised that I have barely anythign to put on any sort of personal statement that I write for medicine. Any advice?

What I already have done (for Medicine + Natural Sciences):

- I've been volunteering on a cancer ward for about 10 months.
- I went to 2 summer schools, one for Biology (environmental side but included some talks on other things like Chemistry) and one for Maths.
- I took part in a Uni of Leeds program called STEM Futures aimed at students going into Biomedicine (it was all very medical so I could potentially use some of this).
- I went to a Biomedicine conference with my college.
- I did the senior Maths, Chem and Bio challenge (I got a gold and 2 silvers).
- I went to a lecture on signal biology at my local uni.

I understand my personal statement would be very Bioscience focussed if included anything here, but is there anything I could salvage to use for medicine?
Hey there, thanks for posting a question in the Medicine forum. :biggrin:

The Medicine forum gets a high volume of questions being posted, and some of these are already answered by the resources and Megathreads that members of the community and volunteers have created. This is an automatic post which is designed to highlight these resources. Below is a list of threads and articles that could answer your question (you should be looking in the original post of the megathreads). If one of the below threads is a more relevant place to ask your question, please post a reply in that thread to ask your question. If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked below, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.

Megathreads
(Please read the first post, before then posting any further questions you have within that thread.)
The "Which Medical School Should I Apply To?" Uberthread
The Ultimate 'Am I Good Enough For Medicine?' Angst Thread
Medicine A-Level subjects queries
Work Experience and Voluntary Work

2023 Applicants:
Official Undergraduate Medicine 2023 Entry
Graduate Entry Medicine 2023 Entry
Medicine 2023 entry for resit / retake / gap year applicants
A100 Medicine for International Students 2023 Entry
Medicine Interview discussion 2023 Entry
2023 entry A100 / A101 Medicine fastest and slowest offer senders
Index of Individual Medical School Applicants' threads 2023 Entry

2024 Applicants :
Official Undergraduate Medicine 2024 Entry
Graduate Entry Medicine 2024 Entry
GAMSAT 2024 / 2025 entry discussions megathread
UCAT 2024 Entry Discussions Megathread

Other application years:
Graduate Entry Medicine 2025 Entry
Official Undergraduate Medicine 2025 Entry

Useful Articles:
GCSE Requirements for Medicine
Everything you need to know about the BMAT
Work Experience as a Graduate or Mature student
Medicine Personal Statement Advice
Medicine Personal Statement Advice (Graduate Entry)
Interview Frequently Asked Questions
MMI Medicine Interview Tips
What to do after an unsuccessful first application

If your query is answered by one of the Megathreads or articles linked above, and you would like us to close this thread for you, please reply to this thread with just the words "thank you". A member of our team will then get it locked.
Reply 2
Original post by tastierspoon460
I'm going into Y13 and was planning on doing Natural Sciences at uni, until about 2 weeks ago when I decided to do Medicine instead. I have just realised that I have barely anythign to put on any sort of personal statement that I write for medicine. Any advice?

What I already have done (for Medicine + Natural Sciences):

- I've been volunteering on a cancer ward for about 10 months.
- I went to 2 summer schools, one for Biology (environmental side but included some talks on other things like Chemistry) and one for Maths.
- I took part in a Uni of Leeds program called STEM Futures aimed at students going into Biomedicine (it was all very medical so I could potentially use some of this).
- I went to a Biomedicine conference with my college.
- I did the senior Maths, Chem and Bio challenge (I got a gold and 2 silvers).
- I went to a lecture on signal biology at my local uni.

I understand my personal statement would be very Bioscience focussed if included anything here, but is there anything I could salvage to use for medicine?

All of it is great for a medicine ps. You have things to show your interest in science and interest in helping people, which is great. The 10 month volunteering is especially good as you can describe what you did/observed and how that can make you suited to medicine and being a good doctor eg interpersonal/communication skills. Writing about your interest in science and how you took it further eg stem future program and how that can help your future as a doctor eg problem solving skills.
Its important to not just filled with academic stuff but stuff that have developed other skills such as resilience/ teamwork/leadership. This could be like playing in sports team or any job.
Its important to reflect on all your experiences to show how it makes you suited to a career in medicine.

P.S. I believe most med schools don't look or grade ps so dont stress too much about it. Have you completed ucat or bmat yet?
Original post by Luca1229
All of it is great for a medicine ps. You have things to show your interest in science and interest in helping people, which is great. The 10 month volunteering is especially good as you can describe what you did/observed and how that can make you suited to medicine and being a good doctor eg interpersonal/communication skills. Writing about your interest in science and how you took it further eg stem future program and how that can help your future as a doctor eg problem solving skills.
Its important to not just filled with academic stuff but stuff that have developed other skills such as resilience/ teamwork/leadership. This could be like playing in sports team or any job.
Its important to reflect on all your experiences to show how it makes you suited to a career in medicine.

P.S. I believe most med schools don't look or grade ps so dont stress too much about it. Have you completed ucat or bmat yet?


Thanks! That's really helpful. I haven't done my UCAT yet (because I decided to medicine so late) but I've got an average of about 3040 b2 so far. I think as well, depending on how much time I have, I'm gonna try and find a book to read. Do you know whether it would be useful to talk about my experience with one of my family members being ill, because that is partly what motivated me, but I don't want it to be seen as guilt/attention grabbing? If not that's fine! :smile:
Reply 4
Original post by tastierspoon460
Thanks! That's really helpful. I haven't done my UCAT yet (because I decided to medicine so late) but I've got an average of about 3040 b2 so far. I think as well, depending on how much time I have, I'm gonna try and find a book to read. Do you know whether it would be useful to talk about my experience with one of my family members being ill, because that is partly what motivated me, but I don't want it to be seen as guilt/attention grabbing? If not that's fine! :smile:


Thats a great ucat score. If you can get close to that in the exam you will have a very good application and you can guarantee yourself some interviews.
A book can be useful and you can talk about it at interview but is not necessary. I have some good book recommendations if need.
If that experience of family being ill is important to you and had a big impact, it can be worthwhile talking about it (can go in your first paragraph/intro). However warning, its a bit of a cliche that a lot of people write about in their ps when wanting go into healthcare. If you can make it clear and relevant to how it motivated you/ taught you it can work well in your ps.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask or private message me.

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