Personal Statement

What is a Personal Statement?

4,000 characters
Approximately 500 words
47 lines

Your personal statement is an important part of your application, which is checked thoroughly and carefully by the reader. The aim is to tell your chosen universities about your interests, achievements and ambitions as precisely as possible.

Ensure that it includes YOUR unique selling points, in order to gain an edge over the massive competition. It is important to include some basic facts about yourself (i.e. education, interests, experience) in order for the reader to gain a sense of who you are.

When you are invited for an interview, the questions you are asked will be based upon your personal statement for some medical/dental schools. Universities tend to check certain claims that are made on your statement, for example; exaggerated material. Therefore, it is essential that your personal statement is an accurate account of your application. The aim of your personal statement is to persuade the reader that you will be a great candidate for Medicine or Dentistry.

What makes you a great candidate?

We have devised 6 key steps which we feel are important to consider when writing your personal statement. Of course this list is by no means exhaustive but are points to ensure you have covered.

1) Declare any mitigating circumstances
If you have any mitigating circumstances, make sure these are mentioned in your personal statement. The reader of your application will want to know the reasons why you may have under-performed in certain subjects. Mitigating circumstances are factors that are always considered.

2) It’s about quality, not quantity!
Remember, you have approximately 500 words. Your personal statement should be written in such a way that makes you stand out from the large number of applicants for Medicine or Dentistry.

3) Talk about you as a person
Whether you have held responsibility of something, taken part in extra-curricular activities or won an award for something; talk about it. The reader will want to know why these are important to you and what you have learnt from the experience.

4) Make sure you cover everything in the selection criteria
It is important to remember that your statement should remain personal throughout. Two factors that the personal statement must cover is:

Personal characteristics: Suitability for Medicine/Dentistry
Academic potential

6) There is no specific or precise template but each medical or dental school may have specific factors they like you to mention. See our FAQ section where this is addressed.

Interested in our Step2State Course?

Our tutors offer bespoke feedback on your personal statement and application journey.

Click here to read more about our courses.

Feel free to get in touch and one of our team members will be more than happy to provide advice on personal statement writing and top tips for tailoring it to different universities.