Personal Statement for Medical School: Highlighting Your People Skills

The success of a doctor is not only measuredstatements are supposedly short, you have to
through his or her healing abilities.  A successfulinclude only the experiences that you think influenced
doctor should also possess the skills on how to dealyour life a great deal.  
with people.  More than anyone else, the patientsTalk about your future goals
are sometimes the most difficult people to dealTalking about your goals is also an effective way to
with.  It’s really understandable because theirbe able to make the admissions officers see that you
illness stir various emotions within them--fear, pain,are good at dealing with people.  You can do this by
and, uncertainty among other things.  If a doctorincluding short and long term goals related to your
has a good interpersonal skill, he or she would be ableplanned career, showing that you really want to
to get the cooperation and the trust of the patients.serve the people and that you will try your best to
Aside from this, a doctor usually works with otherbe the best.
medical professionals.  So having goodAvoid bragging
communication and people skills would bring harmonyBe warned that talking too much about your
in the work place.  It only goes to show thatexpertise in dealing with people will make you appear
interpersonal skills is a valuable asset in order to gainconceited, boastful, and pretentious.  Therefore, it is
success in a medical career, especially when thebest if you keep a humble tone while discussing your
profession involves dealing with patients most of theskills.  You should highlight your skills, but be careful
time.not to brag about them too much.  It is also ,pre
Discussing these skills in your personal statement foreffective if, instead of saying "you did this and you
medical school is a great way to catch the attentiondid that," you focus more on what you can do in the
of the admissions committee.  Through this, you canfuture that would make your interpersonal skills
make the admissions officers see that you haveuseful.
what it takes to become a good doctor.  Below areYou really have to exert effort in writing your
some tips on writing your personal statement.  admission essay because this can make or break
Think about your experienceyour application to med school.  You have to make
“Show, don’t tell” is what expertssure that your essay is not written solely to
recommend when writing a personal statement forcompliment yourself.  While it is true that you have
medical school.  Enumerating your skills won’t doto sell yourself to the admissions officers through
the trick.  To make your essay more effective, youyour personal statement, you have to remember not
should talk about your experiences where you wereto overdo it, or else, you risk giving a negative
able to exhibit your own skills.  Surely, you can thinkimpression of yourself to the admissions panel.
of numerous experiences.  And because personal