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  • It's approaching another cycle for medical school and residency applications, and that

  • means getting the dreaded personal statement in order.

  • I'll show you how to make your personal statement stand out.

  • What's going on guys, Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.

  • Arguably the most daunting and challenging part of the application process is writing

  • your personal statement.

  • While your GPA and test scores are already set in stone and are very objective measurements

  • of academic performance, the personal statement is a creative expression of you as a person.

  • The personal statement can make or break your Application.

  • A great one can open the door to an interview for a mediocre applicant and a bad one can

  • rule out even an applicant with top scores.

  • And unlike your grades or MCAT or Step 1, you have complete control over your personal

  • statement at this point.

  • In this video, we'll go over tips to make your personal statement stand out.

  • If you haven't already, be sure to check out our personal statement blog posts on the Med

  • School Insiders website.

  • Link is in the description below.

  • They have some additional information that is not included in this video.

  • First, answer the prompt.

  • Before putting ink to paper, it's important that you consider the reason you are writing

  • the personal statement.

  • The questions you should be answering are going to be some variation of the following:

  • for medical school applicants; Why do you want to go to medical school and become a

  • doctor and what makes you a good fit to be a doctor?

  • For residency applicant: Why do you want to go into this specialty and what makes you

  • a good fit?

  • Everyone has their own unique and personal reasons.

  • Figure out what yours are and be sure that your essay is focused around supporting these

  • reasons.

  • Number 2, read examples.

  • The hardest part in writing your personal statement is just starting.

  • It's important to just write something, anything and not judge yourself in the process.

  • You can always go back and make edits.

  • Getting ideas down on paper is the most challenging part, but it is also the most crucial part.

  • Everything else will just open up from there.

  • That being said, I also found it incredibly helpful to find example personal statements.

  • Look at the good, the bad and the ugly and curiously examine what makes an essay good

  • or bad.

  • What aspects did you like?

  • What aspects did you not like?

  • I've placed a link in the description below to some books with personal statement examples.

  • This is a great place to start.

  • Number three, Organization is key.

  • This may seem obvious but it is often overlooked.

  • Treat your personal statement like any other English essay you have written.

  • In other words, frame It around a thesis, with body paragraphs corresponding to support

  • the thesis and then closing with a conclusion to bring it all together.

  • Without proper organization, Personal statements come off as loosely thrown together and readers

  • quickly lose interest.

  • Number four, show, don't tell.

  • Admissions committee members are reading thousands of personal statements.

  • You want to tell an engaging and captivating story.

  • One way you definitely won't is if you tell the reader how motivated driven and passionate

  • you are about medicine.

  • Instead, tell a story or an anecdote and use that to demonstrate desirable qualities you

  • wish to portray.

  • I have a friend who wrote a killer personal statement that centered around her practice

  • of the violin and how that made her an excellent applicant.

  • It was memorable, unique and told a story of how violent would make her a great fit.

  • She did not just list qualities.

  • Number five, simple is sometimes better.

  • Don't feel like you have to write the best personal statement the world has ever seen.

  • Students sometimes get too creative and end up with a personal statement that does more

  • harm than good.

  • Your main focus should be presenting a coherent piece on why you want to go to medical school

  • and why you will be a good physician.

  • Focusing on complex sentence structure and extravagant word choice will only take away

  • from convincing your reader.

  • Admissions committee members can easily spot when you're using a thesaurus and it doesn't

  • reflect well on you.

  • Number six, get eyes on your paper.

  • Reviewing is arguably the most important part of the process.

  • Everyone knows that they should have a few people read their personal statement for feedback.

  • While sharing it with your friends and family is definitely useful, after writing both my

  • medical school and residency personal statements, I have learned that friends are inherently

  • biased.

  • They usually want to be nice and supportive and they can give good general feedback and

  • grammatical fixes but they aren't the ones that are going to tear up your essay, be honest,

  • have the experience and tell you what you don't want to hear.

  • And some times we need that.

  • While friends and family are helpful, there are two important groups that you should get

  • your personal statement reviewed by.

  • The first is a mentor of some sort.

  • Ideally you want to find someone who has served on the admissions committee in the past.

  • They understand what makes a good or bad personal statement from experience.

  • They know you on a professional level but they aren't as invested as friends.

  • I was lucky to find a faculty member who read through hundreds of personal statements every

  • single year.

  • He was also known for being somewhat of a scary person, but that's a good thing.

  • Many people told me that my essay was good, but he was brutally honest and told me to

  • rewrite the whole thing.

  • This was just days before it was due, and I'm glad he did because after rewriting it,

  • the essay was much much stronger.

  • It's important not to take harsh feedback or criticism personally as this usually is

  • the most useful feedback you will receive.

  • The second group would be a professional essay editing service.

  • Again, I made the investment and my essay came out much stronger in the end.

  • The Med School Insiders team has been growing over the past several months and we have been

  • hard at work.

  • We now offer a premium essay editing service and the quality is second to none.

  • How can I say that?

  • We devised a rigorous screening and application process for each doctor on our team and we

  • use a proprietary and systematic method to ensure the best quality work.

  • We're committed to excellence and it shows.

  • Anything less would be against the mission of this channel and our reputation would suffer.

  • Take a look for yourself, link is in the description below.

  • Our team consists entirely of top doctors with real admission committee experience.

  • Who better than real doctors who have experience with real applicants?

  • And with our rigorous screening process, we found those that are the best at what they

  • do.

  • Use the coupon code "Youtube25 for $25 off of your comprehensive personal statement editing

  • purchase.

  • I recommend the 3 edit option to get the best bang for your buck.

  • This is also what I did when I purchased essay editing services for my own personal Statement.

  • The first edit usually includes larger changes that take your essay from decent to good,

  • but the second and third edits are what take it to the next level and polish it into a

  • final product.

  • The team and I are tremendously proud of the final product we're able to offer you.

  • Again, visit the link in the description below and use the coupon code Youtube25 for $25

  • off your purchase.

  • You'll be glad you did!

  • That is it for this video.

  • Thank you all so much for watching.

  • If you liked the video, make sure you press that like button.

  • Hit subscribe if you have not already and I will see you guys in that next one.

It's approaching another cycle for medical school and residency applications, and that

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