Working on your personal statement outline? Not sure what to include? Here’s a template to get you started!
In high school and college, we were instructed to formulate a complete outline prior to writing. Solid advice, but sometimes it can leave you feeling a little trapped, especially if you aren’t exactly sure of your main points.
Instead, try this model for “backing in” to your essay. Work through these four main questions, allowing several minutes to write all you can about each. Let your ideas flow fast and freely. No limits!
- What have I accomplished that I am proud of? This can be ANYTHING! Maybe you’ve won an engineering competition, organized a fundraiser, tutored the neighbor kid through calculus, served in the Armed Forces, learned to play the guitar with one hand, or coached youth sports. It really doesn’t matter what it is, just that you are passionate about it and willing to connect those skills/aptitudes to the medical field.
- Once you’ve brainstormed a list, circle the accomplishments that really get you “revved up.” Ideally, you want to focus on things in the personal statement that you will enjoy talking about during interviews.
- List a few moments from each of those circled experiences that stand out in your memory.
- What are my core ideals and personality traits? Write a list of traits, and then circle the qualities that are most important to you. Connect these to your accomplishments. Your ideals and personality traits are usually expressed two ways in the personal statement: through your choice of accomplishments/stories and through your unique writing voice.
- What kinds of clinical experience do I have? Hopefully, you have volunteered or shadowed or worked in healthcare in some capacity. It’s kind of important! So be sure to reference that in the personal statement, even if you don’t spend lots of time on it. Next, see if you can find some connections between what you’ve seen in a clinical setting and the main topics in #1 and #2.
- How did I learn these things about myself/medicine? Briefly line out the key moments in your life that shaped you into the person you described above. Arranged chronologically, you have the story of your journey to medicine. Remember, most personal statements are roughly chronological.
If you’ve followed these steps, you’ve basically worked backward into your outline. Now just connect the dots and streamline it into a concise 5300 (or 4500) character document!
