Ryan Gray MD - The Premed Playbook Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement: Everything You Need to Successfully Apply

Endorsements

I found this book to be a fun, practical, easy-to-read guide on helping an applicant find their voice for their personal statement. Using a clear, systematic approach supported by examples, Dr. Gray unveils the true purpose of the personal statement and why its so important for an applicant to know oneself. I think the process through which he guides the reader will prove beneficial not only for the personal statement but for the medical school interview as well. Perhaps even more valuable is that the reader will achieve a better understanding of ones motivations for pursuing a career in medicine.

Gregory M. Polites, MD

Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine

Chairman of the Central Subcommittee on Admissions

Washington University School of Medicine

Another superb book from the Premed Playbook series by Dr. Gray. This edition helps medical school applicants approach the personal statement with confidence and inspiration. This is done through easy to read explanations of all relevant topics from beginning to the end. Furthermore, the different stages of drafts with edits are incorporated to elaborate what can seem as ambiguous feedback to applicants. A beginning pre-health advisor looking to get caught up with personal statements would benefit tremendously from reading this book!

Joon Kim, EdD

Director of Postbaccalaureate Premedical Certificate Program

Keck Graduate Institute

Dr. Gray is a wonderful source of guidance and reliable advice on the premed journey. Dr. Gray is a gift to premeds. He is a guide for what is often a long, arduous, and taxing journey.

Sujay Kansagra, MD

Author of The Medical School Manual, Everything I Learned in Medical School, and Why Medicine

Guide to the Medical School
PERSONAL STATEMENT

Write Your Best Story. Secure Your Interview.

Ryan Gray, MD

NEW YORK

LONDONNASHVILLEMELBOURNEVANCOUVER

The Premed Playbook Guide to the Medical School Personal Statement

Write Your Best Story. Secure Your Interview.

2018 Ryan Gray, MD

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN 9781683508533 paperback

ISBN 9781683508540 eBook

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017960665

Cover Design by:

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www.r2cdesign.com

Interior Design by:

Paul Curtis

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To my daughter, Hannah,
who has me in awe every day.

DOWNLOAD MORE
PERSONAL STATEMENTS

There are many more personal statements with my feedback that I couldnt include in this book that you can download 100% FREE at personalstatementbook.com/bonusessays.

I want to thank the amazing community of premed students who helped with this book. My launch team, and others, came together and gave me direct feedback to help craft the message in this book to make it better for you. There were several students who went above and beyond with their dedication and feedback, including Chris Felici, Diane Ghanem, Evelyn Guerra, Hunter Graham, Kathrine Mansfield, Kelley Bellia, Magnus Chun, Michael Locascio, Miriam Moctezuma, Nguyen Nguyen, Regina Heit, Suzanne Chaar, Sylvia Okonofua, Tanya Panwala, Tia Gray, and William Haug.

W hy is it that we can write essays on world issues or book reports without any problems, but when it comes to writing about ourselves for our personal statement, we freeze up and stare at a blank screen forever?

You would think that writing about a topic that you have intimate knowledge of would be easy. But its not. Or at least we dont make it easy for ourselves.

Where are you supposed to start? What are you supposed to write about? How are you supposed to cram 20, 30, 40 or maybe more years of your life into 5,300 characters, or even 4,500 characters? The answer to that last question is simple: you dont.

The personal statement is not supposed to be a timeline of your life. Its not meant to be an essay form of your rsum. The problem is that most students approach it like it is. They try to tell their entire story in such a small amount of space.

The result of that is a mess. Anyone who has lived longer than a decade cant possibly fit their journey into the format the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) and American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine Application Service (AACOMAS) dictate. Those services allow you 5,300 and 4,500 characters, respectively. The Texas Medical and Dental School Application Service (TMDSAS) allocates 5,000 characters.

So many students I talk to see these character limits and just freeze. They hear other students claims about telling the story of their lives and just cant fathom doing that in so few characters.

Im here to tell you that you dont have to tell your life story. You dont have to create a beautiful story that has a beginning, middle, and end. Your personal statement is not a creative writing piece. Its a reflection on your journey and what you have learned about yourself.

Its a story about why you want to be a doctor. Its a story about the impact you want to make in your community. That is the story you have to tell. It is the only story you have to tell. That is all you need to get across to the Admissions Committee. If you arent doing that, then you have failed.

I asked Dr. Rafael Rivera, Associate Dean for Admissions at NYU Langone Medical Center, about his thoughts on the personal statement. Here is what he had to say:

To be impactful, the personal statement needs to provide Admissions Committees with important insights into why an applicant has chosen to devote his/her life to medicine, and how they hope to improve the lives of those around them by means of their work as a physician.

Why have you chosen to devote your life to medicine? What do you hope to accomplish as a physician? When you put it like that, it seems pretty straightforward, yet most students are failing to do this.

Writing your personal statement is hard. It takes a while. You need to take breaks from writing it, allow yourself space to reflect on it and return to it with fresh eyes. It requires you to know yourself, know your motivations, and know why you are embarking on this journey.

The personal statement is a very important part of your medical school application, and you shouldnt leave it until the last minute.