Example Medical Personal Statement
My ambition to become a doctor has been inspired by my love of the intellectual challenge posed by science subjects, combined with an urgent desire to be able to use my skills and knowledge to help people when they are at their most vulnerable. My early life in Sri Lanka was marked by the horrors of the civil war there. My family repeatedly had to move to escape serious danger, finally coming to the UK in 2001. In the town where I was raised, the medical care service was limited, and I saw for myself injured people dying from the lack of proper treatment and medication, and it was this which first made me determined to work as a doctor. The deprivation I witnessed there made it imperative for me to be able to make a contribution to my community and to benefit other people by offering them support and compassion. My incomplete education in Sri Lanka, disrupted by the effects of war, made it impossible for me to apply to study Medicine when I first came to the UK, so, with financial support from relatives, I began a foundation Biomedical Sciences course, which led on to a very useful and interesting degree course. This has given me a good grounding in some of the science involved in Medicine, including physiology and pathophysiology, and has led to my present post as an Associate Practitioner in the Microbiology Department of the University Hospital of North Durham. I began as a volunteer to gain experience, and after four months I was offered a permanent post.
Much of my work experience and voluntary work has been in healthcare. In 2010 I volunteered at a care home, visiting an elderly couple every week and meeting the other residents. I learnt how important it is to be a good listener and also how satisfying is the role of carer. I also worked as a volunteer at St Oswald’s Hospice, again engaging with patients and seeing to their needs and those of their families, where understanding, good communication and patience were of the first importance. I have shadowed a Haematology Consultant at a clinic for those suffering from cancer and cell abnormalities, meeting people with serious, life-threatening conditions such as leukaemia. The scientific material was immensely interesting, particularly exploring the abnormalities in blood elements in certain illnesses, and the human dimension was very moving. It was inspiring to see the doctor communicating with the vulnerable patients with compassion and empathy.
My role in the laboratory has taught me much about professional practice in order to provide the best possible service, and I have followed standards of performance and ethics as set down by the Health Protection Council, including regulations about confidentiality and data protection. Not having direct contact with patients is regrettable, but I am always aware that patients are at the centre of pathology and that everything that happens in the lab has an impact on them. Samples come in from many sources – hospitals, GP surgeries, care homes and so on – indicating the great range of circumstances the doctor deals with. In compiling my Registration Portfolio I have visited departments dealing with Biochemistry, Haematology, Blood Transfusion and Immunology, discovering in the process the central importance of multidisciplinary teamwork in healthcare.
Volunteering is important to me and gives me great satisfaction. I am a caring, compassionate and responsible person, and I have great powers of self-motivation and organisation. I believe that being bilingual, with fluent English combined with my native Tamil, is a great asset. I delight in confronting and solving problems of all kinds. I am hard-working and very determined, and I believe that the knowledge I have gained from my background, my degree course and my work experience has equipped me very well to take on the challenge of studying to become a doctor, and that I have the necessary qualities to be a very successful medical student.
This sample Medical personal statement should be used a guide to relevant content and a sound structure for your own personal statement.