How personal statements are actually read
As a Medical School Interviewer, I have read hundreds of personal statements. Depending on the Medical School, I am either given the personal statement a day before to read or, in some cases, just a few minutes before the interview takes place.
People often assume that I have more time to read them if they’re given to me the day before. However, this isn’t true. Often, we conduct medical school interviews on our days off (or, if we’re lucky, we get given professional leave to conduct them). This means that we often have to fit in time around our day jobs as doctors. As a cardiology registrar, this means that I often only have time to briefly skim through personal statements, rather than go into significant depth in them.
This means that you need to be concise and to the point when writing your personal statement.
Of course, if I’m given the personal statement just a few minutes before the interview is due to take place, I am even more stretched on how quickly I can read them. Therefore, the same principle applies - you need to be concise, to the point and accurate. In this guide, I will talk about some common mistakes that I’ve seen people make over the years.
Hopefully, this will mean that you can avoid making the same mistakes.
Mistake 1: Trying to make it sound like a work of literature, rather than a concise summary
As I have said - please remember that the people reading your personal statements only have a short time to skim through them. We often don’t have time to read through them in depth. This means that what you write needs to be concise and to the point.
In the past, I’ve seen people attempt to write a detailed piece of literature. Whilst these might sound pleasing to read, such personal statements are often littered with unnecessary adjectives. Not only does this waste your own character limit, but it also can be hard to pick out the key points when we are reading the personal statement. If we can’t understand what you’re trying to say, we often don’t have time to try to decipher it. Rather, we will just move on quickly. Or, worse, we might misinterpret what you are trying to say, which can lead to awkward situations at the interview. Imagine trying to tell the interviewer that they’re wrong. Whilst this may be true, it can be a difficult thing to do.
So, be concise and to the point. Remove any unnecessary adjectives. Read back your sentences to yourself out loud. And, most importantly, don’t get too bogged down on trying to make the writing sound ‘impressive’. Stand out with your achievements and your examples - not by writing something which sounds complicated but which doesn’t add much.
When I skim a personal statement before an interview, I want to be able to identify the applicant's key experiences and reflections quickly. Clear writing helps your strongest examples stand out; complicated writing can actually hide them.
Mistake 2: The ‘Medical Schools don’t read personal statement anymore’ mentality
On the one hand, it’s true that fewer and fewer Medical Schools score the personal statement these days. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re not used at all.
Firstly, some medical schools (such as Keele, at the time of writing in July 2026) do score personal statements. Secondly, even if they’re not used in the initial shortlisting process, they can be used at the interview. So, do make sure you take them seriously.
The following is a picture of an email that I received when I applied to Medical School (although this was almost 15 years ago!)
The feedback I received
Thank you for your request for feedback. Your application is unsuccessful because of concerns over your commitment and aptitude for medicine as evidenced in your personal statement.
As you can see - I was rejected purely on the basis of my personal statement alone. I was left kicking myself - I had good grades, decent work experience but I wasn’t able to let this come across on my personal statement. This led to a lot of tears - please make sure you don’t let the same happen to you!
Mistake 3: Trying to describe things you saw
Consider if someone writes this on their personal statement:
“During work experience, I saw an ascitic drain being inserted. The ultrasound machine was used to identify a pocket of fluid in the abdomen. Following on from this, lidocaine was given until ascitic fluid was aspirated. The drain was then inserted, and the needle withdrawn. About 10L of ascitic fluid was drained, with the patient being carefully monitored to ensure they didn’t develop any bleeding.”
On the surface, that sounds impressive. However, it doesn’t tell me much about the applicant themselves. Rather, this just described the process of inserting an ascitic drain. In fact, in my role as a medical registrar, I have probably inserted hundreds of ascitic drains. Without meaning to sound arrogant - I’m not particularly interested in reading about how it’s done.
Rather, what I am more interested in is knowing what you, as a soon-to-be doctor thought of the process. That will give me a far better insight into you, and will give me an idea of how suitable I think you might be for medical school. Consider the following example instead:
“I saw an ascitic drain being inserted. As the patient was nervous, the doctor concisely explained what they were doing through each step. This ensured the procedure was done successfully, with minimal discomfort to the patient. The medical team also kept an eye out for complications. This taught me that post-procedure care is just as important as the actual procedure, allowing for better patient outcomes.”
This gives me a far better insight into the applicant. Of course, do have an idea of how a procedure is done if you write about it - we may ask about it at the interview!
The purpose of mentioning work experience is not to prove that you understand how to perform a medical procedure. You're applying to Medical School to learn that. What is much more valuable is showing what you noticed about communication, teamwork, patient care or professionalism — and what you learnt from it.
Mistake 4: Not proofreading your statement
Look, I get it - it can be awkward to read your work back. Nevertheless, it is extremely obvious when someone has not proof-read their own personal statement.
Such statements are often littered with spelling errors, grammatical errors and can be hard to follow. As I said above, we are not looking for a literary piece. However, it does need to sound professional - we will ignore the odd spelling or grammar error, but it becomes hard to ignore when there are lots of them.
This is an easy mistake to avoid but you’d be surprised as to how often I see it be made.
A quick final check
Mistake 5: Using AI to write your personal statement
Artificial Intelligence has its place. Indeed, some of the pictures that I have used on this site were generated with the help of AI. Whilst it is important that we do embrace the use of AI within medicine, it should not be used to completely replace all of our activities.
Sadly, many applicants are now resorting to using AI to fully write their personal statements. This can often make personal statements sound impersonal. Often AI-software has similar styles, meaning it is easy to identify when something is completely written by AI. By all means, use AI to give yourself ideas. However, do not use it to write your personal statement completely - we can often tell when you have.
AI can be useful for brainstorming, checking structure or asking for critique. The important distinction is that the experiences, reflections and final voice should still be yours. A polished statement is useful; an application that no longer sounds like the applicant is not.
In summary...
You’ll be surprised by how often we see the mistakes above. However, don’t overthink it - simply try to be yourself, make sure you give plenty of reflection, and ensure you proof-read your work. That will set you well on your way to writing a good, solid personal statement.
Good luck!
Get Your Personal Statement Reviewed →