So September has began, soon enough if not already, the focus will all be on writing a striking personal statement.
How to structure a dental/medical personal statement?
This is the basic structure dental/medical admissions tutors like to follow:
- Introduction
- Work experience
- Any other dental related things/ hospitality roles/ volunteering
- Extra circular activities linked to the medical/dental attributes this has given you
- Summary
I wouldn’t play too much with this structure, definitely start with intro followed by your work experience. You could swap 3 and 4 around but I found that structure makes your personal statement flow the best.
What to include in your personal statement?
Firstly, out of the 5 sections listed above, no part of the personal statement is ‘more important’ than another. A successful personal statement requires equal attention to each aspect. Something like being on the school’s hockey team is just as important to having a plethora of work experience- they are looking for well- rounded students not just exceptional dentists.
- The Introduction
Here, you should answer the question, ‘why do you want to study dentistry?’
- Be honest
- Think creatively
- A lot of people/websites tell you to avoid mentioning personal experiences (as a dental/ medical professional, you need to respect confidentiality). However, if having braces did provoke your interest in dentistry then there’s nothing wrong with that! Although try and illustrate how your experience may have been unique from others.
- Grammatical accuracy needs to be on point throughout your personal statement but especially during the first few sections.
- You can use a quote but make sure it’s not cheesy, has meaning and relates to what you’re saying. Don’t use one for the sake of using one and don’t use more than 1 or 2 throughout your personal statement.
- Try and reflect your personality whilst also keeping it professional.
2. Work experience
This should be the largest section of your personal statement.
You MUST have at least some work experience, as not having any can show a lack of commitment and perseverance. Have a look at my previous blog post on how to arrange work experience: DENTISTRY WORK EXPERIENCE. I know it’s been difficult to get work experience during the pandemic, check out my blog post on alternative ways to get work experience in dentistry: COVID-19 and Work Experience.
The main thing to remember when writing about work experience is to demonstrate what you have LEARNT from the experience.
For example, what you observed: A dentist telling a dentophobic child how to brush their teeth and floss
From this you learnt: Promoting good oral health care is very important, especially to younger children as instilling good oral hygiene habits at an early age will prevent future dental problems.
What you observed: The dentist was encouraging and explained the process of brushing and flossing clearly using appropriate language and demonstrations which were easy to follow
What you learnt: This increased the patients’ confidence and consoled their anxieties- making them more likely to brush, floss and attend the dentist regularly. This highlighted the need to create a comforting environment from which trusting dentist-patient relationships can grow.
You can write a lot about a small scenario, pick a few interesting scenarios you saw at your work experience and write about what you learnt about dentistry as a profession/ the role of a dentist.
3. Any other dental related things/ hospitality roles/ volunteering
This can be your transition paragraph from talking about dental work experience to talking about extra circular activities.
Things to include:
- Dental/ Scientific books/ journals you’ve read
- Dental/ Scientific new articles
- EPQ
- MOOC’s
- Summer schools
- Courses
4. Extra circular activities
It’s extremely important to mention what extra- circular activities you’re involved in, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that they’re less important than your dental work experience/ academic achievements. Lot’s of candidates will meet the academic requirements, this paragraph can help you stand out amongst the rest and is how universities will differentiate the very good candidates from the excellent!
What to include in this section:
- Volunteering
- Clubs
- Societies
- Music interests and achievements
- Sporting involvements
- Duke of Edinburgh
- Prizes and Awards
- Positions of responsibility- Prefect/ Mentor/ Head of House/ Head Girl/ Head Boy
- Work/ Employment (Although it’s often advised that if you work in, let’s say a pharmacy and you wan’t to apply for a different course like dentistry that isn’t pharmacy, then you shouldn’t mention where you worked because it can show a conflict of interest.)
Remember to link your extra- circular activities to attributes associated with medical/ dental professionals. For example:
I often enjoy swimming and have trained with the Swim Academy which has taught me endurance and self-discipline.
Providing customer service as a sales assistant has allowed me to build interpersonal relationships and has enhanced my professionalism.
- Endurance
- Self-discipline
- Interpersonal Skills
- Professionalism
These are all qualities that a good dentist should have.
5. Summary
This should only be two or three sentences long. In this section try and demonstrate an understanding of the challenges of being a dental student and dentist and state how your work experience, balanced character and academic rigor have prepared for these challenges!
Remember anything in your personal statement could be brought up at your interview, especially if it’s a panel interview! So make sure you don’t lie because you will get caught and ensure that you’re comfortable talking about everything you’ve written.
I won’t be posting my own personal statement due to plagiarism. Don’t copy anything from somebody else’s personal statement because universities have systems that check plagiarism and you will caught out!
I hope you found some useful tips on writing a successful personal statement. Best of luck with the rest of your application!
Dissecting Dentistry 