Personal Statement in Dentistry

“Winners are not afraid of losing. But losers are. Failure is part of the process of success. People who avoid failure also avoid success.”-Robert Kiyosaki

Photo courtesy -@indykadeer

Personal Statement focuses on you from a more personal point of view your individual background and your own special reasons for pursuing a particular program.

• Set yourself a schedule. It will take longer than you think to write your personal statement and it is important that you allow time to review your work several times.

• The steps to prepare personal statement is also same as SOP (mentioned in the SOP blog)- just content needs to be different.

A strong dental school personal statement will have

1. A story, about how and when and who inspired you and why this is the profession you want to pursue.

2. Demonstrate why it is good for you -identify the qualities, skills, and experience it requires – and show evidence of how you have all of those.

3. Be readable and honest, at the interview, you will be asked a lot about the details.

4. Include any clubs or societies you belong to, and hobbies you have like - music, art and craft or sports. and showcase any achievements.

5. Enthusiasm, motivation and focus on the subject you are applying to. Mention extracurricular activities, transferable skills and include what your future career plans are after your degree

6. If there are any personal circumstances like financial/ disability - you can mention these and how you are motivated and positive to overcome these.

7. If you have a social media presence with your blogs/videos or on Facebook /Instagram - the topic does not matter- like cooking/gaming/ art- you should highlight this.

8. Most importantly just be yourself, if you are shy, it's ok you can mention that as something you have identified and trying to work on because it will come out in the interview - so be original and be unique.

Some website I came across that gives you some more ideas

• This video is really good by Jane Marshall.

• Sample 1

• Sample 2

• A good video for post-graduation going through some questions and answers to help you write up your personal statement.

Give yourself plenty of time to edit and proofread your essay........ the earlier you start working on this the better. The more people (friends and family) that see it the better.

BEST OF LUCK.....​