Personal Statement
Typically when the “personal statement” of a medical school application is referred to, it refers to personal essays or essay questions that the applicant fills out to give the admissions committee better insight into who the applicant actually is.
Unfortunately for the applicant, there are a huge variety of personal statement requirements across Canadian universities, so applying to a lot of medical schools can become a lot of work. This also means that different medical schools place a different emphasis on the importance of the personal essay. For example, Queens, UWO, and UofA all do not require you to write any essay-like responses when you send your initial application. However on the other end of the spectrum schools such as UofT, UBC, and Dal require you to write an autobiographical essay. Other schools, such as McMaster, have something in between in that they require you to provide paragraph answers for a set of questions. Lastly, other schools require you to write essays on-site on the day of your interview, such as UofC and Queens.
With such variety in personal statement requirements, the main point is that you need to carefully read the website of each medical school you are planning to apply to so that you know exactly how much essay writing is required and the topics they want you to talk about.
Fortunately we have done some of the work for you and have listed the personal statement/essay requirements for several different medical schools which are directly from their websites:
UofT - All applicants are required to submit an original personal statement, in an essay of 1,000 words or less. As a general guideline, the statement should address and discuss the applicant’s personal background, including particular interests and extracurricular experiences. Candidates should outline their choice of, and preparation for, a career in medicine. Applicants should also describe their premedical studies, expanding on what they have chosen to pursue and how this has prepared them for their future, including a career in medicine.
Dalhousie - The essay is very important and gives the applicants an opportunity to discuss their reasons for applying to medical school based on their own personal experiences. There is one essay required and included in the online application. The essay cannot exceed 1500 words in a 12 point font. The essay will provide you the opportunity to discuss your strengths, weaknesses etc.
McMaster:
1) Ethics is considered one of the most important traits in a future physician. Describe an ethical dilemma that you have faced, how you dealt with it and what you learned from it.
2) Gauging that you have learned enough is arguably one of the more difficult aspects of a self-directed learning program. What strategies have you (or will you) use to ensure your learning is progressing at an appropriate pace?
3) Give an example of how you have been challenged around the issue of cultural competency and how you handled it.
4) What efforts have you made to determine whether a career as a physician is the right career for you?
5) What do you think has been the most important contribution that you have made so far in your life?
Note: The McMaster questions tend to change every year, so do not start working on your essay questions until they are released from McMaster.
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