Your personal statement is the most important essay you will have to write when applying to medical schools. You must ensure every part of your essay is perfect to impress the admissions team.
Concluding your personal statement can be just as hard as thinking of the beginning. The idea of your conclusion should support what you’ve already got in the personal statement.
How Should I Go About Writing My Conclusion?
You want the examiner to know exactly why you want to study the medical career of your choice. Your quality of writing should not dwindle at the end as well, as finishing on a strong and captivating word will leave a lasting impression.
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Your examiner has a lot of essays to read, so they are reading through your essay very quickly. This is another reason why your conclusion needs to be attractive and well-connected to the introduction and body paragraphs. It needs to leave the reader wanting to meet you.
Follow this guideline to write the perfect conclusion.
Your Conclusion Has to Relate to the Body
Revisit the important skills and points you described in detail in the body of your medical school personal statement. Re-emphasize them in your conclusion. This is a key skill at the college level to form an organized essay with a conclusion that effectively summarizes the whole essay.
By circling back to your experiences, interests, and skills, you can give your statement a substantial close and leave a lasting impression on the examiner.
Your University Experience
This is an alternative approach to tackling your conclusion. You can touch on what you want to get from your university/college experience. You should only take this approach if you have clearly written about your knowledge, passion, and skills for medicine in the body of the essay.
You can talk about things like meeting people from different backgrounds, wanting to involve yourself with a local community, making new friends with your interests, and so on. You can also write about how you’d be a valued student at your university.
Talk About Your Future Plans
Having long-term goals is a positive way to finish off your essay. It shows that you’re prepared for the future, and goal-orientated, which is a quality that most examiners look for. It also shows that you thought about how the medical school slots in into your career plans.
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It doesn’t mean that you need to have your whole life in the career path mapped out. A broad look at the career path and ambitions that you want to embark on is just enough. It’s important to write about how the medical course you’re applying for will help you accomplish your dreams.
*Don’t mention too many possible career possibilities as this might show that you’re indecisive.
Helpful Tips to Help You Conclude Your Medical School Personal Statement
These tips will ensure that you write a compelling conclusion that will leave the reader on a good note.
Tips to remember:
- Read the body of the personal statement. Read your personal statement back a few times to remind yourself of what you’ve mentioned. Reading it aloud might give you direction on how to write your conclusion. You’d also find that some parts might fit better in your conclusion. Reading your essay also prevents you from being repetitive.
- Take a breather and come back. Your essay has to be well-thought-out, so it’s not advised to write your essay in one or two days. It would help if you always took breaks to avoid writing fluff. The body is considered the ‘main course’, which is the most important part and will take most of your time, so don’t rush with the ‘dessert’ (conclusion). Take a well-deserved break and look at your essay with a fresh pair of eyes!
- Make notes as you go. The saying is true; inspiration strikes when you least expect it! The perfect conclusion can come to you when you’re doing just about anything, even while writing the body of the essay. It’s best to make a note of it at that moment rather than forget about it. In this way, you already have something to work on when you get to the end.
- Don’t write a long conclusion. The conclusion should be short and to the point. Don’t drag your conclusion, as this will hurt the rest of your essay. Don’t end your essay in a boring or cliched way, such as “In conclusion…”
- Don’t lie! Make sure that your personal statement has truths. This is not a box-ticking exercise, which will make your essay sound generic. In turn, this will make your conclusion sound boring and substandard. It’s best to talk about what stood out to you in your experiences relating to medicine.
You should also be able to take constructive criticism. It can be hard to take criticism on something you’ve stressed about. However, writing your personal statement can make you miss certain mistakes. It’s important to get feedback to help you improve.
The conclusion of your personal statement can have you scratching your head, which may make you rush through it. Having multiple people read through it is good to get different viewpoints to help you write a good conclusion.
As a doctor or medical student, you will always receive feedback from your lecturers, patients, and colleagues, so it’s best to learn that trait from now.
What to Avoid in Your Conclusion
Although it might seem cool or clever to put famous quotes in your personal statement, it’s unnecessary. Especially ending off with a quote. The admissions team wants to know about you as a medical candidate and what you have to say, not a quote.
Don’t include new information in your conclusion, as you cannot make your concluding paragraph too long. This reduces the quality of your essay, which will probably be rejected by the admissions team. Open up new areas in the main body!
Remember, writing an exceptional personal statement is difficult and time-consuming, however, it is the key to standing out on an application. Don’t underestimate the importance of the essay, especially the conclusion.
Your personal statement will be reread and used as a pointer for questions in your interviews. So, think carefully and create lots of drafts for your essay.
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Verosha has been involved in creating content in the healthcare niche for 3 years. She has produced various articles dealing with healthcare, from medications to health careers and education. She devotes her time into producing quality articles that will help people improve their health choices. Verosha lives in the sunny city of Durban, South Africa.