10 Apr A “Good Person” Versus A “Good Doctor”
By Mary Pagones
As an editor who works with both high school and college students on their admissions essays, I’m often asked what’s the difference between writing a personal statement for an undergraduate program versus medical school.
While the Common Application and the University of California offer undergraduates a variety of open-ended prompts to choose from when writing their personal statements, prospective physicians are simply asked the following: “Explain why you want to go to medical school.”
Of course, both undergraduate and medical applications ask students for activity descriptions and supplementary essays as well, but the different approach to the personal statement I still think speaks a great deal about how applying to medical school is not like simply applying to an undergraduate school with four additional years of life experience.
Undergraduate programs are interested in personal statements that reflect the applicant’s character, ability to learn, and potential to contribute to the school. Medical schools are interested in students explaining why they have a clear purpose for attending medical school and the personal qualities and past experiences that suggest they will make them a good doctor. Although we probably all hope that our doctors are good people as well as good physicians, being a good person isn’t the same thing as being a good physician.
With the memory of writing their personal statements for college relatively fresh, it’s often the natural instinct of many college students applying to medical school to emphasize their caring and compassionate qualities. But evidence of wanting to help people isn’t a complete answer to “why medical school.” There are many professions (nursing, social work, teaching) that help people.
A doctor exhibits very specific skills, drawing upon scientific knowledge, evidence-based research, empirical observation, as well as caring and compassion. Medical schools are looking for students with strong science and research skills, not just general evidence of being a person who shows consideration for others or broader intellectual curiosity about the world. On the other hand, medical schools aren’t just looking for great medical researchers. They want the whole package: doctors who can use knowledge in a highly specific scientific way to help people.
But high school students, even premed high school students, don’t need to worry about this just yet. Applying to an undergraduate program, a student doesn’t need to show evidence of a clear career choice in medicine. Undergraduate programs know that high school students, even students who declare themselves as premeds, are still engaged in the process of self-discovery. It’s okay if the personal statement or even the supplementary essays don’t show a clear, certain statement of the student’s desired medical career path in the same way as an applicant applying to medical school.
This is also why accelerated programs like Brown’s PLME program are so competitive and selective. Combined undergraduate and medical programs that allow students to bypass the medical school admissions process don’t just want the best students; they want students already who have a clear idea of “why medicine” and what they want out of medical school when they’re still high school seniors. That’s very rare!
Of course, students who are a good match for these programs do exist. But they need to be prepared to make a case that they’re aware of the demands of the medical profession and are ready to face them. If they can’t, or are still uncertain of their callings as physicians, a more traditional premed pathway of obtaining an undergraduate degree first, then applying to medical school, may be more appropriate.
Asking yourself if you’re ready to answer the question “why medicine is for me” and “why medical school” is a good reality check to see if you’re really ready to apply to an accelerated program like PLME!