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Guide to Cambridge Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) Interviews

Everything you should know before interviewing at Cambridge for HSPS and how to be successful.

• Receiving Your Invitation to Interview
• Turning Up to Your Interview (Online)
• Turning Up to Your Interview (In Person)
• How Many Interviews Will I Have?
• Answering Questions Based on Your Personal Statement
• Pre-Interview HSPS Admissions Assessments
• Analysing Unseen Materials as Part of the Interview
• What Do I Do If I Don't Know the Answer to a Question?
• Example Questions
• How to Prepare for an Oxbridge-Style Interview

Guide to Cambridge HSPS Interviews

The admissions process for Cambridge for their HSPS undergraduate course can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. Getting the coveted invitation to interview is a significant milestone in your academic journey, and it's essential to prepare thoroughly. This guide, tailored to applicants for top UK universities, aims to demystify the Cambridge interview process, from receiving your invitation to handling the interviews themselves. We'll cover various aspects, including online and in-person interviews, personal statement questions, pre-interview admissions tests, analysing unseen materials, and dealing with challenging questions.

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Receiving an invitation to interview at Cambridge is a significant achievement. Typically, invitations are sent out in late November or early December, so it can be a little wait between applying and receiving your invitation. This means that it can be a good idea to start preparing for potential interviews before you’ve been invited, since there’s likely to be less than a month between receiving a formal invitation and attending the interview itself. Notification of your invitation (or not) will come in a letter or email from a Cambridge college. This could be the college you applied to, or another college (either different from the one you applied to or any college if you submitted an open application). If you applied to a specific college and are invited to interview elsewhere, do not take this as any kind of sign reflecting your chances at acceptance - it is all part of the normal reallocation process that Cambridge use to ensure that the best applicants across the university are accepted.

The date and time of your interview(s) (or at least those which the college has organised at present - but more on that later) will be specified in the correspondence you receive from the college along with your invitation, so no need to worry about organising that. Most interviews in the 2023-2024 cycle will be held online again this year, with the exception of specific Cambridge applicants (UK-based applicants to Gonville & Caius, King’s, Pembroke, Peterhouse, Selwyn, and Trinity Colleges). If you are asked to interview in person, the details of this will be made clear in your invitation from the College.

1. Technical Preparation

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online interviews are still being used at both Oxford and Cambridge (with the exception of the Cambridge applicants listed above). This makes the interview easier in certain manners (you won’t have to travel, you are able to remain in the comfort of your own home, etc.), but it also presents additional potential issues in that you are responsible for ensuring you have a reliable technical set up. In the lead up to the interview, ensure that you have access to a stable internet connection, a functioning camera (either built into a laptop or computer, or a separate webcam), and a quiet, well-lit environment. Be sure to check this all with plenty of time to spare (e.g. the week or some days before) so that, should an issue arise, you’ve got plenty of time to address it.

If you are worried about not having access to the appropriate equipment or the right atmosphere in which to conduct a successful interview, we suggest asking your school if they have a classroom or quiet space and some equipment you could use.

2. Dress Appropriately Even for online interviews, it is a good idea to dress smartly. Present yourself professionally, just as you would in person, but ensure that you are also comfortable (remember that if you’re interviewing over a webcam you can always keep on your favourite slippers!). We’re not saying that you need to wear a full suit and tie, but maybe don’t keep on your pyjamas or a stained hoodie; interviews are all about showing your intent, and dressing respectfully is the first step to showing that you mean business.

3. Practice Video Interviews If you're not used to video interviews, practice with friends or mentors to get comfortable with the format. It can be easy to think of talking over video meetings to be just the same as in person, but the process can actually feel very different. Chances are most of us have learned to interact over online video chat over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s always good to get a little practice in order to refresh your memory. We also recommend practising video calls from your chosen location (either with someone else or just to yourself) to make sure that nothing inappropriate can be seen in the background!

1. Arrive Early If your interview is in person, make sure you arrive early. This will give you time to settle your nerves and familiarise yourself with the surroundings. Punctuality shows that you are serious about performing well in your interviews, as well as ensuring that you’re not rushing and flustered when you arrive (something which can easily carry on into the interview itself and affect your performance).

2. Dress Smartly Wear appropriate attire for the occasion. You don't need to be overly formal, but looking well-presented (whilst trying your best to maintain comfort) is essential. Remember that these are your potential future professors and/or tutors, so think about what is appropriate to where to class or in a professional setting when dressing for your interview; first impressions (in all regards) are important!

3. Bring Necessary Documents Make sure that if the college or department specify any documents, you have brought them with you. It may not be necessary, but you might also like to consider bringing a copy of your personal statement with you when you travel to Oxford or Cambridge for the interview process. It is highly likely that interviewers will ask questions building from the content of the statement, so making sure that you’re on top of the content therein is crucial to a good performance.

The number of interviews you will be asked to attend varies by course and college. Some applicants may have two or more interviews, while others might have only one. It's crucial to check the specific requirements for your chosen course and college. It is also common to have two interviews scheduled from the beginning: one with your college and one with the department.

In addition to the interviews you have scheduled from the start, it is also possible that, during the interview window, you will have further interviews scheduled. This is usually because other colleges have decided to cast their net wider, and are considering you for a position at their college instead of the one who invited you to interview. These interviews will be conducted by new interviewers, so there is no separate preparation you will need to undertake. It’s also important to remember that being invited to other interviews in no way indicates that you have a higher or lower chance of being accepted: It’s just part of the university’s way of making sure they get the most talented HSPS applicants from across the applicant pool.

Be prepared to discuss your personal statement in detail during the interview. Examiners may ask questions related to what you've written, so make sure you understand every aspect of your statement. We recommend reading through your personal statement regularly in the lead up to interviews to ensure that you know its contents inside and out! It can also be useful, if you have time, to read, watch, or listen back on the key sources you reference in your statement, especially since it can be some time between initially consulting them and attending the interview itself. Remember that interviewers will be well-versed in key literature relating to your subject, and so may well be familiar with any resources you reference, meaning that you need to know them in detail (or at least the key arguments within that you find interesting) to be able to discuss them in an academic setting.

A useful exercise can be to think about the key ideas or resources in your personal statement critically just to yourself. Maybe write them down and produce a spider diagram of thoughts, opinions, or interesting linking ideas you have relating to them? Thinking in a creative and open-minded way about the content of your Personal Statement can be a good way to prepare yourself for the questions interviewers might ask. We also recommend sitting down with a parent, friend, or mentor to explain and discuss the big issues identified in your Personal Statement. Don’t worry if nobody close to you is familiar with the topic; sometimes explaining an idea to someone new can be the best way of solidifying it in your own mind!

Pre-Interview HSPS Admissions Assessment

You will be required to sit an admissions assessment as part of the interviewing process if you are applying for HSPS at Hughes Hall , King’s , Murray Edwards , Newnham , Peterhouse , St Edmund’s , or Wolfson College . There is no admin or registration attached to this assessment, and all the relevant details relating to it will be communicated to you by the college when you are invited to interview. 

The HSPS Admissions Assessment format may depend on which college you're sitting it with, since it is run by each college individually. We recommend heading to the HSPS faculty website as well as the College site for further details.

Even though these tests are based on skills rather than particular subject knowledge, they can absolutely still be prepared for! We recommend going through past papers to practise applying your skills to unseen materials and responding in timed conditions as per the real test. Our Cambridge College Admissions Assessment guide is a great place to start for tips and tricks on how to prepare.

Often in Oxbridge-style interviews, applicants are given a piece of unseen material and asked to discuss it as part of the interview. This could be a text extract, a piece of data, an image, or a problem to solve. In the case of HSPS interviews, interviewers may provide you with a short source text or extract to read, an image to look at, or a piece of statistics to analyse. They will most likely provide you with this just before the interview and ask you to discuss your analysis of it in the interview itself.

The key to such a task is to approach it as systematically as possible. Looking at the material carefully, making notes, and thinking about possible discussion points as you go through it can all be crucial to your performance in the interview. Remember that subjects are broad and there is a good chance you will be unfamiliar with the content or specific context of the material in question; this is not a problem! The exercise is not intended to assess how much you know about the political or social theory, culture, or location in question necessarily (although if you're studying any of the relevant subjects in school it might be good to have some content knowledge), but rather they are looking to see evidence of your analytical skills and creative academic thinking when presented with new materials.

It's okay not to have all the answers. If you encounter a question that stumps you, the key is not to panic. Take a deep breath, ask for clarification if needed, and attempt to work through the problem logically. Interviewers often want to see how you handle challenging situations and think on your feet. For more guidance on how to handle unknown questions in an interview situation, read our t ips for answering an unexpected Oxford and Cambridge interview question .

Below are some past interview questions asked to applicants for HSPS at Cambridge were asked during their interviews. Use them to get a feel for what is asked during an interview and to prepare your strategy for responding.

• What is class?
• What aspect of the US government is not democratic?
• How is Trafalgar Square a symbol?

How to Prepare for an Oxbridge-Style Interview 

Given that the interview is designed to test, in large part, your creativity and thinking skills, it is unsurprisingly quite difficult to think of how to prepare. as we talked about before, the first step we recommend is to go through your personal statement and review any key sources so that you’re happy to discuss questions relating to them (since they are the questions you can most rely on cropping up). when it comes to preparing for unexpected or unknown questions, there are a whole host of ways that you can exercise your ability to deal with them. to delve into these recommendations in closer detail, read our dedicated interview preparation top tips blog , where our expert mentors have collated their 14 most useful tips for interview preparation., recent articles, exercising self-care during school or university exams, our experts’ tips for a productive easter holidays, changes to cambridge a-level requirements for 2025 applicants, jump to section, hsps mock interview package.

If you have any more questions about your application or interview that you would like to discuss with a member of our team, please do get in touch. Call us on +44 (0) 20 7499 2394, or email [email protected] .

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Our Oxbridge tutors have first-hand experience of writing personal statements for a range of programmes, including Cambridge HSPS. They can help you craft a strong and compelling Cambridge HSPS personal statement by ensuring that essential details are included and that you write in the appropriate tone.

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Why are some candidates rejected from the Cambridge HSPS programme? The main reason is that they lack a compelling personal statement. Knowing what to include in your HSPS Cambridge personal statement and how to impress the admissions tutors can be difficult. Watch this video to find out how we can support you.

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You can send us your Cambridge HSPS personal statement at any stage of writing, whether it's your first or final draft. We can also help you to work on any areas that you're worried about, such as fitting the word count or linking in relevant work experience.

Our expert tutors will carefully review your HSPS Cambridge personal statement and provide an evaluation of what you have done well and where there's room to make some changes.

Once you've read your feedback, you'll have the knowledge and skills to make improvements to your Cambridge HSPS personal statement. If you'd like, you can then send us another draft to review.

After making your improvements, all you to do is submit your Cambridge HSPS personal statement to UCAS. Easy, right?

Your Cambridge HSPS personal statement will be attentively reviewed by our HSPS tutors to make sure it matches our high standards.

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Consider the improvements we've recommended after reading our feedback for your Cambridge HSPS personal statement. You are welcome to get in touch with us at any stage for more guidance or to ask for another Cambridge HSPS personal statement review!

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Your Cambridge HSPS tutor will evaluate your HSPS personal statement and provide some initial feedback prior to your one-on-one meeting to make the most of the time you have together.

You can go over your Cambridge HSPS personal statement with your tutor in real-time and receive ongoing advice.

Following the session, you can revise your Cambridge HSPS personal statement at your own pace and reach out to your tutor if you have any more questions.

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Your Cambridge HSPS tutor can help you to reduce your word count by condensing your writing to include the points with the most impact.

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Your Cambridge HSPS tutor can help you make the connection between your interest in HSPS and experience that you have, and then help you to integrate that into your writing.

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The spelling, grammar, tone and structure of your HSPS Cambridge personal statement will all be carefully reviewed by our expert tutors.

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Your tutor can help you to link books you've read or talks you've been to with specific components of the Cambridge HSPS courses.

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You'll learn the best ways to explain why you want to study HSPS at Cambridge.

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Your tone of voice and writing structure will be carefully reviewed by your Cambridge HSPS tutor.

How can we improve your Personal Statement?

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Personalised feedback will be given after we have read your essay, rather than just a list of general suggestions.

Reducing Word Count

Since it can be challenging to keep under the 4,000 character limit, we will show you how to write more succinctly.

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Our tutors have expertise in writing personal statements for Cambridge HSPS course with the correct tone and language.

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You will receive ongoing support from your tutor, so you can be sure that your Cambridge HSPS personal statement will be outstanding by the time you're ready to submit to UCAS.

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Your personal statement will be reviewed by an expert Oxbridge Mind tutor, and all of our packages come with grammar, language, and content checks. Your Cambridge HSPS personal statement will be sent back to you within 48 hours, whichever package you choose, or you can get a full refund.

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Everyone with a realistic chance of being offered a place to study at Cambridge is invited to interview – that's around 75 per cent of applicants each year.

Although it can seem daunting, the interview is just one part of the Cambridge admissions process, so it isn't "make-or-break" like a job interview. On this page you can find advice from both staff and students at the University on how you can prepare in order to make the best impression you can. Director of Admissions Dr Mike Sewell says: "Above all else, remember that we're not looking for perfection, we're just looking to see if you're right for the course for which you've applied".

Preparation

• Remind yourself of your motivation, why do you want to study HSPS, and why is the course right for you?
• Re-read your application and personal statement, and be ready to discuss the things you've said and studied.
• Check the Undergraduate Study website for information on the interview process and further tips on how to prepare .

The Interview

In this video, you can see four example interviews so you can get a sense of the kind of questions you might be asked. There's even a specific example of an HSPS inverview question (01:50-03:50), as well as an example of the kind of "unseen" material that you might be asked to interpret and reflect on during the interview (08:47-10:51). Throughout the video there are pointers on what the interviewers are looking for.

Most importantly...

• Listen carefully
• If you don't understand something, ask for clarification
• Don't be afraid to take a moment to gather your thoughts
• Be yourself!

Remember that the interviewers are not trying to trick or scare you, they just want to know if you're right for the course. Don't be disheartened if you think you give a poor answer to one question, try and let it go, turn over a new page, and approach the next question with a fresh head. The fact that you have been invited to interview means you have the potential to come to Cambridge, so try to relax and let your interest and enthusiasm for the subject shine!

A student-led website, InsideUni , compiles tips from over 700 successful applicants for your benefit. You can read their tips for HSPS interviews here , and you can follow their YouTube Channel for live Q&A sessions.

Up-to-date Information

Finally, we recommend all students carefully check over the general information available about the interview process on the Cambridge University website .

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Politics and french / hsps personal statement example.

Humanity and its contradictions are extraordinary to me. I find incredible our attachment to the concept of bettering ourselves as a species, and conversely our penchant for inflicting tragedies, like wars, upon ourselves. I endeavour to learn more about mankind as a whole - its political, societal, and linguistic beginnings - and its evolution into modernity.

As a young woman in a world marked by extreme political turbulence, I take particular interest in Feminism. My History course has not only allowed me to develop excellent analytical skills but demonstrated to me the importance of the Suffragette movement in championing gender equality. However, since gaining political franchise from the late 19th century onwards, the focus of women globally has evolved from suffrage to freedom of choice. One such example is in contemporary American politics: the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to serve on the Supreme Court has led to fears that the revolutionary Roe v. Wade judgement may be overturned. Women's right to abortion, and therefore bodily autonomy, may be withdrawn.

The situation reminds me of Margaret Atwood's 'The Handmaid's Tale', which depicts a dystopia in which abortion is outlawed and a woman's sole purpose is to act as an accessory to a man, most poignantly as a birthing tool. Upon reading it, I began to question the role that is imposed upon women today. Is our conception of femininity still rooted in fertility and servitude? Modern attitudes may have shifted to emphasise financial success and self-sufficiency, but there is still high value placed upon women taking on emotional over instrumental labour.

I recognised a parallel between the ‘Marthas’ in Atwood's novel and the 1960s housewife, leading me to read Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique'. Her book examined women of the 1960s and their values. Should one choose to pursue a career over domesticity, she would be perceived as a failure. What struck me in Friedan's work was the passivity that women adopted; any previous ambitions were replaced by a desire to build ‘the perfect home’. Today's successful 'strong' woman would not entertain the concept.

Languages are also a topic of fascination to me. My Franco-Lebanese heritage has given me invaluable insight into how languages and culture breed diversity, which is the blueprint for tolerance. My particular interest is in French language and society. Tutoring younger students in French has enabled me to develop my fluency and excel within the subject. Similarly, the research I undertook for my Independent Research Project on the issue of police brutality in France has enhanced my understanding of its current political climate. A documentary titled 'A Story of Police Violence in France' by Ross Domoney, in which Gilet Jaune protestors recount their injuries at the hands of the police, was instrumental in my research. I find it paradoxical that a nation built on 'liberté, egalité, fraternité' can equally be witness to the use of force against its own citizens; in other words, human ambivalence at its finest.

Beyond academia, my interests vary, but continue to have a strong political orientation. For example, I joined a Black Lives Matter committee to discuss ideas with teachers about making my school a more inclusive institution. I was also selected to give a speech at the Rotary Club Youth Speaks competition on the topic of sexism in Hollywood; these opportunities strengthened my debate and public speaking skills to a competitive level. Moreover, I frequently attend Model United Nations conferences, where I demonstrate my aptitude in these areas. I also learn of the political systems of nations I represent, such as constitutional republics like the USA or absolute monarchies like Saudi Arabia.

My experiences, and the passion I hold for addressing inequalities, have reinforced my conviction that I will be an ideal candidate to pursue a course in Politics.

(3932 characters, 45 lines)

Profile info

There is no profile associated with this personal statement, as the writer has requested to remain anonymous.

Author's Comments

Didn't feel like I did enough wider reading beforehand - COVID messed up how my school was going to help to prepare us for applications

Predicteds: A*A*A in French, Sociology and History respectively

Applied 14 Oct 2020

Cambridge - Rejected

Manchester - Offer after interview (Mid-December)

Leeds - Offer (Late October)

Bristol - Offer (Late October)

LSE - Added this as a choice in Mid-December. Waiting as of 09/02/2021, but I have a feeling it'll be a rejection haha

This personal statement is unrated

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Successful Personal Statement For Natural Science (Physical) At Cambridge

Last Updated: 12th April 2022

Author: Chloe Hewitt

• Natural Sciences

Table of Contents

Welcome to our popular Personal Statement series where we present a successful Personal Statement, and our Oxbridge Tutors provide their feedback on it. 

Today, we are looking through a Natural Science applicant’s Personal Statement that helped secure a place at Cambridge University. The Natural Science Course at Cambridge is a unique and demanding course focused on blurring the boundaries between the different fields of science. 

Read on to see how this candidate wrote a Personal Statement that helped secure their place on a reputable degree. 

Here’s a breakdown of the Personal Statement:

SUCCESSFUL?

The universities this candidate applied to were the following:

Enrolling on our Cambridge Natural Science comprehensive Programme will give you access to Personal Statement redrafts. 

Your tutor will give you actionable feedback with insider tips on how to improve and make your Personal Statement Oxbridge quality for the best chances of success.  

Natural Science (Physical) Personal Statement

The more I discover about physics, the less I realise that I know, and the keener I am to further explore unfamiliar topics at university. Studying areas such as special relativity and quantum mechanics have made me question concepts I took as given, such as the nature and manipulation of time and the degree of certainty to which we can truly know anything.

My particular interest in physics was sparked when I read an article on quantum physics, and was introduced to a simple description of the fundamental constituents of matter. This led me to read further about particle physics. I particularly enjoyed Brian Greene’s The Elegant Universe, which gave me a brief insight into the intricacies of string theory, and The Feynman Lectures on Physics, from which I learnt new mechanics and probability theory. I watch lectures on the MIT website, read New Scientist and am a junior member of the IoP to further my knowledge of new scientific developments. I enjoyed visiting CERN last year and learning more about the experiments conducted there. I have also competed in national challenges to develop my thinking skills further, achieving bronze in the Physics Olympiad, silver in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge and gold in the Senior Maths Challenge. Additionally, this year I won the school leavers’ physics prize.

Last summer I attended a residential Headstart physics course at the University of Leicester, and spent three days at the Debate Chamber physics school. I enjoyed performing undergraduate experiments, and was particularly interested by the lectures on recent developments in nanotechnology and the ways in which nanoparticles could be used to destroy cancerous cells in the body. I also had a tantalising glimpse of some of the complex mathematics behind General Relativity, and would love to study this intricate topic in more detail. These experiences confirmed my love of physics as well as increasing my appreciation of more complicated subjects not covered by my A Level courses. Furthermore, they helped to develop my skills in processing new information and quickly adapting to unfamiliar concepts.

I recently took part in an extended-essay competition at school, producing an independently researched piece of work on the superluminal neutrinos apparently found in 2011. I focused on the impossibility of faster-than-light travel according to special relativity, and the implications for time travel the discovery would have had if the measurements had been correct. This gave me the chance to explore further a subject I was interested in but had not studied at school. I researched my essay by reading scientific journals and textbooks, and speaking to scientists I met at physics events.

I will shortly begin a paid internship at Hildebrand Technology Ltd, where I will be using mathematical modelling of real life situations for statistical analysis. This will be an opportunity to apply mathematical techniques I have learnt in school to more complex problems. This placement, along with self-studying university textbooks and extra further maths modules, will ensure that I maintain and expand my maths skills and scientific knowledge during my gap year.

In my final year I was captain of the school Boat Club. I have rowed in the top senior boat since I was 15, and in 2013 I won silver at National Schools and gold at Schools Head. This sport has involved intensive training, which demands self-discipline and commitment. I love music, and take part in many close harmony groups and choirs, as well as taking grades in musical theatre, singing and piano. My music and sport, along with lifeguarding and weekly volunteering at a local primary school, have allowed me to develop my time management skills and use the time I have for work efficiently and productively.

I am a hardworking and intellectually curious student and am excited by the prospect of developing my mathematical skills and studying physics at a more advanced level at university.

For more inspiration, take a look through our other successful Personal Statement a nalysis articles:

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Download our Free Personal Statement Starter Guide 

Good Points Of The Personal Statement

This is a very good statement. The statement is well structured, and the student’s motivation to study physics is clear. All points are explained clearly, and experiences expanded on. The student uses examples beyond their A-level studies to explain their desire to study physics, which comes across very well to the reader.

Bad Points Of The Personal Statement

The student forgets to use quotation marks around the names of books etc., and also ‘the’ before ‘New Scientist’. Whilst these are rudimentary errors, a simple proof-read would have found these. The main issue with this statement is its length. There are eight paragraphs in total.  By the penultimate paragraph it is clear enough that the student has done many physics-related extra-curricular activities. The quality of the statement will not be reduced if it is shortened.  The student does not explain acronyms, e.g. ‘IoP’. Some sentences can be shortened in order to save space, e.g. ‘I have also competed in national challenges to develop my thinking skills further, achieving bronze in the Physics Olympiad, silver in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge and gold in the Senior Maths Challenge’ can be shortened to ‘I have also competed in national challenges to develop my thinking skills further, achieving bronze, silver and gold medals in the Physics Olympiad, Cambridge Chemistry and Senior Maths Challenges respectively’.

UniAdmissions Overall Score:

In general, this is a very good statement. It is well written, and the student’s motivation to study physics at university is clear from the very beginning. Due to the length of the statement, it is quite cumbersome to read. With some shortening, this would be a compact and powerful statement.

This Personal Statement for Natural Science is a solid example of demonstrating a wealth of knowledge, motivation and interest, vital to Admissions Tutors.

Remember, at Cambridge, these Admissions Tutors are often the people who will be teaching you for the next few years, so you need to appeal directly to them.

Check out our other successful personal statements and our expert guides on our Free Personal Statement Resources page.

Our expert tutors are on hand to help you craft the perfect Personal Statement for your Cambridge Natural Science application.

With our  Cambridge Natural Science Premium Programme, we help you craft the perfect Personal   Statement , perform strongly on the Admissions Test  and teach you how to  Interview effectively .

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Writing the Personal Statement for Health Professions Applications

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The personal statement gives you the opportunity to present a compelling snapshot of who you are and perhaps why you want to be a doctor. Use your personal statement to say what others can’t. The personal statement can be a tricky genre to master. On the one hand, you want to give the admissions committee a sense of your personality and who you are. On the other hand, you must sound focused and professional, which sounds like it might impede your ability to capture your personality.

But this does not have to be the case. What you need to do is figure out how to say what drives you to want to become a healthcare professional in as specific a way as possible. The more specific you can be, the more the admissions committee will feel as if they have a sense of who you are.

You don’t need gimmicks, jokes, artificial drama, or hyperbole to express who you are or why you would make a good medical student or doctor. All you need are carefully selected details that you can craft into a unique and compelling story that conveys a sense of purpose and motivation.

What Makes a Good Personal Statement?

• There is no exact template for an effective personal statement. Often, however, strong personal statements combine a concise description of a personal experience with reflection on how this experience either led the writer to pursue medicine or indicates the writer’s character or commitment.
• Good personal statements often have a strong sense of narrative. This does not mean that they read like short stories, though they can relate a few scenes or anecdotes from your life. They have a strong sense of narrative, rather, in how they convey the writer’s sense of dedication to medicine. Strong personal statements often give readers an idea of how applicants see their experiences as leading to the decision to pursue medicine.

How to Get Started

The personal statement is an exercise in self-reflection. Questions to consider:

• Who are you?  I am driven to… I have learned to… I believe…
• What are your most passionate interests or concerns?  What problem(s) most occupy your thinking and your efforts?
• How did you develop those interests?  (Not just the story, but what drives you.)
• What errors or regrets have taught you something important about yourself?
• When does time disappear for you?  What does this tell you about your passions, your values?
• What ideas, books, courses, events have had a profound impact on you?  How so?
• To what extent do your current commitments reflect your most strongly held values?
• When have you changed?  Consider yourself before and after; what does this change mean?
• How do your interests and who you are relate to your goals in medical school and as a doctor?

Start a “shoebox”; a place to keep random notes for your personal statement; be ready to write at any time. Review these items occasionally; let them tell you more about what you want your personal statement to say. Start writing drafts, experiments; you will know when a paragraph begins to gel.

A Suggested Writing Process

Everyone writes differently, so these are potential strategies rather than rules.

• Make a list of some of your most defining experiences – extracurricular activities, specific classes, volunteer work, research, hobbies, etc. Try not to include overly personal experiences (breakups, trouble with parents, illnesses in the family, and so on). It’s difficult to write about such things without being sentimental or cliché. You want experiences in which you did something and had to make a choice.
• From this list, try to select an experience that particularly demonstrates your intellectual curiosity, your dedication to service, your composure under pressure, your leadership ability, or any other personal trait that you think is particularly relevant to your case that you would make a good doctor or medical student.
• Start writing a draft based on this experience. You want to be specific, but don’t get bogged down with an abundance of anecdotes or minutiae. Try to use your draft to craft a succinct story that demonstrates your character and your motivations.
• Set the draft aside for some time (a number of days or weeks), and then revisit it with fresh eyes. Be as honest with yourself as you can be: What works in this draft? What doesn’t work? What sounds cliché or unspecific? Would a reader who doesn’t know me at all get a sense of my personal character and dedication?
• Revise, revise, revise: tighten the structure, add new things to make your point clearer, take away sentences or sections that now seem unnecessary, use the active voice as much as possible, and anything else that needs to be done. If what you have just doesn’t seem to be coming together, do not be afraid to start over.
• Solicit feedback from a couple of trusted readers and revise again based on the suggestions that you find most useful. Don’t solicit feedback from too many people though – too many responses can be overwhelming.
• Edit your work for grammatical mistakes, typos, clumsy repetitions, and so on. Make your prose impeccable before you submit your statement. Asking help from other readers can be especially helpful with editing, as sometimes it gets difficult to read your work with fresh eyes.

Things to Do

• Use the experience that you describe to tell a story of personal progress, particularly progress towards your commitment to medicine.
• Write with active verbs as much as possible.
• Strive for concision.
• Sound humble but also confident.

Things Not to Do – Common Pitfalls

• Don’t talk in hyperbolic terms about how passionate you are. Everyone applying to medical school can say they are passionate. Instead, show your readers something you have done that indicates your passion.
• Don’t adopt an overly confessional or sentimental tone. You need to sound professional.
• Don’t treat the personal statement like a piece of creative writing.
• Don’t put your resume in narrative form.
• Don’t use jargon, abbreviations, slang, etc.
• Don’t use too many qualifiers: very, quite, rather, really, interesting…
• Don’t write in overly flowery language that you would normally never use.
• Don’t include famous quotations. If you must quote, use something that shows significant knowledge.
• Don’t write about yourself in an overly glorifying or overly self-effacing manner.

What to Remember

• They are read by non-specialists, so write for an intelligent non-medical audience.
• Actions sometimes speaks louder than words so give examples of experiences rather than describing them.
• All information must be accurate – don’t pad, but don’t be falsely modest either.
• The personal statement, in part, serves as a test of your communication skills.  How well you write it is as important as the content.

Writing Resources

• AAMC: 7 Tips for Writing your AMCAS Personal Statement
• Graduate Admission Essays: What Works, What Doesn’t and Why , Donald Asher, Ten Speed Press
• On Writing Well , William Zinsser
• Elements of Style , Strunk and White, Macmillan
• Article :  2 Med School Essays that Admissions Officers Loved
• Guidance for Writing Personal Statements, Work & Activities Section, Secondary Applications

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