You might already have written down some ideas about what you want to say in your medical school personal statement, but it’s tough to know what to begin your personal statement with.

The problem is that you want to grab your reader’s attention, but you need to avoid overused writing cliches that will distract readers from your core message.

How can you make the beginning of your personal statement interesting and persuasive? Use one of the beginnings I suggest below and you’ll grab your reader’s attention in the best way possible.

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How to Begin Your Medical School Personal Statement

• Your clear vision of the future — “My long-term career vision is to massively advance medical science in the area of heart disease.”
• A statement of motivation — “I want to become a doctor because I want to help the marginalized people in my community achieve the level of wellness I believe everyone deserves.”
• Your purpose or calling — “Ever since I laid my hands on my first patient I knew my purpose on this earth is to be a healer.”

Make sure that you don’t begin your personal statement with any of the three cliches below:

Do Not Start Your Personal Statement With These “Done to Death” Cliches

• Quotes – Voltaire said, “A witty saying proves nothing.” He’s right. A quote at the beginning of your essay is a cliched technique that doesn’t say anything unique about your motivation to medicine. Don’t do it.
• Poems – You only have 5300 characters to communicate your message, so don’t waste character space with poems.
• “My [family member] got sick” — Unfortunately this is a common experience for everyone, so these kinds of stories don’t set you apart.

Medical schools don’t expect you to be the next Hemingway or Dickens, but they do expect your personal statement to be earnest, genuine, and original. Your personal statement will impress admissions committees if you avoid the tired premed cliches and stick to a forward-looking vision of your future as a doctor. Be imaginative and be ambitious.

Up Next: The Best Way to End Your Medical School Personal Statement

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