For years or months, you’ve been building up your portfolio, gaining work experience, volunteering, speaking to vet professionals about what it takes to a vet. As the application date nears, you sit down trying to draft the best personal statement you possibly can. Then you realised, how is it possible to squeeze all that you’ve done into a one page statement in the best way possible?
This post is a concise summary of all the tips that were super helpful for me, which I used in writing my personal statement.
What is a personal statement for vet school?
It is a 4,000 character (but it depends on the school’s requirements) essay explaining why you want to be a veterinarian and why you would be a good student to study veterinary medicine.
It should contain the following:
- Work experience
- Extracurricular activities
- Academic studies
- Interests/hobbies
You need to show an understanding of the demands of veterinary medicine as a degree and profession. As its name suggests, it should be personalised and unique to you.
Introduction
It’s job is to catch the reader’s attention. Just like the hook to an essay, it’s to engage the reader to continue reading. Though it is good to be attention grabbing, be concise. It should only be 1 or 2 sentences long. Don’t over dramatise or exaggerate it.
Tell them your ‘why’, what started it all? What is that one thing that ignited your passion in this field? Describe it enthusiastically and emotionally.
Never start your personal statement stating “Veterinary medicine has been my passion since…” or “ I have always loved animals since I was 5 years old.” It is the same for many people, but what makes you stand out? What did you see, feel and do that uniquely sparked your passion in veterinary medicine?
Everyone has their own unique ‘why’, try to write it uniquely to you. You can always improve on the phrasing later on.
This was the introduction to my personal statement:
“Witnessing a veterinarian bringing a lifeless kitten back to life and seeing the tears of joy of its owner ignited my passion to want to make a difference in people’s lives and, most importantly, animals’ lives.”
Work experience – work or volunteer
Here is where you share your first hand experience in the veterinary field, where you show them what you truly love about this field and your understanding of the demands of being a veterinarian.
State and elaborate on 2 or 3 specific experiences, not all of them. Choose the ones that are more memorable and unique. What incidents made you realise that the veterinary field is not what you thought? How did you manage it? How did it pique your interests even more? What did you do about it?
It could be an incident when you were almost kicked in the head by a horse that you realised the importance of understanding animals behaviour and handling. You could go on to elaborate your research in horse behaviour which you used effectively in another occasion when you saved yourself or fellow staff from being hurt.
Extracurricular activities
Being a veterinarian is more than just memorising and studying scientific knowledge. It is about analysing the situation, reacting appropriately to emotional cues and working effectively with a team of staff. Besides the hard skills, veterinarians require the soft skills to get the message they want to convey across to clients and colleagues. And this can make a difference between the life and death of a patient. Being a veterinarian is not a one-man show (true for many careers actually), be it a clinician, research or regulatory veterinarian.
Besides studying and being a good student in the classroom, what else have you done outside the classroom that honed your soft skills? You may list 1 or 2 examples of the things you’ve done and why you think it is important that a veterinarian possess these skills or qualities? Demonstrating this side of you is crucial as it shows how you understand what it takes to be a veterinarian and have taken active steps to gain valuable skills.
Your education and how it will help you in your course of study
Vet school is content heavy and rigorous. Even after graduation and becoming a qualified veterinarian, it is a lifelong learning process. This is where you show them your appreciation of learning specific subjects and ability to apply/link them to the veterinary field.
You cannot deny that your education got you to where you are – applying to vet school. Being a student and spending a lot of your time in the classroom, there is probably something you can mention that particularly interests you and is applicable to the veterinary field.
There may be a specific topic in Chemistry, Biology or even Physics, which you found that your knowledge in that topic has been helpful in your clinical practice experience. Remember to always link back to the question of “why would you be a good veterinary student?” or “why do you want to be a veterinarian?”
Hobbies/Interests
Being a vet student and future veterinarian involves the ability to balance work and life – to prevent burnout. Besides, no vet school would want to provide all the resources and time for one’s education only to have him drop out as a vet student or leave the industry as a veterinarian.
You may demonstrate how your hobbies allowed you to hone skills that would be useful as a veterinarian. It should be something unrelated to the animals or the vet industry, so that you can show them that you have balance in your life.
Conclusion
This is where you tie everything up, making a last convincing statement to tell them why you should be accepted. You can show them that you acknowledge that veterinary science is demanding and you understand what it takes. You may also share about your future aspirations in this career path.
Tips
1. Every sentence to your personal statement has to add value and purpose.
Every sentence has to go towards convincing the assessors why you are deserving of a place in veterinary school.
2. Be honest.
Never lie about anything. It’ll be ugly if they find out (it’s not worth it to risk it), be it while reading your personal statement or during your interview.
3. Start early.
Even writing 2-3 sentences per day is good enough. You’ll definitely feel less pressure and you’ll write better!
4. Get trustable people to proofread your personal statement.
Not too many people though, about 2 to 3 people will do. Too many people offering differing opinions may confuse you too much.
5. Study your personal statement well before your interview.
They may question and ask you to elaborate on some parts. Though it may be true that you did those things, our human memory may not be the best keeper. Do a little refresher and you’ll be more confident to impress your interviewers during your interview.
6. Share your best experiences, not all of them. It is quality over quantity.
You may start by listing down 3 to 5 qualities a veterinarian should have and all your work experience/volunteer/extracurricular activities you’ve done. You may write a few draft paragraphs with your different activities and see which ones fit better in your personal statement or are more relevant.
7. Don’t be clique.
Try to not use quotes unless it truly means something to you. It may sound forced and unrealistic. It may take up unnecessary space in your personal statement which you can use, instead, explaining why you want to be a veterinarian.
My personal statement (for my United Kingdom application) →
I was offered a place in RVC and University of Glasgow (both had interviews). I was shortlisted for the interview for University of Edinburgh too but didn’t pass it. I shared a little on why I rejected these offers in another post → “Aspiring Veterinarian: Taking a Post-Diploma after A levels.”
Helpful resources
- UCAS resource: https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-university/writing-personal-statement/how-write-personal-statement
- Veterinary Science/ Veterinary medicine personal statement examples: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/university/personal-statements/veterinary-science/ https://www.studential.com/personal-statement-examples/veterinary-science-personal-statement-examples
- Youtube videos:
- May Yean (Cambridge vet med graduate): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyt4dWI-o-k&t=95s
- So you want to be a vet? (Medic Mentor): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDs5mT3FEL4&t=114s