List out all the sports, music, theatre or non-medical academic groups (such as debating club) and then pick your best examples that you can draw the most from. You might not be able to include all of these as you want to use your characters on the more important other parts of your statement! But showing that you have good time management skills is important in maintaining a good work-life balance at medical school.
So how do I talk about my extra-curricular activities?
We’ve already touched on this, but the idea, as with work experience and volunteering, is to draw out how you’ve developed as a person and how that will make you a great medic. Lace in the skills you’ve learnt and why this makes you want to study medicine. You also want to convey that you understand there is more to life than medicine. If all medics only did their course, they would all leave medical school as clones of one another, and that is not want we want in hospital. So, show that you are able to get those grades and be a well-rounded individual too.
Language
As far as language, keep it enthusiastic as you have been doing throughout your personal statement! And keep it professional, even in the non-academic sections such as here. So don’t talk about a junior doctor TV program that you’ve been enjoying. Keep it to your sports/music etc. When thinking about the skills, make sure to pick examples that show a wide range. Instead of mentioning, say, team-work 3 times from your netball, hockey and band, drop in how your resilience really improved through having to retake your grade 8 violin twice, or whatever the example. This shows more initiative than just repeating the same point with different examples.
Moving on now to some examples:
We wanted to show you a bad and good example of what you can write. These are generic examples, but please do make your own. Remember medical schools want to hear about your unique experiences and what you have learnt. Also they may ask you about it at interview, so be sure to be truthful with your examples.
“I have a grade 2 piano, and I like playing football every week.”
This is a bad example because the student has just listed what they have done/do. This doesn’t show what you have learnt from your extracurriculars or why you enjoy them. Instead try to focus on one and explain it in more detail.
“I have a passion for creative projects, so being part of a Young Enterprise company enabled me to nurture my skills and explore the world of business. I learnt invaluable lessons on teamwork and leadership. This has also helped completement my role as Captain of the School Football Team.”
This example is much more interesting and you have told the reader much more detail. The reflection on what you have learnt with regards to skills is what they are looking for. You could further add a specific example about your project for a more in depth answer, and perhaps a link to how it will help you in a career in medicine. Do remember the character count, so you may not be able to do this. You can always go into more detail in your interview if asked about this.
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