How do I write a personal statement for medical school?

There is no right or wrong way of writing your personal statement as it is personal to you, however, there are ways in which you can make it easier to decide what to write and how to write it. Firstly, decide on which medical schools you want to apply to and see what their requirements are in terms of the type of student they are looking for. Although it may not be necessary, it would be beneficial for you to tailor your statement to the specific universities. With a med-school personal statement, it's important to talk about what you learned from your various experiences (whether they were in a healthcare setting or not), rather than listing everything you have done. So, I would recommend picking out a few specific examples and discussing them in detail rather than trying to talk about everything you have done without giving much information about it. 

In terms of writing the actual statement, you may find it useful to decide on what you would like to include and how you want to structure this in the statement; for example having a section on extra-circular activities, hobbies, why you want to study medicine, work experiences, and voluntary work etc. Once you've decided on the categories, you can make a list of all the things you've done/ want to mention, which fit into each category. By doing this, you'll have a rough version of the content you need to write the personal statement. After this, you can start writing out each section separately, without pressuring yourself on character count, but keep in mind to set a rough character limit as it may become difficult to cut down on the characters later (if necessary). Once you've written out each section, put it together and see how it reads and then start to identify where it may need changing (e.g. to make it flow better). Make any necessary changes to it until you are happy with it. Get people to proofread it and check that it is within the character limit.