What do I need to include in my personal statement?

There are a range of things you can include on your personal statement. Your opening should highlight why you wish to study medicine, and why you make a good candidate for this degree. It is then important to include any relevant work experience in hospitals or other healthcare environments. It is also important to include any volunteer work you have taken part in. Next, you can talk about you - what interests you, what you do outside of school/studying and exams. This is an important section as it gives the university a good insight into who you are as a person, and this is what can set you apart from other candidates. Some people may suggest you include your exam subjects/results here too, but I feel that this can be a waste of characters as you will have already declared your exam subjects and results in a separate section of the application. As you only get a certain number of characters you need to prioritise what you can include in a way that will help you stand out. Your closing paragraph should be a summary of why you would make an excellent candidate for medical school.
Writing your personal statement can seem daunting. The best way to attack it is to break it down - first make bullet points of everything you could possibly include. We can then work through each bullet point to decide whether it will be appropriate and beneficial to add it in. Then we can start to build up from there.