//Plug here IUMC’s partnership with Hatch.M. A mentoring service run by Malaysian medical students studying in the UK, Ireland, and Malaysia. The team is dedicated to help students from 16 years and older to help them decide if medicine is the right career for them, and help them prepare for their applications.
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Curriculum Vitae
Suggested headings you should cover:
- Education Summary
- Let us know about your academic achievements you have attained for your current studies and secondary school.
- Relevant Experiences
- Tell us about your valuable experiences doing either job shadowing, volunteering or other work.
- Universities like to see that you have explored your options and are sure that Medicine is right for you.
- Extracurricular activities and achievements
- Medicine and Dentistry requires individuals who are more than book smart. We require excellent communication, leadership skills, critical thinking and more. This section allows you to give objective proof that you have developed these skills through your extracurricular activities.
- Awards & Scholastic achievements
- If you have any extra achievements put them here.
- Hobbies & Interests
- This small section allows your university to understand a little more about you. Studying medicine and dentistry can be hard work and universities want to know that you can keep yourself motivated with your hobbies and interests throughout your five years.
Some tips
- Ideally summarize it into 1 page, but keep it within 2 pages (both sides of one A4 paper) if you have more you want to show.
- Keep it short and succinct. Recruiters spend only a short time going through each CV. You have to catch their attention with well written summaries and important keywords to increase your chances.
- Be objective. Instead of writing points like ‘excellent leadership capabilities’, prove it with objective evidence like ‘led an awareness campaign in school which resulted in school policy changes’.
Personal Statements
- 500 – 700 words (1.5 – 2 pages, A4)
- To sell yourself as the perfect candidate for medicine
- Tell us about yourself
- Your motivation for studying medicine
- Notable experiences that are related to the field of medicine that perhaps
- Helped you made sure of your decision to study medicine
- Gave you a purpose to pursue a career in medicine
- (Optional) What you want to achieve through medicine
Tips while writing
- Write down your ideas first, worry about English later
- Structure your ideas carefully to help your readers understand and read comfortably.
- Arrange your ideas so that your ‘story’ flows smoothly with no jumps in the narrative.
- If a sentence has to be read multiple times to be understood, you should rewrite it.
- Have multiple people with experience review your script to give you ideas on how to refine it.
- Writing a personal statement is a long term project. Start early, write in short bursts, let ideas brew in your head, read and reread your script until you are absolutely satisfied with it.