Admissions officers read thousands of personal statements, and most of them start the exact same way. If your essay begins with any of these, it’s already on thin ice.
Here’s a list of the most overused essay openings—and what to write instead.
You didn’t. No one wakes up at age five and truly knows they’ll be a doctor. And even if you did, that’s not why you’re getting accepted. Admissions officers care more about what you’ve done recently than what you realized as a child.
Write this instead: Start with an experience that shows why you belong in medicine now, not why you thought you did 15 years ago.
We get it. Your grandparent was a doctor or overcame a medical hardship, and that made you want to go into medicine. Great. But thousands of applicants have the same story, and they’re all submitting it in their essays.
Write this instead: If your grandparent’s story is truly unique, bury it in the middle of your essay, not at the start. Your opening should be about you, not them.
You used to listen to your stuffed animal’s heartbeat. Cute. But also… completely irrelevant. If your experience with medicine peaked in elementary school, you have a problem.
Write this instead: Focus on your recent experiences in medicine—things you’ve done in college or beyond that show real commitment.
Hippocrates didn’t write your essay. You did. So why are we starting with a quote from him? Quoting a famous doctor doesn’t make you sound deep—it makes you sound unoriginal.
Write this instead: If a quote genuinely means something to you, weave it into the body of your essay later on. Don’t let someone else’s words open your story.
Everyone applying to med school loves science and people. That’s literally the whole job. Saying this upfront makes you blend into a crowd of thousands.
Write this instead: Instead of telling us you love science and people, show us through an experience that demonstrates it.
If your opening is something you’ve heard before, the admissions committee has too. The best essays start with something personal, recent, and unique to you.
Want to stand out? Delete the cliché and start fresh.
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