The deadline is October 15th (got mine in on time :) ) and you are allowed to submit 4 medical school choices along with your GCSE, A-Level and Degree grades as well as your personal statement and a reference.
Reference
My reference was written by my uni personal tutor and its a good idea to build a bit of a relationship with your uni tutor because they will probably end up writing you a reference for other things once you leave uni. I've been to see my tutor a few times outside "normal recommended" times to discuss medical things and he has also helped me with my personal statement which meant he was able to write a more personalised reference rather than just a generic one! Just make sure you approach them with enough time to write the reference!
Personal Statement
With regards to the dreaded personal statement a book I found really helpful was this book! "Get into Medical School - Write the Perfect Personal Statement". I am selling my copy on Amazon at the moment for £15! :) But it is full of tips on how to write an effective personal statement as well as tonnes and tonnes of A-Level and Graduate examples.You want your personal statement to stand out, as the person reading them will have read hundreds, but at the same time you want to make sure you include all the necessary information and to at least sound like you know what you are on about!
The general sections I followed when writing mine were:
Intro - Why you want to study medicine
Uni Experience - Small paragraph on the skills uni has given you and how these will help you at medical school. We are graduates so we should be pro's when it comes to time management and organisation!
Work Experience - This formed the main body of my personal statement, you want to say what you did and then WHAT YOU LEARNT from the experience, how this furthered your understanding of how important effective teamwork/communication etc is.
Volunteering - Another big paragraph on your volunteering experience is essential! Again remember to write what you gained from the experience.
Extra Curricular Stuff - Include societies and sports clubs you have been part of during uni and what skills and stuff this has given you!
Conclusion - Never include new info in a conclusion! Just round off how all these experience and volunteering have given you a better understanding into a medical career and the attributes needed to be a successful doctor. Try and think of a nice punchy ending!
My personal statement took a few drafts but in the end I was pretty happy with it! I was also 1 character under the word limit - hehe!
I've heard back from all my choices saying they have received my application and now all I can do is wait for my GAMSAT results! AAAAHHH.
As always any questions - comment away! :)
My revision face