Consider and write your Personal Comments Essay carefully; many admissions committees place significant weight on the essay.
Here are some questions you may want to consider while writing the essay: • Why have you selected the field of medicine? • What motivates you to learn more about medicine? • What do you want medical schools to know about you that has not been disclosed in other sections of the application?
In addition, you may wish to include information such as: • Unique hardships, challenges, and obstacles that may have influenced your educational pursuits. • Comments on significant fluctuations in your academic record not explained elsewhere in your application.
Formatting Your Essay: Medical schools receive all text-entry responses as plain text. This means that formatting options such as bulleted lists, indented paragraphs, and bold and italic fonts do not appear for reviewers and are not available in the AMCAS application. You may want to include an extra space between paragraphs because the essay does not permit indentation.
There is a 5,300 character limit (including spaces) in this section. This equals about 1 1/2 pages of writing, single-spaced. Make sure your essay is interesting, follows a logical and orderly flow, relates to your reasons for choosing medicine, and describes why you believe you will be successful as a physician.
