Personal Statement Sample

Unlike many people, I imagine, I always enjoyed visits to the dentist as a child.  I love the science involved in the treatment, but my work experience placements with dentists have shown me very clearly that there is much more to dentistry, including precise manual skill, patience and a ready power of sympathy for one's clients.  I am keen to be able to help people who are in pain, and also to improve people's appearance in ways that can transform their lives.  I have already completed a degree in psychology and worked as a psychological well-being practitioner with the Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust, and I have developed sophisticated empathic, compassionate and clinical patient skills of the type required in the dentist.  I am now approaching dentistry as a mature student with considerable experience of the workplace and particularly of clinical patient contact, and I believe that the practices and skills I have developed in my psychological work are eminently transferable to my new career.

I have undertaken several work experience placements with practising dentists over the past year, observing routine check-ups and a variety of procedures, such as implants, veneers, crowns, cosmetic bonding and root canal treatment. I have also spent time with an orthodontist, leaning how to make dentures.  The technical processes were very interesting, as was the dentist's professional skill in alleviating the patients' anxieties by informative communication and good humour to gain their trust and ensure their comfort.  Having worked with patients suffering from a range of anxiety disorders, I believe that I am well equipped for this. I also came to understand the importance of teamwork in dental care.  I have a great deal of further work experience arranged over the next six months, as a dentist has agreed to offer me 15 hours shadowing a week, which will immensely extend my insight into the profession.

I have done much voluntary work, including a six week period working every day with children in Soweto during my gap year.  Many of them were suffering from AIDS, and the continuing degree of segregation from more affluent areas was appalling.  I spent two months in Bali caring for terminally ill children and orphans.  I also worked as a volunteer in a dementia unit.  These experiences, combined with my work as a psychologist, have taught me how to make contact with individuals from many different backgrounds and understand their needs, a fundamental skill when working with patients from diverse cultural and ethnic groups.

I am a keen sportsman, enjoying tennis – a sport which requires motor coordination and manual dexterity –, cross-country (running for Shropshire county team, which required grit, resilience and determination, useful assets in any profession), and captaining the school first XI in football. These are all good training in teamwork and quick thinking. I also love snowboarding and surfing. The more intellectual games also appeal to me, such as chess, with its call for problem solving and analysis, and even poker, with its intriguing mix of psychology, body language and mathematics.

My academic record is excellent; in one of my A-level psychology modules I scored 98/100, and 86/90 in a history paper. My dissertation in the degree course formed the basis for a publication in Animal Behaviour in 2010. I clearly possess the academic ability to succeed at dentistry. I am now studying two A-levels, chemistry and biology, in one year, while working full-time and giving over my annual leave to work experience, all of which demonstrates my utter commitment to my chosen course.  I have a thirst for scientific learning, a keen eye for detail and an absolute determination to succeed.  I am conscientious and enjoy helping others, and dentistry offers all of these elements and holds out the prospect of an exciting, rewarding and caring career path.

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