Four years ago I spent months drafting and redrafting my personal statement for my application to medical school. After roughly 26 drafts I ended up with an almost perfect statement about me. It began "From an early age I have been fascinated by the workings of life. The human body is a remarkable machine with many diverse systems producing an organism that could never be artificially reproduced." It worked out quite well and I received 4 interviews although perhaps not for the places I should have applied to.
After starting medical school, as a favour to a friend and in order to help others writing their personal statements, I released it to the world. Reading it back now its rather cringe-worthy but it was all my own work and is all true, I'd spent years beforehand doing work experience and ticking the teamwork, leadership and communication boxes. As a scientist, writing has never been my forte but I don't think it turned out too badly and it was obviously what they wanted to hear.
Last week a story broke here and here about prospective university students using the Internet to cheat in their applications. The focus was on a phrase about burnt pyjamas which a staggering 234 students used as their own personal anecdote [that must have been a particularly flammable batch of pyjamas.] However, it seems an even greater 370 lifted my fascination for the workings of life. I cannot deny that anyone willing to make their career out of the human body would fail to find it interesting, its hardly an original idea in itself. It seems however that my opening has been copied word for word as is written in The Times article.
Perhaps I was naive to think that potential medical students would be able to come up with their own original phrasings. I anticipated that some might lift sections of my statement but never envisaged such a proportion would do so. It doesn't particularly bother me that they've plagiarised my statement, they're not in direct competition with me so why should it? I am quite shocked and disappointed but at the same time quite flattered that my statement is deemed good enough to rip off.
With the introduction of the MTAS application form, the ability to sell oneself is more important than ever. I'm sure this process won't be immune to plagiarism and with successful candidates such as this one allowing their answers to be scrutinised by the world, it probably won't be long before the MTAS shortlisters are reading exactly the same phrases over and over again. I think I can safely say that when it comes to my turn to enter the dragon's den that is the MTAS system my answers will be kept under lock and key.
edit: Links fixed
Mr Bean shows us how it should be done.
