What do medical schools look for in a personal statement?

My best advice when it comes to your personal statement is to start early. With a limited word count and so much you want to show it's best to have lots then keep refining it. Keep a diary of your experiences volunteering or in a clinical environment. Then lots of medical schools are really looking for how you reflect on these experiences. It's not about who got into brain surgery, it's about what you learnt. Did the experience teach you something about the professional you didn't know before/ wouldn't assume. Did it teach you something about yourself. They want to see you have a realistic view of medicine and you are making an education informed choice. It's a long journey. Be yourself and be well-rounded. Don't focus solely on you a-levels, they are important but your mental well-being is also and so are your hobbies. You can also reflect on these to show how you demonstrate qualities that would prove useless in the medical field.
All in all: Experience/ hobby/ book -> qualities in yourself/ things you learnt -> link to medicine.