All to often, students sitting down to write their personal statement worry it might come across as generic 'box-ticking' as prospective medical students now complete work experience, volunteering and extracurricular activities as standard. The key to writing an interesting personal statement is emphasizing what you gained from these experiences and how they have motivated you to become a doctor. This is the difference between simply listing impressive sporting achievements, for example and actually explaining how they instilled a sense of the importance of teamwork, which is crucial to success in medicine.