Premedical Section

Introductory Statement​

• 2-3 sentences ​

• where you grew up​

• where you attended college​

• any college graduation distinctions​

• your year of graduation​

• majors, minors ​

• # of gap years between college and medical school​

• third person, past tense​

• About 65 words​

Detailed Paragraphs​

• One to two paragraphs​

• Describe anything about your pre-medical school self you mightwant to highlight.​

• leadership positions you held​

• research you participated in​

• extracurricular activities​

• anything else that aligns with the narrative of your application​

• About 200 words​

• third person, past tense

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Example

Introductory Statement:​

Jane grew up in Cary, North Carolina where she attended boarding high school. She graduated summa cum laude from Duke University in 2020 with a BS in neuroscience and minors in chemistry and psychology. Additional accolades included Graduation with Distinction and Phi Beta Kappa honors, and she consistently appeared on the Dean’s List with Distinction.

Detailed Paragraphs:​

Jane developed a passion for mental health and its intersection with physical health, which she explored with diligence and success at Duke. Jane led NeuroCare, a Duke organization dedicated to raising awareness of neurological and psychiatric disorders, offering support, and advocating for research. Additionally, she researched mental health through mindfulness in an interdisciplinary team of Duke and University of North Carolina students and faculty. Their project focused on implementing mindfulness and yoga interventions in underserved schools, and she presented the findings at Duke’s Bass Connections conference. This work culminated in her senior year, when she led the Bass Connections–sponsored Embodied Learning Summit which presented mindfulness and techniques such as yoga and poetry to address issues such as intimate partner violence and childhood trauma.​

Jane’s superb leadership addressing mental health led to her election to the Duke Student Government’s Mental Health Caucus. She channeled her diverse interests in neuroscience, mental health, endocrinology, women’s health, and precision medicine into an honors thesis on the impact of ovarian hormones and hormonal contraceptives on anhedonia and its underlying neural circuitry. After graduation, Jane spent a productive year further exploring her interests in mental health and women’s health. She worked as an intern at Kindbody, a fertility clinic startup. These diverse experiences informed the next phase of her journey toward a career in medicine.