Personal Statement vs LOI: what’s the difference? How does it relate to residency?

[Rogue42]

Audition rotation(s) is asking for a personal statement and a letter of intent.

And I honestly can’t say that I know the difference nor have a ever been taught the difference. I’ve never sent an LOI.

I’m not sure how these are supposed to work in relation to residency / audition rotations.

Such as, do I write an LOI specific to a program and a personal statement that doesn’t change? Or LOI and PS for a specific program? When September comes and I’m applying to residency, should the PS be the same or different if I’m applying to the same program?

Tried searching for the specific answers and couldn’t find what I was looking for.

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[Captain_Falcon]

I've been writing them one in the same. But I've also been including the specific programs name in there at least once for each place that requires it

 

[DrStephenStrange]

I'd say the personal statement should be about why you want to go in that specialty (the same one you write for ERAS), and the LOI should be about why you want to attend the program for said specialty. They probably want to know that if you audition there it's because you want to end up there for residency.