Personal statements

[drbuckeye]

Anyone else out there having trouble writing their personal statements. I know I probably should have had it done by now, but I have procrastinated and know I have no idea what to write about. I have heard of some people doing some really crazy things for their personal statements. Anyone out there care to share any experiences? Any special tips for when applying to truly competitive residencies? I am all ears (or eyes in this case). Thanks

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[Vince]

I finished my personal statement then sent it to a physician who used to sit on a residency admission/interview committee etc. for his input. If you can do that I think it would be a good idea.

I have heard from residents that there is nothing wrong with an average personal statement because its not really going to get you an interview. It can however, keep you from getting an interview. I didn't get too fancy with mine. Just kept it to one page and talked about why I chose the field and what my goals are, etc.

Iserson's Guide to Getting a Residency talks about the personal statement so if you haven't looked at that chapter or the book yet, take a look at it.

Wether or not any of this is true, I'll have to wait and see if the interview invites start coming in or not.

Vince, MSIV

 

[Jaded Soul]

I have heard of some people doing some really crazy things for their personal statements.

Like what?

 

[starayamoskva]

Anyone else out there having trouble writing their personal statements. I know I probably should have had it done by now, but I have procrastinated and know I have no idea what to write about. I have heard of some people doing some really crazy things for their personal statements. Anyone out there care to share any experiences? Any special tips for when applying to truly competitive residencies? I am all ears (or eyes in this case). Thanks

You should write about why you are interested in the specialty and what your strengths are. Iserson's says to be certain that you do not simply rewrite your CV in your personal statement.
If you do a web search you can find quite a few examples of good personal statements that are specialty specific, like this one for dermatology:

http://www.medfools.com/personalstatements/dermatology_statement.php

If worse comes to worst you can always write something and then send it to essay edge to fix.

 

[ears]

Once you get started, maybe it'll be easier. The difficult issue for you now is getting good proof-reading help once you've got something together, so you need something you can show people soon.

Maybe it'd be easier if you just started with lists. Just make the following lists:
1. Reasons I want to go into the whatever-specialty-it-is
2. Important things I believe in
3. Interesting things I've done in my life (NOT medical school)
4. Important personal experiences I had while I was in medical school
5. My best attributes

With luck, you'll be able to sense a kind of theme in there, and a reasonable essay will appear.

Just get it done, and put it out of your misery. Good luck.

 

[drbuckeye]

Like what?

Thanks everyone for all the help so far it has been great advice. Jaded soul, an example of some outlandish personal statements includes the following. I heard of a student who took the name of the field they wanted to go into, ex. Radiology, and for each letter they wrote a word describing them and their respected field, then wrote a short paragraph about that word. Pretty creative if you ask me. Not sure if this kind of creativity is looked favorably on or is forwned upon. Any advice from those who have displayed a little more attitude in thier PS?

 

[double elle]

I had one of the residents read mine. He is a senior surgery resident where I want to get in. I had him tell me first-opinion/reaction to every little part. I made small changes based on how he took some of the things I said in the statement.

Since I am applying for an osteopathic residency, I was able to tailor my statment to individual programs. Here is my favorite line of my statment:

I am incredibly impressed by the current residents at XYZ and feel their competence reflects the collective efforts of the physicians and staff at XYZ to privide quality learning opportunities in a supportive, non-threatening environment.

I think it's important to provide some sort of statment that you've given the decision a lot of thought, especially when it's a more demanding residency like surgery or IM. I also mentioned that I am AWARE of the demands and rigor of the residency, that I talked to (and listened to) everyone I could so I could make an informed decision. I also put this in:

Although a surgery residency will be rigorous, I am fortunate to have an enourmous amount of support from my husband and family, who understand that this requires a commitment from all involved.

I also mentioned that I am looking forward to serving as an example and teacher for future medical students and residents.

As for the toot-your-own-horn stuff...that's the hardest part for me. I just wrote what I felt I had shown throughout the past year (what I hope they saw me):

I feel I have shown to be a dependable, hard-working individual with a genuine desire to do things correctly.

I also went into why surgery was my specialty choice and what I get out of it, and I re-stated at the very beginning why medicine-in-general is for me. I didn't want to re-write my med-school admissions personal statement, but I wanted to mention that this field is still for me, then I tailered it down to surgery. Also, I didn't put a silver lining on everything. I admitted that rotations left me exhausted and fatigued, but the underlying excitment I felt with seeing new things each day easily made up for it, provided motivation, and made me look forward to each day.

Best of luck....and I don't think you can use the thesaurus too much!

 

[Jaded Soul]

Thanks everyone for all the help so far it has been great advice. Jaded soul, an example of some outlandish personal statements includes the following. I heard of a student who took the name of the field they wanted to go into, ex. Radiology, and for each letter they wrote a word describing them and their respected field, then wrote a short paragraph about that word. Pretty creative if you ask me. Not sure if this kind of creativity is looked favorably on or is forwned upon. Any advice from those who have displayed a little more attitude in thier PS?

My advisor told me that the PS might not help you get an interview, but it can potentially keep you from getting an interview. It's best not to deviate too far from the norm. I think a PS of that type can only hurt you because not everyone is going to appreciate the cutesy writing technique. If you write the standard PS, it might not be flashy and exciting, but it won't offend anyone either.

Medfools has great advice on personal statements: http://www.medfools.com/match/personalstatements.php

 

[Jaded Soul]

I am incredibly impressed by the current residents at XYZ and feel their competence reflects the collective efforts of the physicians and staff at XYZ to privide quality learning opportunities in a supportive, non-threatening environment.

The book I read on writing personal statements (Resumes and Personal Statements for Health Care Professionals--highly recommended by people on here) said to avoid this type of statement completely because it can come off as insincere. All it takes is a little word-processing to change "Program XYZ" to "Program ABC," and the program directors know that.

 

[double elle]

huh? I couldn't tell if you were being serious or not.
The reason I wrote this sentence, is because this is where I am doing my rotations and have worked closely with all the residents.