Does anyone have any advice for approaching the daunting task of writing the personal statement for ENT?
Personal statements
- Thread starter pry
- Start date
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2002
- Messages
- 948
- Reaction score
- 219
If I'm a program director and I'm seeing patients, doing research, rounding on patients, doing surgery, meeting with the department division chairs, meeting with the CEO of the hospital, going to tumor board, picking my daughter up from soccer practice, attending a seminar, planning for a conference talk, and I've got -- oh -- a spar 5 minutes to review 300 applications, what do you think I'm going to want to know?
I'm going to look at your USMLE score. Then I'm going to look at your grades. Then I'm going to briefly look at your letters of recommendation (honestly, what can they really tell me about your ability to be a great ENT doctor?). Then with the 30 seconds left, I'm going to read your personal statement. I don't want to hear about how you did a trach on your dog when you were in high school. Unless your trip abroad was truly life changing or really (honestly) unique, I don't want to read about it.
I want to know who you are, where you come from, why you like ENT, why you like MY program, why you think you'd be a good ENT doctor, and what you think you'd like to do as a doctor (e.g., private, academics, otology).
Think about what you need to convey to a program director. How can you succinctly tell that person that you deserve an interview. Convincing them to take you is for the interview.
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2006
- Messages
- 912
- Reaction score
- 29
Ditto. You can't say it better. Your personal statement really means so little I can't even describe it. It is very unlikely to help you. It is much more likely to hurt you. I think the single most important thing you can do is be articulate, use appropriate grammar, and punctuate correctly. If you try to be "different" all you're going to do is be weird. Follow neutropeniaboy's recs and you'll be fine--and that's all you want to do in a personal statement--be fine.
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2001
- Messages
- 514
- Reaction score
- 2
I had a "different" PS, writing it from the standpoint of already being a resident on call and describing the steps of hearing my pager, then segwaying into different "life changing" things that describe me as a person.
Some of the interviewers commented on it, but I don't think that it opened any doors, and it might have turned some people off. I interviewed with one guy who actually said how arrogant it was to already assume that I would get into residency.
My advice: do exactly what npboy says. Keep it clean, boring, and succinct. That way it doesn't hurt you. If you have something interesting to say, thats OK, but its no big deal if you don't. When I was interviewing candidates, I rarely read the PS.
Some of the interviewers commented on it, but I don't think that it opened any doors, and it might have turned some people off. I interviewed with one guy who actually said how arrogant it was to already assume that I would get into residency.
My advice: do exactly what npboy says. Keep it clean, boring, and succinct. That way it doesn't hurt you. If you have something interesting to say, thats OK, but its no big deal if you don't. When I was interviewing candidates, I rarely read the PS.
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2006
- Messages
- 89
- Reaction score
- 1
Actually, I do read personal statements. However, I DETEST the similarity among essays I've read (I want to be an ENT because..., my dad is an ENT..., I had a tragedy that made me realize ENT was great..., My rotation in ENT..., etc etc etc). If you do write a personal statement, make it truly personal by including something unique about your background, and I don't mean bizarre. If you are involved in improv comedy, write a short story skit. If you are a cellist, somehow connect it to surgery. DO it in the first several sentences. I usually don't read past the first paragraph if it starts out trite.
I should mention, my mind is usually made up about an applicant based on the same criteria neutropeniaboy uses. The interview is really only to determine the personality and how quickly an applicant can think on his/her feet. For me, a good essay is what helps to make an individual really stick out in my mind as all applicants generally have good scores, good recommendations, etc.
I should mention, my mind is usually made up about an applicant based on the same criteria neutropeniaboy uses. The interview is really only to determine the personality and how quickly an applicant can think on his/her feet. For me, a good essay is what helps to make an individual really stick out in my mind as all applicants generally have good scores, good recommendations, etc.
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2007
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
the only other thing I ca add is: after you write your personal statement, give it to your advisor, ENT residents at your medical school, ENT doctors at your school. In essence, have as much feedbak as you can before you submit it.
