Writing a Personal Statement Can Seem
Difficult
While no personal statement is going to guarantee that you get
interviews or ensure that you match, a poorly written one can
definitely hurt your chances. So it's wise to develop a statement
that reads well and clearly communicates what you wish the
residency program to know about your specialty choice, your
qualifications, and your plans for the future.
One reason why personal statements often fail to communicate
is that the writer lacks a clear understanding of what the
statement should include. Consequently, many personal statements
contain inappropriate content or don't engage the interest of the
reader. Read the following carefully so you will have a better
idea of what your statement should contain.
The personal statement should not be a biography. Rather, it
should consist of three basic parts. First, the statement should
explain what it is about the specialty you have chosen that most
appeals to you. Secondly, it should present carefully selected
information from your background which provides evidence that you
have acquired the skills, traits and abilities which program
directors in that specialty desire in their residents. The third
section should communicate any particular aspects you are looking
for in a residency program, a brief description of your long term
goals (such as the type of practice or practice setting you hope
for), a summation line which lists the strengths you would bring
to that program if accepted, and finally, a thank you for their
consideration of your credentials.
Any writer will tell you that their work goes through a number
of drafts and many revisions before they feel it truly
communicates what they want it to say. Realizing this may help
you avoid writer's block—that awful feeling of staring at a blank
word processor screen or white paper in mental turmoil because
you don't know where to begin or what to say and feel that the
wording must be perfect. The words you first put down are only
the blueprint or raw materials for the final version, so put pen
to paper and draft something. You can then work with it,
eliminating what doesn't need to be there and choosing the right
words to highlight the messages that you most want to
communicate. The final version should be no more than a single
page that clearly expresses why you are well suited for a
position in the specialty of your choice.
Begin with a rough outline
Your outline might look something like the following:
Why I chose this
specialty
- Description of a specific patient that you helped care
for
- or, describe a mentor physician (role model)
- or, a research experience relating to the field
- or, a personal experience or that of someone close to you
that relates to the field
- Specifically, what do YOU find to be the field's most
attractive aspects.
Why I am well-suited to this
specialty (examples below are for Pediatrics)
- Experience as a camp counselor
- Volunteer at Special Olympics for 3 years
- Honors in Pediatrics rotation
- Influence of Dr. Smith, a pediatric oncologist who mentored
me
- Oldest of 5, seen as caretaker by busy parents from early
age
My future goals
- Want smaller, community-based program
- Want practice in smaller city with chance to provide care
in team sports, Special Olympics organizations
- Can offer great skills in relating to kids and parents,
have kids of my own, clinical evaluations cite my high energy
and commitment to patient care, good diagnostic skills, good
communicator
Summary and conclusion
A strong summary list of the strengths, skills, attitude, etc.
that you can bring to the program and a thank you for the time
the program takes in considering your application should conclude
the personal statement.
Be Original to Grab Interest
Your
intended reader, the residency program director, has seen
thousands of personal statements before, so mentioning that you
chose pediatrics because you have always loved children is
unlikely to catch his or her interest. Instead, draw something
from your own experience. Select a patient, a clinical
experience, a mentor, etc. and describe the event or person in as
graphic a fashion as possible for two or three lines. This might
sound something like the following:
- On entering the pediatrics ward on my first day of
rotation, I was nearly knocked down by a small, curly-headed
boy chasing a ball down the hallway. I got to know Bobby well
over the next three months as his doctors tried valiantly to
prolong his life with all the modern arsenal of tools used to
fight AIDS. Though Bobby and his doctors ultimately lost that
battle (he died just before I graduated), I will always
remember his mischievousness and his determination to live each
moment fully. What I learned from Bobby and the team of doctors
who treated him finalized my decision to enter Pediatrics and
demonstrates the appeal this specialty has for me. Pediatrics
offers the challenges of...
-
This guarantees that what you choose as an opener will be
unique, and therefore it won't sound like anyone else's. You
can then flesh out this opener by listing the aspects of the
field that everyone else finds appealing, but you will have
captured the reader with the described incident first and
given him/her some insight into who you are as a person by
what you chose to illustrate.
The second section, far from being a summary of your life
story, should provide evidence that you have acquired the
skills and attributes most wanted by program directors for
that specialty. To continue our Pediatrics example, you might
include that you helped care for extended family members or
siblings, worked in sports activities, various volunteer
activities or perhaps that you worked at a free clinic during
medical school. You could also cite an excellent pediatrics
rotation or a pediatrician mentor in this section. The
important thing to remember is that you want to demonstrate
that you already know something about what it means to relate
to children and their parents and the demands of pediatrics
training.
The third section shifts to what you hope for—both in
terms of the kind of training program you want, and what you
ultimately hope to do when you are in practice. The final
lines sum up what you can offer, if chosen, and a thank you
to program staff for taking the time to evaluate your
credentials and application. This is generally the easiest of
the three sections to write, and logically, it's usually the
last section of the personal statement.
Obviously, your final version should be grammatically
correct and have no spelling or punctuation errors. If your
written English is not excellent, be sure to have someone
with good English skills look it over so that you can correct
any errors on the final version on your ERAS disk. You may
also want to have someone familiar with medicine look it over
and provide feedback on its content. Ultimately, however, you
will have to decide what to change and what to keep, because
it is YOUR statement and should reflect who you are, what you
value, and why.
Because so many IMG applicants submit personal statements
with poor grammar or other errors, you can separate yourself
from the mass of such applicants by ensuring that yours is
expressed in clear English and is free from misspelled words
or other errors. This also demonstrates that English
proficiency and attention to detail are qualities that a
program can expect from you.
