Residency Application Mailbag: The Personal Statement

Another banger

Everything I learned about personal statements I learned from my 11th grade English teacher. Thank you Mrs. Schultz.

Dr. Carmody, I distinctly remember considering which literary devices I’d use to write my PS and I selected Cold Open and Extended Metaphor.

“The air is thin at 14,000 feet” was the setup to an extended mountain climbing metaphor that I weaved into my motivations for becoming an ObGyn and my goals for the future.

The program I ended up matching at was the one where the director told me the PS was the reason I got an interview.

Hooks aren’t necessary but they’re really helpful. As a fellowship program associate director now, I read the PS first.

I’d be interested in knowing if you would make DIFFERENT recs for fellowship PS?

Great video ❤

Should I explain a gap between preclinical and clinical years in the personal statement, even though we still have to write it down in the eras application?

Hi, Bryan.
Outstanding advice all around, as usual. I think you may even have persuaded my about not including the STEP failures.

Two additional comments to share:
1. DO NOT under ANY circumstances plagiarize your work. It's fairly easy to recognize when the style of the personal statement does not match the writing in the remainder of the application. It's also really simple to google a sentence and find the source that it came from.

2. Before submitting applications to medical school, I was forced by my family to sit with the closest distant relative who was a doctor. He told me that my personal statement (which was indeed personal) would not appeal to all interviewers. He insisted that I rewrite it more generically, to include one paragraph on patient care, one on academics, and one on research, to appeal to everyone. I did, but then rebelled and submitted the one I preferred to half of the schools and the one he liked to the other half. In the end, it didn't seem to matter which one I submitted. I was accepted to the schools I should have been accepted to, and rejected from those who should have rejected me.

What am I saying? I agree with your assertion that a well-written statement that is logical and organized is much more important than creativity or standing out. Don't try to do too much. Keep it simple, logical, and well written, and don't obsess too much more than that.

Hope these additions to your thoughts are helpful!

You've mentioned strong applicants,weak applicants and IMGs. What about fairly strong IMGs (non US)? How far along can I go.

"Drip, drip, drip..." 😂😂

Hi. Thanks for the great video! Do you have any opinions regarding writing about the subspecialty/fellowship you are interested in further down the road when applying to residency (eg talking about the field you want to go into within internal medicine or ob/gyn when applying for residency)?

Sound advices, very systematic and persuasive.

It’d be really helpful to give real personal statements from some applicants, good and bad, as examples.

By the way, how could I have my messages in your Mailbox? 😢😂

I watched this video a couple of times, and took the notes. Just to share the notes, for the purposes of sharing - please add or modify to your liking :)

Why PS?
1, describe personal experience that is not captured elsewhere
2, demonstrate English proficiency and thought process

Dos and Don’ts

1, “Creative”:
Don’t be too “creative”, better be down the earth and truthful.

2, “Personal”:
Don’t be too “personal”, focus on the programs intended and personal qualifications.

3, “Patient presentation”:
Don’t include a “vivid” medical scene and don’t be too self indulgent, focus on the learning experience and personal growth from interacting with patients and medical conditions.

4, “Failures”:
Don’t just write failures especially USMLE, focus on learning from failures and overcome them, turn a failure into growth and maturity.

5, “Program specific”:
Ok with Multiple personal statements, but make sure the RIGHT one goes to the RIGHT program. Each personal statement MUST be UNIQUE for the program that is submitted to.

6, “Multiple pages”:
No multiple pages, keep everything on one, single printed page. No one will read

7, “How to make my PS better?”:
^1. Focus on the future - on what will come and who you will come. ^2. Read the Personal Statement aloud.

Ho can I explain the 13 years since graduation in one page

The only video not plugging!!!

you never miss Bryan!

Beep beep BEEEEEEP, chud uttered it’s over as he took his last breath