Crafting an Effective Personal Statement

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(copied from Kaplan)

Crafting an Effective Personal Statement

Some residency applicants discount the importance of the Personal Statement portion of their applications, or they dash off a version with little regard to style or content. Some struggle at length with decisions about what to include and how to avoid sounding corny. Still others just write a brief autobiography, believing that programs will really focus on is their test scores, the Dean's letter and their letters of recommendation. Each of these approaches falls short, probably because most applicants don't understand the purpose of the Personal Statement and how it can help them win an interview invitation.

Who Reads It?
Program staff must sort through enormous numbers of application packets to determine whom they will invite for interviews. In many programs, the clerical staff makes initial decisions about applicants, sorting them into groups based on test scores and overall strength. Program Directors must then review these groupings, trying to assess candidates with very similar records and deciding on a smaller number to invite for interviews. After weeks of evaluating Dean's letters, recommendation letters and transcript information, an interesting Personal Statement can catch the eye and heighten the Program Director's interest in meeting an applicant face-to-face. A weak Personal Statement makes it easy for the Program Director to eliminate that candidate from contention.

Tips
Of all the sections of the residency application (ERAS or paper format), the Personal Statement section is the only opportunity to give the program a sense of your history, your personality and your professional goals. When a number of applicants look similar based on their academic records and USMLE scores, a good Personal Statement can showcase an applicant's uniqueness and capture the interest of prospective interviewers.

Here are some tips to help you craft an effective Personal Statement:

1. Give yourself weeks to work on your Personal Statement. This essay is far too important to leave to the last minute.

2. Follow the directions for the Personal Statement in terms of length, font, etc.

3. Re-work your draft several times until it truly says what you want it to say and flows smoothly from start to finish. Read it out loud to see if it flows.

4. Describe a personal experience (mentor, patient case) to illustrate why the specialty appeals to you rather than generically listing the field's attributes.

5. Think carefully about what you want to highlight. Each aspect you cite should serve as evidence that you possess a certain skill or ability desired in residents of the specialty you have chosen. Don't write a chronological autobiography.

6. Try to let some of your personality show through your prose. However, don't try to be too dramatic, comedic, or poetic. This isn't a creative writing assignment.

7. If you feel it is absolutely necessary, put a bad grade or other "weak" point in perspective by stating extenuating circumstances and what positives you learned from the experience. Remember that highlighting a negative draws attention to it. If you're going to do this, put it somewhere in the middle of the essay.

8. Near the end, summarize the strengths and skills you can bring to the position if selected.

9. Include something about your long-term goals and interests and any specific training opportunities you are interested in (research, patient education, etc.)

10. Show your final draft to several people whose writing skills and knowledge of NRMP you respect and revise as needed.

* Be sure to use your spellchecker!