aPD,Should I mention about my stammering in my PS?

[winner123]

I am an IMG and I have had a problem of stammering since my childhood.
I mostly had problems in initiating the conversation.
It created hurdles at each and every point of my life.
It many times made me feel very low.
But, I have now overcome this problem a lot ,say, 90 out of 100.
So as to hide this problem I worked very hard to improve my english accent.With my improved accent I feel a lot more confident now.
I must admit that when I appeared in my CS exam first time in 2007,I had a lot of difficulty in starting the conversation in that highly intense exam environment.I stuttered a lot and I knew I would fail and I failed in all the three Step-2CS subcomponents. .I even thought of leaving my CS exam midway.
On my second attempt at CS I did great as I had taken lots of Step-2CS practice exams with the live SP's.I practiced very hard.I started my conversation with the monosyllabic word "hi" instead of the bisyllabic word "hello".I avoided heavy polysyllabic words.I never stuttered during any patient encounter and I passed.
Now, in order to explain my attempt in CS can I make a mention about this horrible problem of stammering in my Personal Statement. What effect will it have?
Sir,this is the first time I have revealed about my ordeal on any forum.I had always wished not to let anyone know about this,but my failure in Step-2CS is making me do so.
Thanks and Great Regards!

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[NotAProgDirector]

The simple answer is "it depends".

I think that if you write a PS about how you had an obstacle (stuttering) that you've found ways to overcome and how that's affected your choices in medicine, that could be a great PS. In that PS, you would only make a passing reference to your CS failure as an example of how your stuttering got in the way of your dreams.

If you write a PS all about your CS failure, or if you try to make excuses, or try to suggest that this "isn't fair", etc, that would be a bad idea.

 

[DarthNeurology]

Now, in order to explain my attempt in CS can I make a mention about this horrible problem of stammering in my Personal Statement. What effect will it have?
Sir,this is the first time I have revealed about my ordeal on any forum.I had always wished not to let anyone know about this,but my failure in Step-2CS is making me do so.
Thanks and Great Regards!

I think it would be ok to talk about in the personal statement as it makes your story to become a practicing doctor more human in a way, and it does explain fairly well the Step 2 CS situation. You should be clear that you overcame it mostly, and if you stutter during interviews then at least you showed that you acknowledge that you need to work on changing that I guess.

 

[winner123]

The simple answer is "it depends".

I think that if you write a PS about how you had an obstacle (stuttering) that you've found ways to overcome and how that's affected your choices in medicine, that could be a great PS. In that PS, you would only make a passing reference to your CS failure as an example of how your stuttering got in the way of your dreams.

If you write a PS all about your CS failure, or if you try to make excuses, or try to suggest that this "isn't fair", etc, that would be a bad idea.

Thanks aPD and Darth for your valuable and expert guidance.
I recently got my first interview invitation from a university affiliated IM program.
I composed my PS keeping in view the guidelines mentioned above by aPD and Darth.
Thanks again both of u.
Great Regards!

 

[energy_girl]

From the perspective of a PWS (person who stutters) and resident, I think the more transparent you make your stuttering, the better. It makes you more human, and reduces the pressure to NOT stutter, which is part of the pathology that makes stuttering worse.

I mentioned stuttering in some of my interviews, and the interviewers responded positively--especially because I phrased it in the positive (that stuttering makes me more empathetic, stronger, more focused on communication, etc). It also reduced pressure to "sound" fluent, and instead of focusing on fluency, I focused on content.

Good luck! There are many PWS in every field, including medicine!

 

[winner123]

From the perspective of a PWS (person who stutters) and resident, I think the more transparent you make your stuttering, the better. It makes you more human, and reduces the pressure to NOT stutter, which is part of the pathology that makes stuttering worse.

I mentioned stuttering in some of my interviews, and the interviewers responded positively--especially because I phrased it in the positive (that stuttering makes me more empathetic, stronger, more focused on communication, etc). It also reduced pressure to "sound" fluent, and instead of focusing on fluency, I focused on content.

Good luck! There are many PWS in every field, including medicine!

Thanks indeed for responding !
It is really helpful to get a feedback from the one who him/herself had this problem.
Yes, absolutely,the pressure of not to stutter makes the stuttering worse.
I also think that if I mention it to program faculty at the time of IVs I will be removing from myself the burden of constantly hiding this problem from everyone if I match in any of those programs.
Thanks and Best Regards!