attempt and personal statement

[doc0610]

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Hey,
SO, I am sure everyone here would be busy, and this might be the right area to address this, but I didn't know where else to post this. SO, if anyone knows how to address the attempt in their PS and what points to cover, and what are they looking for. Any imput would be appreciated.

Thank you

 

[JustPlainBill]

Well --- the best advice I received when writing mine was to make it such that someone reading it would want to meet you.

I'd be sure to cover briefly what led me into medicine, why I chose FM, cover any record blemishes up front (i.e. from medical school,no further back than that), and what you want to eventually wind up doing in FM.

As far as addressing it i.e. To Whom It May Concern -- didn't use that type of address......

Anyone?

 

[doc0610]

Well --- the best advice I received when writing mine was to make it such that someone reading it would want to meet you.

I'd be sure to cover briefly what led me into medicine, why I chose FM, cover any record blemishes up front (i.e. from medical school,no further back than that), and what you want to eventually wind up doing in FM.

As far as addressing it i.e. To Whom It May Concern -- didn't use that type of address......

Anyone?

hey,

Firstly, thanks for taking the time to reply. Swcondly, sorry if I confused people here. I shoule have written in detail what my questions was. My questions was, " How shoud I write about my USMLE step attempt in my personal statemnt?" How should I bring it up and what should I explain? Should I talk about why I faileD? or just talk about what I learnt? SO, how to tackle a step failure in your personal statement?

Any input regarding that?

Thanks

 

[JustPlainBill]

Ahhh, I get it. Well, that's going to be a little tough --- if you had failed it and then did a retake and passed, that's one thing -- to just outright fail it and leave it out there...I'm not so sure.

Above all, own it, be concise and move on -- no blaming everyone else for your failure -- what I'd be looking for is -- are you mature enough to own your failures, learn from them and then move on without blaming someone else....

 

[doc0610]

Ahhh, I get it. Well, that's going to be a little tough --- if you had failed it and then did a retake and passed, that's one thing -- to just outright fail it and leave it out there...I'm not so sure.

Above all, own it, be concise and move on -- no blaming everyone else for your failure -- what I'd be looking for is -- are you mature enough to own your failures, learn from them and then move on without blaming someone else....

No, I did retake it and passed it. So, just be like, Yes, I have failed, but this is what I did to become better so that it doesn't happen again.

 

[icd22]

I wouldn't write about it in my personal statement. They can ask you during interviews if they care, at which point, focus on what you learned.

 

[doc0610]

I wouldn't write about it in my personal statement. They can ask you during interviews if they care, at which point, focus on what you learned.

They asked me to write about it 🙁 but didn't say what they were looking for. Just that I address it in my PS

 

[FrustratedFamDoc]

Above all, don't lie or try to make things seem more remarkable than they really were. I know this is supposed to go without saying, but you would be surprised at the amount of embellishment that goes in to personal statements. I know, I had to read plenty of them when I did candidate interviews as a chief resident.

If they asked you to wright about it, my best advice would be to be honest about why you failed, own the failure (this is not a crazy ex BF/GF/Roomate's fault), what that failure meant to you, and what you did to correct the situation. In a microcosm, that is essentially what residency is all about.

 

[doc0610]

Above all, don't lie or try to make things seem more remarkable than they really were. I know this is supposed to go without saying, but you would be surprised at the amount of embellishment that goes in to personal statements. I know, I had to read plenty of them when I did candidate interviews as a chief resident.

If they asked you to wright about it, my best advice would be to be honest about why you failed, own the failure (this is not a crazy ex BF/GF/Roomate's fault), what that failure meant to you, and what you did to correct the situation. In a microcosm, that is essentially what residency is all about.

Ok, so if it was because of a personal reason, i.e, family issues should I mention that and say that I couldn't give it my 100% ? Thank you for your input, appreciate it!

 

[FrustratedFamDoc]

You can say whatever you want, I'm just giving you perspective as to how my program, and many others look at applicants who list an excuse for poor exam performance. Everybody's got an excuse. In the end, it speaks towards one's character.

" I underestimated the difficulty of the exam. I blame nobody else but myself, I learned from my mistakes and then rocked it out on my next attempt" goes over a whole lot better than "I was going through a lot of family turmoil at the time which distracted me from giving my best effort. I did much better on my 2nd attempt."

Which applicant would you rather be on call with at 2 am with a critical peds admit, a crashing ICU patient and a soon to be momma at 9cm?

Again, it shows character. Taking ownership for poor performance instead of it being caused by some external force. Of course, if you do take this approach then I really hope that it's the way you feel.

 

[doc0610]

You can say whatever you want, I'm just giving you perspective as to how my program, and many others look at applicants who list an excuse for poor exam performance. Everybody's got an excuse. In the end, it speaks towards one's character.

" I underestimated the difficulty of the exam. I blame nobody else but myself, I learned from my mistakes and then rocked it out on my next attempt" goes over a whole lot better than "I was going through a lot of family turmoil at the time which distracted me from giving my best effort. I did much better on my 2nd attempt."

Which applicant would you rather be on call with at 2 am with a critical peds admit, a crashing ICU patient and a soon to be momma at 9cm?

Again, it shows character. Taking ownership for poor performance instead of it being caused by some external force. Of course, if you do take this approach then I really hope that it's the way you feel.

Thank you so much, I appreciate it!