Hi, there! I'm a medical student from NY applying to IM residency programs this cycle. My husband lives in CA and I was wondering if this is something I should include in my personal statement for CA programs. All of my other educational experience has been in NY and I don't have any other connection to CA in my application. If so, what is the best way to phrase this in the personal statement? Or, is it better to have a general personal statement and contact programs later to tell them about my motivation to move to CA?
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MD ERAS Personal statement- include location preference?
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I'm trying to figure this out now and have emailed a few people so I'll let you know what they say! My SO (a resident) has also emailed people so if either one of us hear back I'll let you know.
Okay so following up.
Heard back from a few deans/PDs today regarding what to do.
Most said not to put it in your personal statement. They said to submit the app and if you don't hear back within a few weeks, shoot an email to the program director and mention your SO being in that city. One faculty said you could include it, but contacting PDs directly is the better route.
So yeah I personally am gonna err on the side of not including it in my personal statement.
Heard back from a few deans/PDs today regarding what to do.
Most said not to put it in your personal statement. They said to submit the app and if you don't hear back within a few weeks, shoot an email to the program director and mention your SO being in that city. One faculty said you could include it, but contacting PDs directly is the better route.
So yeah I personally am gonna err on the side of not including it in my personal statement.
Well I did say only for the CA programs. And you can add it to what you’re looking for in a program.
Yeah I'm not going to put it in my PS even for the city my SO is in because all of the PDs/faculty who are in charge of reviewing apps that I talked to said it would be weird and they advised against it.
I'm not interested in CA though so maybe it's different for that region of the country; I'm just in a similar situation where my SO is in a city I have no other ties to.
But it's a personal decision. I'm just sharing the feedback that I got and the decision I made. What other people do is obviously totally up to them! I'm just not the kinda person who asks for advice which I don't plan on following.
