ERAS Personal Statement

[DireWolf]

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Any opinions on the best way to approach this?

I've heard from quite a few people that only one personal statement is adequate to submit in ERAS.

Another strategy I've heard is to tweak your original draft, make it program-specific, then submit a slightly different personal statement to each program.

The latter seems like a lot of unnecessary work, but some people swear by it.

 

[Harrie]

I wouldn't tweak it for each program unless you are only applying to a few. I think the only reason to write more than one is if you are applying to two different specialties.
I guess you could also write one for academic programs and one for community programs, but that seems excessive to me.

 

[Hercules]

I wouldn't dream of writing multiple versions. One was more than enough for me. I also didn't feel the PS carried enough weight in the process to justify spending a ton of time on it.

 

[southerndoc]

I have a feeling that PD's will see you as fake if you write individual personal statements for each program. They will assume that you did that for every program, that you mentioned how much you wanted to match at said program, etc.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Individualized PS seems a bit much. I wrote two as I was applying for two specialties, but they were essentially the same, just with some significant changes.

 

[retroviridae]

I only did a separate one for U. Hawai'i (they wanted to know exactly why you wanted to go to Hawai'i ... duh!!!!).

Remember, there is always the risk that you select the wrong personal statement to go to the wrong program ... that would be bad. You laugh, but it happens all the time ... even to the extent that people send a personal statement for not just the wrong program but the wrong specialty! Oops!