Essay

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Question:

My friend was helping out with my personal statement, and he has a different background than me (consulting/management). One point he made that struck home was that I hadn't wrote about what I wanted from the residency, b/c I agree - if I was evaluating an applicant, I'd want to know what she wanted from my program.

I'm not sure exactly how to talk about it, b/c rad-onc is so hard and I don't want to alienate programs. For example, if I say I want to learn in an urban academic center, I've singled out Mayo and Beaumont as not being ideal (which isn't true, they'd be awesome). Or, if I say I want high volumes of brachy, there's only a few places that do that.

1) How are you all addressing this?
2) Am I being silly to think the essay matters this much?

Simul
 
I think essays do matter, but of course how much it matters depends on 1) the particular admissions committee, and its members, 2) whether you have a good 'story' to tell.

I've also heard that it's a good idea to write about what you want to get out of a training program... but I didn't, and I was fine. I focused on why I wanted to be a rad onc, and talked about all my experiences that led me to think this is the right field for me. For my particular essay, adding an additional paragraph talking about what I wanted from training programs just didn't "fit."

If you wanted to write about what types of training programs suit you well, but don't want to alienate other programs... one option is to write separate personal statements. All you would have to do is change the paragraph about what you are looking for in a program, so it wouldn't end up being that much work. Some people on this forum have talked about this, writing different personal statements to target particular programs. I think there is a discussion somewhere about whether this is necessary.

good luck!

p.s. how is it that you have 100+ posts, but are just applying now? Man, some people are so ahead of the game 🙂
 
Thanks for your help! Btw, what does this mean:

"p.s. how is it that you have 100+ posts, but are just applying now? Man, some people are so ahead of the game 🙂"

Later,
Simul
 
while your friend has an interesting point, I think you need to be very careful. its a buyers market right now; that is THEY can pick and choose, not you. the last thing you want to do is tell the programs out there that they might not have what you would like. These essays do matter. Remember if there are 10 guys with CVs like youre (and there will be) dont give them a reason not to interview you. If you put in anything in a "what Im looking for" way, make it something that wont alienate anyone. something everyone flatters themself on offering. But frankly I would just be careful on this. I dont think we took anyone because we were impressed with what THEY were looking for in a program.
 
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