Late ERAS submission vs sub-optimal PS?

[DM13]

Hey guys. Long-time lurker but posting for the first time - I really appreciate the help!

I'm an allopathic medical student applying for IM with a good Step 1/very good clinical grades/two extremely strong LORs uploaded and hopefully a strong chairman letter coming soon. I've been seriously stuck with my PS for months and for reasons that are completely my fault, am not sure I will be able to get a faculty member to review my last-minute current draft and give their input.

I understand that in general, the earlier the ERAS submission, the better. My question is, if I have to choose between a not-so-great PS (free of spelling/grammatical errors but not the strongest and only reviewed by myself and peers/family) and submitting ERAS on 9/15, or waiting a few days to polish the PS and get some good feedback/editing, which would be preferable? At this point, I guess I want to have a sense of what would be the "worst of two evils."

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[gutonc]

Hey guys. Long-time lurker but posting for the first time - I really appreciate the help!

I'm an allopathic medical student applying for IM with a good Step 1/very good clinical grades/two extremely strong LORs uploaded and hopefully a strong chairman letter coming soon. I've been seriously stuck with my PS for months and for reasons that are completely my fault, am not sure I will be able to get a faculty member to review my last-minute current draft and give their input.

I understand that in general, the earlier the ERAS submission, the better. My question is, if I have to choose between a not-so-great PS (free of spelling/grammatical errors but not the strongest and only reviewed by myself and peers/family) and submitting ERAS on 9/15, or waiting a few days to polish the PS and get some good feedback/editing, which would be preferable? At this point, I guess I want to have a sense of what would be the "worst of two evils."

Your PS should literally take no more than 3 hours to write and revise. If it's like 90% of the rest of them, there's nothing interesting in it anyway and you just need to make sure you spellcheck it. If it's part of the 5% that are truly interesting (which doesn't come from the actual writing, but from the experience that led up to it), then it basically writes itself and should take even less time. If it's part of the 5% that appear to have been written by a dsylexic 3rd grader...yeah, maybe wait on that.

 

[emkayveedee]

Personal statements can be edited at any point in the application process per ERAS.

FAQ for ERAS Residency Applicants

 

[DM13]

Wow, good to know! I can't believe I missed that in the ERAS 101 stuff I've been through! I thought that LoRs were the only things that could trickle in late. Though I imagine that if a PD were to look at a PS and then see later that it had been revised, they might be a bit confused...

And regarding gutonc's comment -- I'm sure you're right about the PS. I've been trying to craft something that is interesting / brings out my personality / isn't a complete snooze-fest, but I've (clearly) been struggling. At this point I'm going with solid, boring, and on-time

Thanks for the prompt replies!

 

[mvenus929]

If it's part of the 5% that are truly interesting (which doesn't come from the actual writing, but from the experience that led up to it), then it basically writes itself and should take even less time. If it's part of the 5% that appear to have been written by a dsylexic 3rd grader...yeah, maybe wait on that.

FWIW, I've had multiple people, at my program and on interviews tell me that I am a very good writer and they enjoyed reading my PS. My experiences aren't that unique, but I spun them in a way that made my PS interesting.