P.S. and personal info

[sweet n sour]

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yes..I am almost done with my personal statement 🙂 and I keep wondering if it would help or hurt to divulge information about marital status/kids etc. on the P.S.

(From a P.D.'s perspective), do you think

having a kid = too many distractions
and being married = might ask for maternity leave during residency (not that
there can't be single parents... but I'm generalizing here)

Well, the only reason I even want to include all this stuff is because it will help explain the huge gap in my resume.

on the same note, is stating hobbies and such in the P.S. a big no-no ?

 

[beary]

I am applying right now too, so I don't really know what I'm talking about 🙂 , but I generally think that you can't go wrong with being yourself. You are married and have kids, and certainly these things are important to you, so there is absolutely nothing wrong with mentioning them. Especially if you have a gap in your resume that this explains.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

The Dean's Letter will do justice for you when explaining gaps in your training. The personal statement is IMHO not the place to be making excuses for things and asking for understanding. You will have an opportunity to answer questions relating to certain issues during your interviews. Pre-emptively explaining things on your personal statement will have minimal impact.

Program directors read hundreds of personal statements...you don't want to risk having yours stand out in any negative way. That being said, I don't think the personal statement is the make or break part of your application anyway. I see it more as a formality.

Early on in the application process, you want to highlight the positive aspects of your applications...stress things that you have accomplished; don't feel obligated to shine light on deficiencies, no matter what the reasons may be. If it's a big deal, they'll ask you about it in your interview and you can explain this to them in person.

You can mention hobbies in your CAF, I believe. No need to be redundant.

 

[yaah]

You don't want to hide anything, but you also don't have to divulge everything either. There have always been residents with children who perform well, just as there are single residents who slack off.

 

[JaneDough]

Does the format make a difference? We have been told that of the 4 formats (chronologically, thematically, personal story/narrative, structurally) the thematic and personal narrative are the most effective. I am concerned that a PD will read a narrative and think, "Who the he11 writes like this? This isn't a creative writing contest, people!"

I can see how a more creative PS would make an impression, since reading hundreds of similar sounding PS would get really boring, but I don't know this is good "strategery". Is the PS the appropriate place to make a stand-out effort in pathology? I can see how this would help w/ pediatrics or something, but do pathology PDs look at a PS written in that style and get annoyed, or would they find it refreshing?

Am I being obsessive-compulsive again?

 

[yaah]

I dunno. I would tend to recommend not being weird. I guess if you can pull it off, any type of personal statement can be effective. But the thing is, a good personal statement is unlikely to be a huge deciding factor in how they rank you - it will provide good topics of conversation during interview and may get them to remember you, but a weird one may cause problems. I doubt it would unless it was REALLY weird (like stream of consciousness, summoning the spirit of Virchow, or using third person).

 

[JaneDough]

I dunno. I would tend to recommend not being weird. I guess if you can pull it off, any type of personal statement can be effective. But the thing is, a good personal statement is unlikely to be a huge deciding factor in how they rank you - it will provide good topics of conversation during interview and may get them to remember you, but a weird one may cause problems. I doubt it would unless it was REALLY weird (like stream of consciousness, summoning the spirit of Virchow, or using third person).

Maybe I can deliver my personal statement in interpretive dance 😉