Personal Statement advice

[JustSomePreMed]

I think one of the biggest humps to get over in the whole application process, for some reason, is starting/developing/perfecting my personal statement. It's difficult for me to really start to map it out, and I really don't feel like there's one single "aha!" moment that led me to derm, but rather a series of experiences little by little over the course of a couple years, but which may be difficult to outline in story format or whatever.

Can any current residents or previous applicants share some tips for writing a PS? Basically the recommendation I've been given by administrators is "don't worry about making it cutesy like a lot of people do for med school PS's, just make it 'fit in' with everyone else's", but I'm not even really sure how to do that without losing any sense of personality/identity.

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[311]

start early, get feedback, multiple drafts. I think I probably had about 20 drafts before I was happy with mine. consider having a non-medical person look at it preferably a literary savvy one, that can help with rephrasing sentences, etc. had an english prof look at mine, tweaked a couple sentences and it was well worth it

 

[SierraPoppa]

I agree with the above... MULTIPLE drafts. I probably reworked mine for 3 weeks before I was happy with it. I had to put it down for a day at a time or so and come back to it, then I'd see some glaring problem.

Have more than one person proofread it for you and integrate your feedback. Try not to give it to someone who's going to give you the "Oh, I think it's nice!" line. You want someone who's going to say "this part sounds stupid and this other part is confusing".

General rules:
1) Keep it to one page.
2) Opening paragraph should be the most amazing story you can come up with about yourself. You can bend just about any experience to fit medicine... your goal is to keep the reader interested even if yours is the 100th he's read that day. My opening paragraph had nothing to do with medicine but it was an f'ing amazing story and every single interviewer asked me about it before I even started talking.
3) Line breaks. Use them. You don't want one full page with 2 paragraphs. That looks like an oppressive wall of text.
4) Summarize without sounding like a third grader in your last paragraph. You don't want to just repeat earlier ideas verbatim... come up with a new way to approach something you've already said.

 

[JustSomePreMed]

Thanks for the help so far, you two. I think SP's advice is more along the lines of the kinds of things I'm concerned about the moment (i.e. overall content, what to include, how to begin it, how to formulate a narrative in an interesting-yet-not-annoying way). Not to say that your input isn't helpful too, 311! Those are the kinds of things I will need to think about once I actually have something worthwhile down on paper.

 

[Dral]

Multiple drafts...write, leave it, come back a few days later, rework...repeat.

Keep it short. I was complimented by someone on the trail because mine was a decent amount less than one page printed.

 

[sensitive skin]

Agree with all of the above.

Best advice I was given by a first author of one of the "bible" derm textbooks...write a story that does not include anything in your CV.

 

[Jeroboam]

agree with above.

also, the "I" factor is important. your objective is to use "I" as few times as possible. in my personal statment, "I' was used fewer than 5 times.

 

[JustSomePreMed]

Wow, thanks for the great input guys!

One more concern I have is that, to date, I don't have a ton of research (did a little non-derm research between M1/M2, and am doing some derm research currently). With so much emphasis seemingly placed on wanting to pursue academics and such, I don't know how to spin my LOR. I actually do enjoy medical dermatology and would greatly prefer this to having some sort of cosmetic practice or whatever. I think ideally I would like to deal with a lot of general medical dermatology, either in a large academic setting or in an underserved area similar to my upbringing. I realize these are two very different career paths, but the unifying theme for me is helping people who 1) have difficult dermatological problems that cause them significant morbidity and 2) are at a relative disadvantage as far as healthcare access is concerned (rural underserved is obvious, and many/most patients at my large academic institution are underserved/poor).

Anyway, I feel like it would be disingenuous to flaunt an unrelenting desire to pursue research for my career since I have much less on my resume than many other applicants, even though research is something I would like to continue to participate in in some capacity in the future. In your personal statement, it's often recommended to mention how you see yourself practicing dermatology, or at least the general direction you would like to take, and I'm kind of torn as far as describing what I want without looking like I'm just pandering to what others want to hear.

 

[SierraPoppa]

Wow, thanks for the great input guys!

One more concern I have is that, to date, I don't have a ton of research (did a little non-derm research between M1/M2, and am doing some derm research currently). With so much emphasis seemingly placed on wanting to pursue academics and such, I don't know how to spin my LOR. I actually do enjoy medical dermatology and would greatly prefer this to having some sort of cosmetic practice or whatever. I think ideally I would like to deal with a lot of general medical dermatology, either in a large academic setting or in an underserved area similar to my upbringing. I realize these are two very different career paths, but the unifying theme for me is helping people who 1) have difficult dermatological problems that cause them significant morbidity and 2) are at a relative disadvantage as far as healthcare access is concerned (rural underserved is obvious, and many/most patients at my large academic institution are underserved/poor).

Anyway, I feel like it would be disingenuous to flaunt an unrelenting desire to pursue research for my career since I have much less on my resume than many other applicants, even though research is something I would like to continue to participate in in some capacity in the future. In your personal statement, it's often recommended to mention how you see yourself practicing dermatology, or at least the general direction you would like to take, and I'm kind of torn as far as describing what I want without looking like I'm just pandering to what others want to hear.

I didn't say much of anything in mine about how I expected to be practicing "10 years out" or anything like that. I focused on how awesome I was (in an understated way), and how interested I was in derm. Most programs asked me about what I wanted to do in the actual interview.
I'm also planning on doing general derm in a rural area, which I freely shared in interviews. Do be careful though, because believe it or not that's a great way to make a boatload of cash in derm and you don't want to give off that vibe (I had no problem with this, just something to keep in mind).
I had no research at all. I did one case report that didn't get published by any journals. I was able to put it on my ERAS because it was "in submission." Most programs didn't ask me about research, and when they did I just pointed out that I hadn't done much so far but felt like residency might be a good time for me to pursue it more aggressively.

 

[JustSomePreMed]

Very helpful advice guys, thanks so much.

Another question: I'm not looking for anyone to write my PS here for me or anything, but what kinds of qualities or characteristics about the field did you guys list or explore as primarily attracting you to dermatology? When I read what I have down so far for my PS, I find that the thoughts fit into two categories:
1. Cheesy as hell (skin allows for simple visual observation to make a lot of diagnoses, it crosses all aspects of medicine, skin disease can be an external manifestation of an internal process, story about a meaningful patient encounter)

2. Vague and can be applied to most fields, and thus don't really help explain specifically why derm.

I love derm, but I have a hard time articulating it in a way that doesn't sound canned and cheesy. I love the patients and the intellectual challenge of seeing a cutaneous lesion in front of me and trying to discern its morphology and construct a differential. I love that patients can see the same thing we see, and can also see themselves improve, literally. But it seems difficult to lay that all out in a way that sounds genuine and original.

Any ideas?

 

[sore eye asses]

Rather than trying to describe all the reasons why you love skin, why not try the inverse?

Say that you are something of a skin whisperer. That you can feel it's inner needs and have means of communicating with it that go beyond mere words and gestures.

This way you can say that you've polled skin, and skin really likes you. Say that you want to like skin too; you'd like to give back to an organ that really likes having you around.

If I were a PD, I'd want to interview somebody who I believed had a secret connection with skin.

 

[Dral]

Rather than trying to describe all the reasons why you love skin, why not try the inverse?

Say that you are something of a skin whisperer. That you can feel it's inner needs and have means of communicating with it that go beyond mere words and gestures.

This way you can say that you've polled skin, and skin really likes you. Say that you want to like skin too; you'd like to give back to an organ that really likes having you around.

If I were a PD, I'd want to interview somebody who I believed had a secret connection with skin.

"...I cannot go to the beach like my other friends, for when I do, I am deafened by the screams of millions of others' skin cells being exposed to the sun's cruel harsh rays. I am....the skin whisperer."

OP can use that one no charge.

 

[sore eye asses]

"...I cannot go to the beach like my other friends, for when I do, I am deafened by the screams of millions of others' skin cells being exposed to the sun's cruel harsh rays. I am....the skin whisperer."

OP can use that one no charge.

Yeah, and also say that you routinely talk to ball skin, and it has said it's sad about being so thin. Say that it longs to be like back skin. Explain that you've found a way to get ball skin as thick as back skin, but don't tell them how! Just tell them you know the secret. They'll invite you for sure because everyone wants to know how to make ball skin more like back skin. It's one of the derm holy grails, like targeted melanoma therapy.

 

[SamuMedic]

Yeah, and also say that you routinely talk to ball skin, and it has said it's sad about being so thin. Say that it longs to be like back skin. Explain that you've found a way to get ball skin as thick as back skin, but don't tell them how! Just tell them you know the secret. They'll invite you for sure because everyone wants to know how to make ball skin more like back skin. It's one of the derm holy grails, like targeted melanoma therapy.

LOL

Need your wisdom on female applicants.

 

[sore eye asses]

Much like the feminine mind, lady skin is impossible to understand and cannot be reasoned with. At least it smells nice, unless it's old. Then it just smells old.

 

[Dral]

A thesis type PS about the skin/mind connection could pique some interest. I have listened and I know that when skin is angry, it becomes eczematous, sadness is expressed as urticaria, happiness is spongiotic derm. Teen angst is of course acne, but it doesn't take a skin whisperer to figure out that one.

 

[scummie]

Much like the feminine mind, lady skin is impossible to understand and cannot be reasoned with. At least it smells nice, unless it's old. Then it just smells old.

I just wanted to tell you that I just got your screen name. For the longest time, I was like, "Whoa dude...Can't believe they let him keep a name like that." And then we had a lecture on psoriasis and the professor was foreign. Made total sense after that.

And I'm going to be a doctor one day...Scary.

 

[Sailor Senshi Dermystify]

I just wanted to tell you that I just got your screen name. For the longest time, I was like, "Whoa dude...Can't believe they let him keep a name like that." And then we had a lecture on psoriasis and the professor was foreign. Made total sense after that.

And I'm going to be a doctor one day...Scary.

SInce you pointed out his name, lol, I also just understood what his name means, lol. It is really psoriasis but I was reading it as Sore Eye Asses, lol. I didn't really get it but I do now!