Personal Statement for Fellowships

[golgi]

How important is the personal statement when applying to an ophtho fellowship?

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[mnyk2002]

bump

 

[Jaded Soul]

First post in the long time...

There was a paper session at ARVO this year discussing the importance of certain elements of the application to vitreoretinal vs anterior segment (glaucoma, cornea) fellowship program directors.

Personal statement was near the bottom. At the top were communication skills and impression at the interview. Personal phone calls and identity of letter writers were also identified as important. Other things mentioned as not being particularly important were: possession of other advanced degrees (i.e. PhD, MBA), residency program, and OKAP scores.

You can look up the abstract on the ARVO 2008 site:
Program#/Poster#: 2050
Abstract Title: Comparison of the Criteria for Selecting Retina versus Anterior Segment Ophthalmology Fellows

 

[orbitsurgMD]

How important is the personal statement when applying to an ophtho fellowship?

Probably not much. The decision to do a fellowship ought to arise from a particular interest in the subspecialty, so having a faculty member write a LOR on your behalf attesting to your interest and commitment would mean more.

Be frank about your interests. If you have a research area that interests you, say so, even if you know the reader may not share the same degree of interest in the subject. Don't be too wordy--that just wastes time. All you are trying for is an invitation for the interview.

 

[akademix]

I would say it's important. At universities, several competitive courses do not interview and have far more folks than areas they need accessible, all with similar grades. the non-public statement facilitate to arranged the candidates. So i think fellowship is very important for you.

Guy on probationary status revives a 6 year old thread with a post that's tough to decipher...come on lol.

Edit: looks like he's advertising, linking to some outside source for fellowship essays writing...

I think it's been adequately addressed above and the thread can be locked?