personal statement for osteopathic TRI when specializing in dermatology

[sunny5]

I would be SO grateful if someone could give me some guidance. I am a D.O. student beginning my fourth year and applying for residencies. As I am sure you are all aware, if I participate in the osteopathic match, I have to "match" into a traditional rotating internship (TRI) and then apply for dermatology during my intern year. My question is this: for my ERAS personal statement when applying for a TRI, do I need to make it generic or more based on dermatology? Most of the TRI's I am applying to also have a dermatology residency there as well. Additionally, in the osteopathic match, most everyone doing a traditional year is wanting to specialize in radiology, anesthesia, derm, or ophthalmology so it is not like students applying for a TRI are going to write in their personal statement, " I have dreamed of doing a TRI since I was a child, etc, etc" if you get my drift so I am not really sure what approach to take on this.

Thanks in advance for any help!

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[asmallchild]

I'm not a D.O. but I used the same personal statement for my internship year as my residency application, seemed to work just fine

 

[Dral]

You can mention derm and do the "I'm so interested in your program because it will provide me with such a great breadth of knowledge and skill set to which I can base my derm training."

Something to that effect will be fine.

Disclaimer: not a DO either and not too familiar with what a TRI entails.

 

[doc MD]

I'm not a D.O. but I used the same personal statement for my internship year as my residency application, seemed to work just fine

i did this too. (note: not a DO either)

 

[xyzyx]

I would be SO grateful if someone could give me some guidance. I am a D.O. student beginning my fourth year and applying for residencies. As I am sure you are all aware, if I participate in the osteopathic match, I have to "match" into a traditional rotating internship (TRI) and then apply for dermatology during my intern year. My question is this: for my ERAS personal statement when applying for a TRI, do I need to make it generic or more based on dermatology? Most of the TRI's I am applying to also have a dermatology residency there as well. Additionally, in the osteopathic match, most everyone doing a traditional year is wanting to specialize in radiology, anesthesia, derm, or ophthalmology so it is not like students applying for a TRI are going to write in their personal statement, " I have dreamed of doing a TRI since I was a child, etc, etc" if you get my drift so I am not really sure what approach to take on this.

Thanks in advance for any help!

agree with above posters. i did not tailor my personal statement when applying to prelim programs. the intern year programs understand that you are interested in another field for your career.

If you have time and want to go the extra mile, then read a bit about each intern year program you are applying to and try to put a blurb at the bottom of your personal statement about why that particular intern year program is of interest to you. (e.g. if you have friends who have gone through that program and had a good experience, if you have a particular tie to the city, etc).

I'd say from talking to other applicants, most people do not spend time tailoring their personal statements to the intern year program. I met maybe just 2 or 3 people who actually edited every single one of their personal statements to each program they applied to. Overachievers.