Personal Statement Question

[Dufrane]

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I'm back with another question for the psych experts. Thanks to all you out there who offered sound advise and especially words of encouragement after my last post even if the thread took an unexpected sharp turn, offended age-old sensitivities, and all in all degenerated into a strange pissing contest.....(hope I'm not starting anything again!!! 🙁)

I was just wondering about the length of the personal statement. I know for all other specialties it's basically one page. I'd heard that personal statements tend to be longer in psych. Is this true? And will ERAS allow for 2 pages for the psych personal statement? Or is it the same standard space of the equivalent of one page for all specialties? Thanks....

 

[musm2008]

ERAS allows 28,000 characters and I don't think it matters for what specialty.

 

[OldPsychDoc]

As I said in this thread (post #7), 4 paragraphs is plenty.
Basically, your interviewers just don't want to have to read much more than that.

 

[jjbmsiv]

Basically, your interviewers just don't want to have to read much more than that.

Quoted for absolute truth. If it's longer than a page, many folks will just read your first and last paragraph, or they may not read it all. You have every right to be offended by this, but you also should pay some notice and realize that this is, unfortunately, reality. Good luck!

 

[billypilgrim37]

original poster was referring to the "I heart vs I hate" osteopaths thread last week.

 

[PsychMD2100]

Relax, I don't plan on bringing up osteopaths

More than any other medical specialty, psych is a field that values the personal statement. Since so much of what we do involves subjective intangibles, a personal statement is a useful glimpse of an applicant.

Although keeping to 1 page is important, I would not necessarily make this a firm rule. Keep in mind that psych applicants often have "nontraditional" backgrounds. These backgrounds require elaboration and they are sometimes the only things that make an applicant unique. Cutting a statement down to 1 page can cut away the edge that an applicant has.

A couple examples are applicants who have had personal DSM-IV diagnoses themselves, done prior residency programs, or have prior mental health experience (LCSW) before med school.

It's all in the presentation. Some of the best personal statements I've read have been a couple pages in length. Also, some of the worst ones have been lengthy. Run your statement through a series of trusted readers. They'll help you with the length of your statement.