Does anyone think there is any benefit to writing an institution-specific personal statment for programs that one is especially interested in? Like throwing in 3-4 sentences describing why I am interested in program X?
I think it is definetly worthwhile, as long as you limit it to a few programs. In fact, there are a few programs who request such a paragraph in the personal statement.
I only found out one could do this after I submitted my ERAS. Yes, it's still not too late to update my PS, but I put so much blood, sweat, and tears into my PS that I don't feal like going back and changing it. If I'm particularly interested in a program or two (or three), I'll write their PD a letter or email in early November. I was told it wouldn't hurt.