Personal Statement

[Hop Toad]

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How important is this? Is the main objective to land an interview? After you have had an interview and hopefully made a positive impresssion do you think the final group that decides who they want looks at them again?

How important do you feel it is in being granted an interview? More or less than scores, marks, AOA, etc.

Thanks.......

 

[ckent]

For interviews, someone told me that most programs accept 1/4-1/2 of all interviewees. Then I've heard from the former upperclassmen at my school that interviews are really laid back and that they imagined that they didn't count for much (no one seemed to actually be evaluating them), so I don't know why they would invite so many people to interview and then not accept most of them unless they were actually evaluating them. For your personal statement, I've just heard that you shouldn't write it like you wrote you med school essay. The idea is not to stand out, don't try to be funny, don't try to be too unique. You just want to look like your a good, caring person who really wants to be a doctor and train at their program. Personal statements don't make, and usually don't break applications. Of course the better your personal statement is written, the more likely they are to accept you since that's part of your overall picture so it's not something that I would blow off, but it's not something that I think you need to have professionally done either (unless your a really bad writer). Don't talk about how important your outside life or family life is either, that will probably just tell program directors that you plan to take off whenever you can (this last sentence is my opinion, but the rest I've heard from senior people or read).

 

[seattledoc]

I've been on the side of deciding who we wanted as residents and we definitely looked at the personal statement after the interviews were done. In fact, the faculty and residents had an evening of food and drink and flashed peoples pictures up on the overhead, each resident and faculty that interviewed them chimed in and their scores and PS were addressed and then we fit them into the rank list. So the PS matters, but it is just part of the picture. By the way, this was a family practice residency and things likely differ greatly in different specialties.

 

[edfig99]

The interview is singularly the most important component of residency application - more than board scores, AOA, dean's letter. The PS is what hooks someone into inviting you to interview earlier in the season versus inviting you later in the season.

Programs are getting tons of applications for a very limited number of positions, and most people in med school are equally qualified. Unfortunately, time does not allow them to interview all applicants so you come up with some arbitrary screening tool where you maybe base things on some combo of board scores and the dean's letter code word.

That being said, all applications end up being screened by a human being and so your PS has to cater to that human component -- it has to be something that says "****...this person's interesting, I want them to interview for this residency and see what they're about...they might have something to contribute to this place." granted, you hope other elements of your application make you look attractive, but take it from me, everyone looks exactly the same on paper. I wouldn't lose sleep over the PS, but I think it's worth putting some time and uniqueness into it.

One guy I interviewed for residency I invited purely on the basis of the first line of his PS, and to this day I still remember it.

--ed

 

[Winged Scapula]

Tough question because the answer varies from PD to PD.

I know for a fact that my personal statement made a difference because I was told at several programs that I was invited because of my interesting statement. These PDs obviously had read my statement because they paraphrased lengthy parts of it (without it right in front of them).

Then again, at another program I was told, in effect, "this is &*^^& surgery, not a &^%^$ english composition". 🙄

I think that for most the personal statement does not make a significant difference in your application. However, a great personal statement can make people take a second look at you that they might not have otherwise and an awful, illegible or incomprehensible statement can hurt an otherwise good application.

 

[Scrubbs]

Originally posted by ckent
For interviews, someone told me that most programs accept 1/4-1/2 of all interviewees. Then I've heard from the former upperclassmen at my school that interviews are really laid back and that they imagined that they didn't count for much (no one seemed to actually be evaluating them)

Just wanted to comment... Interviews ARE very laid back, in general. I assume it varies by specialty, but most of my friends had similar experiences to mine (EM). If you are granted an interview, it means that you are qualified to be in their program - going by the numbers. Therefore, everyone who interviews is sort of on equal ground. A lot of my interviews were more to see if I "clicked" with the program - on a personal level. Was there a rapport? Would I get along well with the other residents and attendings? After all, programs don't want to accept people that they won't enjoy working with, right?

Of course, this is a two way street. You should be looking for the same thing in your interviews. My "gut reaction" to a program really was a HUGE part of my rank list. You are going to spend more time than you can imagine working with these people... you want to find a program were you feel comfortable with your colleagues. Residency is hard, try to find a place you'll be happy (location, PD, residents)!

 

[Arch Guillotti]

I met recently with a PD of a very highly touted competitive residency (top 10 in country). He specifically downplayed the reasoning in Iserson's book about the PS being run of the mill. This PD reads them all, looking for anything interesting. He specifically said they look for interesting statements. I would not do something really weird, but I wouldn't be afraid to go out on a limb either.

Arch

 

[BellKicker]

Originally posted by edfig99

One guy I interviewed for residency I invited purely on the basis of the first line of his PS, and to this day I still remember it.

--ed

Oh, come on! Let's hear it!🙂