Should I alter my personal statement to make it more appealing to specific internships?

[Laurenxxxx]

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I'm applying to several undergraduate internships for the summer, in different areas of medicine. They require some sort of personal statement or letter of intent. Here is the issue. If I'm applying to an internship related to, say, surgery, should I change my letter to make it seem like I want to be a surgeon in the future? The truth is I don't, but the intern experience would be amazing. Do you think they pay less attention to people who don't want a future in their field? I don't want them to think I'm not worth accepting because I don't want to be a surgeon, internist, OB/GYN, etc. Maybe I should limit my letters to explaining why I want to go into medicine and keep my specific goals out of it.

So, long story short, do you think a summer undergraduate internship in a specific field is only for people who want a future in that field? Is that what they are expecting of the applicants?

 

[Lucca]

I would think that its for people to gauge interest in the field. Generally, medical internships are not like finance/eng. internships where they expect you to work for the company once its done. I don't see an issue with being up-front and saying you are still exploring and this internship is a great opportunity to find out more about a field you find exciting, etc.

 

[ThisCouldBeYou]

It's an internship, not residency! How do you really know what you want to do until you experience it all?

 

[kyamh]

Typically, you will want to write a separate cover letter for each place you apply to. Although much of what you say will be the same, you should definitely tailor what you say to the program you are applying to.