the PS

[smoochia]

Hi hi,

I'm a fourth-year MS applying in anesthesia. This forum is great--your candid and thoughtful posts are a gold mine!

Ah, the residency application process..I am having a tough time writing my personal statement. I feel incredibly run-of-the-mill when I think of the reasons of why I love anesthesia--don't we all love it for the same reasons, because of the things that distinguish it from other specialties? And yet, I've heard that you don't want to stand out because most statements (>95%) that do are bad-unusual, not good-unusual. I have no idea how to convey my personality and strengths.

And how much does the personal statement contribute to our application? Do we get weeded out from being interviewed based on this?

Thanks very much, in advance. I really appreciate any advice!

~~Smoochia

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[UTSouthwestern]

Had a long reply typed out and the program froze during the reply process.

To recap, last year, I read more than a dozen personal statements and the ones that tried to force humor or use a theme that didn't match the tenor of the letter really stood out badly. However, I still remember those statements for better or worse. The ones that stood out in a positive way were ones that incorporated humor, maintained a consistent tenor throughout the letter, and most importantly flowed from paragraph to paragraph. Nothing is more frustrating that reading a letter that seems to jump back and forth between topics/segments of your life/career.

If you are good at incorporating humor or allegories or other literary devices into your writing, by all means do so. If you are a novice or are unsure how to this, have someone else read your statement and read your statement aloud by yourself and ask yourself would you want to take credit for this piece of literary work (or crap as it may be)?

Don't force something that doesn't want to be included and don't try to put everything from your past into that one page statement. Pull the interesting parts of your past and those experiences you want to relay to the reader, create groups to subdivide them into, and that should give you enough of an outline to get started on writing the statement.

Most statements fall into along the lines of the following:

I. My past
II. My expierences
III. Wax poetic on anesthesiology
IV. Why I will be a great anesthesiologist and why I will stay in academics
V. Conclusions

That is all fine and swell but try to inject some character into the statement if you can. Talk about yourself personally. Are you funny, sad, dour, serious, gung ho, lazy (alright maybe leave that out), a sportsperson, driven, married, single, polygamist, trained in another discipline or background (law enforcement, business, law, etc.), etc.

Make the reader want to keep reading the statement and make it as memorable as you can without trying to force it. It isn't easy and you may go through three or four versions before you are satisfied, but the exercise itself will help organize your thoughts for the interview process in which your past may be picked apart/examined by the interviewer.

 

[SleepyTime]

ERAS has section on previous work and volunteer experience. How do you feel when an applicant restates some of his/her info from the work and volunteer experience sections in their personal statement. Also is 1.5 pages too long?

 

[UTSouthwestern]

ERAS has section on previous work and volunteer experience. How do you feel when an applicant restates some of his/her info from the work and volunteer experience sections in their personal statement. Also is 1.5 pages too long?

That's fine to restate some of the info, if you feel that it will help the flow and content of your personal statement. Just don't use it as "filler" information in your statement.

1.5 pages is OK. I wouldn't go a line over that however.

 

[SleepyTime]

Much appreciated .