Residency applicants have few things under control to improve how their candidacy is looked at. Test scores are important. Higher USMLE step scores will help you get some serious attention. To convert that transient attention to a right impression and then to a lasting inspiration requires some serious thoughts about how you write and what you write in your personal statement. A bad statement will close the deal, and you are out of it. But a thoughtful statement can give you a leverage like nothing else can. It is the only document that comes close to your talking to the Program Director. If it’s executed right, your weaknesses may be ignored, your strengths may cause further awe. So think well of what you say. Here is our idea of how it can be done right. Though not exhaustive, we believe these are important.
- Don’t tell why you chose to be a Doctor
We already know you love the profession. And to state it when you are applying for Residency is not judicious. Leave out the entire part that deals with why you chose to be a Doctor.
2. Tell what is your specialty, and defend why it is
You are applying for a specialization, and tell why you chose it. Give us the events that conspired to making it your desired choice. In the story you tell, let us know what kind of person you are. Whether you love learning and like people, whether you persist and are patient, whether you have initiative and uniqueness, whether you love team or love to work alone. Without your hopes and doubts and fears, your statement is little more than a stale laundry list. This is personality. But personality is to be opened up while narrating your reasons for professional choice. If all you say is your choice, and never give glimpse of whom you are, your essay is cold. But if all you say is your personality, your essay has no reason, no professional direction. Both fail to persuade. In short, in the larger story of how you arrived at your specialization, let us also know what drives you and what you are built of.
3. Don’t state facts, contextualize them
Your externship and clerkship may be important to you, and you might have learned a lot and served much. But if you don’t step back at the event, and tell us what you got out it, it is merely another fact. And it means nothing to the reader. To say that you have done something, and then proceed to give us why it is important to you, and how it shaped your vision, and deepened your understanding, and strengthened your values, the narrated experience comes to us as deep and valuable, and would be valued. Your objective of writing a personal statement is not copy the Resume and put in the essay form. Facts don’t inspire. But contextualizing and getting the reader see the larger picture does.
4. Proofread – grammatical errors indicate a larger problem
When you don’t dot your `i,’ and cross your `t’, and do spell check, you convey that you are careless, and thus can’t be trusted to do a good job. In little things we do, we unconsciously give expression to our larger personality and fundamental philosophy. Let us give expression to our true angels. Be ruthless in removing spelling and formatting errors. Don’t ramble. It shows your mind is disorganized. Don’t write more than you have been asked. It shows you cannot follow instruction. Don’t criticize others. It shows you are a victim of circumstances, and can’t soar above them. Don’t use others template. It robs you of your uniqueness. Don’t dress up the statements with bigger words lifted from thesaurus. You show that you prefer pretended sophistication to simple innocence. Simplicity inspires. Do you say no? Some additional tips that can further help you is here.