Time to Get Personal: Tips for the Personal Statement.
This post is for personal statements and residency. If you are a prospective medical student and need help writing a personal statement for your medical school application, then I recommend you check out Dr. Shemmassian's blog with The Ultimate Guide to writing a personal statement for medical school.
After finishing Step 2 CK and getting a passing score, I have found myself with more time. The nice thing about electives without the pressure of testing is that you can go in depth with certain topics related to your rotation without feeling like you have other subjects to study. Currently, I am in a pathology elective which has plenty of downtime. I have found that I enjoy looking at pathology slides even if I have no clue sometimes what I am looking at under the microscope. The elective is a good one for anyone who needs additional study time, but I am glad to have this type of downtime when I am not pressured to study for an exam. Currently, I spend my days working on my personal statement, looking for volunteer opportunities to keep engaged with the community, and working on studying Obgyn topics related to the pathology cases I have seen. It has been a great two weeks.
Next month, I will be doing a breast surgery elective. It will be my first time venturing outside of the Atlanta Medical Center hospital system as I will be rotating at Mt. Sinai in Chicago during August. Although I am not looking forward to being away from my family for the month, I am looking forward to growing as a medical student and hopefully networking with the Ob-Gyn residents there to learn more about the residency application processes I am heading into this fall. I wanted to take time today to talk start talking about one part of the residency application – the personal statement.
The Personal Statement
The personal statement is something I started working on one year ago when I decided that Ob-Gyn was the fit for me and that I wanted to capture a way to gauge how I’ve grown over the last year. The personal statement I wrote a year ago is barely recognizable from the final draft that I have today. One book that I have used extensively has been The Successful Match 2017: Rules for Success in the residency Matchby Rajani Katta and Samir P. Desai. Although I technically am applying for the 2019 Match, the concepts related in the book are very much relevant and the release of Charting Outcomes by the NRMP updates the statistics from the most recent match data. I highly recommend purchasing a copy of this book, and downloading the .PDF file of the Charting Outcomes so that you can project how you’ll fair in the match (and if you’re an MS 1, 2, or 3 then you can figure out how well to do on Step 1 and Step 2 CK for the residency you’re hoping to secure).
When it comes to what I have read about Personal Statements, a recurrent recommendation has been to stand out by telling the program about yourself in a way that cannot be gleaned from your C.V. If you’re someone like myself, then you might have plenty of life experiences to draw from and be puzzled by what to actually talk about but that’s where having plenty of people review your draft of the personal statement helps. More about that later.
Items I included in my personal statement: why I want to be an Ob-Gyn in the first place, what qualities do I possess that make me think Ob-Gyn is the field for me, specifically express commitment to the field, what qualities do I possess that would make me a good resident candidate, future practice setting I see myself pursuing, hobbies/activities outside of medicine to buffer against resident burn out, and a flexible paragraph toward the end that includes any specific reasons why I am interested in a particular geographic region or other extenuating circumstances that show why I think a particular program would be best suited for my needs. For example, I have kids and one important thing for me is having stability for them. Although I do not speak about my children in all of my personal statements, I do in some where their existence is an important factor for some of the programs for which I have applied. You can upload as many personal statements to your ERAS profile, so I have written custom statements for various programs that I am able to assign to the different programs. Although you can write one personal statement, I think tailoring some to a few programs that stand out to you is important to show genuine interest.
Alright, so you write a draft and now what? Have people read it. As many as you want or can. At first, it felt intimidating when I approached an attending to read my personal statement. However, the first time an attending gave feedback was the first time my personal statement was really able to evolve in a way that I needed it to because an attending understands what residencies are looking for in a candidate. My attending pointed out things not readily noticed by me that changed my perspective, and also helped me see that I was not highlighting my abilities the way my actions on rotation did. It was awesome. I made sure to have an Ob-Gyn read my statement, along with a general surgeon, a specialized surgeon, and a general internist. I wanted to have a well-rounded view from some of attendings I admire. The number of people I had read my statement is probably excessive, and not everyone contributed to a major “breakthrough” in my progress and only two had the time to sit down with me and walked me through line-by-line what they liked or dislike. You ask 5 different doctors for an opinion, and you’re likely to receive 5 different opinions so keep that in mind when you are receiving feedback.
Some of the best feedback came when I had my friend, who happens to also be a lawyer, read my statement. Her view was the most diverse from anyone else in my life who read it. Her acumen for analyzing text in a more literal way was definitely invaluable as she was able to point out how my writing implied certain emotions or thoughts that she would not typically associate with me. I also had my wife and a close friend from before medical school read my statement too as they were able to give more generalized feedback and could point out personality traits they thought was lacking from the statement that I possess. Seriously, having a well-rounded perspective of your personal statement will give you a better version of your statement than you will write alone.
Now, for some Do’s and Don’ts for the Personal Statement:
Do be personal and authentic.
Do discuss gaps if you can explain hardships or life circumstances around the gap.
Do include reasons for geographic preference or other extenuating circumstances.
Do include a patient experience if that helped you realize that it’s the field for you.
Do read above where I talked about what I included in my personal statement.
Don’t lie.
Don’t neglect spelling and grammar.
Don't talk about being an IMG in negative, be proud of it! Personally, going to Dominica for medical school was one of the best choices of my life.
Don’t use absolute phrasing like “I always” or “I never”.
Don’t talk about controversial topics - Ob-Gyn is full of them and ethical issues will likely come up in an interview somewhere but don’t talk about them in your personal statement.
Don’t talk about politics or religion.
Don’t tell the program why the field is awesome, they already know or they wouldn’t have chosen the field. They also know why their own program is awesome. Flattery will get you nowhere.
Don’t include your Step score unless you scored the theoretical 300 – they already have your Step score on first page of your application according to one program I spoke with and it’s listed right below your picture…along with your name and Step 2 CK score.
Don’t talk about your shortcomings or weaknesses thinking it will make you more human or real.
Don’t be firm in a commitment to a fellowship regardless of what you want to do after residency - If you’re interested in a fellowship, then say that but who knows how residency may shape you. Personally, I am entering Ob-Gyn residency with the goal of being a well-rounded Ob-Gyn. I am interested in maternal-fetal medicine but I have barely an idea of what it takes to be an MFM fellow or if I’ll be interested in defining my role within that sub-specialty area. I also really like gynecologic oncology, reproductive endocrinology, and pelvic floor reconstruction surgery, and so being a well-rounded Ob-Gyn is really my only goal. I see myself being in a primary Ob-Gyn setting.
Hopefully you found these tips helpful, and I welcome any questions you may have. Also, I don’t mind reading a personal statement and giving feedback so just reach out to me and I would love to help out anyone also going through this journey.
