The Best Tips for Writing Your Personal Statement for Residency Plus My Actual Personal Statement!
Summary
TLDRDr. Alicia shares her expertise on crafting personal statements for medical school applications, having written many and reviewed over 400. She suggests a four-paragraph format, emphasizing unique backgrounds, specialty choices, significant experiences, and career goals. Her own personal statement, which aided her Stanford residency, is dissected for examples, highlighting the importance of clear communication, positive storytelling, and meticulous grammar. She advises keeping statements concise, relevant, and tailored to specific programs, ensuring a strong impression for residency interviews.
Takeaways
- đ Dr. Alicia shares her experience in writing and evaluating personal statements for scholarships, medical school, and residency.
- đ Personal statements can show a program your values and future career goals, helping them decide if you're a good fit, but rarely guarantee an interview on their own.
- đ She recommends a format of about four paragraphs, each containing four to seven sentences, with a possible fifth if necessary, and ideally keeping it to one page.
- đ©ââïž The first paragraph should introduce your background, unique characteristics, values, and reasons for choosing a career in medicine.
- đ©ș The second paragraph explains why you're choosing a specific specialty, supported by examples from clinical rotations or personal/family experiences.
- đ The third paragraph is for discussing significant life experiences, such as volunteer or research work, and how they've shaped you as a future doctor.
- đ The fourth paragraph should outline your career plans, what you're looking for in a residency program, and how you can contribute to it.
- đ Tailor your personal statement to specific programs, but ensure accuracy to avoid mismatches in program expectations.
- đ Examples are crucial; they make your statement memorable and convincing, showing rather than telling your passion for medicine.
- đ« Keep the tone professional; avoid unconventional formats or content that might detract from the seriousness of your application.
- đ Grammar and spelling are critical; errors can lead to exclusion from interviews, especially for international medical graduates.
- đ Be prepared to discuss any examples or experiences you mention in your personal statement during interviews.
Q & A
What is the primary purpose of a personal statement in the context of medical school or residency applications?
-The primary purpose of a personal statement is to showcase the applicant's values, future career goals, and to help the program decide if the applicant is a good fit based on their values and the program's requirements.
How many personal statements has Dr. Alicia estimated to have read in the last year?
-Dr. Alicia has estimated to have read over 400 personal statements in the last year.
What is the recommended format for writing a personal statement according to Dr. Alicia?
-Dr. Alicia recommends sticking to approximately four paragraphs, each about four to seven sentences long, with the possibility of a fifth paragraph if necessary, and keeping the length to about one page in ERAS.
What should the first paragraph of a personal statement introduce about the applicant?
-The first paragraph should introduce the applicant's background, unique characteristics, values, and reasons for choosing a career in medicine.
What should the second paragraph of the personal statement focus on?
-The second paragraph should explain why the applicant is choosing a specific specialty, backed up with examples from clinical rotations or personal/family experiences with the healthcare system.
What is the purpose of the third paragraph in a personal statement?
-The third paragraph is for expressing what the applicant has learned from significant experiences in life, such as volunteer or research work, and how these experiences have shaped them into the future doctor they aim to be.
What should the final paragraph of a personal statement discuss?
-The final paragraph should discuss the applicant's career plans, what they are looking for in a residency program, what they bring to the program, and their future career goals.
Why is it important to keep the personal statement positive, according to Dr. Alicia?
-Keeping the personal statement positive helps to focus on how the applicant grew from personal difficulties or obstacles, which is more memorable and impressive than simply stating challenges they faced.
What is the significance of grammar and spelling in a personal statement?
-Grammar and spelling are crucial as serious errors can potentially exclude an applicant from an interview, especially for international medical graduates (IMGs).
Why should an applicant avoid being 'weird' or unconventional in their personal statement?
-Being 'weird' or unconventional can detract from the seriousness of the application and may not convey the applicant's suitability for the program, as it can overshadow their personal experiences and goals.
What is the importance of tailoring the personal statement to a specific program, and what precaution should be taken?
-Tailoring the personal statement to a specific program can help personalize the application and show the applicant's interest in the program's specific offerings. However, it is crucial to ensure that the personal statement is addressed to the correct program to avoid confusion or misrepresentation.
Outlines
đ Introduction to Personal Statements
Dr. Alicia begins the video by introducing the topic of personal statements, highlighting her experience both in writing and reviewing them. She emphasizes the importance of personal statements in reflecting one's values and career goals, and how they can help programs determine if an applicant is a good fit. She also shares her personal statement that contributed to her acceptance into Stanford for residency in internal medicine. Dr. Alicia clarifies that while personal statements are rarely the sole deciding factor for interviews, they can significantly impact an application if they contain errors or demonstrate poor judgment.
đ The Structure of a Personal Statement
Dr. Alicia recommends a four-paragraph structure for personal statements, with each paragraph containing about four to seven sentences. She advises keeping the statement to approximately one page, as shorter statements might not convey enough about the applicant, and longer ones may not be fully read. The first paragraph should introduce the applicant's background and reasons for pursuing medicine. The second paragraph delves into the specific specialty the applicant is interested in, supported by examples from clinical rotations or personal experiences. The third paragraph discusses significant life experiences that shaped the applicant, including any challenges faced and lessons learned. The final paragraph outlines career plans and what the applicant can contribute to a residency program.
đ Crafting a Compelling Personal Statement
Dr. Alicia shares her personal statement from 2014, which she had not reviewed since its submission. Her statement includes her background growing up in a diverse San Francisco neighborhood, her experiences with her mother's health issues, and her passion for internal medicine. She discusses a specific patient case that exemplified the intellectual challenges and rewards of the field. Dr. Alicia's statement also touches on her future goals, including her interest in academic medicine and her desire to become a clinician-educator. She encourages applicants to use personal anecdotes and experiences to make their statements memorable and to keep the tone professional yet authentic.
đ Reflecting on Personal Statement Impact
In this section, Dr. Alicia reflects on her personal statement's effectiveness, noting that it was not perfect but served its purpose in illustrating her values, experiences, and future goals. She acknowledges that personal statements are a way for applicants to express their unique journeys and how they relate to their career aspirations. Dr. Alicia also invites viewers to ask questions about what to include or avoid in their personal statements, emphasizing the importance of sharing anecdotes and maintaining a positive tone throughout the application process.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄPersonal Statement
đĄScholarships
đĄMedical School
đĄResidency
đĄFormat
đĄIntroductory Paragraph
đĄSpecialty
đĄVolunteer Experience
đĄCareer Goals
đĄGrammar
đĄMetaphor
Highlights
Dr. Alicia shares her top tips for writing an excellent personal statement.
She has experience both writing and reading personal statements, including her own that got her into Stanford.
Personal statements are rarely solely responsible for securing an interview but can demonstrate values and career goals.
A recommended format for a personal statement is approximately four paragraphs, each four to seven sentences long.
The first paragraph should introduce the applicant's background and reasons for choosing medicine.
The second paragraph explains the choice of a specific medical specialty with examples from clinical rotations or personal experiences.
The third paragraph discusses significant life experiences, such as volunteer or research work, and personal growth.
The final paragraph outlines career plans, what the applicant brings to a residency program, and future goals.
Personal statements should be tailored to specific programs but with careful attention to detail to avoid errors.
Examples are crucial for making a personal statement memorable and impactful.
Maintaining a positive tone, even when discussing difficulties or obstacles, is recommended.
Avoid unusual or 'weird' content that might detract from the seriousness of the application.
Grammar and spelling are critical; the statement must be meticulously checked for errors.
Unconventional formats should be avoided in favor of a traditional, clear, and simple structure.
Metaphors can be used in personal statements but should highlight the applicant's personal experiences.
Dr. Alicia shares her personal statement from 2014, providing a real-world example of an effective statement.
Her statement includes her background, experiences with her mother's health, and her passion for internal medicine.
Dr. Alicia's statement concludes with her career aspirations and her desire to become a clinician educator.
Personal statements should be a reflection of the applicant's values, experiences, and how they relate to future goals.
Transcripts
hi everyone it's dr alicia so today
we'll be talking about personal
statements i have been on both sides of
personal statements at this point having
written many many personal statements
for scholarships and getting to med
school and residency and i've also been
on the receiving end of personal
statements having read probably over 400
personal statements in the last year so
today i'll be sharing with you my top
tips for writing an excellent personal
statement and a specific format you can
follow that can make the task of
starting out writing a personal
statement feel less daunting
and i'll also be sharing with you my
personal personal statement that i found
from when i wrote it back in 2014 that i
have not really looked at since then and
i know the title of this video is called
the personal statement that got me into
stanford and technically yes this is the
personal statement that i submitted that
did help me get interviews and
eventually i matched at stanford for
residency and internal medicine
most of the time though personal
statements really neither will greatly
help you or hurt you
you know they can hurt you if there is
just a lot of grammatical errors and
stories that might show like weird
judgment or something
and they can help you
in that they can show the programs like
your values your future career goals
and that helps the program decide if you
are a good fit for them based on their
values it is rare
for a personal statement to truly be so
life-changing groundbreaking that it
makes
you get an interview on its own merits
alone but i have seen it happen
just a personal statement that shows
such an extraordinary reflection on
someone's life that a program director
decides like i have to meet this person
so the format that i recommend you
follow is sticking to approximately
four
paragraphs that are each maybe about
four to seven sentences long
you can sometimes have a fifth paragraph
if you have so much to say in one of
these paragraphs that needs to be split
into two paragraphs but in general i
highly highly recommend that you stick
to approximately
one page in eras
you know the reason for this is that if
it looks like a little bit too short
like it's only half a page then you
might stand out for like not expressing
yourself enough when you had the chance
to
and then if it's too long like personal
statements that are two or three pages
program directors are probably just not
going to read past like the first
page and a paragraph i recommend
sticking to approximately a page if you
must maybe like a page and like a couple
bonus lines if you really can't edit it
down any further the first paragraph is
an intro to you
your background
and why you chose the career of medicine
in general
so this is really a time for you to
express your unique
background your unique characteristics
and values and i'll show you in my
personal statement which i'll share very
soon how i did that the second paragraph
is where you explain why you are
choosing the specific specialty that you
are applying to why do you have to be a
neurosurgeon of out of everything why
are you choosing to be a psychiatrist
for example and so the best way to back
this up is with a lot of examples from
your clinical rotations or from your own
personal or family experiences with the
health care system that can make a
convincing case for why you are choosing
this specialty
the third paragraph is where you can
express what you've learned from another
significant experience in your life so
this can be from
volunteer experience or research
experience if you've done extensive
amounts of volunteer research work
and how you grew from those experiences
and how they've shaped you into who you
are and the future doctor that you're
going to be
it can be a chance to talk about more
clinical examples and what you learn
from that
it can also be for people who have red
flags on their application
such as failed step exams or
courses that you had to remediate during
medical school this is where you would
explain
you know the circumstances around how
you incur those red flag situations and
what you've learned to grow from them as
well the final paragraph is where you
talk about your career plans this is
where you talk about what you are
looking for in a residency program
what you bring to any residency program
that you go to
and your future career goals as well
so
you can be specific
if you like to for example if you know
that you want to be a cardiologist your
heart is absolutely set on that you can
mention that in this part of the
personal statement
and the good thing is that it is not a
binding statement you know just because
you wrote you wanted to be a
cardiologist does not mean that a few
years later you're absolutely compelled
to have to apply for cardiology
fellowship so you're always allowed to
change your mind
if you are not sure it is absolutely
okay to keep it pretty general what
programs are doing with this information
is trying to figure out if you are a
good fit
for the program
and if you are if there's a particular
track in the program that you might be a
better fit for
so for example in internal medicine
there's
often times
a few different tracks including a
primary care track for people who want
to mostly go into outpatient medicine
and then also a categorical track for
people who want to do inpatient medicine
or who want to sub-specialize in
something like gi
so what you say here might help them
decide if you are a good fit for
the categorical versus the primary care
tract for example
people oftentimes use this section as
well to really personalize their
personal statement and tailor it to a
specific program that they're applying
to you can do this if you want for every
single program you reply to but it is
very very important that you not double
check but triple check
that you are addressing it to the
correct program so if you're saying you
know in the last sentence of your
personal statement
i believe that john hopkins is
the best fit for me given
you know
this and this reason
that you are sure that you're actually
matching that in eras with your
application for john hopkins and not
accidentally with like you know the
university of massachusetts or something
so making sure that you know if you're
saying
um
you know i'm looking for an academic
program in an urban area that you're not
sending that to a program that is in
like rural michigan
and is a community program so um you
know you you can always take out those
details that maybe don't match with a
particular
program that you're sending it to
otherwise you might wonder
why
are you applying to us if you're looking
for something like very different from
what we offer so next i'll offer some
general tips to help you
so the first thing is that examples are
everything and it is worthwhile to take
time to really reflect to make sure that
you have good anecdotes good examples to
share in your personal statements
you can say things like i am excited to
do medicine but your examples are much
more likely to
give off that impression to someone in a
way that is truly memorable so people
remember stories keep your personal
statement positive so oftentimes you
know we're writing about personal
difficulties tragedies obstacles
keep the focus on how you grew from
those experiences how you overcame those
obstacles don't be weird
so what i mean by this is that it is
okay to be boring i remember
reading a personal statement from
someone who
started off talking about their bowel
movements and poop and it was honestly
like
a really hilarious personal statement
but it was not necessarily the tone that
you want for something as serious as a
you know statement about your future
career and so you don't have to be
entertaining it's okay to be boring
people who write boring personal
statements get plenty of interviews all
the time
and in person you know during your
interview you then have the opportunity
to show people that you are engaging
easy to talk to not boring at all you
know just be true to the experiences
that you've had that have led you to
choosing this career and this specialty
that you want most importantly grammar
is everything grammar and spelling are
so so important make sure it is so
spell checked grammar checked that it
all looks really great from that
perspective
especially for imgs you know having
serious grammatical errors will possibly
exclude you from an interview
sometimes there can be
personal statements are very
unconventional
non-traditional in the ways that they're
formatted like i once read a personal
statement that had like 20 paragraphs
and each paragraph was only one to two
sentences so my recommendation is like
just keep it to like a very very
traditional format this is not the time
to like create new forms of literature
just make it like a very simple clear
communication
about
your experiences and your goals
as an aside oftentimes people will write
about
medicine
using a metaphor comparing it to
playing basketball or
to music
and that is okay to do but make sure
that you are still highlighting your own
personal experiences because sometimes
people can go so deep into this metaphor
comparing being a doctor to being kobe
bryant in the mba that it you can lose
you know who is the person writing this
what are their experiences
besides that they are clearly a big
basketball fan
get examples of personal statements from
friends and classmates that you know
that matched well and try to get people
who are the most nitpicky about grammar
and spelling to read your personal
statement anything that you talk about
in your personal statement
is
fair game for someone to ask you about
during the interview as well there's
like a patient example that you share in
your personal statement you'll be
prepared to answer questions from the
interviewer about like oh what happened
to that patient or what else did you
learn finally i'm going to show you my
personal statement so this is by no
means perfect
but i'm being very honest and sharing
basically exactly what i wrote
which i had not looked at since i wrote
it at this point nine years ago so
yeah let's take a look together i grew
up in a crowded one-bedroom san
francisco apartment i shared with four
family members after we immigrated from
beijing
on the streets below me i saw the double
epidemics of methamphetamine and hiv
agitating the streets of the tenderloin
district in the 1990s with daily scenes
of
deprivations of the elderly the mentally
ill and the poor
these scenes of suffering cultivated in
me a desire to create a place where
every individual is cared for
throughout college in berkeley i strived
to fulfill this vision by serving as the
coordinator of a homeless clinic held at
a women's shelter and as a hiv test
counselor and trainer of new counselors
at a free clinic both places that
delivered health care as a way of
arriving at human dignity
so
i think
you know in terms of like the objectives
of that first paragraph where it's about
an introduction
and about um
sharing your background a little bit of
why you chose medicine i think it does
do that you know it expresses kind of my
unique background growing up
in this particular neighborhood in san
francisco
um
and it i think it also expresses some of
the values behind why i chose the
extracurricular activities that i did so
i'm you know i think i'm okay with that
you know some people start their
personal statements with more of like a
traditional hook where you're like
in the middle of this action where like
the plane was about to land
um but what gave my life its
professional
direction was when my mother's
polycystic kidney disease advanced the
end-stage renal disease during my time
in college
she initially despaired over the burden
of being bound to her dialysis machine
every night but over time her medical
team helped her transform her
debilitating condition into a practice
and self-sufficiency
as she mastered home peritoneal dialysis
she grew to engage with her health and
the health care system on a personal
level from knitting holiday scarves to
her for her doctors to cooking our
family nutritious farmer's market beats
in the past decade since her diagnosis
of esrd is i advanced in my medical
training at the same time my expertise
in participating in her care has
deepened as well
from
translating her medical documents into
chinese and advocating for her family
meetings explaining her treatment course
and helping her make decisions on the
momentous day of her transplant
the physicians were most grateful to
were those whose thorough understanding
of her disease course was demonstrated
in their guidance and
reassurance i think it is very common
for people to write about
family health situations
in their personal statements and you
know some people may say that that's
overused
but you know for me
my experiences with
my mom going through her health
experiences and me being an advocate and
part of those experiences was like a
huge part of
something that helped me decide i wanted
to go into medicine and internal
medicine and so i think it's okay to
share that
and i think
i i
i like the examples i have of um
her making the scarves and like cooking
i remember now that she used to do um
she used to be yeah
and i think those examples
really helped make the story maybe a
little bit more vivid i hope the third
paragraph my mother's illness experience
informs how i'd like to navigate my
relationships with patients
i found that the kinds of cases i saw on
inpatient internal medicine most gave me
butterflies of excitement and i
remembered most vividly um that seems
like it's missing a few words but okay
like it it might not be the
grammatically the most correct
one such case was a homeless gentleman
in his 50s with terrible
uncontrolled diabetes resulting in
multiple past episodes of osteomyelitis
leading to bilateral below the knee
amputations found to have a recurrence
of mssa bacteremia
every moment in this diagnostic mystery
intrigued me and mattered deeply to the
patient and me
where did this infection come from was
there a potential source that was
overlooked on exam how would the return
of the cultures and diagnostic studies
that the patient and i anticipated
throughout the day prompt new questions
or help us find answers
and what new recommendations would
consulting infectious disease experts
yield for us i managed the patient's
symptoms of pain and delirium joked with
him about his love for diet snapple once
his mentation cleared and shared every
update in the diagnostic work up with
him the intensity of the discussions
within our team made me appreciate the
intellectual passion in teaching and
learning in academic medicine
in the end no source was found after an
extensive evaluation but the patient
felt better after the careful management
i was humbled by this example of the
uncertainties in medicine
i still remember this patient
and um now you know thinking
looking at his conditions this is like
such a common kind of internal medicine
type of um
condition
and
i think what i was trying to convey and
i think this works out is by asking
those questions i was trying to show
that like i think i could think like an
internal medicine doctor but also that
there was so much like excitement and
enthusiasm
for learning and you know resolving
these kind of these intellectual
mysteries
and um
and also you know i talk about
everything affecting me and the patients
and that we're like a team together
um so i think i'm trying to show
you know just how
there was trust and a good therapeutic
bond between the patients and me
so yeah i think that's my paragraph
where i explained basically why i chose
internal medicine because i focused you
know my second paragraph on my
experiences with my mom um there wasn't
as much room for me to talk about um
other experiences for example i could
have talked about like my research
experiences or other volunteer
experiences a little bit more as well
but you know those are kind of
individual choices that you can make in
your personal statement
and then the final paragraph you know
talking about goals so
i am drawn to becoming a hospitalist or
sub-specialist with inpatient
responsibilities at an academic hospital
by the intellectual fervor of medical
teams composed of learners at different
stages of learning
so
um
that's interesting i didn't remember
like what exactly i said was my goal at
that time
um
but
yeah i think this is a good example of
how you can
kind of state like what is the setting
you're interested in and what are your
like kind of general goals you know here
i kept it still like kind of open but
saying like i'm more interested in
patients
and
my interest in academic medicine stems
from my passion for becoming a clinician
educator and leader who can eventually
impart my enthusiasm to the diagnostic
puzzle to interdisciplinary teams this
year i am teaching medical students the
physical exam and helping to design a
quality
improvement project regarding
communication with patients and
inpatient medicine teams
these projects reveal the kind of
educational and systems level pursuits i
hope to work on as a physician
so i think that is actually good because
those are like very typical kind of like
med ed
and qi projects that
you know a lot of people tend to do that
shows kind of the general direction of
the career i was aiming for
my experiences advocating for my mother
and experiencing the lively intellectual
nature of internal medicine have led to
my love for caring for patients in a
creative process of teaching and
learning as an internist and clinician
educator it's a fine you know it's a
fine personal statement i wouldn't say
that it's like amazing
but
i think it kind of represents one way of
of how you can um
explain your values your experiences and
how you know they relate to your future
goals
so i hope that it's helpful to see
specific examples out there
because i know for me when i saw
specific examples of
other people's personal statements
when i was in pre-med i was like oh this
helps me so much to know like generally
what
you know an example of one would look
like so that i can kind of get over my
writer's block a little bit yeah please
feel free to ask any questions about
what to include what not to include
what's a good anecdote to share in your
personal statements you know in the
comments below thank you so much
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