Writing the Personal Statement for Residency

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Writing the Personal Statement for Residency

• Writing Consult Center
• and
• Office of Student Affairs

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Goals for the Personal Statement essay

• Get an interview
• Guide the interviewer

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How do they choose?
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What are the program directors looking for?

• What are the reviewers trying to learn about you?

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Reading a personal statement is like meeting
someone

• Its like remembering a face Oh yes, I
• remember her. Some personality,
• some individuality should come
• through. I want to be able to say,
• Thats the person who.

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Personal life events

• Personal life events that had an impact on
• you are important, positive or negative, but
• dont spend half the essay on them.

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Grab my attention.

• I want to know who you are, why you are a
• doctor and why you want to become an
• anesthesiologist or xxxx and where youre
• possibly going with this training in the
• future.

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• Somewhere in the essay, work in some
• comments about your strengths. All
• residency directors know that not every
• student will be at the top of the class or have
• every possible stellar resident attribute.
• However, some comments about
• determination, hard work, intellect, values,
• and special skills will catch my attention.

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4 things reviewers want to learn about you
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1. Your personal story
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Personal story

• Just a bit if it is conventional, more if it is
  unusual relevant.
• But actually.

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Personal story

• Concrete, not abstract
• I look for personal stories that really tell me
  something about the applicant. The I love kids
  doesnt work as well as a patient encounter or
  any kind of story about how things could have
  been done better. Insight is always good.

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2. Significant academic difficulty

• Address it.

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• Not mentioning significant academic
• difficulty doesnt mean we wont see it on the
• transcript or read it in the Deans letter. This
• is a good opportunity to explain what
• happened and is particularly important if
• the explanation suggests that the problem is
• not likely to recur.

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3. Special experiences that guided you to select
this specialty

• Why youre well-suited to this field

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Selecting the specialty

• Most of the reasons weve heard
• before. But an applicants own process
• of decision is individual and needs to
• be heard in his or her own words.

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Selecting the specialty

• I like the essays that tell about the
• applicants past if it was a struggle, or
• why in general he or she would make a
• good pediatrician, anesthesiologist,
• surgeon,etc.. Insight is always good.

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• Let me know what you are looking for in a
• program. Im going to invite people to
• interview who I believe are looking for the
• things that we offer. Be honest about your
• future goals. If you want to do clinical or
• basic science research, make sure you bring
• it up.

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4. What the applicant chooses as avocations
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Avocations

• This might not be appropriate in an
• essay that is, of necessity, very serious
• or in which a good portion of effort is
• devoted to explaining academic
• difficulty, for example.

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• The personal statement should be
• personal and real. I use it a lot to
• structure my interview.

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• Above all, be honest.
• Dishonesty will kill the application.

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So, how to write the essay?
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3 areas of attention

• Content
• Form
• Mechanics

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Content

• Create a coherent
• life story

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coherent

• Sticking together,
• Logically connected intelligible

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Coherent?

• It had been dry for a long time. No rain had
  fallen for more than a month.
• We had a beautiful home.
• Now I want to be a dermatologist.

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A coherent life story

• Direction
• Dedication
• Purpose
• Energy

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A coherent life story?

• 12 year old sister with leukemia died
• Played basketball for K-State
• Rafting instructor for 3 years after college
• Decided to go to medical school

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A coherent life story?

• 12 year old sister with leukemia died.
• Volunteered at hospital 3 years in college.
• Did research in oncology lab at KU for 2 summers.
  
• Decided to go to medical school. Hope to become a
  pediatric oncologist.

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Concrete, not abstract
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FormHow to structure the essay

• Hook your reader.
• Show logical flow.

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The formula

• Begin with a personal story,
• Go to theory, or what the story means.

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Explore alternatives to the formula

• Slight rearrangements
• A different opening

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Form

• No longer than one page.
• 6 paragraphs maximum.
• Leave some white space! One big gray page turns
  me off.

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Mechanics of good writing

• Make sure to check for errors this is the
  biggest no- no to me. If you dont write well,
  it doesnt bode well for you.

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Mechanics

• Grammar, spelling, diction, syntax, punctuation,
  tone, and style.

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Mechanics of good writing

• Competently written in standard English.
• Workmanlike to Creative the continuum.

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Suggestions from reviewers
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Clarity is fundamental.
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Clarity

• If you dont have confidence in yourself as a
• writer, keep it simple. One idea per
• sentence.

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Tone and style
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Tone and style

• Dont be dramatic or effusive.
• Be careful in touting your accomplishments.
  Tone is important. Sounding egotistical or
  boastful makes a bad impression.

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Proofreading editing
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Proofreading and editing

• Get input from others. Have at least
• one other person read the essay.
• Good writing is re-writing. Read and
• edit it several times.
• Let it cool off before submitting it with the
• application. If it sounds corny or trite to you
  or
• perhaps even too strong, rewrite!

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Clarity
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Eschew Obfuscation

• Writing clear prose

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• Its raining
• At the present time we are experiencing
  precipitation.

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• Identify me as Ishmael.
• Several twelvemonths past disregard the exact
  period being somewhat impoverished financially
  and possessing nothing remarkable to intrigue me
  on terra firma, I reflected I would navigate
  about somewhat and observe the liquid, aqueous
  component of the globe.

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• Call me Ishmael.
• Some years ago never mind how long precisely
  having little or no money in my purse, and
  nothing particular to interest me on shore, I
  thought I would sail about a little and see the
  watery part of the world.

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Clarity counts.

• Make your reader work as little as possible.
• Keep the degree of difficulty as low as
  possible.
• Robert Gunnings Fog Index
• measuring the degree of difficulty of writing
  based on the length of the words we choose.

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• English
• the worlds richest, most expressive language.
• Heteroglot constant absorption
• American Indian chipmunk, moose
• Italian balcony, umbrella
• Persian shawl, paradise, sherbet
• Greek acrobat, catastrophe, elastic
• Spanish alligator, vanilla, hammock

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Anglo Saxon roots

• Words of usually no more than 4 letters
• Home
• Wife
• Night
• Eat
• Farm
• Love
• Know
• Tell

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Norman Invasion 1066

• Language exploded and separated into 2 classes
• Home / Residence
• Eat / Dine
• Loving / Amorous

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Anglo Saxon Latinate words

• Think (verb)
• cogitate, ruminate, reflect, meditate,
• conceive, contemplate.
• Need (noun)
• privation, destitution, indigence,
• penury, pauperism.
• Willing (adjective)
• amenable, compliant, submissive, tractable

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Short, simple words

• Not But
• Contemplate Think
• Endeavor Try
• Equitable Fair, Equal
• Facilitate Help
• Magnitude Size
• Require Need
• Terminate End
• Utilize Use

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Avoid Pompous Diction

• Endeavor Try
• Initiate Begin
• Is desirous of Wants
• Cognizant of Knows
• Ascertain Find out
• Implement Start, create, carry out, begin
• Apprise Inform
• Eventuate Happen
• Transpire Happen
• Transmit Send

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Remove empty fillers

• It would thus appear that.
• Apparently.
• It is considered that.
• We think.
• It is this that.
• This.

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• It is possible that the cause is.
• The cause may be.
• In light of the fact that.
• Because.
• It is often the case that.
• Often.

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• It is interesting to note that.
• Omit
• It is not impossible that.
• Omit
• It seems that there can be little doubt that
• Omit

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Economy and Precision

• In the course of
• While, during

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• In the event that
• If

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• In the majority of instances
• Usually

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• In the near future
• Soon

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• In the nature of
• Like (similar to)

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• In the neighborhood of
• About

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• In the not too distant future
• Soon

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• In the vicinity of
• Near

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• In view of the fact that
• Because

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• It is imperative that
• Be sure that

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• It is interesting to note that
• Note that

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• It would thus appear that
• Apparently

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• Make decisions about
• Decide on

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• Needless to say
• (Then why say it?)

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• On a few occasions
• Occasionally

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• On the assumption that
• Assuming that

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• Prior to
• Before

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• Subsequent to
• After, Following

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• Take action
• Act

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• Take into consideration
• Consider

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• With regard to
• Regarding

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• With the exception of
• Except

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• Please find enclosed, herewith, my new paper,
  which was published in January of this year.
• Here is my January 2003 paper.

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Clarity Economy Precision
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Give us a coherent personal story written in
clear standard English.