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Residency Personal Statement: The Ultimate Guide (Example Included)

A step-by-step medical residency personal statement guide to help you match into your dream program plus an analysis of a full example essay.

A medical school student wearing a white coat and working on her residency personal statement at a computer

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: brainstorming topics for your personal statement, part 3: how to write an amazing residency personal statement, part 4: in-depth analysis of a full-length personal statement example, appendix: frequently asked questions.

Applying to medical residency programs isn’t exactly easy. After four years of medical school, and years more spent before that preparing for medical school, you’re probably ready for a breather. But residency applications hit you with everything from USMLE scores to Medical School Performance Evaluations (MSPEs). The uncertainty leading up to match day can be stressful and anxiety inducing—will your near-decade of work pay off?

Thankfully, the residency application process is fairly transparent—we know what the most important aspects of the residency application are. Every two years, the NRMP’s Program Director Survey reveals which factors are cited as the most crucial components of your residency application and are thus the core deciders for whether or not you’ll get an interview. Though the exact ranking varies from year to year and according to specialty, typically you’ll find USMLE scores, letters of recommendation from physicians in your targeted specialty, and MSPEs hovering at the top.

But these materials may not express what drew you to the specialty in question or what got you into medicine in general. And though it can seem as if programs are overwhelmingly interested in your scores and evaluations, they are also interested in the person behind the grades.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the factor that was fourth-most cited by program directors on the NRMP’s 2020 survey: the residency personal statement.

Before we get into the step-by-step guide, we’ll offer some general framing thoughts. Being able to communicate your motivations and personality through your application, especially your personal statement, bodes well for your ability to bring that same enthusiasm and drive as a resident and in the rest of your career as a physician, so take note.

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Why does the residency personal statement matter?

The personal statement is an essay of about a page (one page in ERAS is 3,500 characters including spaces) in which you articulate who you are and why you want to enter a certain specialty. It’s your big opportunity to set yourself apart from other applicants by highlighting anything that isn’t well represented in other parts of your application but that nevertheless contextualizes your CV and accomplishments. This context could include interesting life experiences and motivations for pursuing a given specialty.

There’s a good reason the personal statement is relevant for program directors. Because so much of the information that programs have to determine whether you’ll be a good fit is quantitative in nature, it’s likely that programs will receive many applicants who have similarly competitive scores and grades. What can serve as a tiebreaker?

Letters of recommendation offer qualitative information. But the personal statement is the main opportunity for you to directly make a case for yourself, on qualitative terms, before you attend residency interviews .

The personal statement can also weed out applicants who don’t demonstrate an adequate understanding of their specialty of interest or who come across as pretentious and pompous. For this reason, in addition to the basic requirements of proper grammar and spelling, you’ll need to strike the right tone with your essay: seeming aware of your motivations and accomplishments to date, passionate about what you hope to achieve in the specialty, and also humble.

Remember: a great personal statement cannot save an otherwise weak application, but a poor one could hurt an otherwise strong application.

What should the personal statement accomplish?

The residency personal statement should include and reflect:

What draws you to the specialty

The skills or qualities that will help you succeed during the residency and as a practicing physician

Your long-term plans, what you hope to accomplish, and your preferred setting

Personal attributes that make you well-suited to the specialty and training

What attracts you to a particular program (if you’re applying for a specific program outside of the national matching system or if you customize a personal statement within NRMP)

Ultimately, the combination of these elements will give program directors a sense of the kind of colleague you would be and how you would fit into their program.

Meet our students

Throughout this post, we’ll provide examples from students who have gone through this process so you can see their writing in action.

Roger: Roger immigrated from Mexico as a teen and attends a medical school in a rural area. His path to medicine wasn’t straightforward. After graduating from high school, he worked for several years in construction, quickly climbing the ranks to become project manager for a small roofing firm before deciding to go back to school. He hopes to specialize in dermatology because, after growing up in poverty and performing blue-collar work for years, he wants a comfortable life that will allow him to focus on his growing family.

Mohana: Mohana entered medical school believing her path was pediatrics. But after an away rotation in radiology, she’s leaning toward radiology, having become attracted to the more technical aspects of the field and its work-life balance. After years of schooling, Mohana mostly wants time for her musical hobbies.

Cynthia: Cynthia either wants to work at a research hospital or practice gynecology. She thinks she could be happy with either, but knows she’d be happiest if she could do both. She also received an MPH before attending medical school. Cynthia still has a taste for social justice, but it isn’t always evident on her CV.

Kazuo: Kazuo initially wanted to pursue thoracic surgery, but after spending time with surgeons, he decided the culture was not for him. Now he’s certain he wants to pursue anesthesiology, and isn’t entirely sure how to convey his interest. He is worried this change of heart may hurt his chances of matching into his top programs.

Brainstorming topics

Before you begin writing, set aside time to brainstorm. Whether you have an idea in your head or are struggling with where to start, freeform thinking can expand your options, call to mind experiences you hadn’t considered, or even help you pick unique interests you otherwise might have left out.

If you’re uncertain of how to proceed, jot down your answers to the following questions:

What first drew you to medicine?

Was there an experience, clinical or otherwise, that had a significant impact on you? What was it and why is it meaningful?

When did you know you wanted to pursue the specialty in question? What attracted you to the specialty?

What are your greatest qualities? When have you demonstrated these qualities?

Where do you see yourself 20 years into your career as a physician?

What’s an important part of who you are that isn’t on your resume?

Who are your role models and why?

What are your most meaningful extracurricular activities? Why?

What’s an accomplishment you are most proud of?

What was your most enlightening moment?

What medical cause do you care about most, and how did you come to care about it?

These are just a few questions to get started. Add more as they occur to you.

Another way to approach the personal statement is to ask what qualities make a good physician in your target specialty and consider how you embody those qualities. For example, here are a few qualities that might represent pediatric neurology:

Strong communication or interpersonal skills

Attentiveness

Technologically inclined

Passion for advocacy

Ingenuity

After brainstorming, take anywhere from a few hours to a day or a week to step away from your notes. This will help you as you move onto the next step: focusing your ideas.

Focusing your ideas

Here are some sample topics our residency applicants came up with:

An accidental run-in with poison ivy

Advocating for his Spanish-speaking roofing clients

Adjusting to the U.S. after immigrating from a small town in Mexico

Teaching herself MaxMSP programming skills

Babysitting her nieces and nephews

Her away rotation in radiology

Giving sex-ed talks in local middle schools

Being a surrogate daughter for her next-door neighbor, Leticia

Presenting her research findings at conferences

Kazuo

His ten-year meditation practice

His experience in surgery rotation

Admiration for his father, who taught him darkroom photography

Once you’ve generated your list of ideas, consider how they do or do not compellingly answer the following questions:

Why this specialty?

Before writing your personal statement, you should be very clear, personally, on why the specialty you’ve chosen is the right one for you.

Program directors want to know that you have a realistic idea of what your specialty will entail. For instance, you might be interested in plastic surgery because it’s a highly paid field but fail to understand the importance of artistic anatomy in its practice. If your application fails to convey compelling reasons for pursuing a specialty beyond high salaries or the potential lifestyle benefits associated with it (especially true for specialties like radiology and dermatology), it may cost you an interview invitation.

(Suggested reading: The Most Competitive Medical Residencies: A Complete List )

What strengths do I have that are not apparent in my other application materials?

Though your recommenders may offer a sense of your personality and interests, you are in the best position to include meaningful details that can’t be found on a CV. What aspects of your life do you think might compel a selection committee to pick you over other applicants? What makes you unique?

How do I embody the qualities of a good physician in the specialty?

This is slightly different from understanding the realistic requirements of a given specialty. Instead, it joins the strengths of your full life to the characteristics of an exemplary practitioner in your field of choice.

For instance, an anesthesiologist who performs their role well may go unnoticed by a patient, whereas a pediatrician who is too technically inclined may come across as cold or uncaring. The decisiveness of a surgeon in the OR is distinct from a psychiatrist adjusting a patient’s depression medication through trial and error over time. Make sure that the details you select speak to the qualities of your chosen specialty.

Let’s look at how our students applied these principles.

With two young children and another on the way, Roger wants good work hours and enough money to give his children a high quality of life. He’d never thought much about dermatology until he had accidental contact with poison ivy and took an elective in the specialty. Also, Roger hopes to practice in a rural setting because the low cost of living would facilitate his family-oriented lifestyle, but he knows he must communicate a more selfless reason in his personal statement. Roger’s approach will combine seemingly unlike things (roofing, dermatology, advocacy for rural patients) into one cohesive portrait of who he is and what matters to him.

Mohana doesn’t list her hobby on her resume, so writing about it for her personal statement will illuminate a side of her that neither quantitative scores nor letters of recommendation can comment on. Programming beats is Mohana’s passion, and she wants to show off how her technical prowess can serve her in the field of radiology.

But what to make of her experience babysitting her nieces and nephews? For Mohana, childcare helped her learn that she was particularly adept at soothing children in unfamiliar situations. It isn’t her strongest idea because she’s primarily interested in diagnostic radiology but including it may convey to program directors that she understands that radiology remains as patient-centered as any other medical discipline.

So far, Roger and Mohana are using their experiences to tell a story, not just enumerate things they’ve done. At the end of the day, great personal statements tell stories—about you, your journey, and why you’re right for a given specialty. If your idea is a topic without a story, it’s not worth mentioning.

Questions to determine if an idea can be a story:

Can you reference a specific anecdote (a day, a summer, an interaction)? Can you include significant details that convey the specificity of what you experienced?

Is yours a story no one else could tell? You want a story that, even if someone had the same jobs, schools, or extracurricular activities as you, they would not be able to write in the same way.

Does the narrative have an arc? Do you demonstrate growth and insight over a period of time?

Is the voice of the essay yours? Is the language lively?

Regardless of the idea, you should be able to answer yes to at least one of these questions.

To that end, while Cynthia felt that her positive experiences presenting her research at conferences best expressed her passion for research, this information was readily available on her resume and could be a sentence in her personal statement, not an entire framing narrative.

On the other hand, Cynthia’s experience serving as a “surrogate” child for her neighbor, Leticia, could be used to encompass her interests in reproductive health, patient advocacy, and gynecology. Leticia, an elderly woman who had never had children of her own, was sterilized without her consent while receiving an appendectomy as a teenager in the 1960s. The injustice of this fueled Cynthia throughout her medical education.

Similarly, Kazuo thought his experience in the operating room was a natural place to begin: it was where he discovered he did not want to be a thoracic surgeon after all, but an anesthesiologist. But to convey a greater sense of his levelheadedness and exactitude, he chose to also talk about his role model—his photographer father—and the lessons learned in darkrooms and meditation, neither of which could readily be written about by another applicant.

Start with an outline

With so many great ideas and a narrative in mind, you might be tempted to start writing your essay now. But an outline will keep your ideas organized and help you write more efficiently. Even if you don’t start draft one with an outline and instead just “vomit draft,” consider making draft two a reverse outline so that at some point you have structure guiding you.

Here’s one path to follow:

First paragraph: Lead with detail

The residency personal statement is short—under 3,500 characters—and this brevity creates constraints. While an opening anecdote is a good approach to hook readers, you may choose to describe a situation or an experience more generally to accommodate the brevity.

Both options are possible, but what you choose depends on the anecdote in question and what you hope to accomplish over the course of the statement. The point is to pin your unique story to your interest in medicine by the end of the first paragraph if you can, but at the very least by the end of the second paragraph.

How do you choose your opening story? One way is to check against the questions above: Can you remember specific details? Is it something only you could write? Is there an arc or will there be one over a few paragraphs, even the whole essay?

Kazuo has a specific anecdote in mind for his hook: the first day of his surgery rotation. As you’ll see, the essay passes the specificity test by the strength of its details—an ovary riddled with cysts, the bright OR light, the origins of Kazuo’s surgical interest, the introduction of the father as a character—and sets Kazuo up to discuss how he came to be interested in anesthesiology.

One of the most powerful moments in my medical education occurred during an oophorectomy. As Dr. Srivastava removed a cyst-riddled ovary, I noted that his calm was contagious; I felt focused but at ease. The surgery finished without a hitch. In fact, it was anticlimactic, even unremarkable. Having dreamed of becoming a surgeon since age 16, when my father had to undergo emergency surgery after a heart attack, it was a let-down. But my photographer father’s words on darkroom printing—“Look at the shadows, and they will guide you”—made me reconsider. When I looked away from the bright overhead light, I saw the reason for our calm: our anesthesiologist, Dr. Grant, had been silently watching the whole time, making sure the infusion was working as planned.

Roger, on the other hand, describes a situation that conveys the roots of his advocacy.

As a young roofing project manager, I chose to work with Spanish-speaking clients with roofs leaky from hailstorms many years prior. Because I was born in Mexico and had spent my younger years there, I felt a special connection when aiding non-English-speaking families who otherwise may have had difficulty navigating a complex insurance process to restore their damaged homes. I spent hundreds of hours learning to inspect and scrutinize the sometimes subtle, timeworn signs of hail damage to expertly advocate for those families. It was this love of advocacy, combined with my later love of biologic systems, which drew me to medicine.

By distilling the career wisdom of years into one crystal clear statement about the relationship between allyship and medicine, Roger is anticipating an arc he will develop across the length of the essay while setting himself apart from his more traditional colleagues.

Body paragraphs: Connect your narrative to a thesis

Roger has, by the end of the first paragraph, indicated what drew him to medicine in the first place. This is a good approach, and a model that works for articulating the thesis for the specialty as well.

Mohana gives her thesis in her second paragraph. Her opening anecdote was about how playing her first MaxMSP composition for friends was the culmination of hours of online tutorials and technical discussions on programming forums.

She describes the elation she felt at seeing her creation come to life for others and the satisfaction she received from sharing a common language with those who like learning through doing. This anecdote conveys something about Mohana’s personal qualities but doesn’t mention medicine at all.

That’s where her second paragraph comes in.

My passion for making music machines and my interest in radiology are fraternal twins. I want to be a radiologist because it would put my analytic skills to use just as trouble-shooting atonal compositions compelled me to search for answers. As someone who enjoys collaboratively finding creative solutions to seemingly intractable problems, I am especially suited to being a “doctor’s doctor”—a radiologist. I love talking shop with knowledgeable colleagues. Establishing a common diagnostic vocabulary with fellow clinicians intrigues me most of all. In fact, my radiology rotation felt like a real-life MaxMSP forum except that, instead of collectively developing an audio patch, we jointly scrutinized sagittal reconstructions for complex fractures.

Connect the personal to the professional

Having described the impact of growing up next door to Leticia, Cynthia connects that personal story to how she envisions moving forward in her professional life in her third paragraph. She also takes the opportunity to make a case for both research and clinical practice, giving herself a flexible statement that could suit a variety of program environments.

As I researched sources of misdiagnosis among OB/GYNs, particularly pertaining to endometriosis and hormonal disorders, I was driven by memories of Leticia. She once described how it took her ten years after her forced sterilization to understand the female reproductive system enough to comprehend what had been taken from her. As an OB/GYN, I would make sure no patient left my examination room without a clear understanding of her reproductive health. Moreover, the sex-ed I do in Baltimore middle schools has inspired me to share my research findings through outreach. Over time, my clinical and research experiences will give me the authority to advocate for reproductive health education reform. It is my ultimate goal to ensure that no young woman suffer as Leticia did.

Demonstrate change and growth over time

One way to keep a personal statement reader engaged is by using the tried and true storytelling methods of conflict and resolution. Put another way, things have to happen—specifically, they have to change.

Body paragraphs are the perfect place to develop these transformations. What events incited your growth? How are these shifts related to your interest in pursuing a specialty or the kind of practitioner you will be?

Kazuo, for example, reckoned with the realization that surgery proper was not for him. But rather than consider this a failure of direction on his part, Kazuo uses this to his advantage, spinning it as a successful reorientation that more closely aligned with his experiences and values.

I was excited to alternate between preoperative procedures and pain management in the anesthesiology rotation. Some tasks felt familiar; assisting the attending in diluting medications called to mind the exact ratios I once mixed for my father’s developer and fixer so that his prints expressed the full gradient between black and white. Other tasks, like induction and the occasional corrections required for maintenance, were foreign. But the beeping monitors and visual cues entered my mind like the thoughts I’ve aimed to consider without fear or anxiety in my ten years of meditating. By honing my attention in darkrooms and in silent morning meditations, I’ve become attuned to others, often anticipating the needs of recovering patients before they can articulate these themselves. My anesthesiology rotation helped me understand that behind every unremarkable surgery was a great deal of foresight and diligence. These are the qualities I enjoy exercising most.

Notice how Kazuo includes personal biographical details and establishes their relevance to anesthesiology. Interests aren’t mentioned just for the sake of mentioning them. They have been selected because they illuminate some aspect of Kazuo, whether it’s his longtime—and personally meaningful—interest in mixing solutions or his mindfulness.

More importantly, however, is that these align with the qualities of a good anesthesiologist. For Kazuo, an anesthesiologist should not merely be reactive, but proactive, “anticipating the needs of recovering patients before they can articulate these themselves.” By the last line, Kazuo’s body paragraph is in conversation with his opening anecdote. In fact, Kazuo has demonstrated a transformation from the naïve student in the surgery rotation to the attentive, proactive, and self-aware anesthesiologist-to-be.

Communicate the kind of specialist you hope to be

Kazuo wants to exercise his foresight, diligence, and calm. Mohana wants to be a “doctor’s doctor.” Here are how Cynthia and Roger express the qualities they would like to respectively embody.

I want to take the expertise I gain in my OB/GYN practice and reproductive health research and apply it in policy.

Short, sweet, and to the point. Roger chooses to convey his ultimate goals in his conclusion, which can also be an acceptable approach if your essay’s structure invites it.

I intend to apply my passion for human connection and community to providing high-quality dermatologic care and research to communities which have traditionally had difficulty accessing care.

In one sentence, Roger synthesizes the different facets of his interest in dermatology and returns to the advocacy he first mentioned in his intro paragraph.

Conclusion: Tie it all together

Your concluding paragraph should leave selection committees with an understanding of who you are and why you’re applying. There are several ways to think about an ending to successfully avoid falling victim to clichés:

Don’t pre-write your ending. Some people have deeply ingrained ideas of what an essay’s conclusion should accomplish and can even write with a conclusion already in mind. However, it’s best to let a conclusion naturally respond to the elements in the essay, so don’t force it.

Avoid declarative sentences. Program directors see it all the time: “And that’s what would make me a great oncologist” or “I would bring these skills to your program.” Don’t let their eyes glaze over. Write something more unique.

Consider ending on an image or with a callback to where you began the essay. This is one of the most organic and satisfying ways to conclude any piece of writing. Mohana’s essay, for instance, opens with playing her music for others. She closes with the following.

There is a joy in finding your tribe. I’m lucky to have several. The wider world of musical programmers is my creative community and the radiology team at Beth Israel Deaconess is an example of my ideal medical community. Whether creating a neural network for note generation or exploring new possibilities for interventional radiology, I know my fascination with innovation, technique, and diagnosis will help me find harmony between invention and the tried-and-true backbone of medicine–excellent patient care. People-centered radiology–that’s music to my ears.

After you’ve finished the first draft of your residency personal statement

First, celebrate! Writing is hard no matter what, and the fact that you’ve accomplished anything with language is no small feat. But you’re just getting started. Settle in for some revisions:

Read your essay aloud. This will alert you to typos, problems of pacing, and issues of form that you might otherwise miss. Reading aloud also helps you get a sense for your essay’s voice—it should sound like you when read aloud.

Ask for feedback . You should have a trusted peer, professor, specialty advisor, or admissions counselor read your essay. The core question to ask them is, “Do you have a good sense of who I am and why I want to pursue this specialty after reading this?” If the answer is no, revise, revise, revise.

For big changes, don’t edit—rewrite. It can be a pain to invest so much time into a draft only to scrap it, but if you decide on structural revisions or major changes in content, start with a new document. Starting anew may give you a more cohesive and coherent final product. This doesn’t mean all your hard work was in vain. Print out a hard copy of your original, keep it on the table beside you, and open a clean doc. Drawing from your previous draft for your revision will ensure you have one essay at the end, not two spliced together.

Before we go into our analysis, consider reading the personal statement example in its entirety. As you go through it, keep the following questions in mind:

Does Roger demonstrate an understanding of his specialty of interest, including the kind of qualities an exemplary resident in the specialty must possess? If so, which ones?

Does Roger tell a story about how his interest developed? How does Roger demonstrate growth and change?

Could anyone have written this statement, or is it unique to Roger?

After reading the statement, do you have a good sense of who Roger is and why he wants to pursue dermatology?

Let’s look at the dermatology statement Roger produced based on the process we described.

In medical school, I serendipitously found the specialty within which I wanted to apply this passion after accidentally dumping a bag of mulched poison ivy on my head. The resulting rash was painful but interesting and sparked a curiosity in cutaneous manifestations of disease that later led me to a dermatology elective. There, I was impressed by the dermatologist’s keen eye for detail, and I found the diagnostic challenge and the detail-driven expertise to be both fascinating and rewarding.

Each new rash I saw was reminiscent of inspecting leaky roofs and I wanted to emulate my new mentors, who had developed the ability to diagnose and treat skin disease based on the subtle cues they saw. Such was the case when a grizzled farmer from a distant rural community with infrequent follow-up ascribed a sore on his arm to a specific trauma. Despite this history, the dermatologist recognized some subtle and suspicious features, prompting a biopsy that later showed invasive squamous cell carcinoma. In addition to the dermatologist’s diagnostic acumen, it was her relationship with the patient and her understanding of his community, values, and risk factors that allowed her to guide this patient to a better outcome.

In medical school I have enjoyed caring for those who, for cultural, insurance, or geographic reasons, have difficultly receiving care. After one shift in my inpatient pediatrics rotation, I brought my guitar to play for a Latino boy who was dying from leukemia and made his parents my favorite recipe for chile verde with pork. Although I couldn’t offer any more to them medically, I hoped to aid the fear and disconnection they had expressed with the unfamiliar environment now surrounding them. The connection made in that moment helped ease their suffering and fostered a better union between the treatment team and patient.

Multiple studies have suggested that outcomes for dermatologic conditions tend to be poorer in certain demographics. As part of my own research, I have begun investigating these disparities. This has included a research project where we evaluated the effects of social and demographic factors on melanoma outcomes. One finding that spoke to me was that outcomes tended to be poorer in areas with fewer dermatologists. Having grown up in a small town and having completed medical school in a more rural area, I feel a special connection to these communities. I hope to continue to engage in research that better elucidates these disparities to supply better care to these populations.

In my career I intend to apply my passion for human connection and community to providing high-quality dermatologic care and research to communities which have traditionally had difficulty accessing care. Training at your program would enable me to meet these goals and effectively treat and advocate for these patients.

(Word count: 563; Character count: 3,498)

Residency personal statement analysis

Let’s analyze the entire personal statement section by section and answer the questions posed above.

Introduction

As a young roofing project manager, I chose to work with Spanish-speaking clients with roofs leaky from hail storms many years prior. Because I was born in Mexico and had spent my younger years there, I felt a special connection when aiding non-English-speaking families who otherwise may have had difficulty navigating a complex insurance process to restore their damaged homes. I spent hundreds of hours learning to inspect and scrutinize the sometimes subtle, time-worn signs of hail damage to expertly advocate for those families. It was this love of advocacy, combined with my later love of biologic systems, that drew me to medicine.

Roger leads with details like “roofs leaky from hail storms” and “time-worn signs of hail damage” that make his previous career in construction vivid in the reader’s mind. The specificity also ensures that only Roger could write an introduction like this. He indicates the hundreds of hours he spent learning to examine subtle signs of roof damage in a manner that suggests, without stating it outright, both the kind of learner Roger would be as a dermatology resident and the transferable qualities he gained from his work and life experiences.

The last line of the paragraph, which helps anchor the reader in Roger’s motivations from the beginning, describes how Roger’s interest came to be. This thesis makes it much easier to navigate the essay and helps Roger compellingly articulate who he is and why he has chosen to apply for dermatology.

Body section 1: Specialty

In this section, Roger emphasizes his interest in dermatology and develops the idea he introduced in his opening paragraph: being attuned to subtle signs of damage. Roger finds kinship in the dermatologist’s “keen eye for detail,” relishes the “diagnostic challenge,” and emphasizes “detail-driven expertise”—all qualities he previously expressed about himself as a roofer and which he is now connecting to dermatology as a field.

In the second specialty paragraph, Roger turns his attention to a mentor to tell a specific anecdote that demonstrates his clear understanding about what dermatology entails. With his point about the visual and attentive elements of dermatology made, Roger transitions to describing the patient relationship toward the end of the second paragraph. The “understanding of his community, values, and risk factors that allowed her to guide this patient to a better outcome” sets Roger up to describe how he shares this awareness as well.

Finally, the specificity of the mulched poison ivy, its resulting rash, and the grizzled rural farmer makes this firmly Roger’s and no one else’s.

Body section 2: Advocacy

In medical school I have enjoyed caring for those who, for cultural, insurance, or geographic reasons, have difficulty receiving care. After one shift in my inpatient pediatrics rotation, I brought my guitar to play for a Latino boy who was dying from leukemia and made his parents my favorite recipe for chile verde with pork. Although I couldn’t offer any more to them medically, I hoped to aid the fear and disconnection they had expressed with the unfamiliar environment now surrounding them. The connection made in that moment helped ease their suffering and fostered a better union between the treatment team and patient.

In this section, Roger returns to the advocacy he mentioned in his introduction. He keeps it unique by describing a specific interaction with a single family and even mentions his favorite recipe, which gives the body paragraphs a touch of his personality.

The cultural angle helps remind the reader of the ways Roger has been interested in culturally-specific service since his days in roofing, when he advocated on behalf of Spanish-speaking clients.

Finally, Roger gives context to the research on his CV by showing how his preference for the underserved isn’t merely an ideological commitment. Rather, Roger’s attraction to dermatology dovetails with his passion for connecting with the underserved because his research credentials back it up. Even his upbringing in a different country finds a parallel in the rural environment where he hopes to practice now. The combination of details makes this section uniquely Roger and deepens our sense of who he is.

Roger keeps it short, perhaps due to word count. Still, his first line clearly articulates who he is and what draws him to dermatology. Placing this line at the end of the anecdotes and examples Roger used throughout the essay helps the image of him crystallize in the minds of the selection committee. Roger’s last line isn’t our favorite—it’s a little bit common. But the rest of the essay is specific enough that we aren’t hung up on it.

Final thoughts

By reflecting on how your personal attributes and interests inform who you are and who you might be in your chosen specialty, your well-crafted, authentic, and unique personal statement will help you land those coveted residency interviews and, ultimately, match into the residency program of your dreams.

ERAS allows me to use up to 28,000 characters. Do I really need to stick to one page?

Yes. A page is considered standard, and even if you submit more, many program directors may not read past your first page. Thus, keep your statement short and sweet. Remember that one page in ERAS is 3,500 characters including spaces, which equals approximately 550–750 words.

Can I edit my personal statement after uploading it to ERAS?

Yes, ERAS allows you to edit your personal statement at any time during the application season, even if you’ve already assigned it to programs you’re applying to.

Should I address red flags in my personal statement?

It depends on the severity of the red flag. We don’t recommend using your personal statement to explain a situation that’s simply less than ideal, such as a low but passing Step 1 score. However, if you have a serious issue in your candidacy—for instance, you failed the USMLE, you repeated a preclinical year or clerkship, or you have unexplained interruptions in your medical education or career—it’s generally advisable to address it head on in order to demonstrate maturity and honesty. Don’t make excuses; do take ownership of the problem and explain how you’ve learned and grown from your mistakes.

If there is a legal issue in your past, the ERAS application contains legal disclosure fields in which you can discuss the incident. It’s typically not necessary to also address the issue in your personal statement unless it played a formative role in your journey towards your specialty.

The above are our general recommendations; however, given the many nuances and gray areas that tend to accompany red flags, it’s usually a good idea to discuss how to handle them with a trusted advisor in your specialty.

Should I tailor my personal statement to specific residency programs?

Generally speaking, it’s not necessary to tailor your personal statement to each program to which you apply. That said, ERAS does allow you to upload as many personal statements as you wish, so it is possible to send different versions of your personal statement to different programs.

Before you consider doing so, keep in mind that it’s probably not realistic to send a customized personal statement to every program that you’re applying to. Instead, you might do so for, say, your top three programs. Another approach could involve creating two different versions of your personal statement to send out as you choose.

For instance, you might have one version geared towards research-heavy programs and one geared towards community-oriented programs. Or, perhaps a few programs on your list are in your home city and the rest are located elsewhere. You could then create a personal statement for the hometown programs that includes a few sentences reflecting your geographical tie and why it’s important to your medical career (e.g. “ Having grown up in a medically underserved community in Romulus, my lifelong goal has been to improve access to healthcare for the citizens of Wayne County …”).

In any case, you should only tailor your personal statement to reflect genuine, well-founded reasons for your interest in a program. Because tailored personal statements are neither the norm nor the expectation, half-baked attempts to demonstrate fit will be noticeable.

(Note: We should mention that the one situation that always calls for multiple personal statements is if you’re applying to more than one specialty.)

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Residency Match: 4 tips for writing a standout personal statement

A residency application is more than metrics and research. Ideally, a good residency application is well-rounded, and the personal statement is what helps shape it. Read on for these essential tips on how to write personal statements for residency.

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How to write a personal statement for residency

Sonja Raaum, MD, is an assistant professor of medicine and a hospitalist at the University of Utah Hospital. As someone who works with fourth-year medical students and residents, she reviews residency applications and helps students formulate their personal statements.

“I have read hundreds of personal statements during interview season, and it strikes me that when we’re looking at applications it is often a missed opportunity for many students,” Dr. Raaum said. “Sometimes it can be an afterthought, but what we really want is a holistic picture of the student.”

Dr. Raaum offered these tips to students in the process of crafting a personal statement.

Show, don’t tell real-life residency personal statement examples

You can assert that you’re a great fit for a program, but if you can cite a real-life example of an attribute that makes that case for you it’s going to go much further. If you do cite a personal story, Dr. Raaum recommends that you connect it to your larger career goals.

“A lot of people have clinic experience and really great stories, but if you use a story it should convey your goals, desires, skills and attributes that you want to highlight,” she said.

Explain any negatives on your residency personal statements

In some ways, a setback can be a positive, particularly if you can show some resiliency in the face of it.

“The personal statement lets you bring all the pieces [of your application] together,” Dr. Raaum said. “That means it’s an opportunity to address any sticking point in your application, like a low score or low grade. You can show how much you’ve grown since that.”

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Be yourself

If you write something in your personal statement because you think it’s what somebody wants to hear—and it’s not something that reflects your passions—that will likely come across in an interview. The best personal statements, Dr. Raaum said, are authentic.

“The best match is when that student can bring their authentic self to a program. And some of the most amazing things have happened when we match with these people and watch them grow into themselves as a physician,” she said. “If you can bring your authentic self to a statement, it increases the chances that you will find a program where you can reach your goals and design your career.”

Solicit feedback on residency personal statement samples

Ask people to read your personal statement when it’s in draft form. Ideally, you are going to be able to find classmates and faculty members who can give you objective, honest insight.

“I would say you want to ask three or four people whom you trust to give honest feedback about how that personal statement is perceived,” Dr. Raaum said. “The other question to consider is how often are you using the word ‘I’ [in your personal statement]. That’s important in terms of terms of recognizing the self-serving interest versus the larger goal for any medical residency program.

“We are, in the end, people who are going to be really good at patient care and being part of a team.”

Explain any negatives on your residency personal statements
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PersonalStatementMan

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Updated: Apr 19

Students who matched because of their great personal statements

Follow my proven formula for writing your medical residency personal statement because it’s easy and it works. How do I know it's effective? Because I’ve personally played a role in hundreds of successful matches .

Table of Contents:

The One Rule for Writing Your Medical Residency Personal Statement

My residency personal statement writing suggestions, the cheeseburger method: the best residency personal statement outline, the introduction, or your residency personal statement’s top bun, the middle, or the meat of your personal statement, the conclusion, or your residency personal statement’s bottom bun, the final sentence (or two) of your medical residency personal statement.

Toppings, or the Added Tasty Stuff Like Cheese, Bacon, Ketchup, Etc.

3 Takeaways

Faq: red flags, transitions, revision process, how to ask for help, etc..

This guide is meant to be a one-stop shop for personal statement writing. However, I cover additional tips and tidbits if you're interested in digging deeper. For those, check out:

4 Critical Medical Residency Personal Statement Writing Tips

5 Easy Guidelines for Residency Personal Statement Writing

No matter what anyone says, there are no hard and fast rules you MUST adhere to in writing your medical residency personal statement.

Sure, there are suggestions .

There are good decisions and bad decisions.

For instance, some people would advise you never to use informal writing in your residency personal statement. Readers will see “isn’t” or “I’m” and immediately toss it in the trash!

Nope. Not true. A few readers may grimace. Still, some readers might actually prefer conversational writing. Perhaps your casual tone will be the crucial little thing that nudges the scales in your direction and ultimately opens the door of that coveted dream residency spot.

So, what’s the ONE RULE for writing your ERAS personal statement? It’s that there are no true, set-in-stone, ironclad, must-follow-or-else rules.

Okay, so no rules, but here are the tried-and-true parameters I follow:

1) Your ERAS personal statement length should be between 600 and 800 words.

2) Don’t capitalize specialties. It’s incorrect.

3) Don’t name the the doctors/mentors you’ve worked with. This personal statement is about you, not them.

4) Include a patient story from rotations that relates to your chosen specialty and shows you in action doing things residency programs like.

Really, that’s it. Now let’s learn about my magic CHEESEBURGER method for writing a great medical residency personal statement. Yum!

A strong first sentence or two are important, but it’s a mistake to try too hard to grab attention.

Many people will tell you that immediately captivating your reader is critical. It’s not. In fact, so many students attempt to blow minds with their opening sentences that you’ll probably stand out by NOT doing so.

Instead of going for INCREDIBLE, try just being INTERESTING. Here are some examples:

Residency personal statement first sentence examples

Just go for a strong first sentence. After that, focus on answering the following two questions:

Why are you becoming a doctor?

Why do you love your chosen specialty?

Remember that this personal statement is not for your medical school application. You’re applying for RESIDENCY here. Thus, touch lightly on the first question and devote more energy to the second. What is it about psychiatry that you enjoy so much? Why are you so fascinated by surgery? Is there an interesting story that pushed you toward family medicine?

Cheeseburger patty - the meat of your residency personal statement

Your patient story is the juicy good stuff in the middle of your ERAS personal statement. This is where you win your readers over by showing yourself in action in the clinical setting.

Unfortunately, for many applicants, this is the most difficult part. You might be wondering to yourself: Do I REALLY need one?

Including a patient story is one of my core guidelines. There are some rare exceptions. However, when a client tells me they’d rather not share one, I do everything I can to convince them otherwise. Why?

First of all, your audience expects a patient story.

More importantly, it’s a great vehicle for selling yourself as a phenomenal prospective resident. Your readers know you’re just a “lowly student,” but they want to see initiative. They want to picture you in action in circumstances similar to those you’ll encounter in residency.

Here’s how to generate an effective patient story:

1) Remember: just as with your opening sentence, you do NOT need to blow your reader away. Don't try to portray yourself as a physician superhero.

2) Consider your intended specialty. If you’re applying to family medicine, brainstorm a story that shows you building a longer-term relationship. Focus on education and prevention, and/or other similar family medicine “buzz words.” Internal medicine? Teamwork, detail analysis, etc. Surgery? Calmness under pressure, dexterity, leadership, teamwork. You get the idea.

3) Include pertinent details. Details help paint a vivid picture, but too many weigh down the narrative. In choosing your details, think about what each one conveys to the reader about you. For instance, recalling an exact lab value or catching a subtle symptom or bit of prior history says you’re observant. Bringing a patient an extra blanket relates that you’re compassionate and thoughtful. Some attributes are higher on the list for certain specialties but perhaps lower for others, so prioritize details carefully.

4) Keep yourself at center stage. Sure, your attending did some amazing things that inspired you, but this personal statement needs to show how capable YOU are. Many students say they were “in awe” of what another doctor did and use that as the point their story revolves around. This is a huge mistake.

Still can’t think of a good patient story? Rack your memory or look back through your patient logs. Ask your family and friends to remind you of the interesting stories you’ve told them from rotations.

When did you go above and beyond?

What are your most memorable patients?

It’s totally fine if nothing stands out. I said it earlier, but the patient story is where applicants typically struggle the most. That just means it's time to get creative!

But PersonalStatementMan, is it okay to embellish a so-so encounter? What about completely making a story up out of thin air? Do people do that? Do they actually lie?!

YES, they absolutely do. Don’t be afraid to color outside the lines if necessary.

To be very blunt, whether it’s ethical or not, your competition will do anything they can to get ahead of you. This isn’t the time to over-worry about morals.

Bottom bun - the conclusion of the medical residency personal statement

In your conclusion, I recommend briefly answering, in 2-3 sentences at maximum, two questions:

1) What are your aspirations for your medical career after residency?

Readers typically want to see that you’re open-minded. Think about where you were when you began medical school and know that a lot can change in the coming years. Thus, there’s no need to get too specific.

Also, many programs give extra points to applicants they think might stick around after residency. So if you’re absolutely certain about your exact path, and it doesn't involve working for your program, consider sharing that information AFTER you match.

2) What are you looking for in a residency program?

Be brief and general here. You want to come across as humble, that you’re not expecting too much above the basics like a positive workplace, an environment that promotes growth and learning, and good attendings.

I suggest NOT mentioning you want things like research opportunities unless EVERY program you’re applying to offers them.

Additionally, I encourage you NOT to state that you’re looking for a program that promotes resident wellness. Wellness SHOULD of course be a given. I know that’s not always the reality, but like it or not, some readers will view you adding that expectation into your personal statement as a sign you might not be a dream employee/teammate.

Then finally, you will use your conclusion to sum up and reinforce the rest of your medical residency personal statement. How to do this most effectively? Touch back on your introduction. This wraps everything together and creates a satisfying, full-circle reading experience.

You can also sprinkle in a little from your patient story if it fits.

Personal statement transition to conclusion example

The dreaded ending. Don't be intimidated, it's really not that difficult. Just as with everything else, your goal should not be to knock off any socks or blow any minds.

My winning formula for residency personal statement final sentences boils down to a mix of at least two of the following elements:

1) Enthusiasm to start residency

2) A reinforcement of your dedication

3) A reminder about what you offer to your team and patients

This is a lot to include in a single sentence, right? It is, but after writing and revising hundreds upon hundreds of medical residency personal statements, I’ve found this formula to tie the tightest bow.

Be declarative and confident. This is the career you’ve worked so hard for, and you DESERVE this residency position.

Finally, and this is VERY important: The surest way to accomplish a confident ending without sounding arrogant is to mention your team.

Here are some examples:

Personal statement final sentence examples

If you still don’t like how your ending sounds after trying your very hardest, I have a trick for you. It works every time:

Begin a new paragraph and conclude with something like:

“Thank you for your time and consideration.”

Looks pretty good, right?

Ending this way forces a finality to your medical residency personal statement. It also implies that you’re respectfully aware of your reader and appreciative of the time they spent going over your application.

Personal Statement Toppings, or the Added Tasty Stuff Like Cheese, Bacon, Ketchup, Etc.

The toppings of your medical residency personal statement

Make your residency personal statement cheeseburger more unique by adding your favorite toppings!

Is there something interesting and different about your path to residency? Did you put yourself through college by working at Old Navy? Were you raised or did you study in a foreign country? Are you particularly proud of your research or volunteer work?

Do you fly airplanes in your free time? Run your own business?

Maybe you play an instrument at a high level, were a collegiate athlete, or have a black belt in karate.

Sharing one or two morsels like these can help you stand out among your competition. However, avoid too much emphasis and always keep in mind that the purpose of your medical residency personal statement is to show what you will bring to your program as a resident.

A common trap some students fall into is reciting their CV experience items to try to prove that they’re qualified.

Firstly, your reader holds that exact information in their hands already. Secondly, listing items from your past makes for very boring writing. You’re telling a story here! Let your other application materials speak for themselves while you make your ERAS personal statement as engaging and readable as possible.

In that spirit, do not include your toppings if they don’t fit naturally. Getting the narrative to flow together takes a lot of work and finesse, but when you get it right, it will place your personal statement among the top 1%. What does that mean? Well, it means your readers will LOVE you and your dream residency will BEG to interview you!*

*Okay you got me. This might be a slight exaggeration.

1) Your residency personal statement's length should be between 600 and 800 words.

2) Don't waste time trying to blow your readers' minds with "incredible" opening or closing sentences. Go for "interesting" instead.

3) A simple, cheeseburger-like outline has been proven over and over to achieve spectacular results: Top bun (introduction), meat (patient story), bottom bun (conclusion). And don't forget to include a few delicious toppings.

I go into more detail about many of these topics in the linked posts, but here are quick answers to some common questions. If you require further clarification and want to set up a meeting to discuss in person, please never hesitate to reach out to me .

Personal Statement FAQ

Do I need different versions of my personal statement for different specialties?

YES. You do not want residency programs thinking their specialty may not be your first choice.

For an obvious example, a surgeon has a different set of skills than an internist. They excel in different environments, cultivate different knowledge bases, and encounter different types of patients.

Less obvious is that even if you're applying to both family medicine and internal medicine, both primary care specialties, you must write two separate personal statements.

Though similar on the surface, the two fields have subtle (but critical) differences. For example, family medicine is more outpatient focused while internal medicine revolves more around inpatient medicine. FM prioritizes relationships, continuity, and prevention. Yes, these are also important in IM, but IM is more centered in analysis, diagnosis, and teamwork.

The takeaway? You must have separate personal statements for each specialty.

Should I tailor different versions of my personal statement to each program I’m applying to?

Short answer: No, but there are exceptions.

Personalizing versions of your personal statement for each residency program can be cumbersome, confusing, and risky.

I've worked with more than one student who made the fatal mistake of accidentally uploaded the wrong version to the wrong program. Oops! Needless to say, their top choices did not extend interview invitations.

Additionally, I doubt tailoring different versions is very effective. Most students try to lift key phrases from the program's website and saying things like:

"I know I am a great fit for < insert program name > because, like you, my core values are teamwork, results, and patient satisfaction."

Or they google the geographical area and say something like this:

"When I am not working hard my team and patients, I look forward to hiking the area's plentiful nature trails and exploring < insert nearby city >'s vibrant culinary scene."

Does that seem compelling to you?

Now, there are exceptions to this advice, and the biggest one is if you rotated at the program. Adding in a personal sentence or two will remind your readers they know you, just in case they forgot your name.

That said, if you choose to tailor your personal statement to different programs, learn from my previous clients' tragedies. Make sure you triple- or quadruple-check that you've attached the correct one in ERAS.

Who actually reads my residency personal statement?

Program directors and attendings are NOT the only people who you will have the chance to impress with your ERAS personal statement.

It depends on the program, but any number of staff members and current residents might also be given access to your application. Choosing new residents is often a group effort!

It's important to keep this in mind when writing your personal statement. For instance, going way out of your way to appeal to a PD might turn off prospective co-residents. Consequently, you want to remain as authentic and honest as possible, knowing you're communicating with a fairly wide audience.

When and how do I ask for help?

Having another set or two of eyes during the writing process can be very helpful.

However, be wary of having too many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone you ask -- your friends, parents, attendings, teachers, janitors -- will have a different opinion they're sure is correct. Too much input quickly devolves into a counterproductive and confusing ball of stress, anguish, and sleepless nights.

Here's what I recommend:

Complete your first draft before asking for help. Then limit your proof readers/feedback givers to just TWO people. ONE reader is even better. Of course, make sure you choose very carefully.

Then, after another draft or two, hire a professional writing service ( like mine! ) to tighten things up.

It's extremely important you keep in mind that the only opinion that truly counts is yours. If you believe strongly in a certain passage or story that one of your readers criticizes, defend it. I encounter a lot of students who look to others for the correct answers about their personal statements.

Unfortunately "correct answers" don't exist for things that are subjective.

Remember: Just like our ONE RULE that there are no rules, there is no such thing as a "correct" way to present yourself in your personal statement. No matter what you do, some readers will respond well and others not so well.

Should I hire someone to help?

Given my job, you should know my answer to this question: Yes!!

Here's my in-depth discussion about why and how to hire the BEST ERAS personal statement writing service you can find.

How do I address red flags?

Follow the link for my discussion about the two best methods for addressing red flags .

Can I use ChatGPT or another AI?

You can use it to help you write, but DO NOT use it to write your ERAS personal statement for you. More discussion here !

How do I write great transitions? (coming soon)

What is a good revision process (coming soon), how do i know when i’m done is my personal statement good enough (coming soon), i’m still struggling what do i do (coming soon), residency application faq table of contents:, what if my attending asks me to write my own letter of recommendation (coming soon), what are the eras experiences and how do i write them (coming soon).

Photo credits:

Students Who Matched: https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-12531762.html

Signs that say "NO" - https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-1655708.html

Cheeseburger & Accoutrements: Abby Curtin

Residency personal statement examples: https://www.personalstatementman.com

Red Flag: https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-1020422.html

Hand raised: https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-4218696.html

Residency Personal Statement
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Residency Personal Statement [Ultimate Guide]

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There’s no doubt that a strong application for a residency program will open new doors and bring in a lot of opportunities for you. Aside from your shiny USMLE or COMLEX scores and your GPA in medical school, residency program directors look for a specific reason to accept you – and a residency personal statement is what they need.

In this post, we’re going to shed some light on your residency personal statement – enabling you to learn how to write a phenomenal personal statement that will land you an interview so you can match into the specialty you desire!

Table Of Contents

What Is A Residency Personal Statement?

A residency personal statement is one of the requirements when applying to residency programs. This is a formal letter that you get to write and personalize yourself to further showcase your strengths as an individual and as a potential resident of the specialty you desire to match into.

It is a medium that enables you to improve your residency application by going beyond what’s written in your CV and letting the program directors see why you’re perfect for their residency.

How Important Is The Personal Statement For Residency?

The National Residency Matching Program’s (NRMP) Director Survey shows a chart on the percentage of programs citing each factor and mean importance rating for each factor in selecting applicants to interview.

Here are the top 10 cited factors that residency program directors consider when choosing which applicants will pass to the succeeding stages of the application process.

Figure 1. Top 10 Factors Residency Program Directors Consider When Selecting Qualified Applicants

As we can derive from the figure above, residency program directors prioritize USMLE Step 1 /COMLEX Level 1 scores, letters of recommendation , Medical Student Performance Evaluation, USMLE Step 2 CK /COMLEX Level 2 scores, and residency personal statements come in at fifth place with a 78% citing factor and an average rating of 3.7.

Residency program directors will always put those numbers in your residency application on top of their list of priorities. If there’s anything I learned about mathematics is that numbers are universal. Your scores are what it is and there’s no other way of trying to understand it.

No matter what kind of student you were in medical school, how you treat your colleagues, or your attitude towards work and rotations – the first thing people will ask you is how much you have scored on your Step 1.

However, residency program directors are not just interested in these numbers alone. Otherwise, letters of recommendation and residency personal statements wouldn’t even be in the top 5 factors in selecting applicants for residency programs.

See, chances are, the applicants you’ll be competing with would have the similar USMLE or COMLEX scores as you. Everyone is competent enough to be accepted – so how is this going to pan out?

The residency personal statement serves as the tiebreaker for such situations. Your scores as yours to keep but your residency personal statement sets you apart from the rest – helping them remember your residency application as something to consider.

This is the opportunity offered to you to voice out your goals and motivations why you’re diving into the specialty that you are applying for. Doing so will help the directors determine for themselves if you’re applying to become the future physician that they’re exactly looking for and not just because you need something to pay the bills for.

What Do You Write In A Residency Personal Statement?

Your residency personal statement should embody who you are as an individual and as an applicant.

While letters of recommendation provide qualitative information about an applicant from the eyes of the people around him, residency personal statements solely come from the words of the applicant.

Thus, it is a language understood only by the applicants and the program directors where they could know more about your personality and strengths and decide whether you would fit the environment and standards of their residency program.

Of course, for your residency personal statement to achieve its full capabilities – you must be able to write a coherent letter which includes some aspects that program directors expect to see.

You could ask for residents you know if you could have a glimpse of their residency personal statements for you to have an idea where you should start. There are also a ton of examples all over the Internet which I’ll be providing you later on.

Here are some of the common things to be written in a residency personal statement. Make sure that your residency personal statement answers the questions below. These are also a great place to start if you feel lost and have no idea what to write.

Motivations Behind Career and Specialty Choice

What has drawn you to pursue this specialty among others?
What are the instances in your life and in all your years of medical school that piqued your interest in this specialty?
How and what led you to decide that medicine is what you want to pursue as a career?
What medical cause do you feel should be addressed by you?

Qualities or Skills To Help You As A Resident

What are your strengths that other applicants don’t have?
How are your skills and qualities going to help you succeed as a medical practitioner?
Could the residency directors expect more from you?
Are you capable of learning and improving?
How do you think these will enable you to excel in this specialty?

Plans For The Long Term

What do you expect from this specialty in the long run?
What do you hope to accomplish besides paying the bills and making the world a better place to live in for patients?
Are you planning to become a partner or stay as employed?
How do you see your career in this specialty progressing, 20 years in time?

Personal Attributes Relevant To Your Specialty

If you’re applying for a pediatrics residency program, are you easily approachable by kids and their parents?
Are you empathetic towards women and have respect for their decisions?
Do you have the leadership skills that a surgeon needs?
What are the instances wherein you have strongly demonstrated your personal attributes to a clinical setting?

Accomplishments You’re Proud Of

Are there any extracurricular activities that are meaningful to you?
What are the accomplishments you feel most proud of? If these are already mentioned in your CV but you feel like this one certain accomplishment is kind of ambiguous and worth expanding on, then go ahead.

How Long Should A Residency Personal Statement Be?

As tempting it may be to tell your whole story on how you have decided to become a physician, don’t be that kind of applicant. Keep your residency personal statement at about just 3500 characters or 500 words. Make sure that you don’t go over 1 page.

You just want to promote your strengths, qualities, and skills at a personal level since your USMLE or COMLEX scores don’t really provide an insight as to what kind of person you are and how you approach your work. That’s all there is to it.

What Makes A Great Residency Personal Statement?

what makes a great personal statement for residency

A Unique Take Behind Your Medical Journey

Every aspiring medical practitioner has a story to tell. Think of a unique story coming from a very particular point in your life that had led you to realize that you want to pursue a career in the field of medicine.

The introduction should tell the story of the exact moment of your transition to be an aspiring physician . If you are one of the applicants who was dead set on a particular specialty before experiencing rotations and had a change of heart as you were going through with it – explain why and how you felt in this transition.

It’s important for you to write everything in detail . Writing the introduction with detail delivers the story vividly and clearly to the reader of your residency personal statement. Make them feel like they were with you on that day.

You want this story to be powerful but not too emotional, substantial but brief, specific but not too revealing, and something that only you can write . Make it memorable and something to remember. Give the program directors a chance to ask more about you on the day of the interview.

Personalizing Personal Statements

Everyone’s journey in the field of medicine is personal . A residency personal statement is not a place for enumerating every single achievement in your life and selling yourself like hot pancakes.

Your CV, USMLE or COMLEX scores, and letters of recommendation , are already enough quantitative and qualitative information to determine your competency.

A residency personal statement is one of the requirements for residency programs because they want to be able to connect with you on a personal level. They want to understand you as a person and as a potential resident.

Also, because they need something to talk about in your interview.

You must be able to describe how medicine is integral to you as an individual . How has it become something that can describe you as who you are, without wearing that white coat and a stethoscope wrapped around your neck?

Describe how your personality, interests, and the course of your life relate to the specialty you want to match into. Connect the dots from personal to professional.

An Unexpected Turn of Events

As a fan of movies, I fancy characters who display change and growth throughout the story. There’s nothing more boring than a one-trick pony kind of character. A movie with a character like that is not worth watching. Never watching it again for the rest of my life.

You could think of these residency program directors as an audience of the story of your medical journey. Provide them with a timeline that exemplary showcases why and how your points of view, opinions, and perspectives of yourself have changed throughout your journey before and during medical school.

Did you also have failures that had dramatically impacted the course of your life? Don’t be insecure about these failures and use them to your advantage. Sometimes your failures could even be seen as strengths.

Failures are a part of the things that make you who you are now. Program directors would most likely be interested in how you have overcome these failures and how you have used it as a pedestal to become wiser and stronger as a person and as a medical practitioner.

The Kind of Doctor You Want to Become

Do you picture yourself as a doctor who only cares about the politics inside the hospital? Do you see yourself as the kind of doctor who prioritizes the health and safety of your patients and staff above everything else? Are you going to be a doctor for yourself or the patients?

Promoting the current version of yourself in your residency personal statement gives the program directors an image of how you’re going to approach your work as a resident. However, you must also give them a visualization of the kind of doctor you want to be in the long run . This gives them something to look forward to.

What Should You Not Write In A Residency Personal Statement

Avoid Being Dramatic

You need to keep the tone of your statement to be as formal as possible even if you’re talking about yourself. You may be a bit carried away which could push you into writing a statement that’s kind of dramatic in a sense.

In other words – don’t make your residency personal statement a screenplay for a medical drama . You want to hook your reader by providing them interesting substances, not by adding too much flare. Keep your choice of words formal but personal, as well.

No Need For Rehashing

Don’t try to reiterate what’s already on your CV. Doing so is only a waste of paper, ink, and you’re only throwing this opportunity into the trash. You’re not helping anyone else . This is only acceptable if certain things seem ambiguous but deserves to be discussed more.

Don’t Be Too Declarative

Many applicants feel the need to advocate themselves in a sense that they deserve to be accepted to the residency program they are applying for. While I appreciate the confidence and credit the applicant gives himself – this is not unique. Anyone can write something like that.

Remember, your residency personal statement should be something that could only be written by you, no one else.

You Don’t Have To Promote The Specialty

What’s a promotion of the specialty doing in your personal statement? Program directors know what they’re doing and for what cause. Don’t waste your time and some paper on promoting the specialty you are applying for.

While I understand that applicants do this because they feel like they should come off as knowledgeable in the field, program directors are confident that you know plentiful enough about the specialty. Otherwise, why are you even writing that residency personal statement in the first place?

Don’t promote the specialty. Instead, promote yourself.

Residency Personal Statement Examples

Below are some exemplary samples of residency personal statements that bring out the personality, strengths, and qualities of the applicant that sufficiently and efficiently provides an image as to why he is a perfect fit for the program.

For An Anesthesiology Residency Program Applicant

“Growing up the first-born daughter of a hard-working Saskatchewan cattle farmer and hairdresser, medicine was never a consideration. In a small town, I could easily see how too much free time got many of my peers in trouble. From grade 8-12 I devoted myself to sports, playing high school, club and provincial beach volleyball, weeknights, and weekends year-round. Despite my small stature and lack of innate abilities, with determination and persistence, I overcame these obstacles. At the end of my grade 11 year, I received an athletic scholarship and chose to pursue business administration and athletics.

After the first six months, it became apparent that I was not going to attain my full potential in education at [university name}. Despite my parent’s reservations, I left and enrolled at a [university name] for the next semester. This university was much more challenging as I was now balancing my educational and financial responsibilities by working evenings and weekends managing several part-time jobs. With little direction as to what degree I wanted to pursue, I happened to enroll in anatomy and physiology. This was the first time I became excited about my prospects and began actively considering a career in medicine.

The first time I applied to medicine, I was rejected. Despite my initial devastation, in hindsight, it was a great opportunity for me to reflect on my motivations for medicine and work as a laboratory technician at a potash mine in my hometown. I gained additional life experience, spent time with my family, and was able to help financially support my husband’s pursuit of education after he had so selflessly supported me for many years.

My first exposure to anesthesia was in my first year of medical school with [Dr. name here] as my mentor in clinical reasoning. I was again, intrigued by the anatomy and physiology with the interlacing of pharmacology. I remained open to all specialties, however, after summer early exposures, research, and clerkship it became clear to me that anesthesia is where I felt the most fulfilled and motivated.

In a way, anesthesia was reminiscent of the competitive volleyball I had played years prior. I was again a part of a team in the operating room with a common goal. Similarly, our countless years of education and practice had brought us together to achieve it. In volleyball, my role was the setter, which to many is considered a lackluster position as we rarely attack the ball and score points with power. However, as a setter, my role is to set the pace, strategize, and dictate the game from my team’s perspective. There is a long sequence of crucial events before a “kill” in volleyball and I strategized my teammate’s individual strengths in both offense and defense to win. Anesthesia gives me the same opportunities to strategize anesthetics, balance individual patient’s comorbidities and anatomy all while maintaining a calm demeanor and level head through unexpected circumstances. In volleyball, I never shied away from tense games or difficult situations, instead I trusted in my own abilities and training despite uncharted territory. Lastly, I didn’t need to actually score the point in order to understand my role and contributions to my team.

As an athlete, I understand the importance of practice and repetition which allows us to fail, but most importantly, to learn. I believe that the curriculum at this program will provide me with a well-respected education, which strongly reflects my learning style. I also admire the mandatory communication block in the curriculum because I believe an emphasis on clear and concise communication, is essential as an anesthetist.

Throughout the course of the next 5-10 years, I anticipate that both my husband and I will complete the next chapter in our educational pursuits. We both agree that [program name here] has the potential to nurture the next chapter in both our private and professional lives if given the opportunity.”

For A Dermatology Residency Program Applicant

“So many disconnected pieces, yet no clear starting point.” I think as I stare at the 1,000 puzzle pieces in front of me. I instantly rewire my brain to consider all of them but also how they fit in the big picture. Working for hours on puzzles with my terminally ill grandfather taught me there is something mesmerizing about simultaneously losing and centering yourself in a disarray of colors and shapes. Dermatology is a jigsaw puzzle in which the pieces sit in front of our eyes, waiting to be assembled into a diagnosis. Solving this intricate puzzle, which encompasses a wide variety of intriguing diseases, fascinated me early in my medical career.

During my first contact with patients as a research assistant at [name of center], I developed a genuine interest in this specialty. Witnessing the effects of severe and refractory dermatological diseases on their quality of life sparked my empathy and a desire to strengthen my knowledge in order to help them. This empathy grew over the course of my rotations, as I observed the distress brought on by a melanoma diagnosis, the debilitating pruritus associated with atopic dermatitis, and the emotional scars left by acne.

Driven by this experience, I founded the [name of race] with my devoted and inspiring team. Together, we raised close to $18,000, which was donated to the [name of society] for the advancement of malignant melanoma research and prevention strategies. This project allowed me to serve as a leader and a strong team player. I was also granted the hands-on opportunity to take concrete steps towards promoting prevention and advocating for patient health – competencies that will serve me as a devoted dermatologist.

As a result of my scientific rigors and dedication, I have had the opportunity to publish my work on inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and speak at international conferences. I recently submitted a case study to the [name of journal] and an abstract to next year’s [ name of conference]. I hope to further my contribution to the advancement of dermatology both scientifically and academically. Besides my interest in skin malignancy, I am also very passionate about immunodermatology, skin manifestations of IBD, and vascular anomalies, to name a few. Committed to a lifelong learning experience, I strive to expand my knowledge through academic research. My constant desire to improve, in addition to an insatiable curiosity, was valued during my rotations regardless of the specialty.

During my residency, I look forward to being challenged and surrounded by new ideas and perspectives. I wish to pursue my training in [name of city]’s multicultural epicenter, where I will be exposed to a wide range of unique cases. [Name of school]’s prestige for research and mentorship is second to none. During my elective at the [name of hospital], your commitment to patient care, your dedication to knowledge, and your pedagogical approach instilled a sense of belonging in me. It is with you that I hope to set the final puzzle pieces of my medical training into place.”

For A Family Medicine Residency Program Applicant

“My first exposure to Family Medicine occurred during my time as a Medical Officer working in a small clinic in Nigeria in fulfillment of the [name of service]. There, I recognized that a career in this specialty would offer me the opportunity to not only experience the aspects I cherished most about other specialties, but fulfill my personal interests in advancing community health.

My many encounters with patients during my days in the clinic reaffirmed my view of Primary care physicians as being on the frontline of diagnosis and preventive medicine. There was the middle-aged diabetic patient who had first presented to the emergency with diabetic ketoacidosis, the hypertensive man whose initial complaint of a persistent headache prompted the discovery of his soaring blood pressure, and the adolescent with a family history of allergies who was diagnosed with asthma. These encounters highlighted that as the first point of contact, the general practitioner is not only responsible for diagnosis, but often in ensuring patients are set on the path of healthy habits to prevent disease complications. This unique opportunity to significantly advance the well-being of a patient, and by extension, the community renewed my interest in the field.

An especially appealing feature of Family Medicine is that it provides an opportunity for patient care without limitations of age, sex, disease, or organ system. From treating colds and routine checkups to referral for suspected malignancy, I enjoyed that every day in the clinic was a learning experience and no day was routine. In addition, having a diverse population of patients and cases requires an abundance of clinical knowledge and I cherish the chance to learn and expand my skills every day.

I also value that an essential part of Primary care is in the enduring relationships the practitioners develop with patients. I recall several moments during my clinical experiences when I recognized that some of the bonds formed during ongoing patient interactions had evolved into lasting friendships. Being a practice of continual care, I appreciate that this specialty provides many opportunities to follow patients through different stages of their lives ensuring a deepening of relationship and compliance with care. I was inspired during my clinical rotation here in the United States when I saw how my preceptorís long-term relationships with patients enabled their compliance and often extended to different generations within one family.

Ultimately, I am confident that my experiences have prepared me for a career in this specialty. An agreeable, attentive, and compassionate nature has aided me in gaining trust as well as building meaningful interpersonal relationships which are crucial components of this field. Furthermore, my interaction with an extensive array of patients during my clinical and volunteer experiences has equipped me with the ability to communicate and relate to patients across different age groups and backgrounds. In addition, I enjoy working to coordinate patient care with colleagues and other specialties and value that the wellness of the patient is a result of hard work, dedication, and teamwork.

Thus, I hope to find a residency program dedicated to providing in-depth clinical training with a diverse patient population and an emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention through patient education and community service. Moreover, I look forward to being part of a program that will encourage my pursuit of intellectual development and advancement to enable my transition into a well-rounded, competent, and skilled physician committed to serving people with needs in all areas of medicine. With a career in this specialty, I know that every day will bring a new opportunity to influence health behaviors, and while there will be challenges, fulfilling them will always be satisfying.”

For A Surgery Residency Program Applicant

“I was six years old when my father read to me the first chapter of “How Things Work.” The first chapter covered doors and specifically, the mechanics in a doorknob. What lay hidden and confined in the door panel was this complex system that produced a simple action. I credit this experience as the onset of my scientific curiosity and eventually my passion for complex systems found in medicine. Intensivists vigilantly maintain homeostasis within the human body, a complex system in and of itself, a concept I recognize as personally fascinating and enticing. I find myself especially drawn to the field of critical care and intensive care medicine. My dreams to become an intensivist would be highly complimented by a residency in surgery.

In critical care, each patient in the ICU is usually in a general state of shock. From the initial state of shock, the patient can be further complicated with comorbidities and chronic diseases that may require further intensive medical intervention so that they may recover from a recent surgery or traumatic event. This dynamic nature of the ICU is not available in every unit of the hospital and the high level of acuity does not suit everyone. I, however, enjoy the high energy of the enthralling, engaging, and exciting environment offered by the ICU. I am personally energized and awakened by managing patients with surgically-altered physiology coupled with comorbidities. There is an overwhelming satisfaction when a patient following a bilateral lung transplant gets up from his bed and walks through the unit after days of being bedridden, or the moment we can discontinue the lines we had the patient on and finally talk to them after two weeks of intubation and sedation. Being in the ICU also encompasses the emotional seesaw of going from a successful patient case to a room in which a family has just decided that comfort care is the best way to proceed, which gives me chills just to type and verbalize.

The work of an intensivist is not only limited to the patient, but also the emotional well-being of the patient’s family as well. My involvement in the ICU has taught me that sometimes it is necessary to talk to a patient’s family, to explain to them simply that the postoperative expectations that they had had, may not be met. Communication is key in this field, both with the patients and the physicians of the OR. Communication prevents perioperative complications, establishes a willingness to follow directions, and relays professionalism. It is important for an intensivist to have an excellent understanding of surgical procedures, so that they may explain to the patient what to expect as well as ease the nerves of the patient preoperatively. A surgical residency would facilitate this understanding and undoubtedly prove to be useful in my future training.

Studying medicine in Europe has taught me volumes about myself, how driven, motivated, and open-minded I can be. To move so far away from home and yet be so familiar with the language, I feel blessed to be able to say that I’ve had a high level of exposure to diversity in my life. The mentality in [insert country name here] is if you don’t see the doctor, you are not sick. This common thought has to lead to an outstanding environment to study medicine and to see end-stage, textbook presentations of various pathologies and their management. Studying medicine in two languages has in itself taught me that medicine is a language and that the way a patient presents, conveys themselves, and the findings of the physical examination, all represent the syntax of the diagnosis. This awareness has reminded me that patient care, relief of patient suffering and illness, transcends the grammatical rules of the patient’s native tongue. My clinical experience in [insert country here] will aid me in providing thoughtful care to my future patients.

All things considered, I am ready to leave my home for the last four years and come back to the United States, to enter the next stage of my life and career. I am ready to work harder than ever, to prove myself to my future residency program and most importantly, learn so that I may be a suitable candidate for a future fellowship program in critical care. My experiences abroad have constantly pushed me to new horizons and encouraged responsibilities that I don’t believe I would otherwise have. I’ve developed a new level of human connection through my work in the ICU, the OR, and my travels throughout Europe. These experiences will aid me in working with a diverse patient population and a diverse team of physicians. I hope [the program name here] can give me the variety and the background in surgery that I will need to succeed.”

_______________________________________________________

All residency personal statement examples shown in this article are provided by Bemo Academic Consulting. Check it out for more samples for different specialties.

We also give credit to Shemmassian Academic Consulting , Thalamus , and Peterson’s as they have served as sources in writing this article on residency personal statements.

P.S. Did you know that you can seek assistance from AI in crafting your personal statement? Check out this article: 5 Crazy Ways AI Can Improve Your Life As A Med Student

I hope this article has provided you useful insights on how to write your residency personal statement that would leave an impression on the residency program directors. Go ahead – jot down your thoughts, pour every ounce of your writing skills, and land that interview spot!

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If you have enjoyed this post, check out some of our other blog posts!

Medical School Personal Statement Examples And Tips
Medical School Zanki: Should You Use It?
25 Questions For Medical School Interviewers You Should Ask
PA vs MD: Which Should You Pursue?
How Much Do Residents Make?
Best Pre-Med Majors For Med School [Full Guide]
What Is A Transitional Year Residency?
How To Prepare Yourself For Residency [Step-By-Step]
How To Write A Thank You Note After A Residency Interview
ERAS Photo Requirements And Tips

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The Residency Personal Statement Guide w/Prompts & Examples

Image of a medical student in a residency program

Intro- Writing a Great Residency Personal Statement

When you get ready to apply for residency, which could happen as early as your third year of med school, there are really two main components to the application process: submitting your application packet to various programs and completing the required interviews for the programs interested in you. But how exactly do you make sure you get that call for an interview? One way is by including an original, memorable residency personal statement as part of your application packet.

Residency Prerequisites

Before we get to the personal statement, though, let’s look at the steps required for you to be eligible for residency.

Step 1: Receive Your Degree

Although you’ll possibly start applying for residency during the fall semester of your third year at medical school, before you can be accepted, you must have your degree. It doesn’t matter if your application looks great and your interview blows the minds of the residency selection committee; if you don’t receive your M.D. or D.O., you won’t be eligible for residency.

Step 2: Pass the Examinations

In the U.S., you’re required to pass an exam before you can become licensed to practice medicine. Traditionally, students have taken the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination), but some schools now require you to take the COMLEX (Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination) either instead of the USMLE or in addition to it.

For Foreign Students

If you’re a foreign student hoping to be placed in a residency within the U.S., there are a few additional requirements you’ll have to meet.

These include, but aren’t limited to, being certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), obtaining a legal VISA that gives you the right to work in the United States, procuring additional letters of recommendation from U.S.-based providers and more.

Applying for a Residency

What you’ll need.

As you’re putting together your residency application packet, you’ll be responsible for gathering:

Your completed application
Your residency personal statement
Your letters of recommendation

There are a few other things that must be included in your application packet, but your medical school will handle those items. They include:

Your complete and sealed transcripts
A copy of your MSPE (Medical School Performance Evaluation)
Your licensing exam transcript

Once you’ve gotten your half of the documents ready to submit, your medical school should take care of the rest. It’s important to fill out your application completely and accurately, as every bit of information included in the packet will be verified by multiple agencies.

The ERAS: What It Is and How to Apply

To apply for residency with almost all programs in the United States, you’ll be required to fill out an application through the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) . The ERAS was created and is maintained by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

It makes applying for residency much easier because you only have to fill out one application at a centralized location. That application then gets sent to all the different programs you’re interested in becoming a part of during your residency.

If you used the Common App as an undergraduate, you already have an idea of what the ERAS is like. Unlike the Common App, though, there’s one really great thing about the ERAS that many other centralized applications don’t include: the ability to submit multiple personal statements.

Why Submit Multiple Personal Statements

You may be wondering why you’d want to write more than one personal statement when writing one is stressful enough.

The simple answer is that writing multiple personal statements gives you the opportunity to personalize your statements for the specific program to which you’re applying. For example, if you’re applying for a pediatric residency in Brooklyn, you can write your personal statement specifically about why you chose that specialty and that geographic location. Additionally, if you also apply for an internal medicine residency in Washington D.C., you can write a second personal statement outlining your reasons for that choice as well.

ERAS Portal

There are four main sections of the ERAS application portal.

Section 1: MyERAS

This is the part of the ERAS that’s your responsibility. Using MyERAS, you’ll complete the centralized application, submit your required documentation and personal statements and select the programs to which you’re applying. When it comes to filling out the ERAS, this is the only section you’ll personally have to complete.

Section 2: DWS

The DWS, or Dean’s Office WorkStation, is where the designated person in your Dean’s office will submit what s/he is required to submit on your behalf. This will include your transcripts and performance evaluations.

Section 3: LoRP

The LoRP is the Letters of Recommendation Portal. You’ll direct people who’ve agreed to provide you with letters of recommendation to this location and have them submit their recommendation letters through the portal.

Section 4: PDWS

The PDWS, short for Program Director’s WorkStation, is where the programs you’ve applied to will receive and review their incoming applications.

Help with the ERAS

In addition to having everything you need for all your prospective programs in one place, another great thing about the ERAS is that the website provides you with a lot of great resources to help ensure you get everything done correctly and submitted in a timely manner.

There’s an Applicant Worksheet that allows you to see everything the application asks before you even start working on it. There’s also a User Guide , an Applicant Checklist , a FAQ Section and an Application Timeline to keep you on track.

Writing Your Residency Personal Statement

Although each residency personal statement you write should be different depending on the program to which you’re applying, there are some things that’ll remain similar or even the same in each statement, most notably the length and overall format of the statement.

Standard Residency Personal Statement Length

The ERAS allows you to use 28,000 characters (including spaces and punctuation marks) to complete your residency personal statement. This generally translates to about five to seven pages in length. Don’t use all 28,000 characters for your statements. That is entirely too long.

You have to be considerate of the time of the person reading your statement. S/he likely has thousands of personal statements to read through, and s/he doesn’t want to spend too much time on any one statement. If possible, you should keep your personal statements to about 3,500 to 5,000 characters. This translates to about a page to a page and a half for your statement. That’s a good length that should give you enough room to say everything you need to say without rambling on about non-essential information.

Standard Residency Personal Statement Format

The format of your statements will also be quite similar. You don’t have to worry about choosing your font, font size, or anything like that. With the ERAS, you’ll be using an embedded plain text box to type your personal statement. The only formatting options available to you will be:

Italics, Bold, Strikethrough and Underline
Center, Left or Right Alignment
Bullet Points
Numbered Lists
Add Embedded Hyperlink
Increase or Decrease Indent

Beyond those items, you won’t be able to change anything in the formatting, but your content format is important. You should have a short introduction of three to five sentences, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion of about three to six sentences. The information you put into these paragraphs will depend largely on what exactly you’re writing in your personal statement.

Red Flags of Residency Personal Statement to Avoid

There are definitely some things you want to avoid while writing your personal statement for your residency application. Let’s call them the “Don’t List.”

Don’t Use All 28,000 Characters

We’ve already discussed this, but it warrants being said twice. No one wants to read seven pages worth of a personal statement. Absolutely do not use all the provided characters for your personal statement.

Don’t Send the Same Statement to Every Program

This is another one that we’ve touched on already, but it, too, is worth repeating. The reasons you’re applying for various programs are bound to be different for each particular program. If you try to write one single personal statement that gets sent to every program, it’s going to end up sounding generic and unauthentic.

Different programs want to know that you chose them for a reason. They want to know what it is about their program that drew your interest. If you don’t give them actual reasons for your interest, they’re going to assume you’re just desperately applying everywhere you can in hopes of getting an acceptance. That doesn’t look good in a prospective residency candidate.

Don’t Spend a Lot of Time Talking About Why You Want to Be a Doctor

By the time you get to the residency portion of your career, you’re already a doctor. Why you decided to become one is kind of a moot point. This is one place where people often get tripped up. Your residency application is not a med school application. By this point, you’ve already proven you want to be a doctor by putting in all the work to become one. Why you did it doesn’t matter. You were obviously motivated to succeed. Don’t waste precious characters rehashing your reasons for going into medicine.

Don’t Be Generic

Be specific about why you’ve chosen pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery or whatever program you’ve chosen to pursue in your residency. The person reading your statement doesn’t want to hear that you’ve chosen pediatrics because you “just love babies!” You’re an adult with a medical degree. Use all those years of education and be specific about why you’ve made the choices you’ve made.

Don’t Be Overly Dramatic

You want your personal statement to be interesting and memorable, but you don’t want it to sound like the first page of a movie script. You don’t have to set the scene dramatically with overused and cliched stories about “Patient X lying on the bed, blood rushing down his head and barely conscious as I walked up and took his hand, looked into his eyes and told him I would save his life.” Just don’t do this.

Don’t Include Anything Considered Too Controversial

Your personal statement isn’t the place for activism. Don’t get into topics such as pro-life vs. pro-choice or why you think cloning is a sin against God. It’s okay to mention that you’re a regular church member; you don’t have to shy away from religion altogether, but you don’t want to include a strong stance you hold on something that’s known to be polarizing.

The person reading your personal statement might feel just as strongly as you do about an issue, but s/he might be on the other side of that issue. That could get your application discarded quickly.

Don’t Submit Unedited Statements

Never, never, never, never send in your first draft. Don’t ever send in a statement that hasn’t been proofread, edited, and then edited some more. Bring in a second pair of eyes to look it over ( hey! see our personal statement editing packages here ) if you need a fresh perspective, but never send in something that hasn’t been thoroughly edited for grammar, spelling, organization, and content errors.

Don’t Plagiarize!

Last but certainly not least: Don’t plagiarize your personal statement! We can’t overemphasize this point. If you aren’t a strong writer, it’s okay to reach out and have a friend, mentor or former professor help you organize your thoughts and edit the statement at the end, but no matter how much you may be tempted, do not plagiarize your personal statement.

First and foremost, you’ll get caught.

There are just way too many plagiarism checkers ( we recommend you use Grammarly plagiarism checker ) on the market today for you to get away with stealing someone else’s work – even if you only take a small part of it. Then, once you’ve been caught, you lose all professional respectability.

If you’ve plagiarized your personal statement, odds are you’ve cheated before now. No one trusts a doctor who cheats, and the person/people who caught you cheating have to wonder if you’re even a good doctor. Perhaps you just cheated your way through med school and really don’t know an obstetrician from an ophthalmologist.

Put simply, just don’t cheat. It isn’t worth it.

Residency Personal Statement Prompts

Although the ERAS doesn’t give you a specific prompt to follow while writing your residency personal statement, there are a few programs that do ask specific questions. If a program does ask a specific question on its website, you should strongly consider that question when writing your personal statement. Try to answer it as honestly and completely as possible.

Most programs don’t provide you with specific prompts, but there are still some questions to ask yourself to help guide your writing.

Below are some of the most commonly asked prompts and questions.

1. What are your professional goals?

This is a commonly covered question in many residency personal statements. Remember, at the residency stage of your career, you’re already a doctor, so this personal statement is no longer why you want to be a doctor; it’s about what you want to do now that you’ve become one.

Don’t be afraid to go into detail here. Talk about both your short-term (during residency and immediately after completing residency) and your long-term goals (15+ years from now).

Do you want to open your own practice? Do you plan to stay within the U.S., or would you prefer to take your expertise elsewhere through Doctors Without Borders or some other organization? What specific skills are you hoping to gain from the residency that’ll help you further your career goals?

2. What types of patients do you enjoy working with?

This question really concerns the specialty you’re interested in pursuing. For example, if you’re interested in working in pediatrics, the obvious answer here would be that you like to work with children. You shouldn’t leave it at that though.

Are there certain types of children you like to work with best? For example, would you prefer to work with special needs children as opposed to healthy children just coming in for check-ups? Perhaps you have a passion for women’s health or simply prefer to work with women.

If this is the case, an OBGYN specialty might make more sense for you. Do you want to work with the elderly? Would you prefer to work in neighborhoods full of predominantly low-income or minority households? If you hope to pursue plastic surgery, are you doing so because you want to work with amputees in order to build them new limbs?

All of these questions can be taken into account when talking about the types of patients with whom you most prefer to work.

3. What contributions can I make to the specialty and the residency program?

Chances are, the program you’re applying to knows why you want to be accepted for a residency position by them, but why should they want to accept you ? When answering this prompt, talk about what makes you a good fit for the specialty you’ve chosen. If you have any particular skills or strengths that would fit well with what you’re hoping to achieve during residency, mention those.

Something else to discuss is anything you’ve done in your history that would prepare you for working with the population you’re likely to encounter in that particular residency spot. If you have an undergraduate degree in psychology, that could be hugely beneficial if your residency serves a large veteran population.

If you grew up in a low-income, first-generation neighborhood or have teaching experience at a Title I school, that could prepare you for working at a hospital in a similar neighborhood.

4. What are your strong points?

This question is really just another way of asking what benefits you’d bring to the residency if you were accepted. Many of the same things you’d write about if answering the above-listed prompt are the same things you’d write about here. You could discuss the characteristics you have that make for a good doctor.

You could also list any strengths you have academically. For instance, if you excelled at one or two particular subjects, it’s a good idea to mention those. Receiving superior performance evaluations is also something worth noting.

Residency Personal Statement Examples

The following are some of the best examples of what to do and what not to do when writing your residency personal statements. Note that these are just examples; don’t use them in your own statements.

Example Personal Statement 1

“During my third year, I rediscovered my reasons for pursing [sic] a career in Pediatrics. […] I enjoy teaching young patients and their parents about their disease and how they can conquer hardships. Also, I am excited about taking care of patients from birth to adulthood. Working with young people is rewarding because of the chance to be involved in a growing relationship with patients as they mature and learn. […] Pediatrics gives me the determination to think through problems, the curiosity to learn, and the energy to stay awake at three in the morning. When you love your patients it becomes easy to work hard for them.”

– Read the rest here

This is a very well-written personal statement. The writer clearly has a passion for working with children, but she doesn’t just come out and say that with no detail. She talks about the specific things she enjoys about working with children.

Furthermore, she talks about how she believes pediatric medicine to go beyond just treating kids. She talks about “a growing relationship” with the patients she treats and her desire to treat them as they grow and mature into adulthood.

In addition to being a moving example of a personal statement, it also shows that the writer plans to be in the medical field for the long haul. You don’t build relationships and treat patients from infancy into adulthood unless you plan to stick with the career.

This is her way of saying, “I plan to do this for the rest of my life” without having to come out directly and say those words.

Our Verdict:

Image of a smiling face with heart-shaped eyes emoji

Example Personal Statement 2

“I have many attributes to contribute to internal medicine. My experiences as a secondary education school teacher, Special Olympics swim coach, and elected class officer attest to my ability to lead and educate others. I am also analytical and detail-oriented. […] After my first year of medical school, I was awarded a scholarship to conduct research in the field of trauma surgery, an experience which enhanced my problem solving skills. These qualities include a never-ending quest for personal improvement, pride in my work or training, and the ability to focus on several tasks while balancing personal and professional obligations.”

– Read the rest here

This is another good example, written in response to prompt number three above . The writer tells about all the things he brings to the team, but he doesn’t focus specifically on medicine.

If you’re applying for residency as this author is, you’ve obviously achieved what you needed to achieve in order to become a doctor. You’ll bring all kinds of medical knowledge to the team. The problem is that every other applicant has also received his or her doctoral degree and also brings medical knowledge to the table.

The writer knows that and goes beyond medicine when talking about his strengths and what he has to offer. He talks about being a teacher and helping with the Special Olympics. This shows that he already has experience working with children – both healthy children and children with special needs.

He brings up being an elected class officer to show he has leadership potential and that he’s well-liked and well-respected by others (otherwise they wouldn’t have elected him). Only after listing all those extra strengths does he bring up med school. This is a very impressive list of accomplishments.

Example Personal Statement 3

“Every finger of the little boy’s hand was adhered to his palm except for the extended third digit. I examined the severe burn injury as the plastic surgery attending discussed how we were going to fix the damage. Several contracture releases, K-wires, and skin grafts later, I excitedly realized he would eventually regain function of his little hand. I didn’t know what I wanted to be at the start of my third year, but after patients and cases like this one, I was energized by learning what I found in no other rotation. […] I have found my place in medicine.”

While this personal statement is well-written grammatically, it breaks rule number five on the “Don’t List.” Don’t be overly dramatic. This is supposed to be his personal statement, not the opening scene to The Resident on Fox. The writer wastes an entire paragraph – his entire introduction – on a dramatic scene that ends with one single sentence telling us this is why he wants to work as a plastic surgeon.

First of all, an introduction should be more well-rounded and introduce the reader more fully to who you are. It shouldn’t set a scene that thousands of other prospective residents have told some version of already.

Secondly, one has to hope that one single child’s broken hand is not the sole basis for this person’s decision to become a plastic surgeon. I want a doctor who has thought carefully about his/her chosen profession and decided to pursue medicine because of numerous different reasons, not just because he saw a child’s hand being fixed once.

While these types of stories may seem like an easy, interesting way to catch the reader’s attention quickly, they’re best avoided. Trust us when we say that the person reading your personal statement has read countless other “war stories” about prospective residents’ experiences in ERs and other situations. As amazing as your story may seem to you, it isn’t likely to impress them.

Example Personal Statement 4

“Then disaster struck. I applied to Medical School and I didn’t get in. I was heartbroken. It never occurred to me that I might not get accepted. I felt completely lost. The only dream I ever had, the one that I had spent so many hours working on, was now dead. A part of me just died. It was one of the few times I ever cried. I know [sic] had to live with a void that could never filled [sic].

Looking back, not getting accepted to Medical School in 1985 was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. It fueled a desire in me to find something else. Fortunately, I found an area where I have become more financially successful than I deserve. […] Years later, I decided to give Medical School one last try. This time I was accepted. The void began to fill. I would like the opportunity to learn more and complete the process.”

This is absolutely, 100% what you should not do in your personal statements. If you visit the original statement, you’ll see we only removed about two total lines from this personal statement. That means it was about ten lines long altogether, which translates to about 1,200 characters.

That is much too short for a personal statement. You don’t want to use the entire 28,000 characters, but you don’t want to write something less than a page long either. There’s almost no usable information here.

The writer doesn’t mention what specialty she’s hoping to pursue, nor does she mention a single strength that would make her a good candidate for the position. Beyond not mentioning any strengths, though, she highlights her failures!

If there’s something negative on your transcripts or application, it’s fine to touch on it and give a brief explanation for it and how you corrected it, but it certainly shouldn’t make up the bulk of your personal statement.

This one is just bad from beginning to end.

Example Personal Statement 5

“While medical school can teach a student the science behind medicine, I truly believe it’s a doctor’s personality and character that ultimately determines his or her success with patients. One of my greatest qualities […] is my ability to quickly connect with people. At an orientation lecture […] a speaker discussed how […] anesthesiologists are among the best at making great first impressions. […] Patients always seem to fear going to sleep more than [surgery]. Yet, an anesthesiologist may have but just a few moments […] to instill confidence in their patients. […] Since that orientation, I’ve prided myself on mastering how quickly I can earn a patient’s trust. Enjoying the challenge of making a great first impression in the shortest amount of time is among the most important reasons that have guided me into the specialty of anesthesiology.”

Let’s end on a strong note. This is another exceptional example of what your personal statements should look like. This writer has a good grasp of number three on the “Don’t List.” Don’t waste a lot of time talking about why you want to be a doctor.

The writer touches on med school by saying, “ While medical school can teach a student the science behind medicine. ” Then she immediately goes beyond school into the real world.

In doing so, she also showcases a very important characteristic she’s developed – putting people at ease – and tells us the specialization she’s chosen. She also explains why her ability to put people at ease is so important for her chosen specialization.

She ends by saying that this skill was challenging for her, but the way it’s written shows that she was not only up for the challenge but legitimately loved it.

This whole statement is well-written, well-organized, and covers all the important aspects of what the residency selection committee wants to know about a person.

In Conclusion

The most important things to remember when writing your residency personal statement are, to be honest, authentic, specific, and grammatically correct. You’ve already earned your degree; that alone shows the selection committee that you have what it takes to be a doctor because you already are one.

You just have to show that you have a passion for medicine and that you’ll bring something unique and important to their team. If you can do those things, you should be well on your way to the interview process.

Residency Personal Statement – Guide for 2024

April 1, 2024

Crafting your residency personal statement requires careful planning and strategic thinking. Your personal statement is more than just a document; it’s your opportunity to convey your passion, experiences, and aspirations to residency program selection committees. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into the intricacies of writing a compelling personal statement that effectively highlights your unique qualities and suitability for your chosen specialty. We’ll also provide you with invaluable insights and practical tips to navigate the writing process with confidence and clarity.

Whether you’re a seasoned writer or approaching this task for the first time, this guide will equip you with the tools and strategies needed to create a standout personal statement. You’ll be one step closer to becoming the doctor or surgeon you’ve always dreamed about.

How Long is a Residency Personal Statement?

Generally, the residency personal statement should be between 500 to 800 words in length, roughly equating to one page. This statement is a critical part of your residency application, allowing you to communicate your personal and professional background, career goals, and reasons for pursuing a particular specialty, such as plastic surgery . In addition, it’s your chance to showcase your unique experiences, skills, and motivations that make you a strong candidate for your chosen specialty and residency program.

While it’s important to be concise, make sure your statement effectively conveys a compelling narrative that highlights your strengths and aligns with the values and objectives of the program you’re applying to. Crafting a concise yet impactful personal statement is crucial for making a memorable impression on selection committees. However, unlike the medical school personal statement , which tends to be longer, your residency personal statement is on the shorter side. In essence, it should focus specifically on your experiences and aspirations within your chosen specialty.

What Should You Write About in a Residency Personal Statement?

When writing your residency personal statement, consider incorporating the following topics to effectively convey your qualifications and motivations:

1) Passion for the Specialty

Discuss what initially drew you to the specialty and why you’re passionate about pursuing it as a career. Share personal anecdotes or experiences that highlight your interest and commitment.

2) Clinical Experiences

Reflect on significant clinical experiences that have shaped your understanding of the specialty and reinforced your decision to pursue it. Also, describe memorable patient interactions, challenging cases, or research projects that have influenced your career path.

3) Skills and Attributes

Highlight specific skills, attributes, and qualities that make you well-suited for the specialty. This could include problem-solving abilities, communication skills, empathy , resilience , or teamwork . Furthermore, provide examples that demonstrate how you’ve demonstrated these qualities in clinical or academic settings.

4) Career Goals

Clearly articulate your short-term and long-term career goals within the specialty. Explain what you hope to achieve professionally and how you envision making a meaningful impact in the field. Additionally, discuss any specific areas of interest or subspecialties you’re passionate about exploring.

5) Fit with the Program

Explain why you’re interested in the residency program you’re applying to and how it aligns with your career goals and interests. Specifically, highlight specific aspects of the program, such as its curriculum, clinical opportunities, research resources, or faculty expertise, that appeal to you.

6) Unique Experiences and Contributions

Showcase any unique experiences, perspectives, or strengths that set you apart from other applicants. This could include cultural or linguistic diversity, research achievements, leadership roles, community involvement, or overcoming significant challenges. Also, discuss how these experiences have shaped you as a candidate and how they will contribute to the residency program’s diversity and excellence.

What Should You Avoid When Writing a Residency Personal Statement?

As you compose your residency personal statement, it’s common to encounter pitfalls along the way. If you haven’t previously tackled a similar writing task, such as a medical school personal statement , you may inadvertently stumble into errors without recognizing them. Hence, it’s essential to acquaint yourself with potential missteps before diving into the writing process. By recognizing these common mistakes, you can ensure that your residency personal statement effectively communicates your qualifications and aspirations.

Content to Avoid in Your Residency Personal Statement

1) Generic Statements

Instead of resorting to generic phrases, focus on highlighting unique experiences, skills, and aspirations that specifically align with the residency program and specialty you’re applying to. For example, rather than stating a broad interest in helping people, discuss a particular patient encounter or clinical experience that ignited your passion for the specialty.

2) Irrelevant Details

When discussing your experiences and qualifications, ensure they directly relate to your interest in the specialty and your suitability for the residency program. Avoid including extraneous information or unrelated anecdotes that may distract from your main narrative. Instead, each detail should serve to strengthen your candidacy and provide insight into your motivations and capabilities as a future resident.

3) Negative Experiences without Reflection

While it’s important to acknowledge and discuss challenges or setbacks you’ve faced, it’s equally important to reflect on how these experiences have shaped you as a candidate. Merely listing difficulties without demonstrating resilience or growth may leave a negative impression on the selection committee. Therefore, use these experiences as opportunities to showcase your ability to overcome obstacles and adapt in the face of adversity.

4) Overly Technical Language

While demonstrating medical knowledge is essential, avoid using overly technical language that may be inaccessible or alienating to readers outside your specialty. Remember that selection committee members may come from diverse backgrounds, so aim for clarity and simplicity in your writing. Use layman’s terms when possible and explain complex concepts in a way that is understandable to a general audience.

5) Plagiarism

Integrity is paramount in the residency application process, so never plagiarize content from online sources or sample personal statements. Your personal statement should be an authentic reflection of your own experiences, insights, and aspirations. Plagiarism not only undermines your credibility as a candidate but also violates ethical standards expected of medical professionals.

Styles and Tones to Avoid in Your Residency Personal Statement

1) Arrogance

Although it’s important to present yourself confidently, avoid crossing the line into arrogance. Instead of making sweeping declarations about your abilities or achievements, focus on providing concrete examples and letting your accomplishments speak for themselves. Humility and self-awareness are valued traits in prospective residents.

2) Overly Formal Tone

While professionalism is essential, aim for a tone that is approachable and engaging. Avoid overly formal language that may come across as stiff or impersonal. Your personal statement should feel like a genuine expression of your personality and motivations, so don’t be afraid to inject some warmth and authenticity into your writing.

3) Inappropriate Humor

Humor can be a valuable tool for connecting with readers, but it’s important to use it judiciously and appropriately. Avoid jokes or anecdotes that could be construed as offensive or insensitive. Instead, opt for light-hearted anecdotes or observations that showcase your personality without detracting from the seriousness of your application.

4) Excessive Self-Promotion

It’s natural to want to highlight your strengths and accomplishments, but avoid coming across as overly self-promotional or boastful. Instead of simply listing achievements, provide context and insight into how these experiences have shaped your aspirations and prepared you for residency. Focus on demonstrating your potential as a future resident rather than simply listing accolades.

5) Lack of Proofreading

Careless errors or typos can detract from the professionalism and impact of your personal statement. Before submitting your application, thoroughly proofread your statement for grammatical mistakes, typos, and inconsistencies. Consider asking trusted mentors, colleagues, or peers to review your statement for feedback and suggestions for improvement.

When Should You Start Writing Your Residency Personal Statement?

Writing your residency personal statement is a significant task that requires careful consideration and ample time. Ideally, you should start the writing process several months before the application deadline to allow sufficient time for brainstorming, drafting, revising, and polishing your statement. Starting early enables you to craft a compelling narrative that effectively communicates your qualifications, experiences, and motivations to the selection committee.

The timeline for starting your residency personal statement may vary depending on individual preferences and circumstances. However, a good rule of thumb is to begin the process at least three to six months before you plan to submit your residency applications. This timeframe allows you to gather your thoughts, reflect on your experiences, and develop a cohesive narrative that showcases your strengths and fit for your chosen specialty.

Starting early also provides you with the opportunity to seek feedback from mentors, advisors, or peers throughout the writing process. Sharing your draft with trusted individuals allows you to receive valuable insights and suggestions for improvement, helping you refine your statement and ensure that it effectively highlights your qualifications and aspirations.

Moreover, beginning the writing process early gives you the flexibility to iterate and revise your statement multiple times. By allowing for ample time between drafts, you can step away from your writing and return with a fresh perspective, making it easier to identify areas for improvement and fine-tune your message.

Personal Statement Residency – What’s Next?

After completing your residency personal statement, the next steps involve refining and finalizing your application materials before submission. Take the time to review your personal statement carefully, ensuring that it effectively communicates your qualifications, experiences, and motivations. Consider seeking feedback from mentors, advisors, or peers to gain valuable insights and suggestions for improvement. Additionally, make sure to thoroughly review all other components of your residency application, such as your CV, letters of recommendation, and transcripts, to ensure they are accurate and compelling.

As you prepare to submit your application, take confidence in the knowledge that you have put forth your best effort in crafting a personal statement that reflects your dedication and passion for your chosen specialty. Trust in your abilities and the experiences you have shared, knowing that you are well-prepared to embark on the next phase of your medical career .

Medical School Admissions

Emily Schmidt

Emily is currently a professional writer in the healthcare industry. As a former journalist, her work focused on climate change, health disparities, and education. She holds two bachelor's degrees in English and Spanish from Stanford University, and a master's in journalism from Arizona State University. Her first published novel debuted in 2020, and she hopes to finish her second novel by the end of this year.

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Writing the Perfect Residency Personal Statement

If you’re in your third year of medical school, it’s time to sharpen your personal statement writing skills again for the ERAS application .

The good news is you already wrote a great one that got you accepted into medical school ! Now, you’ll need to dig deep and channel the same creative spirit that was there about 3 years ago.

Many applicants are looking for a special formula for writing a personal statement . But here’s the truth: There’s no secret formula. A fantastic residency personal statement includes well-written storytelling detailing your experiences as a medical student and why you’re an excellent fit for the residencies you’re applying to.

In this article, we’ll talk about inspiration, length, structure, and dynamic writing. Let’s dive in.

What is the ERAS personal statement, and why do you need to write one?

Your residency personal statement is similar to your medical school personal statement in that it’s your chance to directly make a case for yourself . Residency program directors use these essays to get to know you beyond your CV. They can only learn so much about you from your medical education history.

Most of the information program directors use to determine if you’re a good fit is quantitative — GPAs, USMLE scores, etc. Odds are, these numbers will be fairly similar across the board.

What sets you apart from other applicants will be qualitative — your personal experiences and career goals, whether you’re hard-working or a team player.

What should you include in your residency personal statement ?

In your residency personal statement , include your experiences and interests that have driven your ambition to mature as a medical professional.

Take time to think about what qualities you’d expect in an exemplary physician. Then, create a list of topics reflecting these qualities from your background.

Create a list of ideas of what to write from these prompts:

Memorable or “a-ha” moments during medical school (including specific rotations ) that changed the way you think about medicine.
Volunteering or non-profit work.
Your greatest skills and qualities and how you use them when practicing medicine.
Specific instances of when you used strong teamwork skills.
A personal anecdote that isn’t included on a resume, like an elective that led to an unexpected encounter with a patient that you won’t forget.
Professors, mentors , family, friends, or anyone else that has inspired your path.
Your goals in your future career.
Reasons you are drawn to your specialty.
Meaningful experiences in medical school or extracurriculars .
Your most commendable achievements.

Why did you choose your specialty?

When you explain why you chose a specialty, discuss the reasons why you enjoy that specialty and how your strengths will apply to your future career.

Make your answer heartfelt and honest. If your only reasons are money and the lifestyle, your chances of an interview with the program directors will plummet.

Answer these questions while brainstorming :

What appeals to you about this specialty?
Did past experiences or clinicals influence your decision for this program?
What do you believe are the most important qualities for a physician in this specialty? How have you begun to cultivate these qualities in yourself?
Are there future goals you want to achieve in this specialty?
Have you done any research related to this field or the advancement of this specialty?

How long should a personal statement be for residency?

The personal statement essay section on ERAS allows for 28,000 characters (about 5 pages).

Our advice? Don’t max out your character count.

Program directors must read the demographics, transcripts, MSPE, experiences section, personal statement , and letters of recommendation before making a decision. That’s a lot of reading.

Your goal is to make your point concisely — writing about a page plus a paragraph is the sweet spot.

Personal Statement Structure

Many applicants don’t know where to start, so we suggest breaking the essay into bite-sized pieces. Use a standard 4-5 paragraph structure. This way, you’ve got small, manageable goals.

Write your residency personal statement using:

An introduction paragraph.
2-3 paragraphs to expand on your theme.
A conclusion paragraph to tie it all together.

Introduction

Draw the reader in with a story or anecdote, and introduce a theme. A narrative voice works well here to engage the reader and get them interested.

Don’t tell an extensive story; provide just enough to provide context and introduce a theme.

Body Paragraphs (2-3)

Explore and expand on the central theme of your personal statement . You can talk about the traits or life experiences that will make you good at family medicine , dermatology , or whatever specialty you’re pursuing.

Ensure you’re being specific to the specialty — you don’t need to prove you’ll be a good doctor so much as a good doctor in the field you’re applying to .

Wrap everything up and end with a “bang.” The conclusion should serve to bring all your points together in one place. When I say end with a “bang,” I mean to finish strong .

Stating: “For the reasons above, I believe I will make an excellent internist, ” doesn’t leave the reader with much.

Try something a bit more passionate, idealistic, and enthusiastic. Here’s an example:

“ Internal medicine is centered around improving lives, orchestrating, and managing complex patient care . To me, the true challenge is in the art of internal medicine — to tailor to patients’ needs to maximize their health and improve their overall quality of life.”

With this approach to the structure of your personal statement , the essay becomes more manageable. You can set yourself mini-assignments by just developing one component at a time. Complete one portion each week, and you’ll be done by the end of the month!

Should a residency personal statement have a title?

There is no hard and fast rule about whether a residency personal statement should have a title. Ultimately, the decision about whether or not to include a title in your personal statement is up to you.

Consider these factors when deciding whether or not to include a title:

A good title can serve as a headline for the reader, making your essay stand out before they even start reading.
A good title can make your statement stand out and help it to be more memorable.
On the other hand, a poorly chosen or overly generic title could actually detract from your personal statement.

Most residency programs do not require, or even want, a title for personal statements. Be sure to check the program’s guidelines before including one.

If you do choose to include a title, make sure it is relevant, concise, and impactful. Avoid overly generic or cliche titles, and focus on conveying the main message or theme of your personal statement.

It is less common to have a title, so if you do it right, you may stand out from the crowd.

How To Make Your Personal Statement Stand Out

Take time to brush up on your writing skills to make your personal statement stand out .

These skills may not have been your focus in the last few years, but concisely expressing your dedication to the specialty will retain a program director ’s attention.

Oh, and always remember to proofread and check your grammar! If you specifically prompt ChatGPT to “review your personal statement for grammar and punctuation only,” it does a pretty good job.

Just be sure not to have AI write your personal statement, as it doesn’t know your stories, and can’t convey your sentiment, tone, or emotion.

Language and Vocabulary

The simpler, the better. Hand your essay to a friend or family member to proofread. If they have to stop and look up any word, it’s probably the wrong word choice. Maybe it’s the perfect word for the sentence, but anything that distracts the reader from the content is a problem.

Avoid the following:

Contractions. Contractions are informal language. They aren’t appropriate for applications or professional writing.
“Really” as in “I really learned a lot.” Try the word “truly” instead. It sounds more sincere.
“Really” or “very” as in “it was a really/very great experience.” Here, “really” is a qualifier that holds the place of a better word choice; e.g., Really great = fantastic, wonderful, exquisite; Very important = paramount, momentous, critical.

Simple sentence structure is usually the best. Follow these rules:

Avoid quotations if you can. This is your essay, and it should focus on what you have to say, not someone else. There may be exceptions to this rule (like a statement a professor made that changed the course of your medical career), but these are rare.
Punctuate correctly. Misplaced commas or a missing period can distract a reader from your content. If grammar isn’t your strong suit, have a friend (or a spellchecker like Grammarly) check your essay for errors.

Avoid Clichés

Saying you want to go into pediatrics because you love kids might be true, but it’s also a given. Everyone going into healthcare is interested in helping people.

This is your opportunity to make it more personal. Talk about the life experiences that have uniquely informed your career path and what makes you different from every other med student trying to get a residency interview .

Don’t Make It Too Complicated

Be simple, straight to the point, and authentic.

Aim for clear wording that communicates your central theme. If you talk about your professional future and goals, they should be realistic and carefully considered. Your goal is to leave program directors with a strong impression of your character and maturity.

Try Dynamic Writing

Dynamic writing is all about feel and rhythm. Even good content written poorly can come out flat. Here are some cues to evaluate and improve your writing:

Read your writing out loud. Do you have to catch your breath in the middle of a sentence? If so, the sentence is too long and needs some additional punctuation, editing, or to be split up.
Vary your sentence structure and/or the length of the sentences. When you’re reading, do you feel like there is a repetitive rhythm? This usually results from too many short sentences stacked on top of each other.

Be Prepared To Revise Your Statement

You’ve done this part before. Once the bulk of your statement is done, have someone else read it, then start revising. The great thing about the revision process is that you don’t have to write the first draft perfectly.

If you can afford it, consider working with a professional team for help with the residency application process , including personal statement editing.

Our friends at MedSchoolCoach can help you with personal statement editing.

Should you write multiple ERAS personal statements ?

Write a residency personal statement relevant to each specialty you apply to, each with a clearly stated goal.

While it’s a good idea to write a personal statement for every specialty you apply to, you don’t have to write one for each specific program . Maybe you have research experience in a few different specialties and aren’t sure where you’ll get residency training .

A blanket personal statement to cover all specialties is bland at best and, at worst, a red flag . Your interest in becoming an OB/GYN should be informed by different experiences than your interest in anesthesiology or plastic surgery .

Anyone who reads your personal statement should have all the relevant information for integrating you into their program. Don’t overshare experiences or learnings from irrelevant rotations , classes, or experiences.

Let’s say you send your personal statement to a program director for a radiology residency program . If he reads that you’re torn between radiology and emergency medicine , is he more likely to accept you, or an applicant who seems all-in for his program’s specialty?

Ready to write? Get your residency personal statement prepared!

It’s time to knock out that first paragraph ! We have given you the structure and tools to write a personal statement that reflects your strengths. Remember, there’s no formula for the perfect personal statement , but there are tried and true methods for strong writing.

Schedule a free consultation with MedSchoolCoach to see how we can help you increase your chances of matching into the residency of your choice.

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Residency Application

Internal Medicine Residency Personal Statement Examples

As you get ready to apply for residency, it’s a good idea to look at internal medicine residency personal statement examples. One of the most crucial parts of your application will be your residency personal statement, whether you are navigating ERAS in the US or CaRMS in Canada. Directors of residency programs are interested in learning about your personality, your potential as a resident physician, and the reasons behind your specialty decision. They’ll be looking to understand this from your personal statement.

With a fill-rate of less than 45%, internal medicine was the least competitive among the most competitive & least competitive residencies in a recent survey. The higher the fill-rate, the more competitive the residency program. However, this is not a reason to skimp on any aspect of your residency application. In this article, we provide three great examples of internal medicine residency personal statements to help you write your own and earn that coveted spot in the program of your choice.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free initial consultation here <<

Article Contents 11 min read

Residency personal statements.

Your CV is an impressive, legible, and flawless presentation of your achievements. Now it’s time for your personal statement. In one page, or about 500–800 words, you are setting out to explain to residency program directors why they should choose you, as well as all the events that led you to this particular decision and specialty. No pressure!

The purpose of a residency personal statement is to show the reader who you are. Unlike your medical school personal statement , this essay is not intended to convince someone to admit you. Instead, you are seeking the right Match. Consequently, your residency personal statement should highlight your accomplishments and potential contributions in a way that represents the truest reflection of you as a person and as a physician. The defining quality of a residency personal statement is authenticity. You want to find yourself in a residency program where you will thrive and be able to make a significant contribution.

Watch out for red flags in your residency application!

The following examples take different approaches to the personal statement, but they all include some essential components. They:

Tell the applicant’s story
Provide examples of significant moments and experiences
Illustrate the applicant’s character
Describe the applicant’s motivation for pursuing medicine
Contextualize the applicant’s interest in a specialty
List various skills and qualities the applicant will bring to the residency program

This personal statement presents the story of an international student applying to residency in the United States.

While studying medicine at the National University of Colombia, Bogotá, I experienced various life-changing events, many of which were associated with my role as a team leader for the response to aerial bombings of armed groups by the government. Along with other students, I travelled with paramedics and triaged the wounded in the ED at various hospitals. I came into contact with numerous communities. It was not uncommon to see some of these people again when they returned to our clinics for follow-up treatment or brought their family members in for the diagnosis of chronic illnesses.

Through this experience, I realized that medicine is a virtuous circle. Even in the most devastating circumstances, the connection with a doctor made by one person is often shared with others. Although I gained valuable expertise in emergency medicine, my interest in pathophysiological processes grew. I found it fascinating to be able to correlate clinical findings to reach an accurate differential diagnosis, a vital skill for an internist.

I also realized how important it is to communicate effectively with patients from different backgrounds. My exposure to various cultures and social strata has equipped me with the knowledge to appropriately treat individuals without causing offence. In Columbia, Catholicism is deeply culturally pervasive, for example, and knowing how to navigate patient expectations and limitations has a major influence on their medical decisions.

On our medical ward, there was a patient who had cutaneous leishmaniasis and was treated with parenteral and oral medications as well as local therapies before being discharged. She was a young, local girl of 19 who had been engaged to be married but felt stigmatized by the disease. With her permission, I reached out to both sides of her family and enrolled her in a directly observed treatment program. Seeing her recover successfully and renew her engagement in her subsequent marriage was both personally and professionally rewarding.

This encounter was one of many that confirmed my commitment to internal medicine. Although the ED gives a physician the sense of being immediately helpful in a crisis, I came to appreciate the value of building strong physician–patient connections. In time, I realized how wonderfully fulfilling it is to have such a significant impact on patients’ lives. I am certain my ability to effectively communicate with people from different cultural backgrounds is a strength that will help me become a capable and caring internist.

Recently, I completed a clinical elective at Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, California, with the objective of acquiring useful US clinical experience. I am currently a clinical observer in the laboratory service. This practical training taught me so much about the American health care system. I’ve learned about patient management through case discussions, hospital rounds, and conferences. I’ve also become familiar with the duties of an intern. Given the courses I selected in medical school and hands-on experience with urgent care in Columbia, I see myself leaning toward infectious diseases as a specialty. This conviction was reinforced during the global health crisis when it became clear that we need more physicians with expertise and experience in this area. As an internist, I will have the exceptional opportunity to provide my patients with comprehensive analysis, appropriate treatment, and advocacy.

This personal statement presents the story of an American student applying to residency in the United States.

My achievements in life are a result of my enthusiastic embrace of challenges that pushed me to learn and grow while also cultivating deep connections. One such connection was with my volleyball coach, Dr. Sandy Mason, at Logan University. She selected me as captain during the last regular season of my senior year, even though I had ended the previous season with an injury. She told me it was because I had never lapsed in my commitment to the team, attending every game and cheering on my teammates, even when I was in pain. The year I was captain we emerged from the regular season undefeated.

The pride I felt at that last game was more important to me than winning the playoffs. Not only was I satisfied with my own recovery and skills, but I was also proud of what our team was able to achieve through our combined efforts. Not all leadership requires teamwork, but in sports and medicine, it does. By making me captain while I was still undergoing therapy, my coach supported me both mentally and physically; I truly believe that this is what enabled me to turn around and direct that same good energy to my teammates.

Another interesting connection in my life is the one I made between my injury and my eventual career plans. Observing the doctors while they tried to assess the complex damage I had sustained to my ankle inspired appreciation but also intrigue. After my sessions, I often found myself limping into libraries or scrolling online to follow up on what they had said.

My current obsession is rheumatology, though my condition resulted from injury, not illness; the next connection I made was with fellow patients in the clinic and hospital. At some point, I was told that I would regain full mobility with proper therapy, but for certain patients, the prognosis was less positive. The idea that they were experiencing as much pain as I had, but over the long term, affected me deeply. As a result, in my last two years of medical school, I’ve sought opportunities to collaborate in research on comorbidity and multimorbidity of chronic diseases, such as arthritis and diabetes.

I am also employed as the lead grant writer for our faculty. I did not actively seek this position but was recommended to it by two of my professors. This show of support underscored how leaders can set a good example by recognizing, investing in, and lifting up juniors. Grant writing is also about teamwork – another connection – which I realized after reaching out to over twenty medical students and investigators just to prepare the first proposal. In this environment, I learned to create a strong application, carry out protocols, analyze data, conduct literature reviews, and draft studies. I would apply these skills in a residency program to support research and enhance outcomes for patients with complex pathology.

I am especially interested in research in therapeutic settings. For instance, during my rotations at St. Luke’s Hospital, I met many patients with arthritis, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, fibromyalgia, and gout. Under the supervision of Dr. Xiu, our team surveyed these patients to compare the effects of current therapies on different types of arthritis and devise better treatments. Even at this early date, our research has led to improved results for a subset of patients who previously felt they didn’t have any other options. Applying what I learn is one of the most satisfying aspects of medicine for me, especially when it improves patients’ quality of life. I would be interested in continuing this work as a longitudinal study and potentially weaving it into my residency.

Going forward, I hope to learn existing approaches and techniques that represent best practices, but I am also keen to innovate and expand the scope of my specialty. I aim to have a lasting impact, first, by relieving pain and benefitting others as a caring, patient-centered physician, and then by devoting my energy to research, clinical excellence, and service.

Most importantly, I am seeking a residency that shares my vision of teamwork, as exemplified by my coach, Dr. Mason, my volleyball team, and my current faculty: first and foremost, everyone on the team is dedicated to achieving the same objective; everyone understands and values the contributions of each team member; everyone puts in a lot of effort; everyone encourages the personal growth of the other team members. If given the opportunity to join such a team, I will jump at the chance – and I will be able to do so, thanks to the doctors who helped me jump again.

This personal statement presents the story of a young immigrant to Canada applying to residency in Canada.

Not long ago, I returned to Syria, my birthplace, for the first time in eight years. I had left the country before the Arab Spring protests to participate in an international high school exchange program in science. Although I became more Canadian as time went on, I never stopped thinking about the rest of my family back home. I had expected to be gone for one year, but after my uncle was killed in the civil war, everyone urged me to stay in Canada. Ultimately, I was able to apply, with the help of my family, for Canadian Permanent Resident Status.

I pursued advanced science, biology, and physics options in high school, but during a career fair, I attended a presentation by Doctors Without Borders about their intervention in Syria. Two doctors who had recently returned from their tour spoke of their experiences, and the multimedia aspect, including photos and video, made me feel both homesick and terrified. The years of violence had severely damaged Syria’s infrastructure. The country’s once-relatively effective health care system was devastated. Numerous medical institutions had been destroyed, personnel had been killed or fled, and there were severe supply shortages. I understood then that what I had gained from my good fortune I would give back by returning to my country and meeting a part of the urgent need there, once I had the proper education and training.

After an undergrad and pre-med at Ontario Tech, I was accepted to the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster. However, with a six-month gap between graduation and the start of medical school, I decided to return to Syria to visit family and investigate the health care situation for myself. I wanted to have a concrete plan for how and where I would ultimately work as a physician.

This journey changed me. Whole towns were scarred by the vestiges of war; some villages I had known were completely wiped off the map. More disturbing was the impact on the population. Many people living in massive refugee camps, such as Za’atari, had debilitating injuries from bombings or AR assaults. The number of people with acute or chronic diseases in the camps was significant. While I was there, I helped attend to three people injured in a fire and learned a lot from the resident physicians about identifying diseases that were common there but would have been unusual in Canada.

During my first two years of medical school, I was torn between a focus on emergency medicine and internal medicine. The recent global health crisis settled that question for me. As an intern at St. Joseph’s Hamilton Healthcare, I assisted in the ED, helped admit urgent cases, and provided care. To facilitate appropriate interventions, we collaborated closely with specialty teams. I felt genuinely at home on the ward, despite the lack of resources, trauma, exhaustion, and constant worry about getting sick or infecting someone else. In my mind, I drew a direct line to Syria and knew that if I returned, I would have what it takes to endure it, even if the war worsened again.

However, my perspective on emergency care evolved last year when the crisis eased, and we began to see more accident victims and critical cases, such as cardiac arrest or CVA. At the same time, certain cases were especially challenging: patients with a combination of pre-existing health conditions and long-term consequences of COVID-19 were winding up in the ED. This was when I noticed the convergence of my different educations. Attending physicians noticed it too. I identified symptoms in patients that sometimes went undocumented, and my instincts for which test to order were strong. I realized that my science background and ease with theory and analysis were contributing to my diagnostic ability, even though I was not yet allowed to take on such a responsibility. On the patient side, I picked up on visual signs and subtle cues and with knowledge of Arabic, English, French, and Russian, I was able to communicate with a wide range of people.

In the year since, I have increasingly gravitated toward internal medicine, as this is clearly where my skills and aptitudes lie. Although I have remained mainly at St. Joe’s, this has not limited my versatility but rather, enhanced it, as I have had the privilege of caring for a broad spectrum of patients and working with several departmental directors in various specialties. The extensive patient contact, along with the intellectual challenge and learning opportunities inherent in each new case, are what convinced me that internal medicine is exactly where I want and need to be. Should you accept me as a resident, you can be assured of a strong, serious, mature contribution by a sensitive team player with a wealth of experience.

It is hoped that these examples give you a good idea of how to approach your internal medicine residency personal statement and convince you that you can craft your own strong statement around what makes you unique as a person and as a physician.

Here are a few more ideas of what to include:

Your internal medicine residency personal statement should generally be between 500 and 800 words, or one page. Be sure to check the precise requirements of the residency program to which you are applying.

Simply put: Yes! Your residency personal statement provides you with the opportunity to interact with the program directors and explain why you want to pursue your chosen specialty. It also humanizes your application. Your chances of being accepted into your ideal school may be greatly increased with a powerful personal statement.

Get an early start, so that you won’t feel rushed. Conduct comprehensive research on the residency program. Write an outline. Include anecdotes and concrete examples in your essay. Once you have included all the relevant content, work on weaving a story together and revising your writing to make it more concise.

Leave yourself a good six weeks to write your internal medicine residency personal statement.

Red flags should only be discussed if they are pertinent to your personal statement, and you haven’t previously addressed them in another application component. If you do address any areas of concern, be sure to accept responsibility for the issue and detail how you improved as a result of your missteps or setbacks.

With a fill-rate of under 45%, internal medicine is one of the least competitive specialties.

Although unlikely, you may heed every piece of advice from your consultant and yet fail to find a match. Therefore, we advise choosing a professional service that is guaranteed. For instance, at BeMo, we offer a money-back guarantee that you can learn more about by scheduling a free first consultation.

Certainly! While they cannot actually create the essay for you, they can help you brainstorm, offer writing advice and strategies, and guide you through the editing process to ensure that you produce a great residency personal statement.

Want more free tips? Subscribe to our channels for more free and useful content!

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Residency Sample Personal Statements

These are real personal statements from successful residency applicants (some are from students who have used our services or from our advisors ). These sample personal statements are for reference purposes only and should absolutely not be used to copy or plagiarize in any capacity. Plagiarism detection software is used when evaluating personal statements. Plagiarism is grounds for disqualification of an applicant.

Disclaimer: While these essays ultimately proved effective and led to successful residency matches, there are multiple components that comprise an effective residency applicant. These essays are not perfect, and the strengths and weaknesses have been listed where relevant.

Sample Personal Statements

Encouraged by the idea of becoming well rounded, I collected many hobbies and passions as I grew up from snowboarding and cooking to playing board games and practicing meditation. Despite the increasing demands on my time, however, I never learned how to get more than 24 hours out of a day. Since I entered medical school, I have been searching for ways to continue pursuing my one my most influential hobbies, playing the violin. While my violin may be gathering more dust than I would like to admit, I discovered that the same motivations that gave me an affinity for my favorite pastime are still fulfilled in the practice of anesthesia.

Learning to play the violin was challenging; for the first few years, everything that came out of my violin sounded as if it had been scratched out on a chalkboard. Through daily practice and enormous amount of patience from my parents whose ears were being tortured, playing violin slowly came to be effortless. My violin teacher went beyond teaching me how to play but also challenged me to envision my future and write down my aspirations. While achieving my milestones gave me a jolt of confidence, I learned that setting goals are part of a broader journey of constant improvement. Developed from years of practicing violin, my discipline to work tirelessly towards my goals provides the framework that will help me to master anesthesiology.

I found violin to be most rewarding when I had the opportunity to share my music with others. Through the simple act of pulling my bow across a string, I was able to convey my emotions to my audience. The desire to directly and physically affect change is a large part of my motivation to pursue anesthesiology where problems are identified and immediately met with a potential solution. Drawn to science because of my desire to understand the world around me, I enjoy creating a hypothesis and executing a plan in order to test it. While I was at [UNIVERSITY], I identified areas in which the school could improve the student experience and then implement projects that could address these areas. As the Academics and Research Committee chair, I planned as a summer math course for incoming freshmen to prepare them proof writing, which was a topic that many were to which they were not previously exposed. I derive satisfaction from the ability to take an idea and carrying it through to completion. As a life long learner, I take pleasure in finding ways to grow and expand my mind. My love of learning started from a young age where my favorite use of my computer was to browse my CD-ROM “the way things worked.” My golf team nicknamed me ‘Encyclopedia’ because of my tendency to share interesting facts with them as we drove to tournaments around [STATE]. To this day, it is difficult for me to have dinner with my friends without bringing up an interesting fact I learned from a podcast.

When playing violin became second nature, practicing became a sort of therapy where the world around me disappeared and my mind became quiet and focused. Throughout my life, I have been drawn to tasks that require intense concentration to transform thoughts into physical action from rehearsing a swing to hit a perfect drive to carefully executing a protocol for an experiment. The direct and focused care that takes place in the OR actually turned out to be tranquil and relaxing for me. Monitoring the patient, forming differentials, testing my hypothesis, and planning ahead, I found my mind completely immersed while I was assisting in cases. Able to use my own hands to care for a patient, I left the OR feel satisfied that my efforts were wholeheartedly directed towards providing the best possible care for my patient.

I first discovered chamber music at violin camp and immediately fell in love with beautiful harmonies and intricate counter melodies. One of the most shocking things about chamber music was how foreign the music sounded when I practiced at home because the individual parts frequently do not capture the beauty of piece. It isn’t until rehearsal as a group that the true form of the song emerges. Chamber music, similar to the operating room, involves a small group of people working together toward a single goal. Everyone from the surgeon to the nurses has his or her own role, which is needs to be executed appropriately in order to provide the best care for the patient. The teamwork required in the OR reminds me of seemingly impossible feats humans are able to accomplish through coordinated efforts. This collaboration is an essential characteristic of the type of environment in which I would like to work. In addition, I hope that the anesthesia residency I attend values the spirit of self-reflection and constant improvement. I am excited to pursue a career in anesthesiology where I will continue to build on my interests and strengths that were honed through years of practicing the violin.

The author did a masterful job of integrating one of his/her main outside passions (violin) into an interesting and engaging narrative as to why the applicant was fit for anesthesia.

Compared to the common “writing your CV” mistake that many applicants make, this personal statement is a breath of fresh air. The theme of violin is not irrelevant, as the author relates seemingly unrelated aspects of its practice or performance to key elements of anesthesia, medicine, or being part of a team in the operating room.

The author allows his/her personality and voice to come through. Reading this, it is easy to imagine a quirky and intellectual applicant who is genuinely curious and excited to pursue the career of anesthesia, along with some interesting hobbies. It is no surprise, then, that this applicant interviewed at top programs across the nation and multiple residency admissions committee members cited the applicant’s personal statement during the interview.

As I stand on stage in front of 500 audience members, they are all eagerly awaiting my next line. In order to start the scene, I need a suggestion from the audience. “What am I holding?” I raise my empty hand in the air. One brave soul replies “Bacon!” My fellow improvisers and I proceed to perform a scene set around a bacon dinner party. We deliver our lines punctuated by laughter until the scene comes to a close. I recall this scene during my first night in the emergency department (ED). I am struck by how much improvisation has taught me. Emergency Medicine (EM) and improv have very similar motifs. Every scene in improvisation is different, as is every ED patient. Scenes are fast paced and force you to draw from life experiences while working in a team setting, similar to the controlled chaos often encountered during an ED shift. Ultimately, ingenuity, communication and resourcefulness are the main draws I have to EM which are traits that have been instilled into my character by my experience with improvisation.

During my third year of medical school, an elderly woman presented to the ED with acute vision loss. Reassessing the patient was difficult because I had no way of documenting the improvement of her vision. Improvisation had prepared me to use creativity and whatever tools available to find a solution for any given situation. I created a system where she could mark an ‘X’ wherever she could see on a grid drawn on paper. Each hour she would add more X’s to the grid as she received corticosteroid treatment. Helping patients with improvised solutions gives me the feeling of being an artist which can complement the logic and criteria needed in EM.

New and imaginative ideas in improvisation are born from constant communication between improvisers. Emergency physicians are constantly communicated information which changes their management of a patient. A growing discipline in EM is the idea of shared decision-making (SDM). My research aims to improve the communication between the emergency doctor and the patient using SDM which is when the patient relies on their life experiences, values, and preferences while the EM physician contributes his/her medical knowledge to improve decision-making. I have been involved in several projects to help identify barriers to SDM in the emergency department, and I am currently leading a research project on the implementation of SDM in oral anticoagulation therapy for patients with new onset atrial fibrillation. Through this novel concept, I learned how to effectively communicate with patients about their illnesses and the benefit of giving them an active role in choosing their care plan.

Entering medical school, I developed an original research project incorporating my life experiences. Five years ago, my grandmother passed away from Alzheimer’s disease. In medical school, I learned of the benefits of various alternative treatments of neurodegenerative diseases. Combining my experience with Alzheimer’s and improvisation, I developed a study where elderly patients with mild cognitive impairment were enrolled in an eight-week improvisation class. My efforts to improve the participants’ verbal fluency, level of depression and cognition using a treatment that had not yet been explored gave me the ability to administer care with the tools given to me by past experiences. Approaching the undifferentiated ED patient similarly requires resourcefulness and problem-solving which can stem from past life experiences. I believe I will be able to pull from these experiences salient information applicable to the situation because improvisation has helped me nurture this characteristic.

In my future career, I see myself working with underserved populations and performing research. There I can lift those who are in need as well as continue to research improvements in patient engagement through SDM. I know if I am given the chance to practice medicine in an environment that fosters ingenuity, communication and resourcefulness I can continue to be strong advocate for my patients and become a great EM physician.

Building from a unique background, the author of this residency personal statement brings a unique element to the table – improvisation. Similar to the personal statement above, the author uses their passion and interests outside of medicine to illustrate how the skills they have developed in that area will translate to their being an effective physician.

Notably, the author also describes his novel research project incorporating improvisation into research and the backstory of how this idea was derived from Alzheimer’s dementia effecting his own family members. This simple anecdote reinforces the applicant’s passion for improvisation, their interest in furthering the scientific literature through research, and the personal connection to a condition.

The applicant comes across as interesting. However, to further improve the impact of the essay, the author may consider tightening up the conclusion with a reference back to improvisation or other parting words that are more unique.

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WINNING RESIDENCY PERSONAL STATEMENT EXAMPLES

Get inspired with our residency personal statements samples. The best authors are also ready to help with writing & editing your own application docs.

Ensure the quality of our work by checking these pro-made personal statements residency samples!

Each residency personal statement sample is made from scratch only with no any templates usage. Get a highly customized doc based on the filled questionnaire & your own materials.

All writers have verified medical degrees and an average of 12 years of writing experience. There are no freelancers but only highly qualified pros well-versed in residency admission.

There's no need to worry; after the doc delivery, you'll be able to revise it as many times as needed until you are completely satisfied with it. Revisions are unlimited and free of charge.

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Personal Statement Examples Residency to Unlock the Path to Your Dream

You know the parable about the bad blacksmith who caused the war to be lost. The essence is that he badly shod the messenger’s horse, who could not deliver the message in time, and the troops did not have time to reload, and the war was lost. One badly hammered nail ruined everything. The point is that there are no small things in important matters, and getting a residence permit to continue your career is fundamental. Among the huge package of documents that you will need to submit to the commission is a personal statement. This is a short document of only one page, up to 1000 words long, which can ultimately determine your fate, so it is necessary to be highly responsible.

To make sure you don’t get it wrong, it’s best to start by familiarizing yourself with personal statement examples for residency. It is even better to see examples of students who have succeeded and got the desired place. And we offer you just such documents.

How to Identify a Good Personal Statements Residency Sample

You can find hundreds of such examples by going to the Internet and entering the appropriate request. Each of them will almost certainly fit the description of the ‘sample personal statement residency.’ You will see someone else’s example posted online. But there is no guarantee that this particular paper is good and that its author was responsible for their work. You don’t even know if the personal essay is successful or not. All this is only true if you don’t know where to look.

We guarantee that in our service, all medical residency personal statement examples meet all the necessary requirements to be considered the gold standard of personal statements. All papers are written by professionals and, therefore, pass all the compliance checks accurately. Consequently, we invite you to browse our personal statements residency sample database and choose the best one to serve you well.

Why Residency Personal Statements Samples Are Beneficial for You

It isn’t easy to create something good with a range of requirements without the proper knowledge. You can use manuals or seek information on the web. You can rely on intuition and your own experience. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that this will bring the desired result. But what can be said with confidence is that studying excellent residency personal statements examples gives you many undeniable advantages and ways to improve yourself already in the process.

First and foremost, pro-made personal statement examples residency are visual references that you can look up to. These documents give you a broad idea of what elements should be included in a personal statement and how it should be designed.
Examples of residency personal statements help you understand which topics and approaches work and which do not. This will help you avoid unnecessary and trivial mistakes and help you know how to highlight your advantages. This is extremely important regarding the hugely competitive admission environment.
Winning examples may open your eyes to various styles and approaches to doing this work. In this document, you can determine the best and most appropriate way to present your best aspects.
A professionally created sample personal statement for residency is an excellent source for enriching your vocabulary and even gaining new knowledge. You will be able to borrow cool colloquialisms and learn how to make the right emphases.

Using our database of personal statements for residency examples correctly, you get an incomparable advantage over other candidates because you can familiarize yourself with dozens of different and, at the same time, high-quality works, take all the highlights from each of them, and create your own masterpiece.

How to Use Residency Application Personal Statement Examples Correctly

When you see great works, you may want to copy everything written and edit the example to suit yourself. We implore you not to do this. Doing so will undoubtedly lead to plagiarism charges and denial of your desired program position. To maximize the benefits of using our example residency personal statements, try using the following principles:

Inspiration, not imitation

Use our examples of personal statements medical residency as the foundation for building your own work. Be inspired by ideas, gain additional knowledge, and transform them specifically for you.

Analyze the structure in depth

Look at several residency personal statement examples and highlight the structure of each document. They may be slightly different, but by comparing the papers, you will understand the principle of how your work should be structured.

Find the key points

In each of our medical residency personal statements, there are emphases that the authors have put there. You can analyze them and understand how to lead your thoughts to the key conclusions to look even more convincing.

The main thing to remember is that creativity and your personal ideas will help you use our residency application personal statement examples most productively. Feel free to study other samples on our site as well. This way, you will have an even broader scope and thus get even more experience.

Why You Need ERAS Personal Statement Examples

Most applications for US residencies now go through the ERAS system. On the one hand, this helps to create a good database and simplifies the students’ application process. On the other hand, ERAS is very strict about the length and format of the text. It should not exceed 800 words. The system will automatically shorten anything longer than that.

In this case, familiarizing yourself with ERAS personal statement examples is a must. Thanks to our samples, you can see all the nuances of formatting work for this system and understand how to fit all the most important information about yourself in such a small volume.

What Not to Do With Personal Statement Examples for Residency

Our examples are in the public domain, and you are free to use them as you wish. However, we strongly advise you to avoid gross mistakes when using personal statement for residency examples, which can harm you.

Irresponsible copying : Parts of the work can be carried over unchanged, but you should be very careful about doing so and preferably avoid it altogether.
Ignoring structure : You may think your creativity will help you stand out, but missing a reasonably strict structure for this document will not benefit you.
Loss of individuality : Don’t adopt the personality and style of the author of residency personal statement samples. Instead, highlight your identity because this is what the admissions committee looks for in applicants.
Lack of editing : Even if you think the work looks very similar to the residency personal statement example and you have followed all the rules, it is better to give the work to an experienced editor to check.

Let Professionals Help With Your Medical Residency Personal Statements

One of the main problems students face when writing a personal statement is needing more time and ideas. What if we say we can do the job entirely instead of you? You can see the perfect personal statement residency examples and their quality. Each of these examples was written by our authors, who will be able to make the same one for you.

You can get a fully personalized document from scratch, or we can help you edit your written statement. We will polish it to a shine and return a shining work of art that will impress you.

Don’t hesitate, and don’t waste unnecessary effort on this challenging task. We are here to help you.

Writing a Personal Statement for Residency Application

Personal statements are an essential, required part of applying to residency. Residency programs screen thousands of applications every cycle and read many hundreds of these statements in the process. You should aim to write an interesting statement that showcases your personality as well as your achievements. Perhaps most importantly, you will need to skillfully articulate the reasons for your interest in family medicine and the particular program you're applying to.

How to Write a Great Personal Statement

A great personal statement sets itself apart from a good personal statement in several ways.

First, it includes a level of specificity that shows your motivations and interests are authentic. For example, when conveying why you want to match into family medicine, show awareness of the exciting developments in the specialty, or describe your experience with or knowledge of topics like population health management, care coordination, and the social determinants of health.
Feel free to highlight items in your CV if they help remind your reader of the experiences you’ve had that prepared you for the position. This is your opportunity to expand upon activities that are just listed in the CV but deserve to be described so your reader can appreciate the breadth and depth of your involvement in them. It should not be another comprehensive list of your activities, but rather should refer to activities that are listed in detail on the CV.
The personal statement is also an appropriate place to address anything that may be ambiguous on your CV. In particular, you should address any nontraditional path you’ve taken through medical school, such as time off or an altered curricular journey. It is better to address these than to leave a program wondering. If you write about academic or personal challenges that you faced during medical school, make a positive impression by focusing on what you've learned from those experiences and how they brought you to where you are now.

You may choose to relate significant personal experiences, but do so only if they are relevant to your candidacy for the position.

Sharpen Your Writing Skills

The importance of good writing in a personal statement cannot be overemphasized. Unfortunately, not only are good writing skills allowed to deteriorate during medical school, but in some sense, they also are deliberately undermined in the interest of learning to write concise histories and physicals. For the moment, forget everything you know about writing histories and physicals. While preparing your personal statement:

Avoid abbreviations.
Avoid repetitive sentence structure.
Avoid using jargon. If there is a shorter, simpler, less pretentious way of putting it, use it.
Don't assume your reader knows the acronyms you use. As a courtesy, spell everything out.
Use a dictionary and spell check.
Use a thesaurus. Variety in the written language can add interest, but don't get carried away.
Write in complete sentences.

If you need a crash course in good writing, read The Elements of Style , Fourth Edition by Strunk and White. If you have friends or relatives with writing or editing skills, enlist their help. Student organizations at your school may host personal statement clinics, or your school may offer review services. Many student, medical, and specialty societies, local and national, may offer personal statement reviews or workshops.

Even if you're a great writer and feel confident about your application, you should ask trusted advisors, mentors, and friends to critique your personal statement (and your CV! ). They can help you make your statement as flawless as possible by giving you feedback about areas that might have been unclear or things that should be added.

Don't cross the line

Your personal statement should remain an original composition, even as you seek input and advice. Retain your voice as you refine your writing and don't ever plagiarize. Be aware of other ethical lines you shouldn't cross as well, for example, don't use vague references that would allow for the reader to misinterpret the nature of your experience, and don't take full credit for a project if others worked on it with you.

How to Make a Statement with Your ERAS Personal Statement

June 29, 2023
Reviewed by: Amy Rontal, MD

You’re guaranteed to write a better ERAS personal statement if you follow these 12 tips.

Dr. Leila Javidi, Taylor Purvis, and Dr. Brian Radvansky contributed to this article.

Starting your residency application can feel like an overwhelming task, especially when it comes to writing your ERAS personal statement. It’s not clear why essays of this nature are so intimidating—maybe it’s because not all medical students are well-versed in language arts, many of us dislike writing, or maybe just the thought of putting “who you are” onto paper brings to the surface some uncomfortable feelings of self-awareness (whoa—this just got intense!).

This is a joke or course, but to be honest, sometimes when we sit down to write our ERAS personal statement we immediately think things like, “I’m not that interesting,” or “I haven’t done anything cool in life, I’ve spent most of my time in school thus far.” And that is completely normal. The majority of us haven’t had those pivotal moments in life that shake the ground beneath us and form a new foundation for who we are, and that’s OK!

Your ERAS personal statement isn’t intended to be a best-selling memoir. It’s intended to add another dimension to the otherwise black-and-white application full of scores and grades. It is an opportunity to show program directors your personality, what motivates you, and what you’re looking for in a residency program.

While you’ve probably heard all of this before, we bet you have more specific questions about how to tackle the ERAS personal statement. All of us sure did! So, without further ado, h ere are answers to the 12 most important questions about medical residency personal statements.

12 Frequently-Asked Questions About the ERAS Personal Statement

1. How big of a deal is my ERAS personal statement to program directors?

According to the 2020 NRMP program director survey , 78% of program directors cite the ERAS personal statement as an important factor in deciding which candidates to interview, making it the fourth-highest ranked factor behind USMLE Step 1, USMLE Step 2, and letters of recommendation. So, it’s pretty important in the grand scheme of your application!

Now, from experience in talking to different program directors and mentors, it’s clear that the most important thing is that your ERAS personal statement is well organized, well written, with proper grammar, no red flags, and that it’s only one page single-spaced. The standard ERAS personal statement length is typically 500-800 words (roughly four paragraphs).

A personal statement typically isn’t the “maker” of your residency application—however, it can be a deal “breaker” if it doesn’t have those attributes. That said, if you have a memorable, well-written personal statement, program directors will mention it, and it will make you stand out as an applicant. If they are on the fence about whether or not to interview you, a personal statement could potentially be the deciding factor. So, it’s pretty important!

2. What are things I should include in my ERAS personal statement?

A good ERAS personal statement should include the following:

A catchy introduction to grab the reader

There are different ways to go about doing this, but if you’re stuck, an effective way to grab the reader’s attention is to open with a patient vignette. An interesting case is sure to pique the curiosity of your reader and keep them engaged as they read. Preventing boredom is something to strive for, as your application is one of perhaps hundreds that they are reading.

Ultimately, though, remember this is a personal statement. After you reveal the diagnosis or outcome of the patient vignette, you need to let the reader know what the case meant to you! The point of relating the vignette is to reveal something about yourself, not just present an interesting story about a patient.

An overview of your desirable qualities

When letting the reader know what your positive qualities are, it’s important to remember a basic rule of good writing: SHOW, don’t tell. For example, instead of saying you are compassionate, describe a story from your life that demonstrates your compassion.

Highlights from your life experience

This includes jobs, extracurricular activities, and hobbies that would help you to be an ideal candidate for whichever residency you are applying to. Pro tip: DON’T REGURGITATE YOUR CV. This is your opportunity to tell people things that aren’t on your CV. Do you play chess in the park every Saturday, or have you traveled to some amazing places? Tell us about it!

You shouldn’t rehash your CV in your personal statement, but it is a great place to elaborate on activities listed on your CV. It can be used to explain why those activities are so important to you, how they have helped you grow as a person, and other things that don’t often shine through on the CV itself.

Proof of why you should be accepted

The most important part of your statement is providing proof of why you should be accepted. Describe your strengths, but do not talk about things too generally. You should be able to back up everything you say. Give details and examples. Which doctors have you shadowed? What kind of research have you been involved in, and where was it published? Don’t just mention that you have volunteered, say the names of places you were at and what you were doing.

Why you are interested in your specialty

This doesn’t have to be a profound story, but it should be the truth!

What you are looking for in a residency program

Is a strong procedural curriculum important to you? Is the culture of the program more important? Try to mention things you know your programs of choice embody.

Address any red flags on your application

Did you do poorly on Step 1? Did you take a leave of absence for a long time? Best to just come out and talk about it without being defensive. Show how you have grown from the experience, rather than apologizing for it!

A cohesive closing statement

Sometimes the first and the last sentence of the statement are the hardest to come up with, but it’s worth your time to make it tidy, even if it isn’t profound.

3. What are things I shouldn’t include in my ERAS personal statement?

Controversial topics.

Stay away from extreme religious or political statements. It doesn’t mean you can’t say you are an active member of church, but don’t use this as an opportunity to discuss whether or not you are pro-choice. You never know who is going to be reading this, and anything too polarizing can be off-putting for some readers.

Feelings of bitterness or negativity

Leave out any traces of bitterness, defensiveness, or anger about anything that has happened in your life. Everything must have a positive spin.

Too much self-praise or too much modesty

Avoid talking about yourself in a glorifying manner, but don’t go too far the other way and come off as too modest.

Too many qualifiers

You don’t want to go overboard with the qualifiers, which are words such as “really,” “quite,” “very,” etc. In fact, in many cases, it’s better not to use them at all.

“Flowery” language you wouldn’t use in real life

It’s a personal statement, not a creative writing assignment. Keep the language in your statement simple. You’re not going to score any points by using unnecessarily fancy words. Your goal is clear communication.

Also, don’t try to sound like a doctor. This is just another way of trying to impress the reader. You want the reader to like you based on the way you write, not be turned off because you are trying to impress them.

“Try to avoid using a lot of jargon and abbreviations,” advises Mary Dundas, educator at Academized.

Exaggerations

Avoid talking hyperbolically about how passionate you are. As noted earlier, it’s better to show than tell so give examples of things you have done. Above all, keep the writing in your statement professional.

If you avoid these common mistakes, you’ll be way ahead of most applicants!

4. How can I make my ERAS personal statement unique?

As evidenced by The Voice and American Idol , it is everyone’s impulse to divulge their “sob story” to help them stand out and garner sympathy from the audience. While it’s important to include stories that helped shape you as a person, it is very transparent and cliché to talk about that person you know who was struck by a medical tragedy, and how ever since you vowed to “save people.”

The best way to make your statement unique is to allow your personality to shine through. Use your words, your humor, and your depth to tell your story. Find a way to show yourself to your reader, and if you do this, your essay will be unique!

5. Should I have more than one ERAS personal statement to upload?

In short, absolutely have multiple personal statements to upload. Especially if you are applying to more than one specialty, it’s essential that you have several versions of your personal statement.

That doesn’t mean you have to write a whole new one, you just have to tailor it to fit that specialty. If you’re applying for a preliminary year, tailor your personal statement to explain how important you feel a solid foundation in medicine is for dermatology (or whichever specialty you are applying to) and what you’re looking for in a preliminary year.

Furthermore, I found that for the programs I really wanted to interview with, I would upload a tailored personal statement for that program saying something like, “I am seeking a family medicine residency position with ABC University program because of their dedication to XYZ.” Simply name-dropping their institution and noting the strength of their program demonstrates your attention to detail and interest in their institution. Even if you are an amazing applicant, if a program doesn’t feel you are interested in their specific program, they won’t interview you. It’s best to make sure you give those out-of-state programs some extra attention so they know you are willing to relocate for them!

Lastly, you should know that you can upload as many versions of your personal statement as you like onto ERAS, but be especially careful when uploading and make sure you apply the correct personal statement to each program! Triple-check your work! Pro Tip: Use your file names to help you stay organized. Pick a format and stick with it, such as “PS-JohnsHopkins,” “USCF-PS,” etc.

6. When should I start writing my ERAS personal statement?

The sooner the better, people. Get cracking now! You can even begin to think of ideas during your third year as you develop your interests in specific specialties. As ideas come to you, jot them into your phone so you don’t forget!

One of the best ways to begin writing your personal statement is to go over some questions about yourself. Ask yourself, who are you and what drives you forward? Think about the kinds of things that interest you and why you developed those interests. Maybe consider some mistakes you have made, how you learned from them, and how they have changed you. Or ask yourself, how do your interests and personality contribute to the goals you have set?

Think about those kinds of questions and write down the answers. Reflect on them, put them away, and come back to them. Then, use them to form an outline—this will help you figure out all your points and what you want to say before you start writing.

If you still feel like you just don’t know how to get started, give the five-point essay format a shot and see if it works for you. In short, you begin with a paragraph that is about four or five sentences long. The goal of this first paragraph is to grab a reader’s attention. Use the next three or four body paragraphs to talk about yourself. Try and have one of them focus on your clinical understanding, while another talks about service. Then end with a solid conclusion paragraph that mirrors your introduction, summarizes who you are, and ends by looking toward the future.

7. Should I ask for any help with my ERAS personal statement?

Yes. Yes. A thousand times, YES! Absolutely ask for feedback on your personal statement. After getting your draft finished, show it to whoever will look at it—however, please remember to take everyone’s advice with a grain of salt and to strongly consider the source. It is absolutely essential to have your personal statement reviewed by an objective third party to ensure that the message you are trying to communicate is loud and clear. This means that you shouldn’t give it to a friend or family member who is going to placate you with a useless, “Yeah, looks great!”

Find a mentor, advisor, chief resident or attending, someone who is accustomed to reading ERAS personal statements, and get feedback from them. You can be certain that going through this step will only make your personal statement better. If you take their advice and don’t like how things are panning out, you can always revert back to an older draft.

But in just about every case, another set of eyes to give you big-picture feedback on what you’ve written will improve your piece. Do this early in the process, when you have gotten a simple draft together, so that you don’t present someone with an idea that you are married to, only to find out that it doesn’t come through clearly.

Be sure to ask other people what they think of your draft, but be careful about asking other students for help. Sometimes they get weird, and try to give you advice about making your statement more like theirs because they want to feel justified in their own efforts.

Finally, it should be mentioned that there are services out there that will “write your personal statement” for you. Aside from the obvious reasons why not to do this, you have to be really careful. Those services don’t know you, don’t know your voice, and oftentimes have very generic ways of putting these statements together. Using a service to help polish your statement, though, is A-OK. Some you may find useful in that regard are ViaWriting , Writing Populist , StateofWriting , and SimpleGrad .

Lastly, you may consider working with a residency counselor who can help set your application apart with insider advice and ensure you optimize all elements of the residency application process. Our residency consultants are residents and attendings who have successfully guided hundreds of students from residency applications through the Match!

Typical residency consulting work consists of:

Not sure if a residency consultant is the right fit for you? Take this quiz to see if you would benefit from some extra guidance during the residency application process!

8. Where can I find examples of ERAS personal statements to inspire me?

Every good writer learned how to write by reading the works of other people. This includes personal statements! Very often your career offices from your undergraduate studies will have examples of personal statements that can serve as inspiration for your own masterpiece. You can also ask older classmates and recent graduates if they would feel comfortable sharing their personal statements with you.

Remember, too, that inspiration can come from nontraditional sources. Try reading poetry or a novel before sitting down to write your statement. You might be surprised by how it helps to get your creative juices flowing!

9. Is it better to cover all of my experiences, or focus on a few in particular?

It’s better to focus on several key experiences rather than provide a broad overview of your life up to the present time. Your resume will fill in any gaps for your reader. The point of the personal statement is to spend a few paragraphs reflecting on one or two themes that define who you are as a person. Stay focused, and go deep!

10. How much should I share about my career goals in my ERAS personal statement?

Remember, the majority of training programs you will be applying to are academic medical centers. For those programs in particular, make sure to emphasize why an academic environment is a good fit for you. This does not have to mean research! Perhaps you like the idea of becoming a clinician educator and want to be at XYZ program for the opportunity to teach medical students.

Likewise, if you are applying to a program at a community hospital, make sure to reflect on how your career goals are suited for that environment. Maybe private practice is on your radar, or you want to practice in a hospital that is more close-knit than a large academic center.

Whatever the case, try to make your stated career goals align with the orientation of the program you’re applying to. In reality, you may have no idea what direction you want your career to go in. But for a personal statement, try to commit to one general theme if possible.

11. What about my personal statements for preliminary or transitional year programs?

For applicants who are also applying to preliminary or transitional year programs, it can seem daunting to tailor your personal statement to a position that isn’t part of your ultimate specialty. But don’t worry—preliminary and transitional year programs still want to know who you are as a person and why you’re interested in anesthesiology, dermatology, or whatever advanced specialty you’re aiming for. You don’t need to change your personal statement as much as you may think!

The goal of a personal statement for these one-year programs is not to convince the reader that you suddenly love internal medicine despite going into radiology. The reader knows this is a temporary stopping place for you. Instead, emphasize the traits that make you YOU and will enhance their hospital!

12. What if I’m interested in a non-traditional path after residency?

Some of you may be thinking of alternative career paths after residency such as consulting or pharmaceutical work. It’s probably best to leave those specific goals out of your ERAS personal statement and allow readers to assume that you want to continue in clinical medicine after graduating from residency. You might want to instead phrase it as something you want to be incorporated into your clinical career, but not something you would leave medicine for, even if that’s what you have in mind!

Remember, you are under no obligation to share your every thought and desire in a personal statement! These statements are being read by reviewers who dedicated their lives to education and clinical medicine, so keep that in mind.

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Writing the Personal Statement that will get you into Residency

There are many ways to make an impression from bringing flowers on your first date to insulting someone’s shoes before realizing they’re your new boss. While applying for a medical residency program, you have many chances to make an impression such as your ERAS Common Application, Letters of Recommendations, and USMLE exam scores.

But, no part of the application gives you as much control and is the best for establishing who you are as your Personal Statement. Your Personal Statement is one of the few places where you can really introduce yourself and show your personality, not just as a faceless test score among a crowd of applications, but as a unique person.

Figuring out what to put in your Personal Statement can be challenging, especially when there’s so much you want to say and so little space. You want to think about what should belong in the picture and what shouldn’t.

Start by brainstorming “you”– your experiences (personal and professional), qualities, goals, interests and aspirations. Getting any assignment started can be difficult when you’re just staring at a blank page, but by brainstorming, you can take some of the pressure off.

You have all of the information you need, you just don’t know it yet. There are lots of resources out there to help you develop content for your Personal Statement. Google is a wonderful tool, isn’t it?

Below are a few questions to help draw out the right information:

What made you want to enter this specialty? Was there some sort of lightbulb moment or trigger you can talk about?
What are your goals, short and long term goals?
What are some character traits YOU embody and how have you used them in a medical capacity?
Are there any struggles that have helped you grow as a person or professional? (Don’t focus on the struggle, but how it made you stronger.)
What are your accomplishments?
Is there anything unique/unusual that distinguishes you?
What knowledge do you have about the specialty?
What can you bring to this specialty? This program?

To save yourself time in the future, feel free to answer these questions for more than one specialty. Meaning, just think of all of the wonderful qualities you have and experiences you’ve been through (maybe grouping them once you have enough down) and put them down in writing. After mentally drawing out the best parts of you, it’s time to focus that information into a concise, cohesive and stunning snapshot of you.

Those of you who thought you put those high school essays behind you– think again. Your general 4 or 5-paragraph essay format is the perfect way to organize your statement.

The key to an impressive Personal Statement is through proper organization . Think of this like those poetry fridge magnets where you can create phrases with pre-printed words. You can have incredible and engaging material, but if it isn’t organized correctly, it will get lost in the jumble.

Although every statement must be unique, you can follow this general format. Don’t worry too much about the length or perfection of the grammar for now, that will come later.

Introduction Paragraph

Introduce yourself through a hook to grab the reader’s attention
Connect the hook to your present medical aspirations
Announce your goals through a thesis (at least three)
ex. I want to specialize in (enter specialty) because I want to grow…improve…and teach…

Body Paragraphs

Address the goals in the order of your thesis
Include RELEVANT personal information/ experiences/ qualities
Have at three different and well thought out points per paragraph

Conclusion Paragraph

Recap your goals in new way to tie everything together
What do you want from the specific specialty, what can you offer?

You really want to be yourself while showing residency programs you have the types of traits they are looking for like maturity, thoughtfulness, enthusiasm and teamwork . You don’t need to overstate what you’ve done or lie, just honestly let the reader know what you are made of as a residency candidate.

When you have finally slogged through the first draft, now comes the difficult part: editing and revising. Until now, you’ve been told you not to worry about being concise or having perfect grammar. Now is the time to fix, shape and finalize. Re-read your work- even better, read it out loud to yourself or to a friend.

As you go in for your next few read backs, keep in mind the following about your content:

Does anything come off as questionable or confusing?

Is every piece of information relevant to the specialty you are talking about?
Does having this information put you in a positive light?
Does any of the wording sound awkward, cliche or forced?
Is there any redundancy (repeat words, or ideas)?
Do you focus too long on something irrelevant such as your mentor or personal stories that don’t relate?
Don’t just say you are motivated, show it through your activities

If the answer is doubtful to ANY of the questions, take it out or fix it! You can save this information for another written document, but it does not belong in your Personal Statement.

Other things to keep in mind are:

The language you use, make sure it belongs to you, but feel free to dress it up a little
Punctuation
Ex. Instead of: I am smart. I read a lot. I like books. Try: I increase my intelligence through some of my favorite pastimes such as reading.
Did you use “I” too much?
Did you just parrot what is on your CV or ERAS application?
Are there any taboo topics such as religion or politics?

And to top it off, just a few formatting tips:

Keep it between 4 to 6 paragraphs
Single spaced, with one space between paragraphs
No indentation
600-800 words
Avoid anything over a page
Mirror the ERAS format with one-inch margins and Courier 10-point font
No special characters like bolding or italics

Once you have edited, revised, cleaned and polished, it is always a good idea to get a fresh set of eyes on your finished product whether it’s your friend, advisor or an editing service such as Residency Statement . You’ve been looking at this document over and over and there is a chance you missed something.

Make your final adjustments and you are done!…Sort of.

You will need Personal Statements for each specialty you are interested in . Generic statements are easy to spot and not a good reflection of you and Program Directors expect to see dedication to the particular specialty you are applying for. Writing specialty specific Personal Statements may feel like extra work, but can make all of the difference among a sea of spectacular applicants.

**Please Note: This articles only touches on some of the many aspects involved with crafting a Personal Statement. You may choose to try another way or look further into the content of the statement.

Should you have any questions, Residency Statement would be happy to help you, call 760-904-5484 ext. 3, or email support@residencystatement.com .

Updating your Personal Statement for SOAP

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How to Write Specialty-specific Residency Personal Statements

Stay Updated

Residency Personal Statement Example 1: Paediatrics

Residency Personal Statement Example 2: Internal Medicine

Residency Personal Statement Example 3: Psychology

8 Tips on How to write a Personal Statement for Residency?

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

More personal statement tutorials, examples of the best structure for residency personal statements .

1. Narrative Statement

For example, a narrative statement for a residency could be:

I wanted to work in the community health network since I was a young child in a very deprived neighborhood. My parents were both health practitioners and I grew up in a household where learning about medicine was the norm. In high school, I took advanced classes in biology, chemistry and physics and continued my studies at Georgetown University where I earned my medical degree. After completing my residency at Medstar D.C., I want to return home to help underserved communities as their new primary care provider.

In the second example below, the applicant writes about her childhood friend who had cancer, which made the applicant become passionate about one day studying oncology to help others in the same way.

2. Goal Statement

For a residency application, a goal statement could be:

I want to become an emergency medicine consultant in order to use my expertise in trauma medicine to improve emergency health care in developing countries. My dream is to join Doctors Without Borders to help treat some of the world’s most vulnerable people as well as to help train local healthcare professionals to provide sustainable high-level care.

This statement demonstrates the applicant’s desire to grow personally and professionally, as well as their ambition to use their knowledge for the greater good. It also shows that they have thought about what they want out of their career and that they are pursuing this specific field in order to work with an NGO or other non-profit.

In the first example statement, the writer states candidly that although they did not always know they wanted to be a paediatrician, they are now completely committed to this path with the goal of working in an inner-city community.

3. Challenges Faced

Have you struggled with an illness that affected your health and well-being – depression, cancer, or a serious accident? For example:

Being diagnosed with skin cancer at age 12 turned my world upside-down, and the treatment I received at our local hospital gave me both a future and a burning desire to become an oncologist myself. I aspire to work in pediatric oncology in order to help other families and to be the kind of empathetic doctor that every patient deserves.

Have you had a challenging upbringing or background – for example, growing up in poverty, or in the foster care system, have you experienced the death of a parent?

Could these experiences make you a better doctor?

In the third example, the candidate talks about how the challenges his sister faced as a high-functioning individual with ADHD, anxiety and depression and how that inspired him to volunteer with a charity overseas, ultimately leading him to pursue a psychiatry residency.

In applying for the paediatrics residency program at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia I am aiming to join an outstanding team from whom I can learn to be an excellent pediatrician. I used to think I was quite an indecisive person because I wanted to try lots of different things and didn’t feel passionate about one particular hobby or sport growing up. However, I came to realize that in my own way I am unique because of having a wide range of interests and the ability to turn my hand to many different things. In the end, I tried fencing at 14 years old and found my ‘forever sport’ and am enjoying my volunteer role as our team medic.

I had the same feeling for the first few years of medical school – I was passionate about medicine, certainly, enjoying the theory as well as the various clinical rotations but didn’t have a clear idea about a residency specialism that many of my classmates seemed to, so it took a while to realize that paediatrics was the place for me.

My Pre-Medical Biochemistry undergraduate degree at B State University involved processing huge amounts of data and I enjoyed the challenge. Our pre-med advisor helped me sort through my strengths to choose a residency specialism and she pointed out that paediatricians work in a similar way, when confronted with symptoms presenting outside the usual range of childhood illnesses. The more challenging the cases I might encounter in Philadelphia, the more I can learn and grow as a doctor.

There were several moments of clarification along the way. I was fascinated by new research into sleep disorders among young teens and the negative effect some medications might have on them. Similarly, supporting a local clinic and attending workshops on screening for anxiety really resonated with me. During my final year, I sat in the NICU with an anxious first time mother whose baby was about to be discharged after six weeks. I walked her through a list of questions and a checklist to go through with the baby’s paediatrician and called myself to set up the appointment. In the end, I realized that I want to be a clinician who can support families and young people in the community, move towards a diagnosis or at least identify the right specialist, and see children throughout their journey to becoming adults.

I’m a people person and can quickly put patients at their ease, but understand the importance of focusing on asking what the child is thinking and feeling as well as what their parents or guardians tell me is the case. I push myself to achieve at the highest level and would thrive in a busy, fast-moving environment. I am able to work efficiently but also ask for help when necessary. My goal is to work in an inner-city practice where I can also be involved in the local community as a volunteer, and mentor and support other young people considering medicine as a career.

(500 words)

Residency Personal Statement Example 2: Internal medicine

When we were young, my friend Ella and I dreamed of becoming astronaut-hairdresser-brain surgeon-actresses. Later, this crystallized into a determination to become a doctor. We were fortunate to have families who encouraged us to dream big and believed that there were no limits to what we could achieve. Ella was diagnosed with leukaemia the week after her thirteenth birthday and as we cried, I told her, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be a doctor one day and I can fix you’. Her doctors were inspiring in their kindness, dedication and care and Ella was given a second chance at life, while I learned through many hours visiting her in the hospital that there are no hero doctors, only outstanding teams. An internal medicine residency at Hope Hospital would give me the opportunity to join just such a team.

Since studying pre-medicine at Kansas State and starting my medical degree at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, I have been determined to complete a residency in internal medicine ahead of pursuing a fellowship in medical oncology. During my radiation oncology rotation, I met with patients and conducted physical exams, observed radiation therapy and attended multidisciplinary tumor boards. Working with radiation therapists, specialist nurses and physicists, my final presentation was on a 50-year-old female patient with inflammatory breast cancer, receiving radiation therapy following chemotherapy and a mastectomy, who needed extra emotional and counselling support as she was bipolar and so struggled with multiple hospital appointments. Everything I learned about pathology reinforced the importance of collaboration and evidence-based decision-making across all internal medicine disciplines.

This spirit of collaboration was fully present when I worked with paramedics during a volunteer trip to Malawi and saw their indomitable spirit and optimism in the face of overwhelming community challenges. Taking time to reassure a frightened patient that may not have ever been in a hospital before is as important in a Malawian field clinic as on a children’s ward in the USA. I helped triage patients at a small rural community clinic and benefited from the incredible depth of knowledge of the local doctors who made sure that treatment was not just appropriate for the presenting condition but matched the patients’ cultural and local situations also.

In a relatively simple case, I prescribed a young female patient amoxicillin to take three times a day with food. Her mother, who had brought her on a bus from their village several hours away for treatment, looked worried when I gave her the box of pills and said goodbye. The doctor called the mother back, asked her some questions in an undertone and gave her a small carrier bag full of individually wrapped biscuits. The mother looked instantly relieved, thanked us both again and left with her daughter. The doctor said calmly, ‘That family only eat once a day. She needs a biscuit with the other two pills or she’ll develop stomach problems.’ It was a lesson I will never forget, emphasizing the importance of getting to know a patient’s situation to make sure that they have the resources and ability to correctly follow a course of treatment that is optimal for them.

Following my return to the USA, I put together a college marathon team and we fundraised over $40,000 to support the Star Children’s Foundation, which works on projects to improve medical care in rural areas in Malawi. I hope to go back there in the future and see the progress made first-hand, possibly contributing to advanced training myself when I have learned enough through an internal medicine residency at Hope Hospital to be useful!

(600 words)

I have long had an interest in better understanding psychopathologies and wish to pursue a psychiatry residency at Excellent Hospital after graduating from Columbia University Medical School. It has been fascinating to see the societal change in terms of acknowledging and talking about mental and social issues such as depression and anxiety as well as the contribution and importance of inclusion of neurodivergent people in our communities. As a future psychiatrist, I am committed to treating every patient with respect and dignity, ensuring I am treating the person rather than focusing only on the diagnosis.

My psychiatry rotation during medical school was an enriching experience and I became confident in taking patients’ psychiatric history and conducting mental status exams. My ability to build rapport with patients and question them directly but respectfully improved over the six weeks and I look forward to focusing more on these skills as I gain a deeper understanding of effective psychiatric care.

Last year I volunteered with a charity supporting mental health and neurodivergence awareness in Hanoi, Viet Nam, as I feel a deep connection with that country, thanks to having Vietnamese-American relatives. I learned that very few psychologists and even fewer clinical psychiatrists can prescribe medication and treatment. As increasing numbers of teenagers and adults as well as younger children are being diagnosed with ADHD, as in the US, there are often long waiting times, and challenges in accessing medication. There is much work to be done on the use of nonstimulants to treat ADHD where stimulants such as amphetamines are ineffective and I completed my final research paper on this topic.

In Viet Nam, it was interesting to me to encounter some of the same prejudices as my older sister encountered from relatives and her primary care doctor, who insisted that my sister could not have ADHD because she is a well-paid, successful accountant. The struggle to balance and often hide symptoms of her condition has left my sister battling anxiety and depression and I am particularly interested in developments in treating ADHD in combination with depression, severe anxiety and other psychiatric conditions.

Following my residency, my goal is to qualify as a psychologist and practice locally while offering continuing support to the team in Hanoi. I am determined to become an outstanding psychiatrist, enhancing my patients’ emotional well-being while supporting them as individuals with the best and most professional care.

(400 words)

8 Tips on how to write a Personal Statement for Residency?

1. include details about your past experiences and accomplishments..

Identify the qualities and traits you want to show off – for example, compassion, empathy, or hard work.
Think about real incidents where you have demonstrated these qualities and describe them in detail in your application essay. You need to use specific examples that illustrate how you have grown over time and what sets you apart from other applicants.
Include any unique personal or professional achievements that aren’t listed on your CV in order to highlight why they are special and worthy of note in this particular application process/program/position you are applying for One of our students did volunteer work at a community clinic while still in high school as part of a state-wide program – it turned out, the director of the program was on the residency selection board! It’s always worth carefully checking as much information as possible about the residencies you are applying to.
Make sure all of the statements are relevant to the position for which you’re applying, so if you are applying for a dentistry residency program then focus on dentistry experiences.

2. Explain why you want to pursue a particular specialty.

Make sure your application shows your interest in the field by highlighting any experience or exposure you’ve had with it.
Use clear, precise language and focus on your reasons and motivation – there are 500-800 words allowed in most applications.
Make sure to use program-specific terms like “residency” or “fellowship” when referring to programs in order to show that you pay attention to detail; also use the specific program name.
Be specific when describing what you enjoy about the diagnoses or pathologies involved in the field, as well as with patients or settings in which you will practice it!
Include details about the classes, rotations, and volunteer work that you have done.
Identify the specialty(ies) that interest you and highlight the things you have done in your career to explore it.

3. Talk about any skills you have that will help you succeed in the residency program.

Remember that your statement needs to say clearly what draws you to medicine and your specialty so mention:

The desirable qualities, attributes, and skill sets that make you well-suited to a residency program will help you succeed.
Your long-term plans as a practising physician after completing your residency (e.g., what you hope to accomplish in your residency setting).
Excellent IT skills, the ability to use a particularly challenging piece of software or equipment if relevant.

4. Explain any obstacles that you have overcome.

Identify any obstacles that you have overcome in your life, such as a difficult background, mental health challenges, or an illness.
Explain the obstacle briefly and provide any relevant background information needed to understand it better.
Say how you dealt with this obstacle.
Make it clear that despite facing hardship, you took action to move forward in a positive manner and are now stronger as a result.
Make sure that you focus on highlighting how this experience has made you more likely to succeed as a medical professional.

5. Make sure that your statement is well-written and easy to read.

Avoid abbreviations, acronyms, and jargon – make it easy for your readers.
Avoid informal, casual writing – Make sure your personal statement is free of grammatical and spelling errors.
Avoid controversial topics like ethical issues, religion, and politics – Don’t make polarizing or potentially offensive statements when you don’t know who will be reading your statement.
Focus on why you have chosen this particular residency. Make sure they will clearly understand your motivation.

6. Add relevant information, such as a learning disability or foreign language proficiency.

Mention these in your personal statement with a brief explanation and a focus on how it makes you a better candidate.

7. Make sure that your statement is consistent with the rest of your application.

Your statement needs to be consistent with the rest of your application by making sure it reflects who you are as a person and includes relevant experiences/facts that show how you will be successful in the program you’re applying for.
Make sure there are no typos or grammatical errors; read it over several times before submitting it to make sure everything sounds good together.

8. Have someone review your statement for accuracy and clarity.

Choose a trusted peer, teacher, specialty advisor, or admissions counsellor to review your statement for accuracy and clarity.
Ask them to read your essay aloud and provide feedback on typos or pacing issues.
Ask them if they have a good sense of who you are and why you want to pursue this specialty after reading the essay; if not, revise until it meets their expectations of accuracy and clarity.

Some of these questions were already covered in this blog post but I will still list them here (because not everyone carefully reads every paragraph) so here’s the TL;DR version

What is the best length for a residency personal statement?

The best length for a residency personal statement is one page, which is equivalent to 750-800 words. This meets the academic law and is as allotted by the Electronic Residency Application Systems (ERAS).

Carefully check the word limit for your application as they vary.

What kind of content should be included in a residency personal statement?

It is important to include content that reflects on your strengths, experiences, and reasons for applying to a particular program, as the examples above show.

Ask yourself the following questions and make sure you include the answers in your statement:

What draws you to medicine/your specialty?
What are your qualities, attributes, and skill sets that make you well-suited to a residency program? What will help you succeed in it?
Your long-term plans as a practising physician after completing your residency program – where do you want to work and in which field?
What attracts you to a particular residency program (e.g., city or location)? How it would make you a good fit for the team/program setting?
Any experience working in the city or program being applied for or with the leaders of that program in previous roles.

What is the best structure for a residency personal statement?

Start off with an introduction that briefly describes who you are and why you are applying for the residency program. You can write about personal experiences that have shaped who you are as a physician or other related experiences to make them better connect to your story.
Provide details about your academic achievements, medical experience and volunteer roles to show your strengths as a candidate for the residency program.
End with a conclusion summarizing what makes you an ideal candidate and why it is the right fit for you.

How can I edit my residency personal statement?

Start early: Give yourself plenty of time to write multiple drafts and for others to review your personal statement.
Create bullet points: Write down all the ideas and topics you want to include in your personal statement without making them into full sentences at first.
Write your first draft: Expand on the points you chose from step 2, but don’t worry if the language isn’t perfect yet since this is still far away from your final draft.
Go onto the second draft: Give it a few days/weeks before transitioning into this stage so that ideas can settle in mind and focus on those that best convey the story being told in your personal statement (e.g introduction & ending).
Send out for feedback: Send it out to friends/experienced people who know how to edit personal statements for feedback (do not send it out randomly). If need help with editing services, check out our website re-write & structural editing service which offers professional guidance at affordable prices!
Revise after receiving feedback: Make sure changes reflect points you are hoping to convey in the final version of your personal statement after receiving feedback from an experienced person who knows how the residency match process works!

How can I make sure my residency personal statement is error-free?

Understand the purpose of a personal statement: A personal statement is used by applicants to showcase their strengths and why they are a good fit for the residency program they are applying for.
Identify the weaknesses in your current statement: Take time to review your personal statement and look for any mistakes or areas that could be improved upon. Try to be as objective as possible when doing this review so you can spot any issues easily.
Get feedback on your work: Once you have identified any weak points in your personal statement, seek out feedback from others who have experience writing them or who can provide an objective view on what needs improvement in yours specifically.
Revise based on feedback received. Leave it for 24 hours then re-read it for a final time with a fresh eye.
Guide to Writing a Winning Personal Statement for University
How to Write a Winning Scholarship Personal Statement: With Examples
Nursing Personal Statement Examples in 2023
How to write a Resume Personal Statement That Gets You the Job – with Examples and Tips
Statement of Purpose vs. Personal Statement: Six Differences Between the Two

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AEM Educ Train
v.6(5); 2022 Oct

Creating a high‐quality personal statement for residency application: A guide for medical students and mentors

Adaira landry.

1 Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston Massachusetts, USA

Wendy C. Coates

2 Department of Emergency Medicine, Harbor‐UCLA Medical Center, University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles California, USA

Michael Gottlieb

3 Department of Emergency Medicine, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago Illinois, USA

INTRODUCTION

In 2022, a total of 50,830 applicants applied to residency programs in the United States. 1 The majority of the application are data driven, including Step 1 and 2 scores, preclinical and clinical grades, and the Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE or “Dean's Letter”). While there is some flexibility in choosing who writes one's letters of recommendation, there are caps on the number allowed and the contents are usually unknown to the applicant. Therefore, a high‐quality personal statement adds subjectivity and provides flexibility to frame an applicant in the strongest light. Prior research reveals that the personal statement has not always been valued universally. 2 , 3 However, the personal statement may be gaining importance with the recently increased focus on holistic review as well as the transition of USMLE Step 1 to pass/fail and the increasing prevalence of pass/fail grading in U.S. medical schools. 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 This is relevant as objective metrics inconsistently predict a student's ability to practice medicine and succeed in residency 8 , 9 and may present a potential for racial and other forms of bias in applicant selection. 10

While the objective aspects of the application emphasize comparison based on standard measures, the subjective narrative is curated and individualized by the applicant. Moreover, the National Residency Matching Program 2021 Program Director survey data suggest that personal statements influenced some applicants' likelihood of receiving an interview offer, especially when the application was near a program's self‐directed objective cutoff metric; however, its impact on rank list position was less influential. 11 Therefore, it is in the candidate's interest to craft a statement that engages the reviewer. The primary goal of the personal statement must be honest and reflective and be able to tell the story of the applicant (e.g., the influence of their background, key current personal interests, and future goals). Linear and crisp writing makes a personal story easier to read. Despite the stakes, there are few published resources guiding applicants on how to write an effective personal statement. 12

In this paper, we provide recommendations for creating a high‐quality personal statement. The authors have served as advisors to medical students, residents, fellows, and faculty for over 35 years across four separate major academic institutions. They have held core faculty roles, medical school, residency program, or fellowship leadership positions and have served on resident selection and interview committees and in the dean's office. The information compiled here was based on consensus of opinion as well as relevant literature where available. While the primary audience of this article is medical students, the principles may also be valuable for their mentors.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

The personal statement provides context to your personal and professional experiences and ambitions. It should not be a line‐by‐line recap of your entire application. Rather, it should highlight aspects which deserve greater attention and detail than are provided in your curriculum vitae. 13 Resist the urge to exaggerate truth, but do not undersell your accomplishments. Stating what you learned from experiences can strike a balance. The personal statement offers a prime opportunity to discuss gaps in training, motivation to pursue a particular field, notable extracurricular activities, general career plans, and concerns with your application. Controversial topics, such as social or political issues, may occasionally be included after careful consideration on how to frame your message and language. A trusted specialty‐specific advisor or mentor can help determine which key points are strategic to address.

Most importantly, your personal statement should be unique and reflect your personal journey and not be at risk of being mistaken for a different applicant or plagiarized from a published work. We recommend that you craft your personal statement directly from your voice and through your lens. While it is prudent to consult a proofreader to check spelling and grammar, it is unacceptable to hire a writer to construct your statement.

Before writing your personal statement, we recommend engaging in self‐reflection. Focus on the crossroads of your path and application that you want to highlight. These form the central points of your essay and may stimulate conversation during your interview. Your trusted network (mentors, significant others, siblings, parents, and close friends) can help early to identify significant traits and experiences. Anything written in a personal statement is available for discussion during the interview, including some topics that are frequently disallowed. Be prepared to discuss what you disclose. Table 1 summarizes general pearls and pitfalls for the personal statement.

Pearls and pitfalls for the personal statement

Pearls—DO:	Pitfalls—DO NOT:

WRITING STRATEGICALLY

Writing can be a challenge but following a few basic writing strategies can simplify the task. Creating an outline helps adhere to purposeful clarity and flow. The flow should be linear so that the application reviewer can easily follow the discussion without having to decipher the relevance of content or the meaning of vague analogies. The ability to compose clear, easily readable prose will reflect favorably on your communication skills.

Writing with brevity and paying attention to the word count yields readable, short, and sharp sentences. For many specialties, a one‐page personal statement is the norm; however, ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) does have a cap of 28,000 characters (approximately 5 pages). 12 Your mentor can advise on the preferred length for your intended specialty. Use simple words that convey your meaning to enhance comprehension, and avoid overly colorful language and unnecessary adverbs and adjectives. Minimize the temptation to provide extraneous details, especially when trying to set the scene of a clinical environment, patient encounter, or historic event (e.g., a family member with a medical encounter). You should be the focus of your personal statement.

After creating this first draft, several strategies can be used to improve it. Waiting a few days to edit the statement allows you to reread it from a fresh perspective. Trusted allies may offer valuable insights and assess for flow, context, and comprehension. Mentors can evaluate your statement from the lens of a reviewer. Listening to the statement being read aloud can help identify errors. It is common to need several revisions before settling on your ideal personal statement. As a last step, be sure to check the document for spelling and grammar. Table 2 provides resources that will help with the technical craft of writing.

Writing resources

Resource	Author/host	Medium	Learning value
	William Zinsser	Book	Basic principles of writing
	Annie Lamont	Book	How‐to guidebook of writing
	Strunk and White	Book	Principal requirements of simple writing
	Lorelei Lingard	Article	Development of strong sentences
	Grammarly	Blog	Learn basic grammar rules
?	Harry Guinness	Newspaper	Edit your own writing
	Mignon Fogarty	Podcast	Basic grammar tips

COMPONENTS OF A PERSONAL STATEMENT

There is no rigid template for a personal statement. Its design and development should be sculpted to describe your unique experiences and ambitions, while being mindful of the storytelling and writing principles outlined above. To that end, no singular format or framework will work for every student. The goal is not to capture the reviewer's or programs's exact preferences, because there is too much variability to predict what is desired. 2 The primary goal of the personal statement is to write clearly about your journey so that reviewers understand who you are. In this section, we provide examples of components to consider including in your personal statement. We do not expect that each of these components will be included in everyone's personal statement. Instead, each author should decide which components best represent their desired message. We understand the temptation to be creative with your writing; however, we recommend caution. A lively statement, specifically in the opening, runs the risk of being cliché or distracting. Table 3 offers suggestions of how to structure the description of your experiences.

Approach to describing experiences in personal statement

Writing point	Rationale	Example
Topic of experience	Succinctly state the specific experience you are going to describe.	My experience volunteering for the needle exchange clinic exposed how patients with addiction face neglect.
Context of choosing project	What made you decide to pick this experience?	Watching my relative struggle with substance use disorder informed me of the need for better services for this population.
Description of experiences	Clarify your exact role in the process.	I was responsible for scheduling student volunteers for shifts and training sessions.
Metrics and quantitative outcomes	This demonstrates your impact.	I organized 40 different 3‐hour training sessions for volunteers.
Skills obtained	Highlight the objective skills you have gained.	I became familiar with scheduling software and creating feedback forms.
Self‐reflection	Share what you learned about yourself.	I learned the importance of supporting a team and being present to teach and answer questions.
Implications for career	Inform the reader how this experience will shape your career.	This experience has motivated me to pursue a fellowship and career in addiction medicine and seek mentors and service opportunities during residency.
Lessons learned	What lesson about this experience surprised you?	I learned that government funding is difficult to obtain but I gained valuable experience in the art of grant‐writing.
Next steps	You have completed this experience, now what?	I must learn more about grant writing so that I can better fund the clinics I run in the future.

Motivation for pursuing medicine overall (consider including, if desired)

The decision to pursue the field of medicine is significant and worthy of discussion. Often students open with a brief description of an educational or clinical encounter, a relative's journey as a patient, or even a personal illness. You may briefly state your reasons for becoming a physician (e.g., enjoyment of clinical medicine, desire to improve health care delivery). No matter the influence that inspired you to pursue medicine, reviewers will appreciate your authenticity.

Motivation for selected residency field (included by many applicants 14 , 15 )

Describe why you are applying to your specialty and highlight personal traits and experiences that make you an ideal fit. Mentors in your desired specialty can discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and future of the field and can assess your compatibility. Avoid superficial phrasing such as “I am applying to emergency medicine because I am interested in helping people.” While this answer is honorable, it lacks a detailed understanding of the nuanced aspects of the field and could apply to any student and specialty. There is no need to describe the specialty to the readers—they are living it daily and want to learn why you will succeed within the specialty's framework.

Tentative plans for residency and career (included by strongest applicants)

If you have tentative plans for residency, possible fellowship, and your subsequent career path, you can include them and any supporting evidence. For instance, “Based on my research thesis studying cardiac biomarkers, I plan to focus on early signs of cardiac disease. I will pursue a fellowship in population health, obtain a Master of Public Health degree, and later work in an academic setting.” You may also link these ambitions, whether clinical or nonclinical, back to why you pursued medicine or the specific discipline. Selection committees value your ability to create a global plan, but they also understand that it may change during residency and will not be disappointed if you revise your path as you discover new opportunities during your training.

Brief context of academic experiences (consider including, if applicable)

The variety of applicants' experiences is as varied as the applicants themselves. It is important to clarify your motivation for engaging in an activity, the depth of your role, and how you improved as a result of your participation. For example, the experiences of a student who is listed as an author on a publication may vary from data entry to principal investigator. An honest reflection of your role and lessons learned is far better than hyperbole. Describe your decision making behind a project and how your skills improved or how it influenced your personal mission as a result. Detailed descriptions are not necessary. Instead, focus on the key components of one or two influential experiences. You may be expected to elucidate the details during your interview.

Relevance of extracurricular activities and prior employment (consider including, if applicable)

Most applicants have a long list of activities to report, and many may not be well understood by the selections committee. The personal statement gives you an opportunity to frame selected experiences. Highlight your important role in an activity or why the activity endorses your potential success in your specialty. There is a significant distinction between a student who created a student‐run clinic (e.g., generated the idea, sought approval, built a team, gathered supplies, scheduled students and faculty) and a student who staffed the clinic twice during medical school. Similarly, your role in a previous job, whether it was career focused or casual, can shed light on your skills (e.g., to highlight management skills, you could recount your experience as a residence hall assistant in college or your role as a team leader in industry).

Special considerations (consider including, if applicable)

The following are selected special considerations for writing your personal statement. They can carry a higher level of sensitivity, so be mindful of word choice. We want to emphasize the importance of discussing your approach with a trusted advisor or mentor. Be prepared to discuss any topics mentioned in the statement during your interview. While this may seem daunting at first, it is an opportunity to directly answer a question that the selection committee may have while reviewing your application. Reading your thoughtful explanation may allay their fears about the event in question and spur their decision to take a chance on extending an interview invitation. No matter the issue, be sure to demonstrate personal and professional growth and how, if at all, the concern enhanced your ability to become a physician.

Leave of absence

If you took a formal leave from medical school, we suggest you acknowledge it in your application. While ERAS has a designated section for leave of absences, consider also mentioning the absence in the broader context of the personal statement. You are not obligated to provide details. You are free to state, “I took 3 months off for a familial obligation.” However, further details can help the reviewer contextualize the absence: “This allowed me to spend the necessary time addressing the issue without compromising my training. Upon my return from leave, I fulfilled the expectations of my medical school.” It is important that your reason for the leave of absence is viewed by the school in the same fashion. If there is any conflict in the purpose of the leave, speak with your medical school leadership to discuss and resolve any disconnect.

Medical history

You are not mandated to disclose medical conditions. However, if the condition precludes you from performing your duties completely or partially, it is in your best interest to assess whether the program is supportive of providing the least restrictive accommodations for you to participate fully in the training program. While the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations, it does not require that you disclose your disability until they are needed. Early disclosure gives employers ample lead time to put accommodations into place but may also lead to bias. 16 , 17 We recommend you discuss with your support system when and whether to disclose a disability and whether this decision will cause relief or worry for you and your potential employer.

Shelf exam/board scores/grades

Standardized test scores may influence students' interview opportunities and ability to match in residency. 11 It is prudent to discuss low scores or failures. A brief but clear description of the likely cause, remediation process, and subsequent successful outcome is needed. Any additional positive data points can be mentioned. For example, “I have since passed all of my shelf exams and my Step 2 score was in the Xth percentile.”

Concerning evaluation

Clerkship evaluations on the MSPE may contain negative comments that might be detrimental to the application. You are generally allowed to review your MSPE prior to finalization. If a detrimental comment is found, you should discuss evaluation concerns with your mentor as soon as possible to plan how to mitigate any negativity. Some negative comments are truthful and constructive and will remain in the MSPE. If the comment remains in the MSPE, the personal statement is available to explain the circumstances clearly and concisely and without casting blame on others. It is important to share the most important stage of processing feedback: self‐reflection and identifying areas of growth. 18 , 19 It is reasonable to direct the reader to subsequent instances of how the initial concern later was cited as a strength.

Limited access to extracurricular activities

Statements often highlight select activities so the reviewer can focus on what you perceive to be the most influential activities. However, not all students have access to the same experiences. There is no clear quantitative marker for how many extracurricular activities such as research, volunteering, or leadership roles one should obtain. Resources can vary from one institution to another, and individuals may not have time to engage in copious activities if they have other financial or family obligations during medical school. The personal statement is an opportunity to briefly explain any limitations with obtaining extracurricular activities.

Social and political factors

Often our personal identity is closely entwined with our societal and political experiences. It is an individual choice how to tell your perspective through your personal lens and whether to disclose your preferences. Incorporating personal identifiers, such as your gender, race, age, ability, sexual orientation, parenting status, religion, or political affiliation, informs the reader on aspects of your life that you feel have influenced your journey. 6 , 7 Revealing these can run the risk of unfair or discriminatory judgment but can also demonstrate your comfort with yourself and positively support the reasons you will shine as a resident physician. 12 Depending on your passion and involvement in a particular topic, this can be an opportune segue to explain your interest and future ambitions. Be prepared to discuss any of these disclosures during your interview. Consulting with your mentor is a good way to gauge the impact this decision may have on your application.

Writing a personal statement can be a challenging task. A thoughtful, organized approach will help you create a meaningful personal statement that enhances your application. Streamline the writing to convey your message concisely. The best personal statements are clear and brief and contain specificity to reflect and explain your unique perspective. This is your opportunity to highlight why you are the ideal candidate for a residency in your chosen field. While this guide cannot guarantee an interview invitation or a match into a desired program, we hope this resource will help ensure that your personal statements can showcase your best possible self.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

AL has received funding personally from EchoNous for consulting. The other authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors acknowledge Drs. Michelle Lin at UCSF and Sara Krzyzaniak at Stanford for their advice on leave of absences.

Landry A, Coates WC, Gottlieb M. Creating a high‐quality personal statement for residency application: A guide for medical students and mentors . AEM Educ Train . 2022; 6 :e10797. doi: 10.1002/aet2.10797 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

Supervising Editor: Dr. Jason Wagner

Internal Medicine Residency Personal Statement Examples

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

If you want our team to help you with your Residency Application,  click here .

Your personal statement is an opportunity to tell your story and journey to residency program directors! It’s your moment to shine and make program directors eager to meet you by presenting a compelling narrative that distinguishes you from the crowd.

In this blog, we provide you with a collection of outstanding internal medicine personal statement examples to help you perfect your personal statement for your residency application!

If you are looking for a full ALL-IN-ONE Application Resources for MATCH® 2025, including more personal statement examples, ERAS application template, MSPE samples, LOR examples, and much more, click here .

We also have detailed guides on how to write your personal statement , how to complete your ERAS application , and 200+ residency interview questions .

And now, let’s get started with the internal medicine residency personal statement examples:

Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example #1:

The basketball player.

A coach’s instructions, two team chants, followed by the blare of a whistle, opened and closed basketball practice every day. With repetition, my teammates and I strove for perfection to build a skill set that could be recalled when it mattered most. To love the sport of basketball is to love the grind. During my internal medicine rotation, I witnessed similar devotion by attending physicians and residents. Determination to master the foundation of medicine while engaging in a cohesive multidisciplinary team is what resonated deeply with me, and greatly influenced my choice to become an internist.

My passionate desire to become a physician first stemmed from when my grandfather was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and, later on, heart failure. Initially perplexed by the complexity of his diagnosis, I spent hours researching congestive heart failure, determined to find ways to increase his time with us. Being my grandfather’s primary caretaker towards the end of his life instilled the notion of service and fueled my passion for helping others through this career path in medicine.

During my third-year internal medicine rotation, one of my first patients was a 65-year-old female who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and began crying as my attending delivered her prognosis. I talked to her every day, trying to make her feel better. While nothing could completely change her affect, she seemed to appreciate my company. As I reflected on her case, I realized how much I enjoyed getting to know my patients and connecting with them personally, in addition to understanding the complex pathology that plagued them. Several similar experiences on my internal medicine rotation drew me to this specialty which offers a holistic approach and appeals to my innate desire to understand how things work. Internal medicine requires one to understand the interactions between the different systems to diagnose and treat a patient effectively. Additionally, I enjoy the acutely evolving nature of this field and the endless fellowship opportunities available upon completion of my residency training.

My passion for internal medicine led me to start the Internal Medicine Interest Group at our school. Listening to the experiences of different internists further solidified my resolve. Seeing the inspiration within the eyes of the younger medical students as our guests talked about this specialty made me realize the value of role models and generational teaching. This was a source of inspiration for me to pursue a career that not only allows me to take excellent care of my patients, but also teach the next generation of doctors on how to do the same. Being the president of this interest group and the point guard for Duke University’s basketball team, I gained invaluable insight as to how my past experiences shaped my ability to do better in the future, so that my team could achieve lofty goals. This awareness will prove to be paramount in the hospital when serving as an internal medicine physician.

As I enter my fourth year of medical school, I realize how similar medicine and basketball are. The teamwork, which unifies everyone towards a similar goal, the perseverance and long hours required to master the profession, and, arguably the most important, the confidence and trust you build between the team and the people relying on its performance, are critical to medicine and sport alike. Just as I was a trusted member of my basketball team who always put the team’s interest above mine to ensure our success, I am determined to serve as an integral part of the medical team and will do my best towards becoming an excellent clinician while training at your residency program.

Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example #2:

Growing up in a rural Kenyan village, where my father, a traditional healer, used herbs to alleviate suffering, and my mother, a teacher, instilled in me the value of knowledge, I developed a respect for the healing arts and a commitment to education. This unique upbringing laid the foundation for my medical journey, intertwining traditional practices with a scientific approach. My decision to pursue a career in medicine was cemented when an American medical mission dramatically improved healthcare outcomes in my community, including saving my neighbor’s life from severe malaria. This experience unveiled the stark disparities in healthcare between developed and developing nations and inspired my dream to bridge this gap.

After completing my medical degree at the University of Nairobi, I was accepted into their Masters of Medicine in Internal Medicine (equivalent to residency). During my training, I was exposed to a broad spectrum of diseases rarely seen in more developed nations and recognized the need for advanced training to bring substantial change to healthcare practices in my home country. It was this realization that prompted my journey to the United States, seeking a residency in internal medicine, motivated by the opportunity to learn from and contribute to one of the world’s most advanced healthcare systems.

Passing the USMLE exams was my first challenge, which I approached with diligence and the support of mentors who were instrumental in my academic and personal growth. My scores reflected not only my understanding of medical sciences but also my commitment to achieving my goals.

In the U.S., I secured opportunities to shadow internal medicine physicians in various settings, from city hospitals to rural clinics. These experiences enriched my understanding of the nuances of patient care across different contexts. They underscored the importance of cultural sensitivity, adaptability, and the need for a personal touch in patient interactions—qualities that were greatly appreciated by my peers and supervisors. While I have always been drawn to internal medicine, my experience in the US only served to strengthen this affinity. Given the greater accessibility to healthcare here, I felt that internists could truly change patients’ lives by providing routine health screening and maintenance. The ability to develop lifelong relationships with patients and their families is also an incredible privilege almost uniquely afforded to physicians.

My career aspirations do not stop at becoming a skilled clinician. I am driven by a vision to integrate effective, sustainable medical practices from the U.S. into the Kenyan healthcare landscape. While I remain open to pursuing a fellowship, my goal at present is to become a hospitalist, leveraging my training to tackle prevalent health issues in both the U.S. and Kenya. Though I plan to establish my full-time practice in the US, I look forward to establishing programs in my home country. Through collaborative research and leadership, I aim to develop healthcare models that are both innovative and adaptable to the constraints of resource-limited settings in both countries.

The resilience I have developed through my journey—from a small village to the world stage of U.S. medicine—is a testament to my dedication. I have navigated cultural transitions, educational challenges, and professional milestones with a clear vision and a steadfast heart. With each patient I meet and each case I handle, I am reminded of why I embarked on this path: to be a bridge between worlds, offering my skills where they are most needed and fostering healthcare advancements that are accessible and effective for all.

Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example #3:

Growing up, my father’s dream for my future was that I would someday take over from him in running the family farm. My childhood was a continuous balancing act between completing homework, executing my farm duties, and being a good son to my parents. Years of navigating these competing responsibilities had made me fairly adept at multi-tasking, and in the back of my mind, I still harbored the fantasy that I could both fulfill my obligations to the farm while also entertaining my growing passion for medicine. However, this naïve, but well-intentioned vision for my future came crashing down when I was admitted to the hospital for meningitis. Spending days on end in the largest hospital in our city, I witnessed firsthand the impact of exceptional and compassionate patient care. I was impressed by the vast scientific knowledge and skillful manner in which my physician communicated my diagnosis and treatment plan with me. I knew then that I could never work on the family farm and that my true life’s calling was to become a physician.

For the next two years, I worked as a waiter to be able to afford my dream of attending medical school. Every day after a long shift at work, I would return home and study for the admissions exam until I fell asleep. After a grueling two years, I gained admission to medical school, thrilled to finally be studying the subject to which I had chosen to dedicate my life.

I quickly developed a passion for internal medicine as I began my clinical rotations, and in particular, the high-acuity patients I encountered in the intensive care unit. I was amazed by the medical complexity of each patient and the breadth of knowledge that critical care physicians must have in order to rapidly diagnose and treat patients, many of whom were hanging on to life by a thread. What I most enjoyed about my time rotating in the ICU was that almost every single patient was a medical puzzle, and that it took the concerted and deep collaboration of a whole team of healthcare providers to come to a suitable consensus on patient management. It was particularly awe-inspiring to see patients on the brink of death fully recover after spending a few days in the ICU. I quickly realized that I had found my intellectual and spiritual home, and that I would like nothing more than to dedicate my life to the care of the sickest patients in the hospital.

When I expressed my interest in pursuing internal medicine residency followed by a critical care fellowship to my mentor, she immediately recommended pursuing my dream through training in the US given the comparatively better access to cutting-edge technology, clinical experts, and seemingly limitless research opportunities. However, the financial burden was a huge barrier for me. I tackled this obstacle in the only way I had ever known how; by working in the evenings after school and on days off to save up enough money to come to the US. But even that was not enough to reach my goals, so I took on a job as a general practitioner in India for two years to be able to afford the plane tickets and the battery of exams needed for entry into US residency programs. This experience helped to hone my clinical skills and bedside manner and will serve me well during my residency training. Additionally, since coming to the US, I have become more involved in clinical research, working alongside critical care physicians at the Mayo Clinic on a number of projects and learning more about the intricacies of the US healthcare system.

Having spent two years in the US, I am ready to embark on the next step in my academic journey and look for a program with comprehensive internal medicine training and robust research infrastructure to expand my growing passion for clinical research. I aspire to be a clinician-scientist who takes insights from my interactions with patients in the ICU to further the field, both from a treatment perspective and from the perspective of improving health care equity and access.

My journey has been arduous, circuitous, and marked by many obstacles along the way. But I know of no other pathway as intellectually stimulating or personally rewarding as medicine. My father has since come to terms with his initial disappointment that I would not be taking up his mantle to work on the family farm. But he has expressed newfound pride in my goal to pursue medicine and to provide excellent care for patients and their families the way that the doctors that treated my meningitis did for me all those years ago.

If you are applying to the Match and need a detailed guide on how to ace your ERAS application, check out our free ERAS Application Guide here .

Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example #4:

The war survivor.

The Afghan Civil War erupted when I was in elementary school. Soon after, the Taliban occupied Afghanistan, and, as a girl, I was barred from my school. I had always dreamed of becoming the first female doctor in my family, and this was a goal that required extensive education, let alone elementary school. My family uprooted everything to migrate to Pakistan so that I would be able to continue my education. Living in a country where we were not welcomed, bearing financial burdens, and worrying about safety issues, especially for girls, were the least of the challenges we faced, but that did not hold me back.

Still, that was not the last challenge I faced. When I graduated high school, I could not afford to attend medical school in Pakistan. Instead, I accepted the offer to serve as a teacher at our community school. Teaching at such a young age, tutoring those similar in age to me, and managing a class of thirty students taught me a great deal of discipline and leadership, skills which I have since carried with me throughout my career.

A decade later, the Taliban regime was finally over. We returned to Afghanistan, and I attended the entrance exam for Kabul Medical University. Among thousands of other participants, I was part of the lucky 25% who passed the exam. My endurance had paid off. Finally in medical school, I found myself fascinated by the detailed knowledge and interdisciplinary approach of my internist attendings. Their synchronized orchestration of patient care resonated with my experiences managing diverse students, while their instructive whiteboard sessions on pathophysiology echoed my own tenure at the front of a classroom. These encounters served as enlightening examples, aiding me in sculpting my identity as a burgeoning physician.

On my internal medicine rotation, I was responsible for the care of a patient with multiple myeloma. His low hemoglobin level led to significant limitations in his daily activity. His symptoms were initially attributed solely to his condition, but I was not satisfied with this explanation. When I ordered his iron studies, we were able to diagnose him with concomitant iron deficiency anemia. An iron infusion quickly helped improve his quality of life, which was precious to my patient, as I knew from the time I had spent with him. That ability to help my patient made me finally feel like the doctor I aspired to be. I had found my home in internal medicine. The convergence of laboratory tests, imaging studies, and critical analysis to reach a diagnosis fuels my desire to become an internist.

Despite my passion for internal medicine, women in Afghanistan faced scant opportunities in this field. This was due to a lack of female mentors and sociocultural constraints against females being on night shifts in predominantly male hospitals. Undeterred, I embarked on another journey away from home, this time to the United States. Here, I secured a position as a medical scribe, working in tandem with various healthcare providers. This experience allowed me to absorb their expertise, familiarize myself with the U.S. healthcare system, and diligently prepare for and ultimately pass the USMLE exams.

I have come a long way, and still have a long way to go. My accomplishment of becoming my family’s first female doctor fills me with pride. Yet, I aspire to achieve more – to become a distinguished internist and an empowering role model for the women of Afghanistan. I intend to personify the belief: if you dare to dream, you are destined to achieve.

Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example #5:

Changing specialties.

When I was a senior in high school, my girl scout troop would organize weekly medical trips to rural parts of our community, working with local physicians to provide basic medical services to underserved patient populations. I was particularly struck by the excellent care and bedside manner of one of the physicians who used his bilingualism to connect with a non-English speaking patient who had faced significant challenges in accessing care. The doctor’s small gesture left a lasting impression on me, and, for the first time, I realized not only the curative but also the humanistic power of medicine to connect with patients across cultural barriers and in some of their most vulnerable moments. Though I had always had a proclivity for science, it was not until that moment that I had ever seriously considered a career in medicine.

In medical school, I was captivated by pre-clinical coursework in pathology and lectures on disease pathophysiology. I was torn between pathology and internal medicine during my clinical rotations, as I enjoyed the cerebral, deductive nature of each field and the fact that neither was limited to a single organ system or patient population. The opportunity to be the frontline diagnostician and to utilize advanced equipment and laboratory methods eventually won me over to pathology.

However, during my pathology residency, the pendulum started to swing back toward internal medicine. I vividly remember the turning point in my decision making. I was staring down the barrel of my microscope at dozens of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes on a peripheral blood smear. I paged the internal medicine team to help confirm the diagnosis of cerebral malaria. Hearing the excitement and celebration of the medical team on the other end, who had been struggling to identify the etiology of the patient’s undulant fevers and fatigue, I felt a pang of envy, a distinct feeling that I was missing out on the human factor of medicine.

Similarly, in my research on the utility of galectin-3 immunohistochemistry staining in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, I found myself increasingly drawn to the human impacts of scientific investigation. For example, after my successful completion of several experiments, our department was able to secure funding to examine a wider range of malignancies. I was particularly excited when my research enabled our hospital to offer estrogen and progesterone receptor testing and hormonal therapy for breast cancer patients. I quickly realized that I did not just want to diagnose but to directly treat patients, and with each passing day, I yearned more for the ability to heal through empathic listening and the formation of meaningful rapport with patients.

Eventually, I decided to undertake the goal of retraining in internal medicine. To this end, I elected to travel to the United States to undertake hands-on clinical experiences. My time in the U.S. gave me firsthand exposure to a complex healthcare system and a deeper appreciation for the impact of advanced diagnostic technology, cutting-edge treatment modalities, and patient-centered, evidence-based care. I also gained confidence in my abilities to function as a member of a large, interdisciplinary care team, drawing on a skillset I had cultivated from many years of leading my girl scout troop and performing in church choirs.

I aspire to enter a residency program with an emphasis on strong clinical skills training, excellent research opportunities, and a dedication to clinical mentorship. Moreover, I want to be part of a program with strong camaraderie among residents and faculty and a spirit of collegiality and tireless dedication to patient care. Ultimately, I believe that my background in and extensive knowledge of pathology, my compassionate disposition, and my penchant for diligence and collaboration will make me a strong applicant to your residency program. Thank you for your consideration of my application.

Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example #6:

The impoverished.

“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” These powerful words, spoken by my mother, have echoed in my mind since childhood. Growing up in a single-parent home on the south side of Chicago, my mother worked tirelessly as a nurse in Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital’s emergency department. Every night my brother and I would wait for her to arrive after her shift ended at 7 pm. As she shared stories of dedicated physicians and life-saving interventions, I began to view these doctors in the same manner my friends viewed superheroes or sports stars, inspiring me to pursue a career in medicine.

As an African American in a neighborhood lacking professional role models, the path to becoming a physician seemed distant if not impossible. However, my mother’s belief in the power of dreams instilled in me the courage to strive for the extraordinary. With determination, I worked diligently throughout grade school and middle school, propelled by the aspiration to transcend the limitations of my circumstances. Eventually, I was admitted to Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, a magnet school named after a civil rights activist and one of my personal heroes.

Continuing to embrace every opportunity, I was able to attend Northwestern University on a full academic scholarship, where I immersed myself in neuroscience studies. Additionally, I dedicated my time as a tutor, providing support to underserved children in my former neighborhood. Witnessing the impact of education and healthcare disparities further ignited my passion for addressing these inequities.

Entering the University of Chicago Medical School, I embarked on a transformative journey. During my third-year clerkships, I discovered my calling in primary care and internal medicine. Although initially drawn to the fast-paced environment of the emergency department, I found the thoughtful, cerebral approach of internal medicine captivating. Each day, I eagerly embraced the challenge of unraveling complex medical puzzles, weaving together a patient’s diverse comorbidities to form a comprehensive list of differential diagnoses.

Following my third year, I took a gap year dedicated to serving underserved populations in Chicago. This experience provided a profound understanding of social determinants of health and the importance of preventive medicine. It solidified my commitment to bridging the gaps in healthcare access and outcomes, particularly within urban communities like my own. Looking forward, my vision encompasses practicing as a primary care physician in an urban academic center, where I can not only provide compassionate patient care but also mentor and inspire medical students and residents. Furthermore, I aspire to conduct research that addresses social determinants of health, striving to make tangible improvements in my community.

Reflecting on my journey, I realize that my mother’s quote encapsulates the essence of my pursuit. With each step I’ve taken, from the dinner table conversations with my mother to my experiences in medical school, I have seen firsthand that dreams can indeed be transformed into reality. By embracing the challenges, dedicating myself to lifelong learning, and advocating for equitable healthcare, I am ready to embark on a fulfilling career in internal medicine—a path that resonates with my values, aspirations, and the indomitable spirit instilled in me by my remarkable mother. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” These words, once whispered to me at the beginning of my journey, now reverberate with even greater significance as I stand at the threshold of a future where I can make a lasting difference in the lives of others.

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Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example #7:

“Not too much parmigiano, angioletta,” Nonna would call from the head of the table as I layered cutlets, marinara, and cheese. At ten, I became her hands in the kitchen, after diabetic peripheral neuropathy had stolen the fine motor strength and sensation needed to construct a perfect chicken parmesan. In Nonna’s kitchen, somewhere between deglazing the pan and helping prepare her insulin injections, I discovered a passion even more fervent than my love of home-cooked Italian food. The transformative power of medicine captivated me, and I became dedicated to pursuing a career that could allow me to help other patients with lifelong diseases like diabetes.

Throughout my clinical education, all my patient encounters reinforced the impact of compassionate, comprehensive healthcare. On my internal medicine rotation, I fell in love with the diagnostic aspect of the field, as well. For example, I had a 34-year-old patient with a seemingly unprovoked pulmonary embolism and incidental hydronephrosis on CT. After digging a little bit, I found out he had a history of cryptorchidism with unilateral orchiectomy, and I wasn’t convinced he was clotting without provocation. Testicular ultrasound showed a mass that had entirely replaced the normal testicular tissue, and CT of the abdomen and pelvis showed a lymph node compressing the ureter. I realized that this was how I wanted to spend the rest of my career—proposing a unifying diagnosis through careful interpretation of data to find patient-centered interventions.

Even the more routine aspects of medicine were exciting to me. I woke up before my alarm each morning, excited to interpret new lab data from the night before and preround on my patients to see if they were improving or needed further care. I was especially excited to participate in patient education. I spent two hours counseling one of my patients with diabetes and a new insulin requirement on the logistics and barriers of self-injection. While she was admitted with incredible resistance to the idea of insulin injections, I spent each day of admission trying to understand and resolve her fears. By discharge, she was able to self-administer basal and bolus. I have witnessed firsthand the importance of empathy in establishing trust and fostering meaningful patient-provider relationships, qualities I strive to embody in my practice.

As a South Philadelphia native, I see the social determinants of health at work in my backyard every day. I am passionate about addressing how these factors impact the delivery of care. I am deeply committed to advocating for health equity and addressing the social determinants of health that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. Specifically, I spent all four years of medical school volunteering at a student-run clinic, providing free medical care to unhoused people in Philadelphia. At this clinic, I developed an education program on commonly seen conditions which is now held annually for the residents of the shelter. In clinical practice and beyond, I am dedicated to improving health literacy and access to care for all my patients.

My academic pursuits have complemented these experiences, providing me with a solid foundation in evidence-based medicine and critical thinking. For example, I have completed a research project on the barriers to insulin distribution and injection, and the potential role of social media as an educational intervention for younger adults who are newly diagnosed. I am invested in advancing the field of internal medicine through clinical research and hope to spend my residency and career continuing to contribute to the field.

In a residency program, I am seeking to join a team with the same values I learned from Nonna almost fifteen years ago: community, supportive learning, and awe of the work we do. I hope to match at an institution that will prioritize fostering an awareness of social determinants of health and emphasize patient-centered care above all else. I am eager to continue my professional growth under the guidance of experienced clinicians and educators who share my empathy-forward approach and commitment to advancing the field for the benefit of our patients.

Hopefully, these samples will help you draft an excellent personal statement to tell the great story of your medical journey!

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How to Write a Great Residency Personal Statement – 4 Easy Steps

July 2, 2020

Applying for residency can be challenging. Besides scoring an impressive GPA and performing well in your clinical rotations, you need to write a great personal statement for your residency application. Whether you are a third-year medical student or about to finish your medical school journey, many students find personal statement one of the most challenging components of their residency application.

If done right, your residency personal statement can increase your chances of getting a perfect residency match. Your residency personal statement provides you with an opportunity to show the residency director why you have chosen this medical specialty. You can make the most of your personal statement by showing your skills, qualities, and experience which will make you the best candidate for the job.

Here are some important things that you should keep in mind while preparing your personal statement that will surely help you match your dream residency program.

Reason for Choosing the Specialty

It is no surprise that the personal statement is your big opportunity to articulate who you are and why you want to pursue a career in this specific medical specialty . You can set yourself apart from hundreds of other residency applicants by highlighting your accomplishments, interesting life experiences, and motivations for pursuing this medical specialty. It will help decide program directors whether you are a good fit for their hospital and do you have an in-depth understanding of the specialty of your interest.

Whether you want to become a surgeon, radiologist, pathologist, hematologist, or want to devote your life to any other branch of medicine. Clearly explain you have chosen the specific field based on something you find very interesting during your medical school journey . Mention the relevant experience you had during clinical rotations and how you became interested in this specialty. Make sure your personal statement helps the residency program director understand what has led you to this medical specialty.

Highlight Your Personal Qualities

When it comes to writing your residency personal statement, it is important to focus on your personal qualities and skills. Show the selectors that you have the skills and qualities to succeed in this residency program you are aiming to enroll in. Explain to them what qualities you have and which skills you honed during clinical rotations, which make this specialty a perfect fit for your personality and career goals.

You may choose to relate your skills, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, communication skills that are relevant to your candidacy for the position. For instance, a meticulous candidate can become a perfect fit for a pathology residency program. Students with outstanding manual ability can be the right fit for the general surgery residency program. A student with excellent problem-solving skills can ensure success as a pathologist. By relating your talents and expertise to your chosen specialty, you can prove to the selection committee that you can succeed in this residency.

Your Goals and Future Plans

You will most likely send this personal statement to a large number of facilities. So, it is important to write about your future goals and career plans. Give the program director an idea of what you are planning to do after completing your residency. Show the committee how you will use the medical knowledge and clinical skills that you will gain during the residency for the benefit of patients. Whether you are planning to contribute your efforts in research, thinking of joining a medical school or working as a faculty member, or working as a volunteer in underserved regions. Tell your future plans in your residency personal statement and explain your vision for your career as a doctor.

Highlight any Gaps in Your Medical Education

Many applicants believe that highlighting their weaknesses, educational gaps, or evaluations that were less than satisfactory can break their chances of getting the desired residency program. However, it is not exactly the case. You should address your weaknesses in your personal statement. For example, if you failed an exam, tell the director what has happened and why didn’t you get satisfactory marks in the particular course. What you have learned by repeating the course, and now you know the best learning strategies and can better prepare for exams. Explain to them which skills you polished and what you have learned from your mistakes.

Final Thoughts

The residency program director is interested in the candidate behind the grades. You can communicate your motivations, career goals, ambitions, and personality through your residency personal statement. Invest your time, effort, and energy in crafting a stellar personal statement for your residency application. It can give you a leg up in the pool of applicants a residency program receives. So, keep these important steps in mind while preparing your residency personal statement and show the committee that you have the real potential to become a competent resident and an excellent physician.

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EPISODE 494

Tips for residency applications and how to best use program signals for Match 2025

Is residency signaling important? Why write a residency personal statement? Should I put geographic preference on ERAS? What makes a medical student CV stand out? Deborah Clements, MD, is chair of the department of family and community medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and program director for the McGaw Northwestern Family Medicine Residency at Lake Forest. As a chair on the board of National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), Dr. Clements shares advice on how to stand out on your residency application. American Medical Association CXO Todd Unger hosts. 🩺 The AMA is your powerful ally, focused on addressing the issues important to you, so you can focus on what matters most — patients. We will meet this challenge together. Join us: https://ama-assn.co/JoinRenew 💡 Get advice on what goes into a stand out residency application: https://www.ama-assn.org/medical-students/preparing-residency/application-do-s-and-don-ts-doctor-who-oversees-match ⏰ Looking for a residency application timeline? Visit: https://freida.ama-assn.org/road-to-residency-guide/timeline 📝 More advice for medical students and curriculum vitae examples here: https://www.ama-assn.org/medical-students/medical-school-life/6-keys-creating-medical-student-cv-sets-you-apart 🔍 Access AMA FREIDA residency search: https://ama-assn.co/FREIDA 🥼 Go to https://ama-assn.co/FightingForDocs to learn more about our AMA advocacy priorities, including: ▹ Reforming Medicare payment ▹ Fighting scope creep ▹ Fixing prior authorization ▹ Reducing physician burnout ▹ Making technology work for physicians

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Show AMA Update
Channel American Medical Assn
Frequency Updated Daily
Published August 16, 2024 at 9:00 AM UTC
Length 9 min
Episode 494
Rating Clean

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IMAGES

Best Residency Personal Statement Examples to Inspire You
Sample Personal Statements For Residency
Residency Personal Statement
Best Residency Personal Statement Examples to Inspire You
Best Residency Personal Statement Examples for Inspiration
Best Residency Personal Statement Examples to Inspire You

COMMENTS

20+ Residency Personal Statement Examples
Commentary on Residency Personal Statement Example #2. "Medicine is not a job, it is a way of life.". As the son of a cardiothoracic surgeon, my father's mantra constantly echoed in my mind. I was raised in an environment where sacrifice and duty were familiar concepts from a young age.
Residency Personal Statement: The Ultimate Guide (Example Included)
Why does the residency personal statement matter? The personal statement is an essay of about a page (one page in ERAS is 3,500 characters including spaces) in which you articulate who you are and why you want to enter a certain specialty. It's your big opportunity to set yourself apart from other applicants by highlighting anything that isn't well represented in other parts of your ...
Residency Personal Statement Examples from Matched Residents
Residency Personal Statement Examples #6: Cardiology. "Code blue, electrophysiology laboratory" a voice announces overhead during my cardiology rotation. As the code team, we rush to the patient, an elderly man in shock. Seamlessly, we each assume our preassigned roles.
Residency Match: 4 tips for writing a standout personal statement
A residency application is more than metrics and research. Ideally, a good residency application is well-rounded, and the personal statement is what helps shape it. Read on for these essential tips on how to write personal statements for residency. Sonja Raaum, MD, is an assistant professor of ...
Residency Personal Statement Samples and Feedback
Commentary on Sample 1. "Medicine is not a job, it is a way of life.". As the son of a cardiothoracic surgeon, my father's mantra constantly echoed in my mind. I was raised in an environment where sacrifice and duty were familiar concepts from a young age. While my father did his best to balance work and family life, there were countless ...
How to Write a Residency Personal Statement (April 2024)
My Residency Personal Statement Writing Suggestions. Okay, so no rules, but here are the tried-and-true parameters I follow: 1) Your ERAS personal statement length should be between 600 and 800 words. 2) Don't capitalize specialties. It's incorrect. 3) Don't name the the doctors/mentors you've worked with.
Residency Personal Statement [Ultimate Guide]
Figure 1. Top 10 Factors Residency Program Directors Consider When Selecting Qualified Applicants. As we can derive from the figure above, residency program directors prioritize USMLE Step 1/COMLEX Level 1 scores, letters of recommendation, Medical Student Performance Evaluation, USMLE Step 2 CK/COMLEX Level 2 scores, and residency personal statements come in at fifth place with a 78% citing ...
The Trusted Residency Personal Statement Guide w/Examples
Example Personal Statement 5. "While medical school can teach a student the science behind medicine, I truly believe it's a doctor's personality and character that ultimately determines his or her success with patients. One of my greatest qualities […] is my ability to quickly connect with people.
How to Write a Good Personal Statement for your Residency Application
The personal statement 📝 is the part of the residency MATCH ® application in which I find the most mistakes. Many applicants do not even realize there are problems in their personal statement because the process of self-evaluation requires significant skill and insight.
Residency Personal Statement
Generally, the residency personal statement should be between 500 to 800 words in length, roughly equating to one page. This statement is a critical part of your residency application, allowing you to communicate your personal and professional background, career goals, and reasons for pursuing a particular specialty, such as plastic surgery.
Residency Personal Statement Writing Tips & Structure
Many applicants don't know where to start, so we suggest breaking the essay into bite-sized pieces. Use a standard 4-5 paragraph structure. This way, you've got small, manageable goals. Write your residency personal statement using: An introduction paragraph. 2-3 paragraphs to expand on your theme.
Internal Medicine Residency Personal Statement Examples
Internal Medicine Personal Statement Example 2. This personal statement presents the story of an American student applying to residency in the United States. My achievements in life are a result of my enthusiastic embrace of challenges that pushed me to learn and grow while also cultivating deep connections.
Residency Personal Statement Samples
Sample Personal Statements. Residency Personal Statement 1. Encouraged by the idea of becoming well rounded, I collected many hobbies and passions as I grew up from snowboarding and cooking to playing board games and practicing meditation. Despite the increasing demands on my time, however, I never learned how to get more than 24 hours out of a ...
Best Residency Personal Statement Examples to Inspire You
Personal Statement Examples Residency to Unlock the Path to Your Dream. You know the parable about the bad blacksmith who caused the war to be lost. The essence is that he badly shod the messenger's horse, who could not deliver the message in time, and the troops did not have time to reload, and the war was lost.
Writing a Personal Statement for Residency Application
For the moment, forget everything you know about writing histories and physicals. While preparing your personal statement: Avoid abbreviations. Avoid repetitive sentence structure. Avoid using ...
Personal Statement Samples Blog
Residency Personal Statement Examples | Personal Statement Samples for your Residency Application 2024 Your personal statement is an opportunity to tell your story - it is truly an understated component of the residency application! You ... The best way to learn something is to do it. That's why we divide our one-hour interview preparation ...
12 Top Questions About the ERAS Personal Statement
Your ERAS personal statement isn't intended to be a best-selling memoir. It's intended to add another dimension to the otherwise black-and-white application full of scores and grades. It is an opportunity to show program directors your personality, what motivates you, and what you're looking for in a residency program.
Writing the Personal Statement that will get you into Residency
Writing specialty specific Personal Statements may feel like extra work, but can make all of the difference among a sea of spectacular applicants. **Please Note: This articles only touches on some of the many aspects involved with crafting a Personal Statement. You may choose to try another way or look further into the content of the statement.
Residency Personal Statement Examples
What is the best length for a residency personal statement? The best length for a residency personal statement is one page, which is equivalent to 750-800 words. This meets the academic law and is as allotted by the Electronic Residency Application Systems (ERAS). Carefully check the word limit for your application as they vary.
Creating a high‐quality personal statement for residency application: A
The best personal statements are clear and brief and contain specificity to reflect and explain your unique perspective. This is your opportunity to highlight why you are the ideal candidate for a residency in your chosen field. ... Landry A, Coates WC, Gottlieb M. Creating a high‐quality personal statement for residency application: A guide ...
Internal Medicine Residency Personal Statement Examples
In this blog, we provide you with a collection of outstanding internal medicine personal statement examples to help you perfect your personal statement for your residency application! If you are looking for a full ALL-IN-ONE Application Resources for MATCH® 2025, including more personal statement examples, ERAS application template, MSPE ...
How to Write a Great Residency Personal Statement
Make sure your personal statement helps the residency program director understand what has led you to this medical specialty. Highlight Your Personal Qualities. When it comes to writing your residency personal statement, it is important to focus on your personal qualities and skills. Show the selectors that you have the skills and qualities to ...
‎AMA Update: Tips for residency applications and how to best use
Is residency signaling important? Why write a residency personal statement? Should I put geographic preference on ERAS? What makes a medical student CV stand out? Deborah Clements, MD, is chair of the department of family and community medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine,…

Residency Personal Statement: The Ultimate Guide (Example Included)

Part 1: Introduction

Want expert guidance on residency admissions?

Why does the residency personal statement matter?

What should the personal statement accomplish?

Meet our students

Brainstorming topics

Focusing your ideas

Why this specialty?

What strengths do I have that are not apparent in my other application materials?

How do I embody the qualities of a good physician in the specialty?

Start with an outline

First paragraph: Lead with detail

Body paragraphs: Connect your narrative to a thesis

Connect the personal to the professional

Demonstrate change and growth over time

Communicate the kind of specialist you hope to be

Conclusion: Tie it all together

After you’ve finished the first draft of your residency personal statement

Residency personal statement analysis

Final thoughts

ERAS allows me to use up to 28,000 characters. Do I really need to stick to one page?

Can I edit my personal statement after uploading it to ERAS?

Should I address red flags in my personal statement?

Should I tailor my personal statement to specific residency programs?

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Table of Contents

FEATURED STORIES

PersonalStatementMan

The One Rule for Writing Your Medical Residency Personal Statement

3 Takeaways

Personal Statement Toppings, or the Added Tasty Stuff Like Cheese, Bacon, Ketchup, Etc.

Personal Statement FAQ

Do I need different versions of my personal statement for different specialties?

Should I tailor different versions of my personal statement to each program I’m applying to?

Who actually reads my residency personal statement?

When and how do I ask for help?

Should I hire someone to help?

How do I address red flags?

Can I use ChatGPT or another AI?

How do I write great transitions? (coming soon)

Recent Posts

Residency Personal Statement [Ultimate Guide]

What Is A Residency Personal Statement?

How Important Is The Personal Statement For Residency?

What Do You Write In A Residency Personal Statement?

Motivations Behind Career and Specialty Choice

Qualities or Skills To Help You As A Resident

Plans For The Long Term

Personal Attributes Relevant To Your Specialty

Accomplishments You’re Proud Of

How Long Should A Residency Personal Statement Be?

What Makes A Great Residency Personal Statement?

A Unique Take Behind Your Medical Journey

Personalizing Personal Statements

An Unexpected Turn of Events

The Kind of Doctor You Want to Become

What Should You Not Write In A Residency Personal Statement

Avoid Being Dramatic

No Need For Rehashing

Don’t Be Too Declarative

You Don’t Have To Promote The Specialty

Residency Personal Statement Examples

For An Anesthesiology Residency Program Applicant

For A Dermatology Residency Program Applicant

For A Family Medicine Residency Program Applicant

For A Surgery Residency Program Applicant

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The Residency Personal Statement Guide w/Prompts & Examples

Intro- Writing a Great Residency Personal Statement

Residency Prerequisites

Step 1: Receive Your Degree

Step 2: Pass the Examinations

For Foreign Students

Applying for a Residency