S01E07 - Personal Statements

The Myers Hurt Method Podcast

I want to break format today and talk exclusively about the personal statement this episode. I know a lot of you already have one, or have at least a draft of one, but with enough time between now and September 15th (and even after that) I will help you make it better.

I think there is a sort of comfort level and confidence that med students approach the PS with and that is fair - because all of your previous personal statements up until now worked. Lots of positive reinforcement - positive thing - however those were personal statements for you to convince people you are good at reading, studying, and taking tests.

Residency is a job. Literally the first “real” job you will have as a physician. This is a personal statement to convince programs you deserve a job. Lean away from telling them you have objective skills, and towards subjective skills. Demonstrate professionalism, communication skills, teamwork, goal setting, and understand the challenges and demands of the road ahead, and still want to make a living at it.

Almost breeds an inherent difficulty as the typical med student had curriculum focused on math and science, or at least prioritize them over language and arts, now asked to produce a written piece that we are not necessarily that comfortable with. To add to the discomfort this a rare moment that you are both the salesperson and the product.

NRMP data from the 2014 program director’s survey ranks it as the fifth factor used when deciding who to extend interview invitations to (Step 1, LORs in the speciality, MSE (Deans letter), step 2 CK, then personal statement) and about halfway down when deciding who to rank - so it is up there to get your foot in the door.

I would consider it one of the only subjective methods to tell your story before the interview - CVs and transcripts, USMLE scores all fit into boxes well, LORs and dean’s letter are what others say about you - PS is the only chance you have to tell you story - talk about yourself.

• More important to a program that does not know you - no rotations, no sub-Is, no away rotations - how are they going to get to know you and your work ethic?

• Opportunity to briefly explain any gaps in your record - if done carefully and cast in a positive light

• Proficiency in english language - for IMGs from unknown schools

• Behavior patterns: Writing styles that can identify positive or negative behavior traits - I,I,I,I - narcissism, whereas too much self-depreciation or responsibility sloughing may shine through

If you haven’t looked at MyERAS yet - there is no specific prompt - extremely open ended - what should you write about?

Personal statements need to be:

Written by you

A study performed by the Brigham and Women's Hospital In Boston, Massachusetts published in MedScape article ''Level of Plagiarism in Residency Application Essays Worrisome'' revealed that 13.7% of Personal Statements submitted by IMGs to IM, Anesthesiology, and Surgery programs at the hospital were plagiarized.

Plagerism http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26462161 - plagerism scanning software in anesthesiology applications 4% of US grads, 13% of IMGS 8 words or more of unoriginal content - as much as 58% percent of the statemetn unoriginal.

Polished of all spelling errors - spell check, multiple edits, multiple proofreaders.

Friends and family are ok, but they already like you - i recommend involving a third party for an unbiased approach

Reddit / SDN “PS swaps” are a decent choice - although the opinion of other 4th years is not necessarily the best

Does benefit you to get it read by someone who has done it before - even last year’s MS4s / current interns.

Read it out loud - clear / concise wording

Polished of all grammatical errors

I love Grammarly /

Consider using a professional service / scribindi / fivver / odesk / Match Gurus

Formatted appropriately for MyERAS - one page, 600-700 words - ASCI formatting - so no bolds, italics, or underlining shows up - no emojis - you need to make your points pop with actual english words.

The MyERAS application can be viewed as a PDF version of the information entered in MyERAS by selecting View/Print MyERAS Application located on the Application section on the Dashboard and top-right area of every page under the Application section. This allows you to see how the contents of the MyERAS application will be displayed to programs.

Steps to take:

Start now - sometimes attendings ask for PS and CV for writing your LORs

Brainstorm - entertaining stories, even and maybe especially even inappropriate ones - what elements of your personality can you draw out of those moments?

Structure - opening, closing, know what you want to say and how you want to say it

Aim for a balance of past, present, and future in the speciality

Familiarize yourself with the ERAS requirements - length and formatting

Don’t be afraid to start over - if you hit on something that really resonates with you - start again

Answer the obvious questions - why this speciality, why do you think you will excel?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25342950 - 2012 resident class of UC Davis Derm residents matched vs unmatched - surprisingly those that specifically why they liked derm were higher in the matched, much higher trait were those who mentioned their desire to contribute to the medical literature.

Know your audience - all interviewers, not just PD, will look at to ask questions.

Know that if you are applying to different specialties, can use different statements, you can upload specific versions to specific programs if they have specifics in geography and school name - just make sure to send the correct one.

Things to avoid:

Lies / exaggeration

Plagiarism

Dashes / slashes, short abbreviations

“I knew i wanted to be a doctor when”

The opening impact statement / the opening quote “webster's defines” - overdone, may come back like fashion waves. I am personally guilty of this in a previous personal statement

Anything too outrageous - no ZDogg raps here - works well for him now, but don’t forget that he is still an internist from Stanford. I would actually love to have him on the show and find out his advice - I’ll reach out to him.

Too long = too boring

Don't talk shop - avoid medical jargon - these people already know more than you

Do not restate your CV in narrative or prose form

Don't rehash your medical school PS - you are already “in medicine” this is a statement of why this specialty - why specifically pathology or why specifically dermatology

Dont talk about personal illness - boring and an illegal question if they ask it another way - may even add some unconscious bias - just avoid it

No mention of religion, politics, or any other controversial issue. NOt a soapbox

Pearls and resources:

Knowing what I know now, if i were reapplying to family medicine, I would talk about my newfound passion for growing food, how I arrived at that passion through personal weight loss journey, then see health benefits in individual patients in published medical literature in Mediterranean diet, anti-inflammatory diet on cardiovascular risk, community health as far as community gardens, how these real live social networks help educate and promote health, simple upstream interventions that benefit pubic health. That can demonstrate an understanding of preventative health, community outreach, knowledge of health literature, goal setting and achievement, it is relevant to the specialty, personal reflection, long term involvement.

Medfools

AMA has good resources

UNC

ECFMG

MCW sample personal statements

Really knock it out of the park, talks about various sentence structure, diction and word choice, crisp and elegant writing, “The Elements of Style” by Strunk

To join the Myers Hurt Method Course, visit https://www.drmyershurt.com/themyershurtmethodcourse