Writing a Personal Statement

Writing a Personal Statement
From: http://www.thedoctorjob.com/careercorner/view_article.php?id_article=14


The drafting of your personal statement is probably something that you’re dreading, especially if writing is not your strong suit. Even if you are a skilled writer, it can be hard to choose a topic and to write about yourself in a way that resonates with others.

Writing a personal statement does not have to be a painful process. Look at the bright side—the personal statement is the one opportunity you have to sell yourself in your application that is unfettered by cold hard facts and figures. Your personal statement gives you an opportunity to make yourself more real to the people making hiring decisions.

Plus, by hiring the experts at The Doctor Job to help you, you can rest assured that what you are presenting is a polished finished product that has already been given a stamp of approval by an experienced writer who has edited hundreds of personal statements.

Here are three things to keep in mind when drafting a personal statement.

1) The ideal personal statement will give the directors of residency and clerkship programs a sense of who you are and highlight some unique and impressive facts about you that will make you stand out in his/her mind. It will also convince the reader of your commitment to your chosen specialty area, as well as your ability to perform well in that specialty area.

2) While it is not necessary to be a stellar writer in the medical profession, good writing in general conveys your intelligence and your ability to articulate your thoughts in a clear, concise, and professional manner. To that end, it is important to ensure that your personal statement flows well and doesn’t break any major grammatical rules.

3) Some might argue that in writing a personal statement it is more important to not turn someone off than it is to win someone over. In following with this thought, when developing ideas for your personal statement, you want to err on the conservative side, especially if you’re using the same statement or a version of the same statement when applying to a number of residencies. Even if you think it’s a little bit bland, it’s better to have a statement that appeals to the masses than one that might strike a chord with one person and strike out with everyone else.

Choosing a topic

“I entered the medical profession because I want to help people.”

When you wrote your admissions essays for medical school, you were probably advised against this standard answer to the inevitable “Why do you want to become a doctor” question. The same applies now. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with wanting to help people, it’s just that it’s become such a cliché answer that it’s almost lost its meaning.

Certainly at its core, being a doctor is about helping people. But when brainstorming a topic for your personal statement, you need to think beyond that. For instance, if you have chosen a certain specialty, what are the reasons for your choice? Perhaps you entered the medical profession from a prior career. Why did you make that decision? What happened in your life to lead you to that decision?

Show, don’t tell.

Anecdotes are very effective tools in a personal statement. When you tell a brief story about something that happened to you, your experience is made more real to the reader. Use this technique when drafting your personal statement. Telling someone that you like something or that you’re good at something is less effective than describing to him/her the events in your life that illustrate those points. Take these two examples:

1) When I think of something that weighs two pounds, I think of a book, a full mug of coffee, a bunch of grapes. I don’t think of a person. Yet that’s how much my sister weighed when she was born prematurely. I can still remember the way the doctor’s hands looked enormous next to her tiny body, and the way my parents and I felt knowing that those hands bore the responsibility for her life. Watching the physician work around the clock to ensure my sister’s health, I realized that I wanted to be part of something so important.

2) I have a younger sister who was born premature. As a result, I am interested in helping children like her by becoming a neonatologist.

Anecdotes are particularly effective when used as a hook at the beginning of your statement. Given the limited amount of time that will be allotted to reading each personal statement, the sooner you can pique their interest, the better.

Setting yourself apart

If two people eat at the same restaurant on the same night, each will have completely different experiences based on the food they ordered, the people they ate with, and the conversations they had. Likewise, even if you attended the same school and earned the same grades as one of your peers, each of you will have unique areas in which you excelled and unique circumstances that helped to shape who you are.

In addition to using anecdotes in your personal statement, you can stand out from the masses by including a lot of details in your writing. One of the biggest criticisms of personal statements is that they are too vague. When describing your experiences, be specific. If you held a leadership role, how many people did you lead? What was improved as a result of your leadership? If you volunteered for a particular organization, did you work two hours a month or fifteen hours a week?

The more specific you are with regard to your goals, experiences, interests, and strengths, the more you will differentiate yourself from others.

It’s not easy.

Crafting an effective personal statement is a difficult task, because it means creating a delicate balance between a compelling story and a selling document. This is not something you should take lightly - many directors find that this small amount of insight into your mind and motivation will effectively determine your ability to practice medicine and contribute to the residency, fellowship or clerkship. The Doctor Job has certified professional writers on staff whose sole job is to craft winning personal statements based on your goals and your insight. We give a solid structure and cohesion to your perspective and personality.