How To Write a Residency Personal Statement? Do’s and Don’ts

Constructing your residency statement for residency programs may revive old feelings of frustration and despair similar to concocting your personal statement for medical school some four or more years ago. Just like your AMCAS personal statement, the essay for residency programs in the field(s) of your choice represents the only portion of your application over which you have complete autonomy. For this reason, many residency directors place great importance on this statement.

This document is intended to assist you in crafting a residency personal statement by providing a brief overview of the application system, and the “do’s” and “don’ts” in your essay.

Overview of ERAS

The Electronic Residency Application Services (ERAS) provided by the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) is much akin to the American Medical College Application Service (AMCAS) that most of you used to apply to medical school. ERAS allows you to upload your entire residency application online and forward it to all programs to which you wish to apply that participate in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP). Please note that the following specialty programs participate in a separate early match outside of the NRMP:

• Urology
• Ophthalmology
• Neurology
• Neurosurgery
• Otolaryngology

Starting with the 2003 application process, the American Urological Association has placed most of its programs under the ERAS system. The other four specialties participate in the SF Match, a separate early match program. Please refer to each of these fields for their own special application criteria.

How To Craft Your MSPS

The personal statement can be no longer than one typed page on the ERAS system. This usually corresponds to a document between 750 and 850 words. Ensure that your statement fits in the ERAS allotted space, because the program will eliminate all lines that exceed its length restrictions.

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What should be included in a residency personal statement?

First, you need to mention why you chose a particular specialization. Second, the applicant should demonstrate the qualities and skills necessary to succeed during the residency. Third, there should be long-term goals you plan to achieve. Fourth, discuss what attracts you the most to a residency program. Finally, do not forget to highlight the qualities that fit the training or program.

Do and don'ts for personal statements?

The DO's for personal statements are the following: tell your personal story; be honest; mention only relevant information; highlight your accomplishments and strong sides; adhere to formatting and word count requirements. The DONT's for personal statements include: writing the personal statement at the last moment, ignoring structure issues, not proofreading the essay, and restating your resume.

What should you avoid in a personal statement?

It’s better to avoid sensitive topics unless you have a special reason to mention them. While writing about the challenges you’ve faced, ensure that it doesn’t look like whining. Next, if you mention someone else (e.g., your role model), he/she should not be the main hero of your story. Still, your application statement should be focused on your unique personality.

Key differences from medical school personal statement (MSPS):

A) You actually have to provide your application reviewers with valuable information. If you discuss nothing else, the following three topics must be addressed in your statement.

1. Why are you interested in the field of your choice?
2. What are you looking for in a residency program?
3. How does the field align with your professional goals?

B) Originality and creativity do not hold the same importance that they did in your MSPS. Once again, your application reviewers will be reading several hundreds of applications; so you will need to present an attention-grabbing statement. However, the fluffiness and individuality so valued in MSPSs are secondary to addressing the three themes mentioned in section A. While discussing your personal development always distinguishes you, you should focus such development in the context of your decision to pursue a chosen medical field.

C) Advisors in the specific field(s) of your choice are essential to determining the appropriate themes of your personal statement. Unlike your MSPS, in which an individualized, focused essay providing some sort of self-profile serves as the desired prototype, each specialty and subspecialty has certain types of individuals for which they are searching. For instance, many primary care fields place a huge emphasis on your community service involvement whereas more competitive specialties such as dermatology and orthopedic surgery seem to be more concerned with research endeavors and publications in their field. You should identify both a resident, who has just gone through the application process, and an attending physician, who is well-versed in the nuances of your desired specialty, to serve as advisors regarding the content of your personal statement.

General “Do’s”

1. Unite your essay with a central theme. If possible paint multiple pictures of your medical school development around this theme, and link it to your field of choice.
2. Unless you pursued another degree or participated in some significant research or community service project during your preclinical years, most of the content of your statement should address your clinical development during clerkships. Most residency programs express minimal concern for your preclinical performance, presuming that you suffered no academic failures or setbacks. If your institution has grades, your transcript will speak for your preclinical performance. The only information that you should address during your preclinical years of medical school should be related to obtaining other degrees or discussing significant volunteer or research endeavors. You should be able to relate the latter to your current interest to pursue the field of your choice.
3. Use interesting or unique background experiences to complement your residency personal statement. This will be your “anti-clone” factor that distinguishes you from every other individual applying in your field. You will need to ensure that these personal factors, triumphs, obstacles, or experiences are clearly relevant to the progression of your essay. Fluffy and tangential topics will not be tolerated as well in residency personal statements as they were in MSPSs.
4. Utilize the following advice, which applies to all admissions essays:
   • Begin your statement with an attention-grabbing first paragraph.
   • Provide specific narratives or examples in order to demonstrate any personal attributes you cultivated or lessons you learned. Avoid making statements such as “I am determined and hardworking” without backing them up with solid evidence.
   • Keep your sentences concise and direct. Many of the physician application reviewers are busy people who cannot decipher advanced literary writing techniques.
   • Link your conclusion back to your introduction.

General “Don’ts”

1. Your statement should not be an expanded version of your CV. The ERAS application allows more than ample space for you to discuss your paid work and volunteer experiences, research endeavors and publications, language fluency, hobbies and interests, and other awards and accomplishments. Only mention relevant endeavors or poignant experiences.
2. You should avoid including any information in your essay that you could not discuss for at least an hour or that may be contradicted by other written evidence. Though this may seem facetious, some applicants will exaggerate their role in particular research projects or community service activities, but be unable to discuss them thoroughly in interviews. This can prove to be extremely detrimental to your candidacy. Also, some applicants have written things in these statements that directly contradict information written by their recommenders. Because waiving your rights to viewing letters of recommendation is the norm, you often will not know what your letter writers will say about you. Thus, only truthful information should appear in your statement.
3. Your essay should avoid the following common indicators of poorly written or edited documents:
   • Lack of flow
   • Spelling and grammatical errors
   • Clichés
   • Redundant or extraneous words

eRAS & Residency Submission Process

To simplify the submission process for all parties, there’s AAMC’s eRAS or the Electronic Residency Application Service. The system allows you to put together and send your application and all adjacent materials to the programs you are interested in. The eRAS system will be your one-stop-shop for distributing applications to institutions where you want to get post-graduate education. 

The eRAS system is comprised of stand-alone but connected apps that make submission, review, and other steps easier for everyone involved:

• MyERAS AAMC. This is the app where you are going to finish your applications, chose where to send them, manage the necessary documents, and send the materials to residencies of your choice. 
• The app for deans, which will help them add transcripts and performance evaluations to yours and all other incoming applications from potential students. 
• Similarly, the Letter of Recommendation app will help the authors add the letters to the applications.
• Finally, the app for program directors is where they will be reviewing all the data coming from potential students.

Here is how AAMC’s eRAS works:

1. You need to get a one-time registration code (also called a token) from your dean’s office and create a personal account.
2. After, you can finish your application, choose where to apply to, and assign all supporting materials required for it. 
3. Your dean and LoR author submit all supporting materials to your application. 
4. The boards responsible for analyzing applications receive transcript requests and process them. 
5. The evaluation experts at the programs you applied to receive all your documents in the app for program directors.

MyERAS AAMC will be your main app all along. How to get the registration code? Contact one of the following institutions, depending on where you are coming from. 

– Your US school, if you graduated in the country.

– CaRMS (Canadian Residency Matching Service), if you finished a medical school in Canada.

– ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates), if you graduated from an international school. 

Here is what you need to know after acquiring the code:

– The system will guide on what you need to submit to finish your application. 

– There’s a specific code for every season.

– Double-check the data you put in when you register. You can only use the code once. 

– Note that third-year medical school tokens will only enable applicants to update their personal data section and submit LoRs to prepare for the next season. The remaining parts of the application will be available when the season begins.

ERA applications fees

You will need to pay a fee based on the quantity of programs you want to apply to per specialty. If you plan to send your application to less than ten programs per specialty, you’ll need to pay ninety-nine dollars. If it’s between eleven and twenty, each program will cost you fifteen dollars. The more programs you apply to, the more you will need to pay. 

Payment methods include only VISA or Mastercard; AAMC doesn’t offer any refunds.

Summary

Overall, the most important advice to remember when crafting your residency personal statement is to provide yourself with plenty of time to write it. Two or three months prior to the date you wish to submit your final applications should prove sufficient. While respecting the different perspectives of each individual you wish to comment on your drafts, you should limit your statement to only a few individuals, making sure that one or two physicians in your desired field are among them. Also, do not be afraid to scrap one draft completely, and start another thought from scratch. Finally, be true to yourself in this essay. This is your one chance to show the unique side of yourself. Do not overdo it, but do not fail to do it. Good luck with your application process.

Admit that you won’t find a better guide on residency personal statement writing. We covered everything the applicant may need or want to know about this paper and its submission process. We hope this information will help you to finish writing faster. Keep in mind that you can always hire a college essay editor online to save time and get a high-quality paper fast.

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