4 Must-Haves in Residency Personal Statements

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By Cydney Foote, Accepted.com editor and co-author of Write Your Way to A Residency Match

To get into medical school, you explained why you wanted to be a physician. Now that you're an M.D./D.O., you need to show them you've got what it takes to be a valuable addition to a medical team. To that end, your personal statement should give the residency committee a taste of what you're all about, and make them want more.

Easier said than done? Here are four critical pieces of a residency personal statement to get you started.

• Focus on the Specialty
• Focus on Your Strengths
• Focus on the Program
• Tips for Better Writing
• Need More Help?

Focus on the SpecialtyUse anecdotes to illustrate your story and bring out your unique experiences and perspectives. Most importantly, where do you see yourself in the future? Make your choice unambiguous and your commitment undeniable.

Focus on Your StrengthsSelect specific examples that demonstrate your strengths and make your essay come alive.

Focus on the ProgramTips for Better Writing draw the reader into the story with specific examples, but use humor sparingly. Throughout your writing, keep your purpose in mind - you're trying to land the interview, not detail every aspect of your medical school training or research project.

Need More Help?10 Secrets of Good Writing." If you're still stuck, get help from Accepted.com's experienced editorial staff. We can help you from the beginning or polish what you've already written. Either way, you'll have a residency essay that makes you shine!

For more extensive and in-depth advice on residency applications, check out Cydney Foote's ebook, Write Your Way to a Residency Match: Advice for your Personal Statement, CV, and Letters of Recommendation. With valuable samples and advice, it's a must-read."

For more tips on writing your residency statement, see "You obviously don't want to write about your love for pediatric medicine if you're applying for a surgical residency program. What's less obvious is that you can - and should - write about the specific advantages of a research-oriented residency program in one essay and the benefits of a purely clinical experience in another. You can even write a different personal statement for every program. It sounds like a lot of extra work, but don't underestimate the bonus points you can get for this approach. Tailoring your essay to specific programs or types of programs demonstrates that you've done your homework and are genuinely interested.

Now that you have an idea what to write about, you need to know how to write it. Your tone of voice should be personable, but professional. Your story should be interesting and You've gained some valuable technical skills and exposure to clinical practice, but so have all your classmates. Which of your unique qualities will make your #1 residency program rank you as their #1 choice? Your personal experiences, both in medical school and outside, reveal a lot more about you than your C.V. and USMLE step exams. A good way to think about this is in the context of what's needed for that specialty. Will the listening skills you developed in college debate help you as a family practitioner? Have your quick reflexes, honed through years of playing piano, prepared you for the technical dexterity you'll need in emergency medicine? Will your teamwork skills developed as captain of your soccer team improve your coordination as part of a surgical team? Your rotations let you sample each medical specialty. By now, you should have a pretty clear idea which one you want to pursue. Just tell the residency committee how you reached that decision. What convinced you that you wanted to know more about neurology, and that you could never see yourself setting broken bones? What is it about delivering babies that thrills you more than caring for them after they're born?