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Kevin Chiang, MD, MEd

Jun 5 • 35 tweets • 29 min read

🧵 Guide to Personal Statements – A Tweetorial

MS4s and those preparing to apply to residency: Here’s my advice for writing a PS! #Match2023

This is based on going through this process recently, reading hundreds of them, and mentoring many applicants this year who matched.

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How do you get started? Jot down random notes, phrases, memories, or feelings on your phone or in a notebook or document as they pop into your head during the day. You end up with pages of content to work with as you put your draft together (I had 6 pages of bullet points)!

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It’s called a personal statement for a reason. It should be PERSONAL. I cannot stress this enough. If I can take a paragraph in your PS and attach it to another person’s application and make it work seamlessly, there's a fair chance that your writing is too generic.

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There is no “right” format, structure, or approach that you have to follow. Find a format or style that works for you and the story you are telling.

On that note, your PS is a story. It should flow, have resonating themes, and be easy to follow along from beginning to end.

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Remember, your personal statement is about YOU, not anybody else. Stories are important and a beneficial tool, but you want to use them to highlight and reveal things about you for the reader to learn, rather than overemphasizing other characters in your stories/experiences.

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Have a good hook or opening statement. As I'm sure you know from writing grade school essays, a good hook often takes a long time to develop. Make sure it grabs the reader’s attention but isn’t cliché. Take your time to figure this out and craft it thoughtfully.

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What drew you to your specialty of choice? Keep in mind you can show this without saying why explicitly. For those who made a late specialty switch (I did this), you have an opportunity here to address that, but be mindful of how much space you take up doing so.

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What makes you a good fit for both the specialty and the residency program? For the latter, this can be generic, or it can be tailored to particular residency programs if you are writing multiple personal statements that you will be using for different programs.

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Highlight your skills and strengths. Be confident in knowing who you are without being cocky. Don’t overexaggerate or oversell yourself as someone you’re not. You want to embed these attributes in your stories and explanations, rather than simply listing or naming them.

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Please SHOW, don’t tell. Use experiences and stories to paint a picture of who you are. Finding the right experiences takes trial and error. Brainstorm patiently. These should be genuine and meaningful experiences. An astute reader or interviewer can pick up if they aren’t.

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Who do you envision yourself being? Where do you see yourself in 5 years, 10 years, or at the peak or end of your career? What goals and ambitions do you have after residency training? Everyone focuses on the past and present in the PS, but don’t forget about the future.

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Dig deeper. Most PS drafts have statements that are too surface level and just touching the tip of the iceberg. Take that point or idea to the next level. Finding the words to do so is challenging, but it is rewarding when you figure out how. You can always dig deeper.

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Show your personality and true colors. What makes you unique? What makes you YOU? This is arguably the only place in your application to make your voice heard and passion resonate in a way that emotionally connects with the reader. Take advantage of that.

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Don’t just regurgitate something on your CV. Readers want to see the process, live the journey, and view the experience through your lens. We can easily see what happened. HOW did it happen? What challenges did you face? What did you learn? How did you grow and change?

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The PS is not a rehash of your CV. PDs will have your entire ERAS application packet. This is your space and opportunity to address red flags, as well as talk about things that they would not otherwise know about you from looking at your objective ERAS application.

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This should NOT be the same as your medical school personal statement. In the past, you wrote about why you want to go to medical school. You’ve now gone to medical school. You are going to become a physician. We know that. Give us more. Show us who you have become.

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Avoid using quotes from others. They don’t feel personal and are rarely incorporated in a way that feels effective. If you choose to do so, be careful and make it meaningful, impactful, and appropriate; it should not feel forced. If you can’t, I would avoid them altogether.

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Certain remote experiences may be appropriate, but you should have more recent experiences from medical school to draw from. With a few exceptions, the experiences used for your medical school PS should be different from the ones you use for your residency PS.

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One page max. An unspoken rule. Don't go over. Programs have hundreds of applications to review. If your PS goes over a page, many reviewers will not be enthusiastic about it. Writing in a concise but effective manner is an art and takes time, but you can and need to do it.

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You will find that a page is not a lot. Be clear and succinct. Find eloquent ways to express your sentiments and cut out “fluff” words or phrases that take up space. Eliminate redundancies. Don’t repeat the same sentence or idea in different ways if you don’t need to.

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Get 4-6 editors:
- A peer entering a different specialty
- A faculty member
- Someone for spelling/grammar
- An adult not in medicine

Be mindful of how many people you ask. Having too many cooks in the kitchen leads to conflicting feedback that leaves you with confusion.

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Don’t plagiarize under any circumstance. This should go without saying in all writing circumstances, which includes your PS. Plagiarism is a huge issue for so many reasons, and I can tell you it leads to an automatic trip to the shredder for your application.

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If you write multiple versions of your PS for different programs, have compelling reasons for why you’re interested specifically in each program. You don’t need multiple versions (I find it’s 50/50 what people do) if you don’t have a reason to do so (I just wrote one PS).

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You should feel comfortable and confident talking about anything you wrote in your PS if and when it comes up in conversation. From personal experience on the interview trail, topics and points I discussed in my PS came up in 1/4 to 1/3 of my interview days.

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Lastly, some practical advice. Everyone gets writer’s block. When it happens, take a deep breath. Take a break, and step away for a few days. Reset your mind and rest. You’ll come back refreshed, reinvigorated, and able to see things in a new light and perspective.

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Remember: This is your story to tell. Make it personal. Make it genuine. Make it YOU.

I’ll leave you with some Cyndi Lauper lyrics:

So don’t be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful
Like a rainbow 🌈

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My DMs are always open if anyone has questions, feedback, or thoughts they want to share. Two of my biggest passions are teaching and mentoring, so if I can be of help in any way, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Feel free to RT/share with others!

Good luck, you've got this!

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Tagging friends/connections in case any of this might help! Rooting for you all!

If you’re not applying or got mistagged it was probs a typo/misclick, sorry!

Probably missed some people (there’s too many), so feel free to RT/share if you know others who could use some PS tips!