how to format eras personal statement

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How to Write Your ERAS Personal Statement

Alexandra R., MD

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A prospective resident sitting at a desk, working on her ERAS personal statement.

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4 Keys to Writing A Compelling Residency Application Personal Statement

There are a variety of mixed opinions about the importance of the ERAS personal statement in the residency application process. Some people think that a personal statement, if it is captivating enough, can be your gateway to obtaining an interview. Others, however, think that a personal statement is simply a formality and that most programs do not take the time to look at it closely. Thus, in the latter scenario, the main goal is to not have your personal statement stand out in a negative way. Regardless of what you have heard and may continue to hear throughout the residency application process, you need to interpret the advice in the context of your particular scenario: decide for yourself how important the ERAS personal statement may be in the setting of your background and experiences as well as how important it may be for the field that you are applying into.

In general, you should start working on your ERAS personal statement early so that you can have multiple rounds of revisions. It is actually completely normal (and a good sign) if you end up having multiple completely different versions! The hardest part is sitting down and starting- just do it! The earlier you start writing, the more time you have to continue re-working and re-thinking your story. Sometimes it’s even good to put it away for a few weeks at a time so that when you look at it again you can have a fresh perspective. Remember, having a great personal statement hook is a key component to writing a compelling statement that residency program directors will actually want to read. The hook is so important, we have actually dedicated an entire post to writing it correctly here. Sometimes it’s even good to put it away for a few weeks at a time so that when you look at it again you can have a fresh perspective.

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The Benefits of Mentorship: Building a Support Network in Medical School

Once you feel comfortable with a first draft, consider who you would like to share it with to receive constructive feedback. Ideally, it would be somebody whose opinions you value and who has demonstrated some success of their own accord – either friends who have gone through the application cycle and matched at one of their top 3 ranked programs, or faculty you have developed a relationship with. Often, medical schools also have advisory deans or some advising office, who may provide valuable insight into what residency program directors are looking for. An alternative advising source may even be the career center at your university. Even though career centers advise undergraduates, professional degree students (MD, JD, MS, etc), and even graduate students, their writing advice is broadly applicable to any field and their close attention to detail can be invaluable. Additionally, if you have friends that have applied in previous years, particularly in the same specialty in which you are currently applying, it can be helpful to see if they feel comfortable letting you read their statement – this can give you insight into the many shapes and form the PS may take and can provide helpful tidbits of information they’ve gleaned from the application process itself. You can also ask your advising office / deans for examples of personal statements specific to your specialty. In the event that you exhaust the resources available to you and you still feel uncertain about your statement, we welcome residency applicants to look into our residency matching services at Elite Medical Prep. We offer focused professional personal statement help from students who have successfully matched into some of the most competitive and prestigious residency programs in the world.

Keep in mind that you do not need to incorporate everyone’s feedback into your personal statement. However, it is helpful to have multiple people’s advice and perspective, thus we encourage you to reach out to more than one person. We took a survey of our EMP tutors and ~60% said they worked with 6+ people, ~30% worked with 3-5 people, and 10% worked with <3 people to edit, read, and provide suggestions.

Lastly, once you have your personal statement finalized, please make sure you know what it is about. More than 85% of our tutors surveyed had an interview question about something specifically relating to their personal statement that was not anywhere else on their application. Be ready to talk about whatever stories you included—use the personal statement as an opportunity to help you shine and be remembered in a positive way!

We surveyed our tutors about advise they received about their own personal statements and collected feedback points from ERAS personal statements they have reviewed to see what feedback you should remember:

1) Don’t make your ERAS personal statement too long:

The structure of the personal statement should be about 4 paragraphs.
You do not want it to be more than one page single-spaced (standard font like arial or times new roman, size 12).
If your personal statement is too long, it is even more likely for programs to not read it completely.

2) Don’t make your ERAS personal statement weird or controversial:

“It’s okay to make your personal statement ‘vanilla’. You don’t want it to be a red flag /too creative that it strikes readers the wrong way.”
“It’s far more likely that your personal statement will be entirely forgettable than that stand out, and that’s OK. Better to have a relatively bland, but acceptable PS and otherwise stellar application than to have a stellar application tainted by a PS that went too far in trying to be too interesting or original, or having something you write strike a reader the wrong way.”
“Never write about something that could possibly make you cry if brought up.”
“ Unless you feel very strongly about certain political beliefs or controversial topics (i.e. abortion) and would not want to be at a program where anyone felt otherwise, it’s probably better to avoid writing about anything polarizing in your statement.”
“Your personal statement should be neither personal nor a statement”… basically, you aren’t necessarily going to stand out with your personal statement, you just want it to support the rest of your application, and it doesn’t need to be groundbreaking.”

3) Highlight what uniquely draws you to that particular specialty:

“Remember that everyone reading your statement has gone into the field you have chosen and they know why it is awesome – so avoid singing general praises of a field – it needs to be PERSONAL!”
“Tie everything into why you chose that particular specialty.”

4) Make your statement easy to read by telling a short and concise story about yourself:

“That was way too long and formulaic. Cut to the chase but also paint a story rather than tell one.
“Tell a unique story that gives insight to who you are as a person.”
“Think about the purpose of your personal statement in the context of all the other components of your application: this is mainly useful as more of a personality gauge – ie who are you and what makes you tick?”
“After reading your personal statement, the reader should come away with the feeling that they really want to meet you – not that you just summarized your ERAS in paragraph form. This is your opportunity to convey what is intangible on ERAS and in your letters – so use it as such!”
“Even though your life is not coherent, you should present a coherent narrative – and make it brief! Not more than 500 words.”
“Build a story around an interesting fact or experience.”
“Show, don’t tell” – Try to use anecdotes as much as possible

Good Luck!!!

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About the Author

Alexandra earned her Neuroscience degree from the University of Michigan, graduating with Summa Cum Laude recognition in 2014. She continued her education at the University…

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How to Make a Statement with Your ERAS Personal Statement

June 29, 2023
Reviewed by: Amy Rontal, MD

You’re guaranteed to write a better ERAS personal statement if you follow these 12 tips.

Dr. Leila Javidi, Taylor Purvis, and Dr. Brian Radvansky contributed to this article.

Starting your residency application can feel like an overwhelming task, especially when it comes to writing your ERAS personal statement. It’s not clear why essays of this nature are so intimidating—maybe it’s because not all medical students are well-versed in language arts, many of us dislike writing, or maybe just the thought of putting “who you are” onto paper brings to the surface some uncomfortable feelings of self-awareness (whoa—this just got intense!).

This is a joke or course, but to be honest, sometimes when we sit down to write our ERAS personal statement we immediately think things like, “I’m not that interesting,” or “I haven’t done anything cool in life, I’ve spent most of my time in school thus far.” And that is completely normal. The majority of us haven’t had those pivotal moments in life that shake the ground beneath us and form a new foundation for who we are, and that’s OK!

Your ERAS personal statement isn’t intended to be a best-selling memoir. It’s intended to add another dimension to the otherwise black-and-white application full of scores and grades. It is an opportunity to show program directors your personality, what motivates you, and what you’re looking for in a residency program.

While you’ve probably heard all of this before, we bet you have more specific questions about how to tackle the ERAS personal statement. All of us sure did! So, without further ado, h ere are answers to the 12 most important questions about medical residency personal statements.

12 Frequently-Asked Questions About the ERAS Personal Statement

1. How big of a deal is my ERAS personal statement to program directors?

According to the 2020 NRMP program director survey , 78% of program directors cite the ERAS personal statement as an important factor in deciding which candidates to interview, making it the fourth-highest ranked factor behind USMLE Step 1, USMLE Step 2, and letters of recommendation. So, it’s pretty important in the grand scheme of your application!

Now, from experience in talking to different program directors and mentors, it’s clear that the most important thing is that your ERAS personal statement is well organized, well written, with proper grammar, no red flags, and that it’s only one page single-spaced. The standard ERAS personal statement length is typically 500-800 words (roughly four paragraphs).

A personal statement typically isn’t the “maker” of your residency application—however, it can be a deal “breaker” if it doesn’t have those attributes. That said, if you have a memorable, well-written personal statement, program directors will mention it, and it will make you stand out as an applicant. If they are on the fence about whether or not to interview you, a personal statement could potentially be the deciding factor. So, it’s pretty important!

2. What are things I should include in my ERAS personal statement?

A good ERAS personal statement should include the following:

A catchy introduction to grab the reader

There are different ways to go about doing this, but if you’re stuck, an effective way to grab the reader’s attention is to open with a patient vignette. An interesting case is sure to pique the curiosity of your reader and keep them engaged as they read. Preventing boredom is something to strive for, as your application is one of perhaps hundreds that they are reading.

Ultimately, though, remember this is a personal statement. After you reveal the diagnosis or outcome of the patient vignette, you need to let the reader know what the case meant to you! The point of relating the vignette is to reveal something about yourself, not just present an interesting story about a patient.

An overview of your desirable qualities

When letting the reader know what your positive qualities are, it’s important to remember a basic rule of good writing: SHOW, don’t tell. For example, instead of saying you are compassionate, describe a story from your life that demonstrates your compassion.

Highlights from your life experience

This includes jobs, extracurricular activities, and hobbies that would help you to be an ideal candidate for whichever residency you are applying to. Pro tip: DON’T REGURGITATE YOUR CV. This is your opportunity to tell people things that aren’t on your CV. Do you play chess in the park every Saturday, or have you traveled to some amazing places? Tell us about it!

You shouldn’t rehash your CV in your personal statement, but it is a great place to elaborate on activities listed on your CV. It can be used to explain why those activities are so important to you, how they have helped you grow as a person, and other things that don’t often shine through on the CV itself.

Proof of why you should be accepted

The most important part of your statement is providing proof of why you should be accepted. Describe your strengths, but do not talk about things too generally. You should be able to back up everything you say. Give details and examples. Which doctors have you shadowed? What kind of research have you been involved in, and where was it published? Don’t just mention that you have volunteered, say the names of places you were at and what you were doing.

Why you are interested in your specialty

This doesn’t have to be a profound story, but it should be the truth!

What you are looking for in a residency program

Is a strong procedural curriculum important to you? Is the culture of the program more important? Try to mention things you know your programs of choice embody.

Address any red flags on your application

Did you do poorly on Step 1? Did you take a leave of absence for a long time? Best to just come out and talk about it without being defensive. Show how you have grown from the experience, rather than apologizing for it!

A cohesive closing statement

Sometimes the first and the last sentence of the statement are the hardest to come up with, but it’s worth your time to make it tidy, even if it isn’t profound.

3. What are things I shouldn’t include in my ERAS personal statement?

Controversial topics.

Stay away from extreme religious or political statements. It doesn’t mean you can’t say you are an active member of church, but don’t use this as an opportunity to discuss whether or not you are pro-choice. You never know who is going to be reading this, and anything too polarizing can be off-putting for some readers.

Feelings of bitterness or negativity

Leave out any traces of bitterness, defensiveness, or anger about anything that has happened in your life. Everything must have a positive spin.

Too much self-praise or too much modesty

Avoid talking about yourself in a glorifying manner, but don’t go too far the other way and come off as too modest.

Too many qualifiers

You don’t want to go overboard with the qualifiers, which are words such as “really,” “quite,” “very,” etc. In fact, in many cases, it’s better not to use them at all.

“Flowery” language you wouldn’t use in real life

It’s a personal statement, not a creative writing assignment. Keep the language in your statement simple. You’re not going to score any points by using unnecessarily fancy words. Your goal is clear communication.

Also, don’t try to sound like a doctor. This is just another way of trying to impress the reader. You want the reader to like you based on the way you write, not be turned off because you are trying to impress them.

“Try to avoid using a lot of jargon and abbreviations,” advises Mary Dundas, educator at Academized.

Exaggerations

Avoid talking hyperbolically about how passionate you are. As noted earlier, it’s better to show than tell so give examples of things you have done. Above all, keep the writing in your statement professional.

If you avoid these common mistakes, you’ll be way ahead of most applicants!

4. How can I make my ERAS personal statement unique?

As evidenced by The Voice and American Idol , it is everyone’s impulse to divulge their “sob story” to help them stand out and garner sympathy from the audience. While it’s important to include stories that helped shape you as a person, it is very transparent and cliché to talk about that person you know who was struck by a medical tragedy, and how ever since you vowed to “save people.”

The best way to make your statement unique is to allow your personality to shine through. Use your words, your humor, and your depth to tell your story. Find a way to show yourself to your reader, and if you do this, your essay will be unique!

5. Should I have more than one ERAS personal statement to upload?

In short, absolutely have multiple personal statements to upload. Especially if you are applying to more than one specialty, it’s essential that you have several versions of your personal statement.

That doesn’t mean you have to write a whole new one, you just have to tailor it to fit that specialty. If you’re applying for a preliminary year, tailor your personal statement to explain how important you feel a solid foundation in medicine is for dermatology (or whichever specialty you are applying to) and what you’re looking for in a preliminary year.

Furthermore, I found that for the programs I really wanted to interview with, I would upload a tailored personal statement for that program saying something like, “I am seeking a family medicine residency position with ABC University program because of their dedication to XYZ.” Simply name-dropping their institution and noting the strength of their program demonstrates your attention to detail and interest in their institution. Even if you are an amazing applicant, if a program doesn’t feel you are interested in their specific program, they won’t interview you. It’s best to make sure you give those out-of-state programs some extra attention so they know you are willing to relocate for them!

Lastly, you should know that you can upload as many versions of your personal statement as you like onto ERAS, but be especially careful when uploading and make sure you apply the correct personal statement to each program! Triple-check your work! Pro Tip: Use your file names to help you stay organized. Pick a format and stick with it, such as “PS-JohnsHopkins,” “USCF-PS,” etc.

6. When should I start writing my ERAS personal statement?

The sooner the better, people. Get cracking now! You can even begin to think of ideas during your third year as you develop your interests in specific specialties. As ideas come to you, jot them into your phone so you don’t forget!

One of the best ways to begin writing your personal statement is to go over some questions about yourself. Ask yourself, who are you and what drives you forward? Think about the kinds of things that interest you and why you developed those interests. Maybe consider some mistakes you have made, how you learned from them, and how they have changed you. Or ask yourself, how do your interests and personality contribute to the goals you have set?

Think about those kinds of questions and write down the answers. Reflect on them, put them away, and come back to them. Then, use them to form an outline—this will help you figure out all your points and what you want to say before you start writing.

If you still feel like you just don’t know how to get started, give the five-point essay format a shot and see if it works for you. In short, you begin with a paragraph that is about four or five sentences long. The goal of this first paragraph is to grab a reader’s attention. Use the next three or four body paragraphs to talk about yourself. Try and have one of them focus on your clinical understanding, while another talks about service. Then end with a solid conclusion paragraph that mirrors your introduction, summarizes who you are, and ends by looking toward the future.

7. Should I ask for any help with my ERAS personal statement?

Yes. Yes. A thousand times, YES! Absolutely ask for feedback on your personal statement. After getting your draft finished, show it to whoever will look at it—however, please remember to take everyone’s advice with a grain of salt and to strongly consider the source. It is absolutely essential to have your personal statement reviewed by an objective third party to ensure that the message you are trying to communicate is loud and clear. This means that you shouldn’t give it to a friend or family member who is going to placate you with a useless, “Yeah, looks great!”

Find a mentor, advisor, chief resident or attending, someone who is accustomed to reading ERAS personal statements, and get feedback from them. You can be certain that going through this step will only make your personal statement better. If you take their advice and don’t like how things are panning out, you can always revert back to an older draft.

But in just about every case, another set of eyes to give you big-picture feedback on what you’ve written will improve your piece. Do this early in the process, when you have gotten a simple draft together, so that you don’t present someone with an idea that you are married to, only to find out that it doesn’t come through clearly.

Be sure to ask other people what they think of your draft, but be careful about asking other students for help. Sometimes they get weird, and try to give you advice about making your statement more like theirs because they want to feel justified in their own efforts.

Finally, it should be mentioned that there are services out there that will “write your personal statement” for you. Aside from the obvious reasons why not to do this, you have to be really careful. Those services don’t know you, don’t know your voice, and oftentimes have very generic ways of putting these statements together. Using a service to help polish your statement, though, is A-OK. Some you may find useful in that regard are ViaWriting , Writing Populist , StateofWriting , and SimpleGrad .

Lastly, you may consider working with a residency counselor who can help set your application apart with insider advice and ensure you optimize all elements of the residency application process. Our residency consultants are residents and attendings who have successfully guided hundreds of students from residency applications through the Match!

Typical residency consulting work consists of:

Not sure if a residency consultant is the right fit for you? Take this quiz to see if you would benefit from some extra guidance during the residency application process!

8. Where can I find examples of ERAS personal statements to inspire me?

Every good writer learned how to write by reading the works of other people. This includes personal statements! Very often your career offices from your undergraduate studies will have examples of personal statements that can serve as inspiration for your own masterpiece. You can also ask older classmates and recent graduates if they would feel comfortable sharing their personal statements with you.

Remember, too, that inspiration can come from nontraditional sources. Try reading poetry or a novel before sitting down to write your statement. You might be surprised by how it helps to get your creative juices flowing!

9. Is it better to cover all of my experiences, or focus on a few in particular?

It’s better to focus on several key experiences rather than provide a broad overview of your life up to the present time. Your resume will fill in any gaps for your reader. The point of the personal statement is to spend a few paragraphs reflecting on one or two themes that define who you are as a person. Stay focused, and go deep!

10. How much should I share about my career goals in my ERAS personal statement?

Remember, the majority of training programs you will be applying to are academic medical centers. For those programs in particular, make sure to emphasize why an academic environment is a good fit for you. This does not have to mean research! Perhaps you like the idea of becoming a clinician educator and want to be at XYZ program for the opportunity to teach medical students.

Likewise, if you are applying to a program at a community hospital, make sure to reflect on how your career goals are suited for that environment. Maybe private practice is on your radar, or you want to practice in a hospital that is more close-knit than a large academic center.

Whatever the case, try to make your stated career goals align with the orientation of the program you’re applying to. In reality, you may have no idea what direction you want your career to go in. But for a personal statement, try to commit to one general theme if possible.

11. What about my personal statements for preliminary or transitional year programs?

For applicants who are also applying to preliminary or transitional year programs, it can seem daunting to tailor your personal statement to a position that isn’t part of your ultimate specialty. But don’t worry—preliminary and transitional year programs still want to know who you are as a person and why you’re interested in anesthesiology, dermatology, or whatever advanced specialty you’re aiming for. You don’t need to change your personal statement as much as you may think!

The goal of a personal statement for these one-year programs is not to convince the reader that you suddenly love internal medicine despite going into radiology. The reader knows this is a temporary stopping place for you. Instead, emphasize the traits that make you YOU and will enhance their hospital!

12. What if I’m interested in a non-traditional path after residency?

Some of you may be thinking of alternative career paths after residency such as consulting or pharmaceutical work. It’s probably best to leave those specific goals out of your ERAS personal statement and allow readers to assume that you want to continue in clinical medicine after graduating from residency. You might want to instead phrase it as something you want to be incorporated into your clinical career, but not something you would leave medicine for, even if that’s what you have in mind!

Remember, you are under no obligation to share your every thought and desire in a personal statement! These statements are being read by reviewers who dedicated their lives to education and clinical medicine, so keep that in mind.

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The Top ERAS Personal Statement Requirements You Need To Know

Featured Expert: Dr. Michael Chung, MD

You’re tired, exhausted, spent; you don’t want to write another personal statement ever again, especially since ERAS personal statement requirements are different from medical school personal statement requirements, which means you have to write a completely new one. We get it. At this point in your journey, you already know things like how to choose a medical specialty , and whether you want to enter a family medicine residency or an internal medicine residency , but maybe your skills have been dulled by writing countless patient histories and physicals, which do not lend themselves to writing a personal statement (but they can, also). If that is the case, we can help you sharpen your writing skills, and give you strategies to mine your past and personal experiences that will make you a memorable candidate. This blog will provide a step-by-step guide to master your ERAS personal statement, regardless of the specialty you are going into and hopefully get you in on your first try.

>> Want us to help you get accepted? Schedule a free initial consultation here <<

Article Contents 22 min read

Eras personal statement requirements.

Learning How to Write, Again

You are unique, but so is everyone else. That’s the challenge of getting into any professional program, whether medical school, a residency, law school or an MBA, how do you stand out from all these other unique individuals who have also graduated medical school and are now your competition?

What are the most competitive and least competitive residencies? Find out in this video:

The answer is simple – your personal statement.

Your personal statement is a safe space for you to get out anything that motivates you, inspires you, troubles you, makes you scared, makes you angry, or gives you strength. But neither is it a confessional. If you talk about all those things, you have to talk about how you made those emotions real through your actions.

Your residency personal statement can be an outlet for all the things you experienced during school or clinical rotations that you made a mental note of but didn’t know how or where to express it.

The first time you heard a patient cry out in pain.

The first time you saw a baby born.

The first time you felt a pulse stop.

How did all that make you feel? How did you react? How did it change you?

These are the things that all residency program directors want to know (but, not only).

A great personal statement should cover the future, as well as the past.

What will this residency program add to who you are, as a future physician, researcher, and overall person? And vice-versa, what will you add to it, and how?

These are also important questions to answer.

We don’t have to tell you how important a personal statement is; that fact has been drilled into you since you applied to medical school. You want to make a great first impression with your personal statement as it directly addressed to the residency program directors.

But, let’s be real. The best residency personal statement will not save an application that is poor or below average in other areas, such as having too low a GPA, too many failed courses, or lack of experiences.

Still, many residency programs do review applications holistically, meaning they look at all the aspects of your application, not just the metrics. So, what you need to know is how to be creative, how to develop a voice and style that is unlike any other.

Of course, this is not easy. It can take years of practice and writing to develop an unmistakeable and uncanny writing style.

But, hopefully, by the end of this article you will have discovered the following:

Learn how to write the why (you know why you want to enter this program, but how do you say it)
The differences between average writing and great writing
How to incorporate experiences, important events, emotions, people and other perspectives into your writing

Before we get to helping you find your voice, the ERAS system has a few requirements that you should know, which can help you format and structure your statement so you don’t go over the word length or use the wrong format. Word and page limits can seem daunting, like walls closing in on you.

But they can actually be quite useful. Knowing you can only use a certain number of words should help you during the editing process, where the word limit will make you less afraid to remove words, sentences and paragraphs that you don’t need. But keep whatever you take out and use it in your interview or supplemental essays, if the program requires them.

The length of an ERAS personal statement is generally one page. In words, that’s about 500-600 words. The other format requirements include:

Write your statement in plain text in either Notepad (for Windows) or Text Edit (for Apple)
Write your statement directly into the online dialog box

These are all the technical ERAS personal statement requirements you need to know. But one thing we need to make clear, before we get to anything, is to give yourself a lot of time. You should start following these steps at least six months before you actually have to submit your application; taking into account all your rough drafts, rewrites, editing, asking for advice and letting others read your statement.

Now, let’s focus on how to start your personal statement, which can involve many different steps and strategies.

Finding Your Voice

You’re a smart, accomplished medical school graduate. We don’t have to explain what the ERAS is or how important it is, because you know all that. However, after years of working with hundreds of residency candidates like you, who we helped get into their programs, we know a thing or two about writing residency personal statements , and writing, in general.

And the first thing we want to say about writing an ERAS personal statement is:

Take the pressure off.

Think of writing your statement as seeing a friend or visiting a relative you haven’t seen in a long time. It’s an opportunity. You can finally say all the things you’ve bottled up inside or internalized from the four amazing and chaotic years you just had (longer, if you’re a non-traditional medical school applicant or took a gap year before residency ).

The pressure you and everyone else puts on you leads to panic and desperation. It leads to rushed, uninteresting, forgettable statements. It leads to cliches ( I’ve always wanted to be a doctor because I want to help people ). You don’t want that. The people reading your statement don’t want that.

How do you take the pressure off?

Feel proud of all you’ve accomplished up to this point. You’ve done a lot! Look at your diploma, or a research project you participated in. Look over your old medical school personal statements and see how you have changed, and what is different about you now.

Let that give you the confidence you need to write confidently about all you’ve accomplished and all you still want to accomplish. But everything in moderation. Seeming arrogant or boastful is not good either.

Then, think about your failures. Pour water on all those cocky impulses by remembering when you completely failed your first block of exams or how an anatomy class left you in a haze of details you couldn’t remember.

This is you creating a voice. The good and bad. Complex, and interesting.

Working on your ERAS letter of recommendation?

Pre-Writing

After you’ve relaxed, and gotten into the right mindset, start thinking about what you want to write.

There are a few basics you should cover in your statement, such as:

Why this program?
Why this specialty?
What makes you special, as a person, future resident, and physician?
What have you done to show your commitment to medicine, or this specialty?
Why medicine?

But here we return to the how . You know why you want to enter this residency (good reputation, expert faculty, etc.) but the trick is saying it in a meaningful and substantive way.

And here opinions differ.

Some suggest stating your reasons for wanting to enter the program right away in the opening or the second paragraph. But that method runs the risk of turning the rest of the statement into a recitation of your CV:

I want to join this residency because of this....

And here’s why...

We recommend beginning with a bit of your background first.

Talk about who you are (background; family); important moments in your life that made you choose medicine. Then talk about your progress; things you’ve learned (academically or personally) that have changed you; things that have influenced you to follow this branch of medicine, whether it be people, a class you took, a book, film, piece of music, or article you read.

Keep going forward in time until you reach the last few paragraphs where you tie everything together and state clearly and plainly why you are interested in this program, and what you would give to the program.

To recap, and this is optional, you can choose to use another outline:

Something interesting about yourself (opening)
Why medicine, or an “inciting incident” that made you choose medicine (second paragraph)
Show what you did because your specialty excites you or makes you curious
Talk about how the program reflects your interests, and how you connect to its mission

Start Writing

Then, start writing. Write anything and write often. Write. Every. Day.

Don’t fall into the trap of “waiting for inspiration” or “not feeling it today”. You have to sit down and spend all those uncomfortable hours in front of a blank page to write something great.

It’s good practice to help you develop a rhythm, style, and, discipline.

If you’re not sure what to write about, write about your firsts (first day of medical school, first biochemistry class, first interaction with a patient, etc.) When writing use active voice in the beginning and short sentences (here is where writing histories and note-taking will help you).

If you have a memory or first in mind, establish other details.

Where was it? Who was it with? What did it involve? What did you do?

Give the reader details that you remember and try to be as accurate as possible.

The more detail you include gives your readers insight into what you remember or think of as important (sounds, smells, colors) and that most importantly, you pay attention to detail; something extremely important in medicine.

And, at this point, don’t worry about word or page lengths.

Those don’t matter now. You can cut it all later. In fact, write more than the page or word count to give yourself a lot of material and then cut down later. The same way directors shoot hours and hours of film, only to whittle it all down to a few seconds.

With all this in mind, we’ll do something a little different. We’ll write a poor opening paragraph so you can compare your writing to something objectively bad.

We’ll provide the details like setting, people, and a short example to show what we mean.

The body of your statement is next. Referring to the questions above, it is in the body of your statement where you show, don’t tell. Just as Alice was about to mention her work organizing people to lobby Congress, in the middle of your statement is where can talk about a singular achievement, experience, person, event that put you on the path to this residency program. Since you have word limits, you usually want to talk about only one experience; you can mention other experiences in other statements you write to other programs or residency interviews .

But basically, you want the middle of your statement to be where you demonstrate how you’ve lived up to the ideals of the program you are entering; whether it was through opening a new line of investigation in a field of research. But don’t be lulled into thinking you have to mention something academic, scientific or related to medical science. You can talk about something personal that moved you – for example, in Alice’s case, it could be something like this:

I created an impromptu Facebook group of families living with diabetes, and we started sharing what we all did to get cheaper insulin. Some people went all the way to Mexico, or Canada to get cheaper insulin. And some, unfortunately, choose not to get their medication because they simply couldn’t afford it. With the support of my group, I contacted my Representative in Congress and asked what I could do to bring attention to this issue at the federal level.

She told me that the Senate committee that oversees the pharmaceutical industry was meeting so and that I should attend with my group. We all went to Washington, and it was during a break in one of the sessions when I started a conversation with a prominent endocrinologist, Dr. Sarah Capito. When I told her I was in medical school, she asked where I was going to do my residency. I told her I hadn’t decided yet, and she suggested NYU Grossman, if I was passionate about pediatric diabetes and endocrinology.

But we can cut this down.

I created an impromptu Facebook group of families living with diabetes, and we started sharing thinking about what we could do to get cheaper insulin. what we all did to get cheaper insulin. Some people went all the way to Mexico, or Canada to get cheaper insulin. And some, unfortunately, choose not to get their medication because they simply couldn’t afford it. With the support of my group,. To cover all my bases, I contacted my Representative in Congress and asked what I could do to bring attention to this issue at the federal level.

She told me that the Senate committee that oversees the pharmaceutical industry was meeting soon and that I should attend with my group. We all went to Washington, an In Washington, during a break in the session, I started a conversation with a woman who I later realized was a prominent endocrinologist, Dr. Sarah Capito. When I told her I was in medical school. During our conversation, she asked where I was going to do my residency. I told her I hadn’t decided yet, and she suggested NYU Grossman, if I was passionate about pediatric diabetes, endocrinology, and drug policy.

Of course, you won’t have this same exact experience. We are using this example to illustrate that it is better to show than to tell what you did, but your example could be something much smaller, but still, significant. Pull from anything you still remember vividly, preferably from your recent past, not from when you were a teenager or undergraduate.

Once you feel like you have relayed your passion and dedication to your specialty, then, you need to connect that passion to the program you are applying to. In Alice’s example, a single individual got her interested in NYU, but the final paragraphs should reveal what Alice has discovered on her own about the program, and what about it ultimately appeals to her.

You need to do the same. Research the program inside and out and take notes while you are researching. Jot down all the interesting facts and lines of research current residents are involved in or past residents did. At the end is where you also want to demonstrate a very important quality: humility.

Yes, you’ve accomplished a lot. You finished medical school and, in Alice’s case, you’ve shown your commitment to your field and improving lives, but you also want to talk about what you want to do after you finish your residency. What’s next? And here you can talk about what you still want to investigate, or how you plan to take an interdisciplinary approach to investigate something that interests you, or describe how you see yourself as a future physician.

Let’s use Alice’s case:

NYU Grossman was not on my radar, but when Dr. Capito mentioned it, I became intrigued. I researched the program and found out that Dr. Capito was right, NYU Grossman hosts one of the best diabetes research programs in the country. Not only that, but research and instruction in performed at each of the medical school’s various branches throughout New York City, and the thought of living in New York City, while following my interests to investigate how to revise the diagnostic criteria for juvenile diabetes, which does not take into account the rapid rise in childhood obesity that took place after these criteria was established, and what role socio-economic factors play into children developing diabetes, is something that appeals to me.

But let’s cut it down:

NYU Grossman was not on my radar, but when Dr. Capito mentioned it, I became intrigued. I researched the program and found out that Dr. Capito was right. I was delighted to read that NYU Grossman hosts one of the best diabetes research programs in the country. Not only that, but research and instruction is performed at each of the medical school’s various branches throughout New York City, which is something that would aid my research in determining the socio-economic factors that play into children developing diabetes.

And then, for the finish:

No one in my family thought my brother would ever develop diabetes, and even though I was prepared to shoulder the burden for him and my parents, I want to discover ways to prevent diabetes in young children so it does not become a burden to anyone. I would like to improve diagnostic and management protocols to identify risk factors and ultimately reduce the number of children diagnosed with diabetes each year. By combining my personal experiences with my passion for research, I am confident that I will be at the forefront of advancing pediatric endocrinology and making significant contributions to the field.

Alice’s full, revised ERAS personal statement:

My younger brother’s diabetes diagnosis was my unofficial introduction into pediatrics. I was the one that had to take care of him. I was the one that had to inject him with insulin and show him how to inject himself, if necessary. I was the one who had to make sure that he stuck to his diet. I was the one that had to make sure we always had orange juice or other sugary foods in our house, just in case.

But I loved every minute of it. I felt good taking the burden off my parents who were busy at their respective jobs; my father, a construction worker; my mother, a hairdresser. However, as my brother and I grew into adulthood, he became more adept at taking care of himself, and I had already decided on a career in medicine. But when I was in medical school, I started to wonder what else I could do to help people with diabetes.

I did some research online and discovered that insulin is much cheaper in other countries for a variety of reasons. I learned that the exorbitant cost of insulin forces some diabetics to forego this life-saving medicine. Learning that made me feel like I had to do something. I created an impromptu Facebook group of families living with diabetes, and we started thinking about what we could do to get cheaper insulin.

To cover all my bases, I contacted my Representative in Congress and asked what I could do to bring attention to this issue at the federal and regulatory level. She told me that the Senate committee that oversees the pharmaceutical industry was meeting soon and that I should attend with my group to voice my concerns. In Washington, during a break in the session, I started a conversation with a woman who I later realized was an endocrinologist, Dr. Sarah Capito.

During our conversation, she asked where I was going to do my residency. I told her I hadn’t decided yet, and she suggested NYU Grossman, if I was passionate about pediatric diabetes, endocrinology, and drug policy. NYU Grossman was not on my radar, but when Dr. Capito mentioned it, I became intrigued.

I was delighted to read that NYU Grossman hosts both a top-notch pediatrics program but also one of the best diabetes research programs in the country. Not only that, but research and instruction are done at each of the medical school’s various branches throughout New York City, which is something that would aid my research in determining the socio-economic factors that play into children developing diabetes.

I want to ultimately combine my interest in pediatrics with endocrinology to discover ways to prevent diabetes in young children. I would like to improve diagnostic and management protocols to identify risk factors and ultimately reduce the number of children diagnosed with diabetes each year. I feel that by combining my personal experiences with my passion for research, I am confident that I will be at the forefront of advancing pediatric endocrinology and making significant contributions to the field.

Total Word Count: 504

Total Characters (no spaces): 2,374

This example covers all the things that we talked about as essential in an ERAS personal statement:

A revealing opening
An inciting incident, although we introduced it in the opening
Showing, not telling
Explaining why you are interested in your field
Connecting your mission and skills with the program’s mission

But let’s write another applicant profile, and use the same formula to write about another program and candidate.

Don’t put any more pressure on yourself than you already feel; approach writing your statement calmly, and confident that you have the knowledge, experience, and writing skills to write a great statement.
Start as early as possible thinking about what you want to write about; write multiple drafts and let others read your work; but don’t let anyone write your statement for you.
Develop your writing skills by writing every day; make it a part of your routine; even a page or a few paragraphs is enough to make you feel like you did something.
For content, think about all your past experiences in medical school; think about things that made you feel real emotion (anger, shame, fear, joy) and focus on the details about that experience (who was involved? What happened? When did it happen? And, most importantly, how did it change you?)
Don’t use cliches; be original.
Put everything in context; or, put another way, make everything connect; don’t dwell on irrelevant details; mention the specific event, person, or experience and keep moving forward.

There aren’t many ERAS personal statement requirements for you to follow, but the point of writing your residency personal statement is explaining in rich, and concise detail, why you are interested in this specialty, program, and how you have prepared for it. You should write your statement relaxed and think of it in the same way you would an interview. Write as many drafts as possible and continue editing until you have a tight, coherent story.

Yes, but technically you are writing the personal statement for the residency program, it is only being uploaded to ERAS as part of your residency application, similar how you are asked to upload an AMCAS personal statement , but it has nothing to do with the service itself. But all residency programs ask for a personal statement, or letter of intent, in some cases, and you have to submit one.

The program you are applying to may have specific format or length requirements. Check with them to be sure, but if none is listed, try to aim for a maximum of 500 words or less.

You can talk about a lot of things in your ERAS personal statement, but you should focus on why you want to pursue your specialty, what you are looking for most in a residency program , why you want to train at this particular program, and what has influenced your decision to pursue both. You should focus on the time you spent at medical school and not go too deep into your past, unless its relevant to your choice of residency. Use your emotions, and experiences as stepping stones to talk about the actions you took to be an ideal residency candidate.

Do not recite your research resume or residency CV ; do not disparage or speak ill of other specialties or programs; do not boast or be arrogant. Do not use unprofessional language. Do not talk in length about your past. Do not dwell on these events, but use them to move your narrative forward to a logical conclusion.

Yes, it matters a lot. With that said, if your application is lackluster in other areas, a great personal statement may not (or may, you never know) won’t make much of a difference to the residency directors. However, if your application is otherwise stellar, a poorly-written personal statement can sink your chances.

You should write a different personal statement for each program you apply to. Yes, that seems like a lot of work, but putting in the work to create new statements show dedication and passion and helps you improve your writing skills overall.

No. If you think AI can help you write a residency statement, try using it and see what comes out. AI can only write according to the parameters you introduce. It does not have memories, experiences, and emotions. The best AI can give you is a generic, uninteresting blob of words that lacks the humanity all residency directors are looking for. The time and effort you put into humanizing an AI-generated statement could instead be put into writing it yourself, with a much better result.

There are no set requirements other than typing your personal statement in plain text so you can transfer it to the online dialog box on the ERAS application. The format and content requirements are set by the program you want to enter, but they often center around questions such as, “ what do you hope to gain from our residency program? ” and similar questions about your goals and intentions.

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Are you dealing with an ERAS personal statement for the first time? It’s not a simple document, and while you’re at it, you must make sure that yours stands out among other candidates .

I’m here to tell you what unsuccessful applicants do — not pay attention to miscellaneous details in the process, such as writing their residency personal statement !

Perhaps you’re searching for how to write one like a pro. If so, then stay put and read on to achieve a captivating personal statement and have a good shot at getting the interview!

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Table Of Contents

What Is The ERAS Personal Statement?

Getting into the best residency program is vital for every medical professional. Not only will it add substantial value to your career, but it will also help you grow in more ways than you think.

You might be thinking about how exactly you get accepted into one. It would be best if you focused on writing a well-crafted personal statement for residency , among other things.

A personal statement is a one-page essay articulating who you are and why you want to be part of your chosen specialty .

An ERAS personal statement is essential to the whole ERAS application process. It must create an ideal picture of you as a candidate and why program directors should consider your application despite the limited slots available.

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How To Write A Good ERAS Personal Statement

An ERAS personal statement should very much remind you of essay writing — it follows a logical order and requires distinctive sections such as an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Step #1 Start With An Outline

Too many ideas can cloud our heads, and they can sabotage our personal statements. To keep our thoughts organized, writing an outline is the best way to start !

Step #2 Lead With Details

As I’ve mentioned, a residency personal statement must be concise — under 3,500 characters plus the spaces are enough, but it creates constraints.

For a good introduction, you may want to start with an anecdote to hook your readers . You may describe an experience or a situation related to your specialty.

The point here is to pin a unique story to build momentum. My additional tip for you is to write straightforwardly but be as detailed as possible !

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Step #3 Connect Your Narrative To The Main Topic

One way to keep a reader invested is by being a compelling storyteller . The body portion of your statement is the perfect place to develop transitions.

This is the section where you must describe what kind of medical specialist you aspire to be . You may also add the interests that made you pursue the specialty .

Your personal statement’s body can be of two sections or paragraphs — one for discussing your specialty and the other for your advocacy.

Step #4 Tie Them All Together

Your last paragraph should leave program committees with an understanding of who you are and your reasons for applying .

Keep this short and precise.

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Does The Personal Statement Matter For Residency?

Some people think a personal statement is only for formality, and most directors would not take the time to read them thoroughly.

Yet, according to the 2021 NRMP Program Director Survey , the personal statement ranks second with 83.8 percent in terms of deciding whom the program directors want to interview !

Regardless of what others may think, a personal statement can be your gateway to acquiring an interview if it’s appealing enough. Moreover, you may want to keep an eye on your letters of recommendation as it ranks first in the 2021 survey .

However, presenting good letters of recommendation only offers qualitative information. The personal statement allows you to make a case about yourself in qualitative terms directly.

To answer the question of whether a personal statement matters for your residency application, of course, it does! Note that a poorly-written personal statement could hurt your firm application, but a good one could help you advance to the interviews.

What Should I Put In My ERAS Personal Statement?

Remember that a sound ERAS personal statement is not a hundred percent about what you do but better about who you are and how you present your passion, skills, and ambitions .

Your personal statement should contain information not found in your resume — it should offer new details about you . It must highlight what uniquely ties you with your specialty .

Try answering one or two of the queries below and convince the program directors that you are a good fit for them.

What are your long-term or career plans?
What outside interests do you have?
What are your grounds for choosing the specific specialty?
What accomplishments do you want to emphasize?
What contributions can you provide to the residency program?

These elements give program directors information about who you are on a deeper level and what kind of associate you would be if you become part of their team.

You may also add a story to spice up your personal statement.

How Long Should An ERAS Personal Statement Be?

There are no specific word counts or number of paragraphs you need to follow to perfect your ERAS personal statement.

You may write long passages but only for proofreading purposes. Chances are, you still have to chop and delete some unnecessary words or phrases.

You know what they say, “less talk, less mistakes.” You don’t have to make your personal statement too long just to prove a point.

More likely, if your personal statement is too long, they won’t take the time to read it. One page single-spaced personal statement could be enough.

The format of your personal statement can be about four paragraphs. Make sure it’s short, precise, and easy to read.

More importantly, the length of your ERAS personal statement should not be your only concern. Plagiarism and grammar must also be on your list of priorities.

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What Are the Things To Avoid In Writing An ERAS Personal Statement?

After knowing what to put and what to write, it’s time to understand what things you should avoid in writing an ERAS personal statement.

Incorrect Grammar, Spelling, And Punctuation

Check your grammar thoroughly! There are plenty of free apps that may help you with this one.

SpellCheckPlus and Grammarly are some tools you might want to familiarize yourself with to be a better writer.

Don’t overcomplicate your sentences. Make sure not to give your readers a hard time decoding what you’re trying to say.

More importantly, try not to sound like a thesaurus. Be as authentic as you can.

An ERAS Personal Statement Should Not Be Like A Resume

Think of it this way, your CV or resume is the fancy, polished, and summarized version of you in a paper . Your personal statement is your chance to be more personal, honest, and vulnerable .

Give the program directors the chance to connect with you, so don’t just list off your accomplishments and focus exclusively on the momentous shiny parts of your life.

Don’t Make Someone Else The Hero

Yes, you may talk about a few people who have influenced you , but make sure you’re still the story’s main character! It’s a “personal” statement for a reason, not “someone else’s” essay!

When you re-read your personal statement and realize that you have a whole paragraph talking about someone else, scratch them and write a new one.

Don’t Whine In Your ERAS Personal Statement

You can write about the challenges you’ve encountered in your life or how much you’ve grown, but don’t spend too much time discussing how tough you’ve had it . After all, you’re vying for respect, not pity.

Additionally, if you’re talking about overcoming a specific challenge, make sure to focus on them, not just simply brush over it.

Don’t Put Anything Irrelevant

A lack of focus is one of the most common issues in any type of writing. Don’t throw in any information that isn’t relevant to your story.

Every sentence you write must contribute to the overall point of the personal statement . Unless you’re planning to dig deeper into details, it’s much better not to include them.

Should I Put My Red Flags In The Personal Statement?

This question heavily depends on what red flag you’re talking about. As much as we all want to be as honest as we can, sometimes, leaving out some details is the best way to do it.

Putting situations like having a low passing grade on your exams is not something the program committee would want to hear from a medical candidate.

On the other hand, let’s say you failed your first exam on the first try. Don’t make excuses; take ownership of why and what happened , and explain what you’ve learned from such circumstances .

Honestly, it’s all about how serious the red flag is and how far you can explain yourself as truthful and mature.

Do I Need To Hire A Professional To Write An ERAS Personal Statement For Me?

The truth is, you don’t need to hire a professional to write your residency personal statement . As the name suggests, writing one can be done by you personally.

Although you don’t need one, hiring a professional writer who knows what they are doing might help you progress . Take note that writing an ERAS personal statement is not as easy as it sounds.

If you don’t feel like engaging with a professional, try at least asking for others’ opinions regarding your personal statement . This way, you’d receive constructive feedback to further enhance what you’ve written.

I’m not talking about random friends here. Make sure you’re asking the right people — friends who have gone through the ERAS application cycle or faculty with whom you have developed a relationship.

When Should I Start Writing My ERAS Personal Statement?

Give yourself plenty of time to write. Start as early as now !

Most of the time, our first writing draft is not the best one. Generally speaking, you should start working on your residency personal statement as early as possible to have more time for a couple of revisions .

Edit your residency personal statement and proofread it carefully. Remember that every word counts, so take time to edit them until you’re fully satisfied.

Can I Edit My Residency Personal Statement After Uploading It To The ERAS?

Yes, you won’t have to worry about last-minute corrections. ERAS allows applicants to edit their personal statements anytime , but only during the application season!

Although we want to expose the best things about ourselves, sometimes, writing less is more. Always remember that program directors have limited time, so don’t make your ERAS personal statement hard to read at first glance.

Most importantly, a solid residency personal statement may or may not guarantee an interview, but a poorly-crafted one will indeed comprise your shot at the residency program.

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If this blog has assisted you in some ways, I’m sure you’ll learn more from these other content:

How To Write A Medical School Letter Of Intent
How To Write A Thank You Note After A Residency Interview
How Tanya Went From C’s To Being A Top Student [Case Study]
How To Apply As A Nontraditional Medical Student [Ultimate Guide]
Medical School Interview Outfits
5 Crazy Ways AI Can Improve Your Life As A Med Student

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Writing the Perfect Residency Personal Statement

If you’re in your third year of medical school, it’s time to sharpen your personal statement writing skills again for the ERAS application .

The good news is you already wrote a great one that got you accepted into medical school ! Now, you’ll need to dig deep and channel the same creative spirit that was there about 3 years ago.

Many applicants are looking for a special formula for writing a personal statement . But here’s the truth: There’s no secret formula. A fantastic residency personal statement includes well-written storytelling detailing your experiences as a medical student and why you’re an excellent fit for the residencies you’re applying to.

In this article, we’ll talk about inspiration, length, structure, and dynamic writing. Let’s dive in.

What is the ERAS personal statement, and why do you need to write one?

Your residency personal statement is similar to your medical school personal statement in that it’s your chance to directly make a case for yourself . Residency program directors use these essays to get to know you beyond your CV. They can only learn so much about you from your medical education history.

Most of the information program directors use to determine if you’re a good fit is quantitative — GPAs, USMLE scores, etc. Odds are, these numbers will be fairly similar across the board.

What sets you apart from other applicants will be qualitative — your personal experiences and career goals, whether you’re hard-working or a team player.

What should you include in your residency personal statement ?

In your residency personal statement , include your experiences and interests that have driven your ambition to mature as a medical professional.

Take time to think about what qualities you’d expect in an exemplary physician. Then, create a list of topics reflecting these qualities from your background.

Create a list of ideas of what to write from these prompts:

Memorable or “a-ha” moments during medical school (including specific rotations ) that changed the way you think about medicine.
Volunteering or non-profit work.
Your greatest skills and qualities and how you use them when practicing medicine.
Specific instances of when you used strong teamwork skills.
A personal anecdote that isn’t included on a resume, like an elective that led to an unexpected encounter with a patient that you won’t forget.
Professors, mentors , family, friends, or anyone else that has inspired your path.
Your goals in your future career.
Reasons you are drawn to your specialty.
Meaningful experiences in medical school or extracurriculars .
Your most commendable achievements.

Why did you choose your specialty?

When you explain why you chose a specialty, discuss the reasons why you enjoy that specialty and how your strengths will apply to your future career.

Make your answer heartfelt and honest. If your only reasons are money and the lifestyle, your chances of an interview with the program directors will plummet.

Answer these questions while brainstorming :

What appeals to you about this specialty?
Did past experiences or clinicals influence your decision for this program?
What do you believe are the most important qualities for a physician in this specialty? How have you begun to cultivate these qualities in yourself?
Are there future goals you want to achieve in this specialty?
Have you done any research related to this field or the advancement of this specialty?

How long should a personal statement be for residency?

The personal statement essay section on ERAS allows for 28,000 characters (about 5 pages).

Our advice? Don’t max out your character count.

Program directors must read the demographics, transcripts, MSPE, experiences section, personal statement , and letters of recommendation before making a decision. That’s a lot of reading.

Your goal is to make your point concisely — writing about a page plus a paragraph is the sweet spot.

Personal Statement Structure

Many applicants don’t know where to start, so we suggest breaking the essay into bite-sized pieces. Use a standard 4-5 paragraph structure. This way, you’ve got small, manageable goals.

Write your residency personal statement using:

An introduction paragraph.
2-3 paragraphs to expand on your theme.
A conclusion paragraph to tie it all together.

Introduction

Draw the reader in with a story or anecdote, and introduce a theme. A narrative voice works well here to engage the reader and get them interested.

Don’t tell an extensive story; provide just enough to provide context and introduce a theme.

Body Paragraphs (2-3)

Explore and expand on the central theme of your personal statement . You can talk about the traits or life experiences that will make you good at family medicine , dermatology , or whatever specialty you’re pursuing.

Ensure you’re being specific to the specialty — you don’t need to prove you’ll be a good doctor so much as a good doctor in the field you’re applying to .

Wrap everything up and end with a “bang.” The conclusion should serve to bring all your points together in one place. When I say end with a “bang,” I mean to finish strong .

Stating: “For the reasons above, I believe I will make an excellent internist, ” doesn’t leave the reader with much.

Try something a bit more passionate, idealistic, and enthusiastic. Here’s an example:

“ Internal medicine is centered around improving lives, orchestrating, and managing complex patient care . To me, the true challenge is in the art of internal medicine — to tailor to patients’ needs to maximize their health and improve their overall quality of life.”

With this approach to the structure of your personal statement , the essay becomes more manageable. You can set yourself mini-assignments by just developing one component at a time. Complete one portion each week, and you’ll be done by the end of the month!

Should a residency personal statement have a title?

There is no hard and fast rule about whether a residency personal statement should have a title. Ultimately, the decision about whether or not to include a title in your personal statement is up to you.

Consider these factors when deciding whether or not to include a title:

A good title can serve as a headline for the reader, making your essay stand out before they even start reading.
A good title can make your statement stand out and help it to be more memorable.
On the other hand, a poorly chosen or overly generic title could actually detract from your personal statement.

Most residency programs do not require, or even want, a title for personal statements. Be sure to check the program’s guidelines before including one.

If you do choose to include a title, make sure it is relevant, concise, and impactful. Avoid overly generic or cliche titles, and focus on conveying the main message or theme of your personal statement.

It is less common to have a title, so if you do it right, you may stand out from the crowd.

How To Make Your Personal Statement Stand Out

Take time to brush up on your writing skills to make your personal statement stand out .

These skills may not have been your focus in the last few years, but concisely expressing your dedication to the specialty will retain a program director ’s attention.

Oh, and always remember to proofread and check your grammar! If you specifically prompt ChatGPT to “review your personal statement for grammar and punctuation only,” it does a pretty good job.

Just be sure not to have AI write your personal statement, as it doesn’t know your stories, and can’t convey your sentiment, tone, or emotion.

Language and Vocabulary

The simpler, the better. Hand your essay to a friend or family member to proofread. If they have to stop and look up any word, it’s probably the wrong word choice. Maybe it’s the perfect word for the sentence, but anything that distracts the reader from the content is a problem.

Avoid the following:

Contractions. Contractions are informal language. They aren’t appropriate for applications or professional writing.
“Really” as in “I really learned a lot.” Try the word “truly” instead. It sounds more sincere.
“Really” or “very” as in “it was a really/very great experience.” Here, “really” is a qualifier that holds the place of a better word choice; e.g., Really great = fantastic, wonderful, exquisite; Very important = paramount, momentous, critical.

Simple sentence structure is usually the best. Follow these rules:

Avoid quotations if you can. This is your essay, and it should focus on what you have to say, not someone else. There may be exceptions to this rule (like a statement a professor made that changed the course of your medical career), but these are rare.
Punctuate correctly. Misplaced commas or a missing period can distract a reader from your content. If grammar isn’t your strong suit, have a friend (or a spellchecker like Grammarly) check your essay for errors.

Avoid Clichés

Saying you want to go into pediatrics because you love kids might be true, but it’s also a given. Everyone going into healthcare is interested in helping people.

This is your opportunity to make it more personal. Talk about the life experiences that have uniquely informed your career path and what makes you different from every other med student trying to get a residency interview .

Don’t Make It Too Complicated

Be simple, straight to the point, and authentic.

Aim for clear wording that communicates your central theme. If you talk about your professional future and goals, they should be realistic and carefully considered. Your goal is to leave program directors with a strong impression of your character and maturity.

Try Dynamic Writing

Dynamic writing is all about feel and rhythm. Even good content written poorly can come out flat. Here are some cues to evaluate and improve your writing:

Read your writing out loud. Do you have to catch your breath in the middle of a sentence? If so, the sentence is too long and needs some additional punctuation, editing, or to be split up.
Vary your sentence structure and/or the length of the sentences. When you’re reading, do you feel like there is a repetitive rhythm? This usually results from too many short sentences stacked on top of each other.

Be Prepared To Revise Your Statement

You’ve done this part before. Once the bulk of your statement is done, have someone else read it, then start revising. The great thing about the revision process is that you don’t have to write the first draft perfectly.

If you can afford it, consider working with a professional team for help with the residency application process , including personal statement editing.

Our friends at MedSchoolCoach can help you with personal statement editing.

Should you write multiple ERAS personal statements ?

Write a residency personal statement relevant to each specialty you apply to, each with a clearly stated goal.

While it’s a good idea to write a personal statement for every specialty you apply to, you don’t have to write one for each specific program . Maybe you have research experience in a few different specialties and aren’t sure where you’ll get residency training .

A blanket personal statement to cover all specialties is bland at best and, at worst, a red flag . Your interest in becoming an OB/GYN should be informed by different experiences than your interest in anesthesiology or plastic surgery .

Anyone who reads your personal statement should have all the relevant information for integrating you into their program. Don’t overshare experiences or learnings from irrelevant rotations , classes, or experiences.

Let’s say you send your personal statement to a program director for a radiology residency program . If he reads that you’re torn between radiology and emergency medicine , is he more likely to accept you, or an applicant who seems all-in for his program’s specialty?

Ready to write? Get your residency personal statement prepared!

It’s time to knock out that first paragraph ! We have given you the structure and tools to write a personal statement that reflects your strengths. Remember, there’s no formula for the perfect personal statement , but there are tried and true methods for strong writing.

Schedule a free consultation with MedSchoolCoach to see how we can help you increase your chances of matching into the residency of your choice.

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The Perfect Personal Statement ERAS: Your Ticket to Residency

Some Reflections on the Importance of Personal Statement ERAS

There are several fundamental opinions on compiling various applications. Some believe that a good personal statement ERAS is one of the most critical parts of your application package and this makes the difference between getting the desired confirmation or rejection. Another opinion is that although it is an integral part of admission, this is not what is too much to rely on, as the committees do not review these papers as closely as people think.

The truth is always in the middle, and the most important thing to get from these two opinions is that your document should be good. Why? Because in any case, your application will be viewed, and if it is, so to say, standard and will meet all requirements of the format, it will not cause any questions and perhaps be able to draw attention to your candidacy and add you a couple of points. But if you think writing an ERAS personal statement is just a formality and you can ignore some requirements, this will certainly pay attention. And here you can be sure it will become a problem.

Therefore, it is better to put aside thinking and philosophizing about the importance of personal application and do everything as it should and correctly.

Where to Start Your ERAS Personal Statement

Let’s start with the basics and briefly explain or remind you what ERAS is, who uses it, and how to prepare your personal statement for ERAS on this platform to benefit from it.

ERAS is an electronic residency application service, through which you submit all the necessary documents for ERAS® residency applicants and can receive feedback on the status of your application. It streamlines the application process by allowing applicants to simultaneously submit their materials, including applications, to multiple programs. But where do you start when it comes to preparing your personal statement ERAS?

Oddly enough, the hardest part is getting started. Put away the fear of a blank slate and transfer your thoughts to a draft. Think about the qualities making you a unique and attractive candidate. Identify key moments or encounters which ignited your passion.
Then do thorough research on the programs of your interest. Become familiar with the missions, values, and desired qualities of applicants. This knowledge will help you tailor your application to meet their expectations and demonstrate your appropriatness for their program.
Also, seek feedback and advice from mentors, professors, or health professionals who can offer valuable advice and guidance. Engage in self-reflection and brainstorming to organize your thoughts and ideas.

By beginning your preparation with self-reflection, research, and seeking recommendations, you will be well on your way to writing a compelling personal statement and demonstrating your unique qualities to residency programs.

Regarding the logical question about ERAS personal statement how to submit it we can note the following. Applications are submitted through the MyERAS Personal Application, a secure online platform that simplifies the residency application process and gives candidates a clear understanding of deadlines and requirements.

Optimal ERAS Personal Statement Length

This is quite a contra version that causes a lot of debate among future residents. Namely, a lot or a little volume is allocated to writing the application.

The standard ERAS personal statement length is usually about one page. This is sufficient to convey your motivations, experiences, and goals objectively and clearly while ensuring that your text is concise and focused. It is important to adhere to these length guidelines, as exceeding the recommended ERAS personal statement word count can lead to your work being ignored or marked as unsuccessful.

On the other hand, a personal statement ERAS length which is too short, can give the impression that you have nothing to say about yourself and lack the necessary qualities. Strike a balance between sufficient detail and brevity to maximize the impact of your statement on ERAS.

How Long Should ERAS Personal Statement Be?

As we said earlier, your personal statement should fit on one page. When it comes to the ERAS personal statement character limit, it has remained the same. Your application should be no less than 750 and no more than 900 characters. It is important to follow these length guidelines as closely as possible. Note, the documents with excessive word count will be shortened automatically or may be canceled.

General ERAS Personal Statement Requirements

While most of the ERAS requirements relate to the formatting and length of submissions, it is also important to consider the specifics of your submissions. The system is not as strict on the context of a personal statement , but the quality of it is essential, first of all, to attract the attention of admissions committees and your success.

Your personal statement ERAS should present a compelling narrative that demonstrates your passion, highlights your relevant experience, and highlights your unique qualities as a candidate. Be clear and concise in your self-presentation, ensuring your ideas flow logically and coherently. Also, emphasize your personal growth and the lessons you’ve learned along your medical journey. Use specific examples to highlight your strengths and show how those experiences influenced your decision to apply for residency.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The text of the ERAS personal statement is not too long and does not take more than a page, but even in this small field, you can make many mistakes that prevent you from getting the desired result.

Lack of focus: Don’t try to cover too many topics and instead focus on a few key impressions or qualities.
Poor structure: A disorganized and ignoring ERAS personal statement formatting structure can make your application’s narrative difficult to follow. Provide a logical flow, using paragraphs and transitions to make your message coherent.
Generic content: General statements lacking personalization and examples of personal experience may not be memorable. Instead, emphasize the unique skills and knowledge set you apart from other candidates.
Grammatical errors and typos: Neglecting to proofread your personal statement can undermine your professionalism and leave poor impression.

Requirements Regarding ERAS Personal Statement Formatting

The platform imposes strict requirements not only on the ERAS personal statement word limit but also has strict formatting requirements.

Font and size: Use a clear and legible font, such as Times New Roman or Arial. The recommended font size is usually 10-12 points to ensure readability.
Alignment and spacing: Left-align the text and use single spacing. Avoid using extra spacing between paragraphs or lines, as this can make your narrative look disjointed or elongated.
Paragraph structure: For better readability, divide your ERAS personal statement into paragraphs. Each paragraph should focus on a specific topic or idea; a blank line is recommended for visual separation between paragraphs.
Special characters and formatting styles: Avoid using special characters, symbols, or formatting styles (bold, italic, underline) in your statement. Stick to plain text (ASCII) formatting to ensure compatibility with various systems.

Remember also, that you need not only to know how long should ERAS personal statement be but also to ensure it’s free from any inconsistencies, grammatical errors, or typos. So proofread your application several times before and after formatting.

Red Flags Residency Personal Statement to Consider

Indeed you have already read a lot of expert advice and recommendations regarding creating a personal statement ERAS. And you know that there should be no lies, exaggerations, and deceit here. The same applies to red flags, which intimidate most applicants:

Lack of reflection and growth, e.g., if more than 5 years have passed from graduation to application, this is already a red flag.
Any academic gaps for several years related to your chosen major.
Negative attitudes, including bad experiences, past job failures, or toxicity to former colleagues.
Lack of connection to the program, e.g., lack of appropriate educational background or failure to demonstrate a genuine understanding of a particular program’s possibilities.
Lack of professionalism – such as clinical experience in the United States, essential to have while applying to U.S. residencies.

These ones are the most common red flags residency personal statement that most applicants want to hide. However, you should not do it. Instead, you must try to explain your position, turning your red flags into your zest.

Get Professional Help From Admission Experts

The requirements and features of eras applications are only easy for those who have processed hundreds of them, so it’s normal for you to need expert feedback or support. No matter what reason you need assistance with, whether it’s a desire to sort out red flags or the pursuit of perfectionism regarding ERAS personal statement requirements, our writing professionals are here to lend a helping hand 24/7.

With vast experience and a thorough understanding of all the nuances of the admission process, our writers are ready to work on your application, turning an ordinary document into an outstanding personal statement ERAS that will lead you to victory.

Leave all doubts behind and rely on us. Just a couple of lines asking for help, and all your writing issues will be solved!

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The Residency Personal Statement (2024/2025): The Insider’s Guide (with Examples)

A physician and former residency program director explains how to write your residency personal statement to match in to your top-choice residency program in 2025.

Read example residency personal statements and suggested outlines., introduction.

We have been working with residency applicants who successfully match into the programs and specialities of choice for more than 15 years and a key part of that success, is writing a compelling residency personal statement.

Having worked with so many applicants, we know you will get differing advice depending on who you ask. The key to our applicants’ success is that we understand how to write a residency personal statement that has broad appeal and will impress all types of readers.

The residency personal statement allows residency program directors and associate directors the chance to get a sense of who you are and your commitment to your chosen specialty.

As a former program director who understands how residency personal statements are reviewed, what “stands out,” and, most importantly, what will earn you interview invitations, the information below will help you write a residency personal statement to match!

It is imperative to make sure you get the most accurate guidance possible with regards to your residency personal statement content and optimal residency personal statement length (up to one page).

Want more personalized suggestions? Sign up for a FREE residency personal statement consultation .

Table of Contents

Goals for Writing Your 2025 Residency Personal Statement

Above all else, your residency personal statement offers the opportunity to show your interest in your chosen specialty when applying to residency to illustrate you are a good fit.

The more details you offer about why you are interested in the specialty and how your med school rotations, accomplishments and experiences have reinforced this interest, the stronger your personal statement will be, the more it will appeal to selection committees and the better you will do in the match process.

I encourage applicants to offer as much “evidence” as possible to “show” rather than “tell” what qualities, characteristics and interests they have. “Telling” a reader, for example, that you are compassionate and hard working means nothing. Instead, you must “show” that you embody these qualities based on your experiences in health care and the patients for whom you have cared.

The residency personal statement also offers the opportunity to write about who you are as a person to convey some details about your background, influences, and interests outside of your given specialty.

The Importance of a Balanced Residency Personal Statement

The key when writing your residency personal statement is to ensure that it is well-balanced so it appeals to a large group of people who might read your ERAS residency application.

However, it is important to understand that every program director and faculty member has his or her own idea of what he would like to read in a personal statement. As an applicant, you must go into this process understanding that you cannot please everyone, or a specific program, and your personal statement should therefore have the broadest appeal possible.

For example, some program directors would rather hear about your personal interests and curiosities and get to know who you are rather than have you focus on the specialty in which you are interested.

At MedEdits, we suggest taking a “middle of the road” approach; include some details about who you are but also focus on the specialty itself. In this way, you will make more traditional reviewers who want to hear about your interest in the specialty happy while also satisfying those who would rather learn about you as a person.

Above all, be authentic and true to yourself when writing your statement. This always leads to the best results! Read on to learn more about how to write a winning personal statement.

About MedEdits

Getting into a residency has never been more competitive. Founded by a former associate program director, the experts at MedEdits will make your residency personal statement shine. We’ve worked with more than 5,000 students and 94% have been matched to one of their top-choice programs.

Need Help With Your Residency Personal Statement?

Schedule a Free 15 Minute Consultation with a MedEdits expert.

Residency Personal Statement Outline & Structure

Residency applicants often do well when given outlines or templates to follow, so, we will offer that, but, it is important to realize that many applicants deviate from these rigid rules. One very typical outline that serves applicants quite well in the residency admissions process is:

Compose a catchy introduction. Your intro can be related to your interest in the specialty to which you are applying, about a hobby or personal experience, or about your background. Regardless of the topic you choose, you want to tell a story and start with something that will interest your reader and engage him.
The next two to four paragraphs comprise the body of your personal statement. We encourage applicants to write about any significant experiences they have had related to their desired specialty and/or future goals. This would include information about rotations, electives, and sub internships related to the specialty, volunteer and research experiences and even significant outside interests.
Finally, you want to conclude your essay. In your conclusion, write about what you seek in a residency program, what you will bring to a residency program, and, if you have any idea of your future career goals, write about those as well. Your conclusion is also where you can tailor a personal statement to a specific geographic area of interest or type of program (rural, urban, community).

Residency Personal Statement Length & Residency Personal Statement Word Limit

The allowed ERAS residency personal statement length is 28,000 characters which equates to about five pages!

We have been hearing from more and more applicants that the personal statement should not exceed one page when typed in to the ERAS application . Because of this overwhelming trend, we are supporting this guidance unless you have extenuating circumstances that require your personal statement be longer.

Our recommendation is that your residency personal statement be a maximum of 5300 characters with spaces.

ERAS Residency Personal Statement Checklist

Ensure your personal statement flows well

The best personal statements are easy to read, don’t make the reader think too much, and make your path and interests seem logical. Rarely does a personal statement have a theme. Also try to have each paragraph transition to the next seamlessly.

2. Your personal statement should be about you!

Your personal statement should be about you and no one else. Focus on your interests, your accomplishments and your path. This is your opportunity to be forthcoming about your achievements – by writing in detail about what you have done.

3. Be sure your personal statement clearly outlines your interest in the specialty.

Since the reader wants to be convinced of your understanding of, experience in, and curiosity about the specialty to which you are applying, be sure you highlight what you have done to explore your interest as well as your insights and observations about the specialty to show your understanding of it.

4. Make it human.

Again, your personal statement should be about you! The reader wants to know who you are, where you are from, what your interests are and who you are outside of medicine. Therefore, try to include those details about your background that are intriguing or important to you.

5. Express your interest in the specialty.

The reader fundamentally wants to know why you are pursuing the specialty. The more details you offer the more convincing you are about your commitment and your understanding of the specialty. Be sure to include details that might seem obvious. For example, in emergency medicine you must like acute care, but try to include more nuanced details about your interest, too. What aspects of the diagnoses and pathologies involved do you enjoy? What do you value about the actual work you will do? How do you feel about the patients for whom you will care?

6. The start and evolution of your interest.

Readers want to know how and when you became interested in your specialty. Was this before medical school? During medical school? What have you done to pursue and nurture your interest in the specialty?

7. What you have done to learn more about the specialty.

You should explain what you have done to pursue your interest. What rotations have you done or have planned? What research, scholarly work or community service activities have you pursued to further your interest?

8. Where you see yourself in the future – if you know!

Without going into too much detail, write about the type of setting in which you see yourself in the future. Do you hope to also participate in research, teaching, public health work or community outreach as a part of your career? What are your future goals? Since many programs typically train a certain type of physician, it is important that your goals are aligned with the programs to which you are applying.

9. What do you bring to the specialty?

You should try to identify what you can bring to the program and the specialty to which you are applying as a whole. For example, are you applying to family medicine and have a distinct interest in public health? Are you applying for internal medicine and do you have demonstrated expertise in information technology and hope to improve electronic medical records? Do you have extensive research or teaching experience, and do you hope to continue to pursue these interests in the future? Have you developed a commitment to global health, and do you hope to continue making contributions abroad? Programs have a societal obligation to select residents who will make valuable contributions in the future, so the more ambitions you have the more desirable a candidate you will be.

10. What type of program you hope to join?

Do you hope to be part of a community or university-based program? What are you seeking in a residency program? Programs are looking for residents who will be the right “fit” so offering an idea of what you are seeking in a program will help them determine if your values and goals mesh with those of the program.

11. Who you are outside of the hospital?

Try to bring in some personal elements about who you are. You can do this in a few ways. If you have any outside interests or accomplishments that complement your interest in your specialty, such as extracurricular work, global work, teaching or volunteer efforts, write about them in detail, and, in doing so, show the reader a different dimension of your personality. Or, consider opening your statement by writing about an experience related to your hobbies or outside interests. Write about this in the form of an introductory vignette. I suggest taking this nontraditional approach only if you are a talented writer and can somehow relate your outside interest to the specialty you are pursuing, however. An interest in the arts can lend itself to dermatology, plastic surgery or ophthalmology, for example. Or, an interest in technology could relate to radiology .

12. Any personal challenges?

Also explain any obstacles you have overcome: Were you the first in your family to graduate from college? Were you an immigrant? Did you have limited financial resources and work through college? Many applicants tend to shy away from the very things that make them impressive because they are afraid of appearing to be looking for sympathy. As long as you explain how you have overcome adversity in a positive or creative way, your experience will be viewed as the tremendous accomplishment that it is. The personal statement should explain any unusual or distinctive aspects of your background.

Common ERAS Residency Personal Statement Mistakes

Do not tell your entire life story or write a statement focused on your childhood or undergraduate career.

Do not write about why you wanted to be a doctor. This is old news. From the reviewers perspective, you already are a doctor!

Do not write a personal statement focused on one hobby or begin with your birth. Some background information might be useful if it offers context to your choices and path, but your residency personal statement should be focused on the present and what you have done to pursue your interest in the specialty to which you are applying.

Do not preach. The reader understands what it means to practice his specialty and does not need you to tell him. Don’t write, for example: Internal medicine requires that a physician be knowledgeable, kind and compassionate. The reader wants to know about you!

Do not put down other specialties. You don’t need to convince anyone of your interest by writing something negative about other specialties. Doing so just makes you look bad. If you switched residencies or interests, you can explain what else you were seeking and what you found in the specialty of your choice that interests you.

Do not embellish. Program directors are pretty good at sniffing out inconsistencies and dishonesty. Always tell the truth and be honest and authentic.

Do not plagiarize. While this seems obvious to most people, every year people copy personal statements they find online or hire companies that use stock phrases and statement to compose statements for applicants. Don’t do it!

Do not write about sensitive topics. Even if you were in a relationship that ended and resulted in a poor USMLE score , this is not a topic for a personal statement. In general, it is best to avoid discussing relationships, politics, ethical issues and religion.

Do not boast. Any hint of arrogance or self-righteousness may result in getting rejected. There is a fine line between confidence and self promotion. Some people make the mistake of over-selling themselves or writing about all of their fantastic qualities and characteristics. Rarely do readers view such personal statements favorably.

Do not write an overly creative piece. A residency personal statement should be professional. This work is equivalent to a job application. Don’t get too creative; stay focused.

Writing ERAS Residency Personal Statements For Multiple Specialties

An increasing number of applicants are applying to more than one specialty in medicine especially if the first choice specialty is very competitive. If you are applying to more than one specialty, even if there is disciplinary overlap between the two (for example family medicine and pediatrics), we advise you write a distinct specialty for each. Remember that a physician who practices the specialty you hope to join will most likely be reviewing your statement. He or she will definitely be able to determine if the personal statement illustrates a true understanding of the specialty. If you try to recycle an entire personal statement or parts of a personal statement for two specialties, there is a high likelihood the personal statement will communicate that you aren’t sincerely interested in that specialty or that you don’t really understand what the specialty is about.

Writing About Red Flags in your ERAS Personal Statement

The personal statement is also the place to explain any red flags in your application, such as gaps in time or a leave of absence. When addressing any red flags, explain what happened succinctly. Be honest, don’t make excuses, and don’t dwell on the topic. Whenever possible, write about how you have matured or grown from the adversity or what you may have learned and how this benefits you.

If you have left a program or had a break in your medical education, you will also have the chance to explain this in your ERAS application . You should also write about this topic in your personal statement only if you have more to explain, however.

If you have failed a Step exam or one course in medical school, this likely isn’t something to address in the personal statement. However, you should be prepared to discuss any failure during an interview. By the same token, it is best not to address one low grade or poor attending evaluation in your statement.

Have you taken a circuitous path to medicine? If so you might address why you made these choices and what you found so interesting about medicine that was lacking in your former career.

Residency Personal Statement Example

Below are two great examples of residency personal statements that earned the applicants who wrote them numerous interviews and first choice matches. As you will see, these two applicants took very different approaches when writing the personal statement yet wrote equally persuasive and “successful” personal statements.

Residency Personal Statement Example, Analysis, and Outline: The Traditional Approach

Suggested outline:.

Introduction: Catchy Story
Paragraph 2: Background Information and how Interest Started
Paragraph 3: Write about what you did to explore your interest
Paragraph 4: Second paragraph about your experiences related to your specialty
Conclusion: Wrap it up. Write something about your future goals.

Below is an example of the traditional approach:

Why It’s Great

This is a great personal statement because it clearly conveys the applicant’s interest in, and understanding of, obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) and what the applicant has done to pursue that interest. Not only does this applicant have a long-standing interest in OB/GYN, but, she conveys that she has experienced the specialty in different settings and understands the diverse nature of the specialty. She also includes information about her hobbies and interests and writes about her exploration of OB/GYN outside of the clinical arena. An added bonus is that the applicant writes well and uses descriptive language making her statement interesting and fun to read.

Residency Personal Statement Example, Analysis, and Outline: The Outside Interests Approach

Many mentors advise applicants to tell the reader something about them that is unrelated to medicine or the specialty they are pursuing. This is a fine idea, but be sure your personal statement also includes some details about your interest in your specialty if you decide to move in this direction.

Suggested Outline:

Introduction: Write a Catchy Introduction. Be creative! Think outside the box.
Paragraph 2:Elaborate on your introduction offering more details
Paragraph 3: Write about your specialty choice and what appeals to you.
Paragraph 4: Write more about your explorations in medical school.
Concluding paragraph(s): Write about your future goals, the type of program you hope to join and consider looping back to your introduction.

The landscape before me was lush and magical. We had been hiking for hours and had found a great spot to set up camp. As I was unloading my backpack and helping to pitch the tent, I saw a scene I knew I had to capture. I quickly grabbed my carefully packed Leica before the magnificent sunset disappeared. Trying to get the perfect exposure, I somehow managed to capture this image so accurately that it reflected the beauty of what was before us high in the mountains of Utah, so far away from the hustle and bustle of New York City where we attended medical school.

This is a really intriguing personal statement because the author writes about his outside interests in a compelling way that makes him instinctively likable. He then goes on to explain what he enjoys about surgery and what he has done to pursue that interest. As you can see, this applicant writes less about his specialty (surgery) than the applicant in statement #1 did, but, he still convinces the reader of his understanding of, and commitment to, surgery. In this statement, the reader gains a much broader understanding of who the applicant is as a person and what he likes to do in his free time.

Final Thoughts

Writing your residency personal statement should be about telling your story in your own voice and style. You want to highlight your interest in the specialty for which you are applying while also conveying some ideas about who you are as a person to keep your reader engaged in learning about you as a person.

Residency Personal Statement Consulting Services

MedEdits Medical Admissions offers comprehensive guidance and document review services for residency applicants to every specialty in medicine. With more than twenty years of experience in residency admissions and founded by a former residency admissions officer and physician, MedEdits understands what program directors want to read and can help you decide what aspects of your background to focus on in your residency personal statement to earn the most interviews possible.

Sample Residency Personal Statement Page 1

Residency Related Articles and Guidance

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Medical Residency Timeline & Length
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How To Master MyERAS, The Medical Residency Interview, and Common Residency Interview Questions
Master the ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) & ERAS Timeline
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Residency Letter of Intent
How to Write a Residency Letter of Intent
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Residency Specialty Articles

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MedEdits Medical Admissions Founder and Chairwoman, Jessica Freedman, MD

JESSICA FREEDMAN, M.D. , a former medical school and residency admissions officer at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai , is the founder and chair of MedEdits Medical Admissions and author of three top-selling books about the medical admissions process that you can find on Amazon .

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How to write your personal statement for ERAS/residency applications

The personal statement is occasionally a chance to “make” your application, but it’s always a risk to “break” it.

Keep in mind: it’s only 1 page (literally—it should fit on no more than one page when printed from the ERAS application, which is somewhere around 750-800 words on the longer end; 600-650 is a better goal; mine was around 500). On one interview, I was told that the program’s main criteria for evaluating personal statements was not noteworthiness but rather inoffensiveness .

Questions to ask yourself in approaching the PS:

What are the reasons for choosing the specialty?
What are my career plans?
What accomplishments do I want to emphasize?
What outside interests do I have?
What contributions can I make to the specialty and the residency program?

You don’t have to answer all of these questions, but answering one or two will help you get the point of view you need to get a draft going.

The personal statement is a chance to state why you are choosing a specialty (and a location or a specific program) and to try to convince the reader that you are a good fit. While you are trying to say that you are awesome, you cannot simply say you are awesome . Like fiction, you should show, not tell when possible. This is not a CV in paragraph form. You must be more subtle.

Things to do:

Give yourself plenty of time to write; start now.
Write more than one. Tell your story from multiple angles and see which one comes out on top.
Often your first essay is not the best.
Consider explaining gaps in your application (leave of absence, course failure, low Step 1)
If there are particular programs you are desperate for, you may consider tailoring your statement for them. The individualized approach is obvious and is unlikely to make the desired impact. If you tailor, don’t be a sycophant (it’s too transparent). The most important time to individualize your PS is if you discuss, for example, your desire to be part of a big bustling academic center: make sure to change that if you are applying to a small community program.
Be straightforward in your writing
Edit and proofread your work carefully . Then do it again. And again. And then one last time for good measure.
Be concise. Edit down until every word counts. I personally subscribe to the common reviewer adage: “The more you write, the less I read.”
Ask for second opinions and feedback; you don’t always have to listen but it’s important to receive.
Your parents and significant others are wonderful readers, but they are generally insufficient. They love you too much. Have your PS vetted by your Specialty and Faculty Mentors .

Things to avoid:

Self-Congratulatory Statements
Self-Centered Statements
“Emotional” Stories (give it a try, but be wary). Telling your reader about your feelings directly often makes the feelings themselves feel contrived.
Reality embellishment (anything you write is fair game as interview fodder; if you can’t discuss it at length, then it shouldn’t be there)
Using tired analogies (or any analogies, really)
Quotations (you couldn’t think of 500 words of your own?)
Remember, your reader has a stack of applications. Don’t make your essay hurt to read, overly cutesy, or sappy to the point where it’s no longer convincing.

For most people, your personal statement will not/cannot stand out in a good way (standing out in a bad way, though, is entirely possible). Why you pursued medicine may have been an interesting story (hint: it probably wasn’t), but why you chose your specialty is likely even more banal. If you don’t feel like you have anything special to say, it’s because you don’t. That’s normal. Aim for competence.

There are sample essays available for perusal on medfools . I think even the “good” ones are pretty painful in general, but your mileage may vary. Here are some good tips from UNC. The AAMC Advisor also has some quick advice . If your remember your login, Careers in Medicine also has similar stuff.

These are very good recommendations. In addition to proofreading and seeking advice from friends and family, I would also suggest considering a professional editing service. Although some of them can be costly, they see thousands of personal statements and will be able to objectively tell you if yours is competitive. This article also provides some good advice on residency personal statements: https://www.codeblueessays.com/top-7-tips-writing-residency/

I don’t agree with the need for professional services for the vast majority of applicants, and I really dislike people promoting their services through comments on my blog. In this case, the linked article isn’t terrible, so I’m not deleting this.

Residency Application Personal Statement Guide

By Med School Insiders
July 4, 2022
Medical Student
Personal Statement , Residency Application

The residency application personal statement is an opportunity to detail your professional development over the course of medical school. Why do you want to join your chosen specialty? Why are you qualified to do so? What will you contribute to the program?

Continue reading our residency application personal statement guide for detailed advice on how to craft your personal statement. We’ll also share residency personal statement examples and common mistakes to avoid.

The ERAS Personal Statement

The majority of your residency application focuses on your scores and grades, and this doesn’t shed much light on who you are as a person. If there is anything you feel is underrepresented in the rest of your residency application, your personal statement is the place to highlight it. This is your chance to tell your story the way you see it.

Do not enter this process believing all you need to do is rewrite your medical school personal statement from a few years ago. While they are both technically personal statements, they are very different. When you wrote your medical school personal statement, you were a wide-eyed premed. But residency programs aren’t looking for medical students—they’re looking for young professionals who have earned their doctorate, deepened their dedication to medicine, and immensely improved their medical knowledge.

The success of your personal statement depends on your ability to effectively communicate these changes. Keep the focus of your residency personal statement on your professional development and how your experiences in medical school have crystalized your desire to pursue your chosen specialty.

Why is that specialty the one for you? What unique experiences, skills, and qualities can you contribute to the program? Speak passionately about what you hope to accomplish. Be confident yet humble about what you have achieved so far.

Remember, outside of residency interviews, this is your only chance to share your perspective and provide context to your accomplishments. Why you ? What’s your story?

ERAS Personal Statement Length

The residency personal statement length technically allows for 28,000 characters, but you do not need to utilize this entire space. We recommend keeping your residency personal statement to one typed page, which is anywhere from 500-800 words, depending on your writing.

Don’t try to fill the space to create a longer essay if you’re not actually adding anything relevant or new to your personal statement. Remember, you want to keep your audience’s attention and engage each member of the admissions committee. Being overly long-winded or repeating what they already know is a surefire way to bore committee members.

One page is the standard length for residency personal statements. Be clear and concise with your language.

How to Craft a Personal Statement for Residency

Hand writing journal Personal Statement prompts

1 | Illustrate Your Growth And Maturity

While residencies are educational, they’re quite a bit different from medical school. Residencies provide on-the-job training for people to acquire their medical license so that they can become a practicing physician. In order to be accepted into residency, your application needs to demonstrate that you are qualified.

Your residency personal statement must reflect your vastly deepened knowledge of and dedication to medicine. You are not the same innocuous premed you were when you wrote your medical school personal statement all those years ago. You are now a young professional with a doctorate, and this must be made abundantly clear to the residency program.

How have you developed professionally? Which aspects of your medical education have meant the most to you? Where have you made the greatest impact, where do you most want to make an impact in the future, and what about your experiences have made it clear to you why you belong in your chosen specialty?

Back up your ambitions with concrete, anecdotal examples of your accomplishments. Residency programs don’t care what you say you can do—they want the proof. Stay humble, but be confident about all you have achieved so far.

2 | Develop a Narrative Across Your Application

Your residency personal statement does not exist in isolation. It’s one aspect of your entire residency application, and that means it must work alongside all of the other components.

Do not simply regurgitate or rehash aspects of your CV or extracurriculars. The personal statement is an opportunity to expand and elaborate on aspects of your life, experience, skills, and assets that are not otherwise noted in your application. Don’t look at the personal statement as one more task to complete, but rather an opportunity to help decision makers see who you really are and why you would make an ideal residency candidate.

Use the personal statement to continue unraveling your personal narrative. This aspect of your application should work hand-in-hand with everything else to establish a clear and cohesive narrative of who you are and why you’re qualified.

Learn more: How to Develop a Cohesive Narrative Across Applications .

3 | Keep Your Word Count Down

You may technically have 28,000 characters, but that is far, far from what you should aim for. The standard length of a residency personal statement is one page in ERAS, which equals anywhere from 500-800 words.

Challenge yourself to be as clear and concise as possible. Show restraint and get your points across clearly and effectively in a short amount of space. Remember, you’re trying to engage your reader and entice admissions committee members. You don’t in any way want to bore them or risk that they don’t finish your personal statement due to its length.

If the first draft of your personal statement is longer than one page, continue editing and revising it until you’ve pared it down.

What aspects are superfluous? What words are not serving a clear purpose? How can you convey the same message in a shorter amount of space? Are there any areas (besides the conclusion) where you repeat yourself?

Utilize clear and direct language. Long sentences written with flowery language you got out of a thesaurus will not impress residency admissions committees.

4 | Start Early And Give Yourself Time

Starting early will give you the time you need to brainstorm, outline, write, revise, and edit your personal statement. Even though you’ve written a personal statement before, the residency personal statement is a different beast entirely, and it will require plenty of your time and attention.

Start thinking about your personal statement at the beginning of the year, many months before application season begins. Start by brainstorming ideas and reflecting on your time in medical school. What have you learned? How have you changed? What values do you continue to hold? Why were you drawn to a specific specialty?

Keep a journal or online document where you can continue to add your ideas and thoughts for your residency personal statement. By late spring or early summer, you should be outlining and writing a first draft of your personal statement.

This timeline will give you a few months to continue to revise and edit your personal statement.

View our breakdown of what you should prepare and work on each month leading up to residency: Residency Application Timeline and Month-by-Month Schedule .

5 | Take Time Revising and Invest in Professional Editing

Remember to allocate adequate time to the feedback and editing process. Spell checking tools are okay to start with, but remember these tools are only bots, and they will not be able to catch all mistakes or contextual issues.

Review your essay many times over yourself and gather feedback from qualified friends, family, acquaintances, or by hiring a reputable editing service. Whether or not you need to hire a service depends on if you know editors with adcom experience or who are intimately familiar with the residency admission process. For best results, look for an editing service that utilizes doctors with real admissions committee experience.

Learn more: How to Choose the Best Medical School Admissions Consultant .

Example of Residency Personal Statements

Utilize examples of successful residency personal statements to get a better idea of what admissions committees are looking for. It’s important that you use these examples to strengthen your knowledge of what’s expected, not to guide your own topic. Your own personal statement will be completely unique to your medical school journey, your specialty preferences, and what makes you an ideal candidate.

View our database of Residency Personal Statement Samples from real students who successfully matched into residency.

These sample personal statements are for reference purposes only and should absolutely not be used to copy or plagiarize in any capacity. Remember that plagiarism detection software is used when evaluating personal statements.

If you still feel stuck after reading residency personal statement examples, try completing a variety of prompts to get your ideas flowing. For example:

What is your greatest strength, and how can that strength be applied to your residency?
What major failures or setbacks did you encounter during medical school, and what did you learn from those experiences?
When did you first know you wanted to become a doctor?
What values are the most important to you?
What do you believe is the most important trait to have as a doctor?

Utilize our 25 Medical School Personal Statement Prompts to Spark Ideas .

Residency Application Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid

Woman unhappy reading a paper Bad Personal Statement Examples

Common pitfalls are common for a reason. Admissions committees see these mistakes time and time again, no matter how many times medical students are warned. These common mistakes come into play when students rush their personal statement and don’t put adequate time into receiving feedback and acting on that feedback.

Avoid the following common residency personal statement mistakes.

Don’t treat your residency personal statement like your medical school application.
Don’t miss spelling or grammar errors in your essay. Ensure you have plenty of time for revisions and editing.
Don’t list your accomplishments or rehash your CV and extracurriculars.
Don’t use a thesaurus to come up with larger, more complicated words.
Don’t overuse the word I. Doing so makes you more likely to state your accomplishments instead of telling a story.
Don’t state the obvious or use clichés, such as your passion for science or wanting to help people.
Don’t ignore the feedback you receive from experienced editors or editing services.
Don’t speak negatively about another student, physician, or healthcare professional.
Don’t lie or make up stories. You may be asked about anything in your personal statement during interviews.
Don’t discuss anything in your personal statement that you won’t feel comfortable speaking about during residency interviews.
Don’t plead for an interview or opportunity.
Don’t procrastinate on your personal statement. You should be thinking about it months before your application is due.
Don’t submit your personal statement before gathering feedback from multiple, reliable sources.
Don’t use a personal statement editing service that does not utilize real doctors with admissions committee experience.

Residency Application Personal Statement Editing

Med School Insiders can help you prepare a stand out residency application that will help you match into your ideal program. We offer a number of Residency Admissions Consulting Services tailored to your needs, including comprehensive personal statement editing .

Our residency personal statement editing services include careful analysis of content and tone in addition to insights on how to improve your essay to impress residency program admissions committees. Your essay will be edited by a real doctor with admissions committee experience who knows the residency program admissions process inside and out.

For more strategies as well as the latest medical school and industry news, follow the Med School Insiders blog , which has hundreds of resources, guides, and personal stories, including a detailed guide on the residency application process. Read our ERAS Residency Application Guide , which is updated each application cycle.

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20+ Residency Personal Statement Examples

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

If you want our team to help you with your Residency Application,  click here .

Your personal statement is an opportunity to tell your story and journey to residency program directors! It’s your moment to shine and make program directors eager to meet you by presenting a compelling narrative that distinguishes you from the crowd.

In this blog, we provide you with a collection of outstanding personal statement examples from diverse specialties that you can use as references when writing your own personal statement for your residency application!

We also have detailed guides on how to write your personal statement , how to complete your ERAS application , and 200+ residency interview questions.

And now, let’s get started with the residency personal statement examples:

Residency Personal Statement Example #1:

Internal medicine | the basketball player.

A coach’s instructions, two team chants, followed by the blare of a whistle, opened and closed basketball practice every day. With repetition, my teammates and I strove for perfection to build a skill set that could be recalled when it mattered most. To love the sport of basketball is to love the grind. During my internal medicine rotation, I witnessed similar devotion by attending physicians and residents. Determination to master the foundation of medicine while engaging in a cohesive multidisciplinary team is what resonated deeply with me, and greatly influenced my choice to become an internist.

My passionate desire to become a physician first stemmed from when my grandfather was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and, later on, heart failure. Initially perplexed by the complexity of his diagnosis, I spent hours researching congestive heart failure, determined to find ways to increase his time with us. Being my grandfather’s primary caretaker towards the end of his life instilled the notion of service and fueled my passion for helping others through this career path in medicine.

During my third-year internal medicine rotation, one of my first patients was a 65-year-old female who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and began crying as my attending delivered her prognosis. I talked to her every day, trying to make her feel better. While nothing could completely change her affect, she seemed to appreciate my company. As I reflected on her case, I realized how much I enjoyed getting to know my patients and connecting with them personally, in addition to understanding the complex pathology that plagued them. Several similar experiences on my internal medicine rotation drew me to this specialty which offers a holistic approach and appeals to my innate desire to understand how things work. Internal medicine requires one to understand the interactions between the different systems to diagnose and treat a patient effectively. Additionally, I enjoy the acutely evolving nature of this field and the endless fellowship opportunities available upon completion of my residency training.

My passion for internal medicine led me to start the Internal Medicine Interest Group at our school. Listening to the experiences of different internists further solidified my resolve. Seeing the inspiration within the eyes of the younger medical students as our guests talked about this specialty made me realize the value of role models and generational teaching. This was a source of inspiration for me to pursue a career that not only allows me to take excellent care of my patients, but also teach the next generation of doctors on how to do the same. Being the president of this interest group and the point guard for Duke University’s basketball team, I gained invaluable insight as to how my past experiences shaped my ability to do better in the future, so that my team could achieve lofty goals. This awareness will prove to be paramount in the hospital when serving as an internal medicine physician.

As I enter my fourth year of medical school, I realize how similar medicine and basketball are. The teamwork, which unifies everyone towards a similar goal, the perseverance and long hours required to master the profession, and, arguably the most important, the confidence and trust you build between the team and the people relying on its performance, are critical to medicine and sport alike. Just as I was a trusted member of my basketball team who always put the team’s interest above mine to ensure our success, I am determined to serve as an integral part of the medical team and will do my best towards becoming an excellent clinician while training at your residency program.

Residency Personal Statement Example #2:

General surgery | the role model (with commentary).

“Medicine is not a job, it is a way of life.” As the son of a cardiothoracic surgeon, my father’s mantra constantly echoed in my mind. I was raised in an environment where sacrifice and duty were familiar concepts from a young age. While my father did his best to balance work and family life, there were countless occasions when he had to prioritize his patients and commitments over personal events. Seeing his dedication and the impact he had on the lives of his patients, residents, and staff left an indelible impression on me.

After four challenging years studying biomedical engineering in undergrad, I was fortunate to be accepted to the University of Miami’s School of Medicine. While I was genuinely fascinated with almost every discipline of medicine, I had a particular interest in surgery. To give myself time to mature and explore this path further, I elected to take a research year after my second year of medical school and was able to secure a position in the laboratory of Dr. Seth Reigns, director of the Miami Transplant Institute. In the lab, I was tasked with characterizing Regulatory CAR-T cell populations in nonhuman primates. Excitingly, we found that two infusions of Regulatory CAR-T cells are able to prolong renal allograft survival in the absence of traditional immunosuppression. From a clinical perspective, witnessing the transformative impact of liver transplantation on critically ill patients was awe-inspiring. The chance to participate in donor procurements and witness the miraculous recoveries of patients postoperatively further solidified my resolve. Dr. Reigns, a true life-giver, provided me with a profound appreciation for the field of transplant surgery.

During my research year, I had the opportunity to hone my research skills and make significant contributions. However, it was my immersive experience as a third-year clerk on the trauma service that solidified my desire to pursue a career in surgery. Witnessing the remarkable expertise of the chief residents and attending surgeons in swiftly assessing and diagnosing patients amidst the chaos of the trauma bay, where vital information was often scarce, left me mesmerized. The urgency with which they inserted chest tubes and promptly performed emergent exploratory laparotomies was nothing short of exhilarating and profoundly inspiring. Equally fulfilling was the privilege of accompanying these patients throughout their hospitalization, observing their remarkable recovery from being intubated in the intensive care unit to the triumphant moment of their eventual discharge. This comprehensive experience further affirmed my passion for surgical intervention and reinforced my unwavering commitment to becoming a surgeon.

In addition to my research endeavors, I also became involved with Operation SECURE, a nonprofit crisis center in Miami that offers crisis counseling services free of charge. This experience has been humbling and rewarding, particularly as I counsel individuals struggling with alcohol and substance use disorders. Drawing from my background in transplant surgery, I am able to provide a unique perspective on the long-term consequences of addiction. While surgical intervention can address these issues this experience demonstrated the importance of preventative medicine as well.

Looking ahead, my goal is to pursue a residency in general surgery, with the ultimate aim of specializing in abdominal transplant surgery through a fellowship program. I am well aware that the challenges I will face in my training are formidable, but I am constantly reminded of my father’s voice, urging me to approach this as more than just a job—a true lifestyle that demands my unwavering commitment. As I embark on this journey, I am eager to give everything I have to the field of surgery. It is my steadfast dedication to making a profound difference in the lives of patients, the pursuit of knowledge and innovation, and the opportunity to live my dream that fuels my passion for general surgery and the transformative field of transplantation.

Commentary on Residency Personal Statement Example #2

The first paragraph is what will set the tone for the entire personal statement. Ideally, you can open up with an engaging first sentence that will “grab” the reader. In this case, the applicant is providing a quote from her father describing the sacrifices that one must make as a physician. The applicant then sets up her father as a role model and the role this played in her decision to pursue medicine.

Note that often applicants feel the need to be “too creative” in the opening paragraph. A quote from a mentor or influential person or patient is ok, but you don’t have to always include quotes or extremely unusual stories. Further, recognize that some applicants will have more unique or interesting personal experiences than others. Not every applicant is a cancer survivor or has donated an organ to a family member or is the product of a war-torn country. The overall goal of the personal statement is to provide a concise, polished essay demonstrating your motivations for residency. Along the way, you tell your story while highlighting key aspects of your personality and CV.

These next two paragraphs are perhaps the most important. Here the applicant dives into what made her want to become a general surgeon. She talks about her research experiences in a surgical lab and her clinical experiences with her mentor Dr. Reigns. Note that while she is not simply rehashing her CV, she does mention her academic accomplishments and drives key points home. Note that while the applicant elected to open the first paragraph with a quote from her father, she could have also chosen to open with an internal thought or reflection from these clinical experiences with Dr. Reigns (i.e., “I’ll never forget the moment we completed the venous anastomosis and ended ischemia time. Blood began perfusing the pale liver as it pinked up.”)

This paragraph draws on another crucial experience that the applicant had outside of the lab/OR. Remember, you are presenting yourself as a whole person so it is important to mention any other influential experiences (volunteering, service, etc.) that you are particularly proud of. Also, note that while the applicant is serving as a crisis volunteer, she circles back and relates it to her prior experiences above.

The final paragraph is also very critical. Here you should mention your long-term goals. It is ok to be vague and specific at the same time. Finally, you should try to tie things up and if possible, connect them to any comments made in the first paragraph. Here the applicant paraphrases her father’s quote that opens the personal statement. Finally, the applicant affirms their choice for applying to general surgery and provides an optimistic look on their future training.

As a final note remember that the personal statement is just one piece of an entire application. While it is important most applicants do not get an interview based on a personal statement, however, rest assured some applicants do not get an interview based on a poor personal statement. The vast majority of personal statements (~85%) are simply acceptable documents that tell your personal journey while mentioning key aspects of your application. They are well-written, logical, and polished with no grammatical errors. A small portion (less than 5%) are truly incredible literary documents that are beautifully written and tell an incredible story. Still, these personal statements will likely do little in the way of getting you an interview. Finally, the remaining 10% of personal statements are the ones that can have your application dismissed. These personal statements are unpolished, contain grammatical errors, or are trying too hard to fall in the top 5% and come across poorly.

If you are looking for a comprehensive ALL-IN-ONE Application Resource for MATCH® 2025, including ERAS application template, personal statement examples, MSPE samples, LOR examples, and much more, click here .

Residency Personal Statement Example #3:

Internal medicine | the healer.

Growing up in a rural Kenyan village, where my father, a traditional healer, used herbs to alleviate suffering, and my mother, a teacher, instilled in me the value of knowledge, I developed a respect for the healing arts and a commitment to education. This unique upbringing laid the foundation for my medical journey, intertwining traditional practices with a scientific approach. My decision to pursue a career in medicine was cemented when an American medical mission dramatically improved healthcare outcomes in my community, including saving my neighbor’s life from severe malaria. This experience unveiled the stark disparities in healthcare between developed and developing nations and inspired my dream to bridge this gap.

After completing my medical degree at the University of Nairobi, I was accepted into their Masters of Medicine in Internal Medicine (equivalent to residency). During my training, I was exposed to a broad spectrum of diseases rarely seen in more developed nations and recognized the need for advanced training to bring substantial change to healthcare practices in my home country. It was this realization that prompted my journey to the United States, seeking a residency in internal medicine, motivated by the opportunity to learn from and contribute to one of the world’s most advanced healthcare systems.

Passing the USMLE exams was my first challenge, which I approached with diligence and the support of mentors who were instrumental in my academic and personal growth. My scores reflected not only my understanding of medical sciences but also my commitment to achieving my goals.

In the U.S., I secured opportunities to shadow internal medicine physicians in various settings, from city hospitals to rural clinics. These experiences enriched my understanding of the nuances of patient care across different contexts. They underscored the importance of cultural sensitivity, adaptability, and the need for a personal touch in patient interactions—qualities that were greatly appreciated by my peers and supervisors. While I have always been drawn to internal medicine, my experience in the US only served to strengthen this affinity. Given the greater accessibility to healthcare here, I felt that internists could truly change patients’ lives by providing routine health screening and maintenance. The ability to develop lifelong relationships with patients and their families is also an incredible privilege almost uniquely afforded to physicians.

My career aspirations do not stop at becoming a skilled clinician. I am driven by a vision to integrate effective, sustainable medical practices from the U.S. into the Kenyan healthcare landscape. While I remain open to pursuing a fellowship, my goal at present is to become a hospitalist, leveraging my training to tackle prevalent health issues in both the U.S. and Kenya. Though I plan to establish my full-time practice in the US, I look forward to establishing programs in my home country. Through collaborative research and leadership, I aim to develop healthcare models that are both innovative and adaptable to the constraints of resource-limited settings in both countries.

The resilience I have developed through my journey—from a small village to the world stage of U.S. medicine—is a testament to my dedication. I have navigated cultural transitions, educational challenges, and professional milestones with a clear vision and a steadfast heart. With each patient I meet and each case I handle, I am reminded of why I embarked on this path: to be a bridge between worlds, offering my skills where they are most needed and fostering healthcare advancements that are accessible and effective for all.

If you want a detailed guide on how to write a personal statement and things to include in this important document, check out our other blog here .

Residency Personal Statement Example #4:

Pediatrics | the indian img.

My journey into pediatrics was inspired not by chance, but by the profound impact of witnessing a loved one’s struggle with illness during my childhood in Pune, India. My cousin Priya’s battle with severe asthma exposed me to the challenges and triumphs of pediatric care. The dedication of her doctors, who turned her tears into smiles, sparked my resolve to pursue a career where I could deliver similar hope and health to children.

During my medical training at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, I thrived academically and was actively involved in extracurricular activities that reinforced my passion for pediatrics. As president of the Pediatric Interest Club, I led initiatives such as organizing health camps for underprivileged children and spearheading an asthma awareness campaign in local schools. These experiences not only honed my leadership skills but also deepened my understanding of pediatric health challenges. My efforts were recognized when I received the ‘Best Student in Pediatrics’ award during my final year. Encouraged by my mentor, Dr. Meena Singh, to seek out the most advanced training, I was drawn to the United States for its exemplary integration of evidence-based medicine, cutting-edge research technologies, and innovative clinical practices.

In pursuit of this advanced expertise, I moved to New York two years ago. My clinical observership at New York-Presbyterian Hospital exposed me to diverse pediatric cases and modern treatment modalities, enriching my clinical acumen. Concurrently, I participated in a Columbia University research project investigating the environmental impacts on pediatric asthma, which aligned closely with my interests and previous advocacy work.

One particularly formative experience during my observership involved a young boy with non-verbal autism who presented with acute appendicitis. Navigating his care required not only medical expertise but also profound sensitivity to his unique communication needs. Successfully managing his treatment while ensuring his comfort reaffirmed my commitment to pediatrics, highlighting the importance of tailored and compassionate care.

As I seek to join a pediatric residency program, my goal is to become a skilled pediatrician equipped to handle the complexities of child health. I am especially drawn to pediatric pulmonology, but I remain open to exploring all pediatric subspecialties to build a comprehensive skill set. Beyond residency, I envision working in a rural area in the U.S. where I can make a significant impact on underserved communities. I am also committed to establishing collaborative health initiatives that bridge the gap between advanced care in the U.S. and the needs of pediatric patients in India.

My path from Pune to New York has been a journey of growth, guided by a mission to improve children’s health globally. I am eager to bring my background, clinical insights, and dedication to your program, contributing to and benefiting from a community that champions innovative and empathetic pediatric care.

Residency Personal Statement Example #5:

Family medicine | the caregiver.

Working alongside the primary care physicians in my medical school in India, I was impressed by my preceptors’ abilities to remember every tiny detail from recommending required vaccinations to establishing complex goals of care. During the final days of my rotation, I was fortunate to see these efforts pay off as patients from the weeks before showed up healthy and happy, ready for the next step in managing their health. That is when I began to share the same instinctual gratification as my preceptor when they coordinated multiple levels of care, informed specialists of updated patients’ status and maintained a healthy physician-patient relationship. Heading into the final year of medical school, I knew that I wanted to become a family doctor.

To gain more experience in the field while engaging with a different patient population, I pursued an elective at Boston University. Under the guidance of Dr. John Smith, I started to further improve my skills in shared decision-making. This involved making the active choice of incorporating more practical approaches to engage patients with their healthcare including tailoring diet recommendations to patient-accessible foods and prioritizing a few issues at once. While I had ingrained some of these techniques already from watching my medical school preceptors, I believe this opportunity at Boston University allowed me to think more proactively to cater to a more diverse patient population. Anecdotally, I believe this has also resulted in higher rates of therapy compliance and follow-up visit attendance.

Soon after returning from my electives, I began to work towards bringing this form of personalized medicine to rural areas in my home country of India. Alongside some of my fellow students, we began a volunteer initiative that involved a more old-school approach of physically making ‘rounds’ of underserved neighborhoods. We developed and adopted standardized screening questionnaires that helped us identify household members who required medical assessment. We would present our findings to a team of physicians who would then help us provide education, interventions, and medications appropriate to each person’s needs and socioeconomic ability. This opened my eyes to the potential of primary care outside of the hospital: health is a continuous element that needs to be addressed daily!

The tailored approach to medicine has also guided my goals in medical research. In my pursuit of academia, I began speaking with some experts in South Asia responsible for the development of practice guidelines after graduation. I realized that one of the biggest disparities in assessing patients is simply not knowing the population-specific normal values of routine labs and examinations. To address this concern, I joined a lab run by Dr. Amir Khan as a post-doctoral research fellow at Mass General Brigham to develop a new set of normal distribution curves for a battery of tests using samples from phenotypically health South Asian individuals living across Greater Boston. Realizing that there is still a wide world of unaddressed issues in primary care has provided additional motivation in my pursuit of a career in family medicine academia. Combined with extensive clinical training that I would acquire from a residency in the United States, I aspire to be a leader in the primary care space, working towards personalized medicine for all.

Overall, I believe that as an academic family medicine physician, one has to make sure the efforts of patients, physicians, and healthcare policymakers are working concertedly towards better healthcare outcomes. My experiences as part of teams providing healthcare to a diverse set of patients, both ethnically and socioeconomically, provide me with a unique perspective that I hope to bring to my future residency program and the world of research and healthcare policy.

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Residency Personal Statement Example #6:

Emergency medicine | the grocery manager.

Project Open Hand was no ordinary grocery center. It was a bustling, high-energy urban community center for a revolving door of over 200 community members with financial and housing difficulties. As the wellness program director, I managed the center, alongside a team of receptionists, nutritionists, and volunteers who looked to me for guidance. On any given day, I managed conflicts with clients receiving their weekly groceries, communicated with outside organizations to connect clients to resources, and improved organizational processes. Tossed into new situations that would challenge me, I was prepared for any adventure. I saw not only what our team could accomplish, but how I was drawn to vocalize and lead in times of stress and chaos.

Fast-forward to medical school, I did not anticipate that my experiences at Project Open Hand would foreshadow the specialty I would be most drawn to. Throughout medical school, I could see a part of myself in every specialty. I enjoyed connecting with patients in Family Medicine, thinking through complex problems in Internal Medicine, and using my hands for precise procedures in Surgery, but it was in Emergency Medicine where I finally felt right at home. Much like the environment at Project Open Hand, I enjoyed the fast-paced dynamic nature that demanded critical thinking, adaptability, and teamwork. The combination of uncovering clues to help undifferentiated patients and engagement in diverse procedures challenged and excited me. I could never be complacent, as health conditions were constantly changing.

I now want to be a leader in Emergency Medicine and plan to do so in three areas: upholding clinical excellence, contributing to the profession through education, and giving back to underserved communities. First, related to clinical excellence, my research endeavors have taught me the importance of research in guiding clinical practice. For example, through my research on abdominal aortic aneurysms, I learned that gender, along with other factors, can influence the presentation and progression of diseases. Then, while on rotation at Marshall Hospital, I had a patient present with atypical abdominal pain. Utilizing existing clinical knowledge, my team and I diagnosed her with an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Just as in this situation, I aim to apply what has been studied in research to improving diagnosis and treatment plans for patients, especially in the emergency medicine setting where patients are at their most vulnerable.

Second, I want to contribute to the profession through education. While much of emergency medicine treats at the end of a continuously flowing river, I will spend time upstream by training the next generation of emergency medicine physicians. While at American School of Medicine, I was surrounded by women and people of color who taught me to question norms, trust my clinical intuition, and treat patients, not numbers. I value the education I experienced, and I intend to pass this on to young eager residents to train intellectually and culturally competent physicians. I will use technological advances in ultrasound and simulation to guide and improve education. Lastly, I plan to give back to underserved communities by continuing to volunteer to provide education and address community needs. My decision to attend American School of Medicine was fueled by a clear intent to integrate health equity into my clinical practice. With involvement in the community, I am reminded of my motivations.

I seek a residency program with the many qualities of Project Open Hand and my numerous research, service, and clinical experiences. These include being challenged, working in teams committed to a common goal, and committing to excellence and service. In hindsight, Project Open Hand was an opening into the experiences of emergency medicine. I welcome the opportunity to be a leader for such a team again.

If you are applying to the Match and need a detailed guide on how to ace your ERAS application, check out our free ERAS Application Guide here .

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Residency Personal Statement Example #7:

Pathology | the img pathologist.

Growing up in the early 1990s, I fondly recall accompanying my mother to what would become one of Lebanon’s largest laboratories. With the multiple wars finally behind us, my uncle, a pathologist in New York City, returned to Lebanon to build his pathology lab with my mother’s help. As a child, I watched in awe as they transformed a few rooms into a state-of-the-art facility. During visits to the newly opened lab, my uncle, a board-certified cytopathologist, introduced me to the wonders of cytopathology through a microscope. His confidence and skill in diagnosing cases captivated me, sparking my passion for pathology and shaping my aspiration to excel in this field.

I worked hard during my first two years of medical school, excelling in my classes and even making it on the dean’s honor list in my second year. My keen interest in pathology led me to pursue an observership at George Washington University (GWU) in Washington D.C. during my fourth year. This experience provided me with the opportunity to engage positively with several attending physicians, and I received commendations for my adeptness in making morphological diagnoses. Encouraged by these pathologists to further my career in this field, I followed their advice and have spent the past fifteen months as an Anatomic Pathology resident at the American University of Beirut.

During this period, I managed a diverse array of responsibilities, ranging from working at the grossing bench to examining specimens under the microscope. My public speaking skills have significantly improved through presenting various pathology topics at surgical seminars. As a committed team player, I have mentored new residents, instructing them in the complexities of grossing specimens and managing weekend calls. This mentoring experience has enhanced my leadership and teaching abilities, which I consider essential for any medical professional.

Although I am just fifteen months into my residency, I have already noticed significant improvements in my diagnostic and grossing skills. However, driven by a commitment to continual growth and excellence, I decided to pursue pathology residency in the United States. I have seen firsthand the knowledge and expertise that the training in the United States provides, and I believe that a residency training in the U.S. would give me the education and guidance to become the best all-around surgical pathologist I could be.

Over the past year, I’ve learned that effective communication is crucial for managing a laboratory and that perseverance and versatility are vital for a resident’s development. Participating in double-scoping sessions and signing out cases with attendings has proven essential. Therefore, I am seeking a residency program that not only offers a robust learning environment but also prioritizes educational engagement, where attendings are committed to closely collaborating with residents on case workups and research projects.

My uncle’s achievements have always served as a benchmark for my own aspirations as an emerging pathologist, and I remain committed to the inspirations that launched my career. Dedicated to honing my skills and expanding my expertise, I am confident that I would be a valuable asset to pathology programs that value continuous improvement and dedication in their team members.

Residency Personal Statement Example #8:

Orthopedic surgery | the football player.

From an early age, sports have been at the core of my identity. Growing up with parents who were Division I athletes—my mom a volleyball star and my dad a basketball powerhouse—athletics were not just encouraged; they were an expectation. Following in their footsteps, I thrived as a wide receiver in football, eventually playing at the collegiate level for Purdue University. My journey, however, took an unexpected turn when I tore my ACL and MCL during my junior year. This devastating injury abruptly ended my football career but opened a new path that I never anticipated.

My introduction to orthopedic surgery came through my recovery process with Dr. Yang, the surgeon who repaired my knee. Watching Dr. Yang work and observing his precision, dexterity, and the impact he had on athletes’ lives made a significant impression on me. The camaraderie in the training room and the meticulous nature of surgical practice reminded me of the locker room environment I loved. This experience led to a profound shift in my career aspirations. I changed my major from marketing to pre-med, dedicating myself to the rigorous path of becoming an orthopedic surgeon.

During my undergraduate years, I began shadowing Dr. Yang and engaging in clinical research focused on outcomes using cadaveric materials for ligament reconstruction. These experiences solidified my decision to pursue medicine and led to my acceptance at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Medical school was a period of tremendous growth for me, both academically and personally. Outside the classroom, I continued my research in Dr. William Defoe’s laboratory, studying the dynamic interactions between bone cells and the extracellular matrix (ECM). This work was intellectually stimulating and fulfilling, resulting in 15 publications, six of which I authored. My dedication to research was recognized when I received a one-year research fellowship from the Department of Orthopedic Surgery. During this fellowship, I balanced benchtop research with clinical projects in the sports medicine department, presenting my findings at over 50 regional, national, and international conferences.

Beyond academics and research, I found joy and purpose in volunteering as a football coach at St. Basil’s Middle School. For five years, I mentored and coached disadvantaged children, helping them develop not just as athletes, but as individuals. Taking the team to the University of Michigan football games at “The Big House” and organizing bonding activities like bowling and trips to the driving range allowed me to give back to the community and remain connected to the sport I love.

After my research year, I was fortunate to secure sub-internships at the Hospital for Special Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Pennsylvania. These rotations provided me with hands-on experience and reinforced my passion for orthopedic surgery, particularly sports medicine. Importantly, I was able to work closely with the residents, taking 24-hour call shifts, seeing ED consults and afforded graduated responsibilities in the operating room.

Looking to the future, my immediate goal is to match into a robust orthopedic surgery program that will nurture my growth as both a surgeon and a researcher. While I am eager to explore all facets of orthopedic surgery, I have a special interest in sports medicine and plan to pursue a fellowship in this subspecialty. Ultimately, I envision myself practicing at an elite academic medical center where I can operate, conduct research, and teach the next generation of surgeons. I also aspire to serve as a team physician for a professional sports team or a Division I college team, blending my love for sports with my medical career.

Reflecting on my journey, from the devastation of a career-ending injury to the discovery of my true calling in orthopedic surgery, I am grateful for the experiences that have shaped me. Each step, whether on the football field, in the research lab, or in the operating room, has prepared me for the challenges and rewards of a career in orthopedic surgery. I am excited to bring my dedication, resilience, and passion to a residency program that will help me achieve my goals and contribute meaningfully to the field.

Residency Personal Statement Example #9:

Anesthesiology | the immigrant.

“Okay, let’s start masking Violet”, said the pediatric anesthesiologist with whom I was working during my third year. Violet was the sparkly, purple, stuffed cat of our four-year-old patient with sickle-cell disease who was scheduled for a splenectomy. Observing my attending mask our patient’s stuffed cat while I attended to our patient, I was struck by the seamless blend of skill and empathy. Witnessing how my attending effortlessly built trust with a nervous four-year-old and her anxious parents, as we transitioned from playtime to the operating room, left an indelible impression on me. In mere moments, we navigated from moments of joy and laughter to the meticulous administration of anesthesia, followed by insightful discussions on the intricacies of anesthesia physiology. This transformative experience served as the catalyst for my commitment to pursuing a career in anesthesiology.

Growing up as the eldest daughter in a first-generation immigrant family that relocated to the United States when I was twelve, I faced a unique set of challenges. While acclimating to a new culture and education system, I found myself navigating the complexities of language barriers and unfamiliar environments. While my peers focused on building their college resumes, I balanced my academic pursuits with the responsibilities of assisting my parents with my sister’s education, aiding them in job applications, and coordinating doctor’s appointments. Acting as the primary liaison between my family and healthcare providers, I undertook the role of translator during medical consultations, ensuring that my family received the care they needed. These experiences, though daunting at times, served as a driving force behind my aspiration to become a physician, and later, an anesthesiologist. Through these formative experiences, I cultivated independence, resilience, and a deep-seated desire to alleviate the struggles of others. I learned to effectively multitask, maintain composure in high-pressure situations, and swiftly adapt to unforeseen challenges—qualities that are integral to the role of an anesthesiologist.

My interest in anesthesiology eventually led me to undertake several leadership positions during my medical school career. With no dedicated anesthesiology department, I recognized the necessity to forge connections and bridge mentorship gaps not only for myself but also for future students. I eventually formed an anesthesiology interest group at our medical school and served as president ensuring that students had access to mentors within all anesthesia subspecialties. Additionally, I organized several match panels to promote collaboration and to showcase clinical and research avenues on a unified platform. Eventually, I took an even broader role and served as the official delegate for my medical school in the American Society of Anesthesiologists. These experiences highlighted the important role anesthesiologists play as leaders and mentors in the clinical, research, and political landscapes and I hope to continue to expand these skillsets further into residency.

Anesthesiology resonates deeply with my core values and professional aspirations. My commitment to delivering individualized care, mentoring future physicians, and fostering a sense of reassurance and trust during moments of vulnerability align seamlessly with the core principles of this specialty. The breadth of the field and the combination of managing highly complex and ever-changing situations coupled with the ability to practice procedural care makes anesthesiology the perfect career choice for me. Within the field of anesthesiology, my interests lie in pediatric anesthesiology and medical education. I am driven to contribute to a residency program that offers a breadth of clinical experiences, allowing me to encounter a wide spectrum of cases while thriving within a collaborative environment that fosters leadership and mentorship.

Residency Personal Statement Example #10:

Psychiatry | schizophrenia.

I hear voices! These three words summarized my grandmother’s lifelong suffering. I grew up in an Indian family, accustomed to the tales of old people hearing voices, seeing strange things, and wandering away for months. All this was very commonplace and rarely attended to. In a country plagued with limited access to education and healthcare literacy, mental health disorders were considered a myth. The social stigma precluded discussion of symptoms and provider visits. It was only during my medical schooling that I understood such symptoms to be part of mental illness that affects patients and causes intense distress. As my curiosity was aroused, I found psychiatry to be my true calling.

The opportunity to complete four months of psychiatry rotations during my final year of medical school allowed me to witness and treat psychiatric diseases that I had only known previously as vague symptoms. I remember taking care of identical twins afflicted with schizoaffective disorder stemming from years of extensive emotional and physical abuse by their family. Years of lack of care and social abandonment had resulted in shared hallucinations and delusions, with multiple suicidal attempts. Effectively gaining their trust by validating their concerns enabled me to unveil their self-injurious behavior and suicidality, prompting appropriate management. On subsequent visits, both patients had significant improvement in their symptoms with a more positive outlook and adherence to medications and psychotherapy. Such experiences and many others that followed provided me with an in-depth insight into the contributing factors to mental health disorders and the effectiveness of prompt and adequate treatment in optimal patient recovery.

Since relocating to the United States for a master’s program in clinical psychology at the University of San Diego, California, I have gained clinical and research acumen that has further reinforced my passion for psychiatry. My role as a crisis counselor for the past two years with CalHOPE, California, has provided me with clinical versatility and a profound understanding of patients’ ongoing conflicts. Interacting with hundreds of patients and communities with depression, anxiety, and substance use disorder, has helped me hone my skills as a listener to actively pick up subtle cues and offer a tailored approach to care. Nothing has been more gratifying than witnessing patient improvement with the right treatment.

Currently, I spearhead the research on the psychological effects of drug misuse and addiction in underserved populations along with different strategies to facilitate early diagnosis and intervention. I have learned the skills required to formulate a research question and design a study from an idea to publication and seek to utilize this knowledge to positively impact patient care across the globe. I am passionate about research and working with communities combating drug addiction and mental health stigmatization. Therefore, I seek a residency program that will equip me with the skills to become an excellent psychiatrist and researcher so that I can build therapeutic alliances with diverse patient groups and backgrounds.

My clinical experiences have illuminated that the most admirable physicians are those who cater to the medical and psychological needs of patients from different socioeconomic backgrounds. While my grandmother’s tales of hallucinations served as the fuel that ignited my interest in psychiatry, every experience I went through during my medical journey confirmed that psychiatry is my natural calling. I stand now as an aspirant for this field seeking the requisite training that will enable me to be a beacon of support for communities with mental health disorders and break the barriers of stigmatization and social injustice.

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Residency Personal Statement Example #11:

Obgyn | the caribbean school.

“Time to close”, said the scrub nurse as she placed the needle driver in my hand, just a few hours after a young female patient had presented to the emergency department at the Sint Maarten Medical Center with vaginal bleeding. Within minutes of her arrival, she was being rolled back to the operating room for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. As a student rotating on the service, I asked to scrub into the case with the team and was given the opportunity to close at the end of the procedure. That experience was my first exposure to the unique world of obstetrics and gynecology and served as my catalyst for pursuing this specialty.

As a second-generation American immigrant, I had watched both my parents train as physicians in their home country and subsequently re-train in America in their respective specialties. Their sacrifice and dedication towards building a foundation and home for me and my siblings, inspired my work ethic. Their passion and commitment to their patients drew me to the field of medicine.

After persistent efforts, I secured admission into a medical school in the Caribbean. Studying medicine at Sint Maarten, I knew the challenges that awaited along my career path as a physician seeking to integrate into the American residency system. I pursued each opportunity to serve the medical community of Sint Maarten, while advancing my education as I shadowed OBGYN physicians on Saturday mornings, during my free time. I obtained history and examined every patient on the floor prior to them being seen by my attendings. This experience not only improved my clinical knowledge and skills significantly, but also opened my eyes to the diverse needs of the island and its people. Living in Sint Maarten allowed me to witness the effects of low socioeconomic status, lack of resources, and limited medical literacy on the overall health and well-being of a community.

Moving back to the US for my clinical rotations, my passion for women’s health continued to fuel my desire to pursue residency training in OBGYN. Whether it was in the delivery room encouraging a first-time mother or in the clinic counseling a patient with bladder incontinence, I was drawn by the breadth of the practice. During my third year of medical school, I assisted a team of OBGYN residents who were comparing surgical outcomes after laparoscopic versus robotic hysterectomy. This experience showed me the impact that researchers can make on patients’ lives world-wide, and kindled my interest to develop the skillset that propelled an idea to a publication. Presenting our research at the ACOG meeting this past spring allowed me to learn more about the intricacies of OBGYN and engage in meaningful conversations with leaders of the field.

Although that Saturday morning at the Sint Maarten Medical Center sparked my interest in this specialty, it was the culmination of my clinical experiences which affirmed it. I look forward to integrating patient care, clinical skill, and technology in surgical management throughout my residency. By training at an academic center, I hope to continue my contributions to this field as a learner, a teacher, and a leader. The same way my parents inspired my passion and dedication to medicine, I hope to inspire future generations during residency and beyond.

Residency Personal Statement Example #12:

Diagnostic radiology | the pakistani img.

‘Are you taking a look at that Chest X-ray?’ said an attending pulmonologist behind me as I was staring at a computer that was stuck opening the radiology report. ‘No, sir, but I would love to learn,’ are the few words that started my journey into radiology. Over the rest of the rotation, my attending began to teach me the basics of image interpretation, and by the end, I was able to pick out bits and pieces of pneumonia, atelectasis, and interstitial lung disease on chest x-rays and high-resolution CTs. As an avid fan of mystery novels and languages, I found that piecing together bits and pieces of data gleaned from imaging and conveying these findings to doctors and patients scratched the same itch as when a detective finally has their ‘Eureka!’ moment and presents their case to a jury!

With my newfound passion, I soon began shadowing radiologists at my home institution in Pakistan. Studying the language used in reports and that used by patients, I quickly learned that there was a disconnect that needed to be bridged. Together with Dr. Muhammad Zaheer, I applied my love of languages and puzzle-solving and took the initiative of developing an English-to-Urdu dictionary of words that can help translate common and technical radiological terms into easy-to-understand Urdu words that other physicians can use to convey medical reports. We are currently working on integrating these into an electronic system that can auto-generate a translated report from a radiologist’s interpretation, further reducing the barriers between state-of-the-art medicine and patients who are not necessarily medically literate.

Reducing barriers between the patient and doctor is not enough. Radiology has taught me that the fast-paced and immediately effective nature of work requires the effective application of communication and language skills between the radiologist and other healthcare professionals as well. As an elective student at the University of Pennsylvania, our team of 3 people would read upwards of hundreds of chest X-rays for lung collapse, pneumothorax, pneumoperitoneum, etc. on an average day and would be in constant contact with the relevant physicians to ensure timely care. In addition, we would have to inform several healthcare teams about the status of venous lines, endotracheal tubes, and nasogastric tube placement, which are crucial to continued patient care. During multidisciplinary team meetings, I also came to appreciate the value of imaging during the evaluation of suspicious pulmonary nodules. Conveying these complex concepts in precise, efficient terms further developed my love of radiology, as I could see myself playing a central role as a ‘doctor’s doctor’ in the healthcare system for both acute and chronic conditions.

The intersection between my love of languages, problem-solving, and radiology did not stop there. I learned through my interactions with many brilliant radiology technicians that there is another exciting avenue to connect academic radiology with biomedical engineering, further optimizing patient outcomes. This led me to pursue a post-doctoral research fellowship at Cleveland Clinic under musculoskeletal radiologist Dr. David Johnson. Using basic principles of MRI, we developed new protocols capable of detecting osteoarthritic changes in the knee, allowing early intervention. Using artificial intelligence, we also developed several deep-learning models capable of automatic osteoarthritis feature detection (like synovitis and bone marrow lesions) that can fasten radiologists’ workflow, acting as a side-investigator that alerts them to possibly hidden clues. I believe that I will continue to use my radiology expertise in the future to aid the development of such exciting innovations.

Although it took a malfunctioning computer to introduce me to this specialty, I have come to realize that radiology truly is a cross-section of all my passions. Using the correct phrase and finding a simple solution can make all the difference in guiding a doctor, informing a patient, and shaping research goals. As an aspiring academic radiologist, I aim to continue to connect radiologists with the people whose lives we affect, and I hope to contribute to your program as an inquisitive and collegial resident.

Residency Personal Statement Example #13:

Interventional radiology | the chess player.

My initial experiences with interventional radiology are a great microcosm of all the reasons why this specialty speaks to me. When my mother was suffering from varicose veins, it was an interventional radiologist who was able to ease her pain. Similarly, it was an interventional procedure that embolized a life-threatening bleed for one of my best friends. As a chess enthusiast, that is when I realized that interventional radiology as a specialty functions a lot like the queen piece: it is highly versatile and can be called into action at any time!

Like chess, I soon realized that interventional procedures often allow you to plan several steps, but still require on-the-fly decision making. During my elective time with Dr. John Smith at Medical University, we would spend a fair amount of time planning approaches, instrumentation, anatomy, and ultimately intervention before each procedure using the patient’s medical history and importantly, their imaging. This helped us build a roadmap of what to expect. However, we spent an equal amount of time adjusting to issues discovered in real time such as variant anatomy and unexpected device failures. The culture of learning from each mistake and building expertise in this manner is something that I now use daily, realizing that one should always plan for the future while remaining flexible.

Using this mindset of continual learning, I began to pursue research in the field of interventional radiology, focusing on quality improvement and new technique development. By working with residents at my medical school, we worked to minimize intraoperative radiation by standardizing pre-operative imaging review. Additionally, our team has worked on the introduction of augmented reality headsets in the procedure room to increase ease of access to patient imaging data. I aim to continue my work with my colleagues in biomedical engineering to introduce new techniques and technology, widening our arsenal and improving patient outcomes.

Fueled by my passion for advancing the field’s clinical efficiency and feasibility, I made a trip to my ethnic homeland in India to try to make a change there. I quickly discovered that access to facilities, personnel, and instruments was severely limited in rural areas. To combat this, I worked with a local interventional radiologist to devise a make-shift procedure room “on wheels”, allowing medical facilities and interventional radiologists to travel to places where they were most needed. Using an on-call schedule and working closely with other doctors in the area, we began to help patients that primary care identified as candidates for minor interventions! Our mobile unit also inspired other specialty services such as OBGYN and general surgeons to develop their mobile units as well!

As I near graduation, I realize that interventional radiology is where I can best apply my passion for problem-solving and leadership. Seeing all the moving parts, anticipating various outcomes and their probabilities, devising new strategies, and placing individuals where they work the best are just some of the things that are common between a chess player and an interventional radiologist. I look forward to realizing my goal to become a valuable asset to every patient I encounter and to inspire other physicians to push the boundaries of minimally invasive interventions, whether that is as a vital piece on the chess board in the hospital system, or the grandmaster chess player leading in the procedure room.

Residency Personal Statement Example #14:

Internal medicine/ icu | the farmer.

Growing up, my father’s dream for my future was that I would someday take over from him in running the family farm. My childhood was a continuous balancing act between completing homework, executing my farm duties, and being a good son to my parents. Years of navigating these competing responsibilities had made me fairly adept at multi-tasking, and in the back of my mind, I still harbored the fantasy that I could both fulfill my obligations to the farm while also entertaining my growing passion for medicine. However, this naïve, but well-intentioned vision for my future came crashing down when I was admitted to the hospital for meningitis. Spending days on end in the largest hospital in our city, I witnessed firsthand the impact of exceptional and compassionate patient care. I was impressed by the vast scientific knowledge and skillful manner in which my physician communicated my diagnosis and treatment plan with me. I knew then that I could never work on the family farm and that my true life’s calling was to become a physician.

For the next two years, I worked as a waiter to be able to afford my dream of attending medical school. Every day after a long shift at work, I would return home and study for the admissions exam until I fell asleep. After a grueling two years, I gained admission to medical school, thrilled to finally be studying the subject to which I had chosen to dedicate my life.

I quickly developed a passion for internal medicine as I began my clinical rotations, and in particular, the high-acuity patients I encountered in the intensive care unit. I was amazed by the medical complexity of each patient and the breadth of knowledge that critical care physicians must have in order to rapidly diagnose and treat patients, many of whom were hanging on to life by a thread. What I most enjoyed about my time rotating in the ICU was that almost every single patient was a medical puzzle, and that it took the concerted and deep collaboration of a whole team of healthcare providers to come to a suitable consensus on patient management. It was particularly awe-inspiring to see patients on the brink of death fully recover after spending a few days in the ICU. I quickly realized that I had found my intellectual and spiritual home, and that I would like nothing more than to dedicate my life to the care of the sickest patients in the hospital.

When I expressed my interest in pursuing internal medicine residency followed by a critical care fellowship to my mentor, she immediately recommended pursuing my dream through training in the US given the comparatively better access to cutting-edge technology, clinical experts, and seemingly limitless research opportunities. However, the financial burden was a huge barrier for me. I tackled this obstacle in the only way I had ever known how; by working in the evenings after school and on days off to save up enough money to come to the US. But even that was not enough to reach my goals, so I took on a job as a general practitioner in India for two years to be able to afford the plane tickets and the battery of exams needed for entry into US residency programs. This experience helped to hone my clinical skills and bedside manner and will serve me well during my residency training. Additionally, since coming to the US, I have become more involved in clinical research, working alongside critical care physicians at the Mayo Clinic on a number of projects and learning more about the intricacies of the US healthcare system.

Having spent two years in the US, I am ready to embark on the next step in my academic journey and look for a program with comprehensive internal medicine training and robust research infrastructure to expand my growing passion for clinical research. I aspire to be a clinician-scientist who takes insights from my interactions with patients in the ICU to further the field, both from a treatment perspective and from the perspective of improving health care equity and access.

My journey has been arduous, circuitous, and marked by many obstacles along the way. But I know of no other pathway as intellectually stimulating or personally rewarding as medicine. My father has since come to terms with his initial disappointment that I would not be taking up his mantle to work on the family farm. But he has expressed newfound pride in my goal to pursue medicine and to provide excellent care for patients and their families the way that the doctors that treated my meningitis did for me all those years ago.

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Residency Personal Statement Example #15:

General surgery | the iraqi female applicant.

‘Females can never be surgeons!’ These were the words that resonated in my ears every time I expressed my interest in surgery. My medical school tutors, family, friends, all dissuaded me from pursuing this course. In a patriarchal society like the one I grew up in, women were expected to adhere to restrictive cultural norms. Thankfully, I persevered.

Growing up in war-torn Iraq made for a difficult and unusual childhood. War and fighting were the norm, as were constant displacement and unstable living situations. Due to the unrelenting violence that ravaged the country since before I can remember, the emergency room in my medical school hospital, Al Mosul University Hospital, was constantly flooded with trauma patients.

The combination of diverse cases and shortage of clinical staff proved the perfect storm for piquing my surgical interests, as I was afforded the opportunity to perform tasks typically reserved for first and second-year residents. Though I quickly rose to the intense demands of working in Al Mosul’s ED, my male colleagues would often remind me that surgery was not an appropriate avenue for women, and that I should instead choose an ‘easier’ specialty that would allow me to focus on raising a family. For me, however, the decision was crystal clear. Surgery was the perfect blend of manual dexterity and methodical decision making. I was not only fascinated by the diversity of surgical cases, but also by the surgeons’ abilities to repair and heal the horrific war injuries. Seeing patients who suffered bomb blasts on the brink of death be stabilized through expert surgical intervention sparked my passion for the incredible restorative power of surgery. The fast pace, required precision, and the exquisite coordination of working as part of a surgical team further cemented my interest.

At a local surgical conference, I was fortunate to meet a visiting US surgeon who was in Mosul as part of his mission trip to Iraq. After speaking to him at length about my burgeoning interest in the field, he encouraged me to follow my passion, and even helped me secure several rotations in the US. It was during these rotations that I received my first exposure to the US healthcare system, from its incredible access to technological advancements unheard of in most Iraqi hospitals to its focus on cultivating a diverse and inclusive workforce. Following my rotations, I spent two years as a post-doctoral clinical researcher at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), investigating longitudinal outcomes for trauma patients who sustained debilitating war injuries. My research years were transformational, not only providing me a robust foundation in clinical research, but also giving me a deeper appreciation for the positive impact of holistic care on trauma patients’ lives and wellbeing. As a result of my experiences at BWH, I hope to enroll in a program with equal parts emphasis on surgical and research skills development and that embraces diversity as a core value. Following my residency, I aspire to return to Iraq and continue to treat patients suffering from trauma, conduct research on optimizing outcomes for trauma patients, and educating the next generation of surgeons.

As a female growing up in Iraq, I faced many challenges during my quest to secure a residency spot in the US. Despite the discouragement of tutors and family members as well as the daunting prospect of starting a long and difficult journey in a new country, I am steadfast in the pursuit of my professional dreams. I have one goal that I will keep fighting for in the years ahead: an unwavering commitment to make a difference in patients’ lives and empower women in Iraq and around the world to help me make that difference. My message to those women who, like me, are told by those around them that they can never be surgeons: do not be discouraged. Let their words fuel your strength and fight to make the world a better place for yourself and your patients!

Residency Personal Statement Example #16:

Pediatrics | the oncologist.

Walking into the pediatric ward for the first time was bittersweet. While it was sad to see that children so young have to be hospitalized and spend time away from their family and friends, I could also sense the unity with which the doctors, nurses, and other staff tried to make each child as happy as possible. Outpatient clinical encounters were the same: pediatricians would go out of their way to involve children in their healthcare without overwhelming them. Seeing the same patient with meningitis go from unresponsive one evening to a talkative and vibrant child in a few weeks was amazing. Unsurprisingly, when I started nearing the end of medical school, I was drawn towards pediatrics.

Just as the pediatricians tried to grant agency to scared and confused children, I started to make sure that I was doing the best I could to provide a sense of normalcy to the children I met during my pediatric rotation in my local hospital in Pakistan. Near the end of the rotation, I worked together with the nursing staff to provide ‘responsible cheat meals’ for kids who were sick of hospital food, repurposed childhood toys from my classmates, and provided earplugs to diminish noise from healthcare monitors during sleeping hours. In our limited and informal experience in the pediatric oncology ward, my preceptors and I found that this often made the children more cooperative and happier with their care, ultimately lowering the need for supportive medications such as analgesics.

However, one thing that I learned from this experience was that children are not always happy and receptive toddlers. Older teenagers in particular harbor a lot of skepticism towards healthcare professionals and need an extra level of attention. Working with an adolescent specialist at the University of Minnesota, I began to develop skills to help children deal with changes in their bodies and social expectations. This naturally led me to pursue the development of education programs for healthcare workers, parents, and teenagers on what to expect during puberty and beyond. We developed specific educational material for healthy children, special considerations during times of chronic illnesses such as cancer, as well as psychosocial techniques for communication.

My experiences in education also sparked an equal interest in research, as I noticed that there are many gaps in the literature regarding general predictors of mental well-being in the teenage oncological patient population. This led me to pursue a post-doctoral research position with Dr. John Smith at Boston Children’s Hospital, which focused on investigating the combined effect of chemoradiation therapy, baseline physical health, and social determinants on hospitalization rates in all forms of leukemia. Currently, we are working on using this data to develop cancer-specific risk assessment tools for mortality and long-term hospitalization to be integrated into daily clinical practice. While my medical school in Pakistan has afforded me with an amazing clinical education and exposure to a wide variety of pathology, my experience in the United States has motivated me to gain skills in education and research while also learning specialty-specific skills in pediatrics. A residency in the U.S. would allow me to hone these skills to serve a wider patient population.

As a pediatrics applicant, I aim to join a program that shares the same aims as I do: getting patients and parents out of the hospital as soon and as happy as possible! Long-term, I am particularly interested in pursuing a fellowship in pediatric oncology, fueled by my experiences in clinical practice, education, and research. By meeting individuals at their level, whether they are toddlers, teens, or parents, I hope to make a trip to the hospital an experience filled with optimism.

Need guidance on crafting that perfect personal statement? Swing by our blog “ How to Write a Good Personal Statement for your Residency Application ” for a fun walkthrough on creating a standout residency application statement.

Residency Personal Statement Example #17:

Emergency medicine | the firefighter.

For as long as I can recall, it seemed my destiny was always to become a firefighter. Growing up as the son and grandson of two generations of City of Toledo Firefighters, I witnessed firsthand the selflessness and bravery displayed by these everyday heroes. They were the first responders who fearlessly confronted emergencies, rushing into flaming buildings and establishing deep connections with the community. It was their dedication that inspired me to follow in their footsteps. However, my path took an unexpected turn after high school when I decided to take a position working as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) prior to college.

During that transformative year, as I immersed myself in the world of emergency medical services, I had the privilege of interacting with emergency physicians both in the field and in the trauma bay. During these experiences, I was immediately captivated by their ability to think critically, remain calm in the face of chaos, and save lives. It was in those moments that I realized my true calling lay in the field of emergency medicine.

Coming from a blue-collar family, I understood the importance of hard work and determination. As the first person in my family to pursue a college degree, I enrolled in Owens Community College to pursue an Associate’s Degree in Pre-medicine. During this time, I continued to work as an EMT on weekends and during summers, financing my education through steadfast commitment and sheer determination. After two demanding years at the community college, my efforts were rewarded when I earned a full scholarship to the University of Toledo to complete my bachelor’s degree before gaining admission to the Toledo School of Medicine.

From the moment I stepped into medical school, my decision to pursue emergency medicine remained resolute. However, I recognized the value of acquiring a comprehensive understanding of various medical disciplines, as emergency medicine demands proficiency in almost every aspect of medicine. I approached every clinical rotation with enthusiasm, eager to develop the diverse skill set required to excel in the dynamic environment of the emergency department.

As a testament to my passion for the field, I took the initiative to establish the University of Toledo’s Emergency Medicine Interest Group, creating a platform where like-minded individuals could come together. Through this group, I organized lunch talks by members of the department and facilitated shadowing opportunities for first and second-year medical students. Furthermore, I dedicated two months of elective time to work alongside emergency medicine residents and physicians during prehospital care rotations across Toledo, solidifying my passion for the specialty.

Looking ahead, I envision a future where I split my practice between a large teaching academic center and an underserved, rural community. In the academic center, I aim to contribute to the education of residents and students, sharing my experiences and expertise to shape the next generation of emergency physicians. Simultaneously, I am deeply committed to serving in a rural or underserved setting, where I can make a meaningful impact on the lives of those in need. I believe that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, deserves access to high-quality emergency care, and I am eager to provide comprehensive and compassionate medical services to underserved populations. With the unwavering motivation and dedication inherited from two generations of first responders, I am ready to embark on the next phase of my training in emergency medicine.

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Residency Personal Statement Example #18:

Internal medicine | the war survivor.

The Afghan Civil War erupted when I was in elementary school. Soon after, the Taliban occupied Afghanistan, and, as a girl, I was barred from my school. I had always dreamed of becoming the first female doctor in my family, and this was a goal that required extensive education, let alone elementary school. My family uprooted everything to migrate to Pakistan so that I would be able to continue my education. Living in a country where we were not welcomed, bearing financial burdens, and worrying about safety issues, especially for girls, were the least of the challenges we faced, but that did not hold me back.

Still, that was not the last challenge I faced. When I graduated high school, I could not afford to attend medical school in Pakistan. Instead, I accepted the offer to serve as a teacher at our community school. Teaching at such a young age, tutoring those similar in age to me, and managing a class of thirty students taught me a great deal of discipline and leadership, skills which I have since carried with me throughout my career.

A decade later, the Taliban regime was finally over. We returned to Afghanistan, and I attended the entrance exam for Kabul Medical University. Among thousands of other participants, I was part of the lucky 25% who passed the exam. My endurance had paid off. Finally in medical school, I found myself fascinated by the detailed knowledge and interdisciplinary approach of my internist attendings. Their synchronized orchestration of patient care resonated with my experiences managing diverse students, while their instructive whiteboard sessions on pathophysiology echoed my own tenure at the front of a classroom. These encounters served as enlightening examples, aiding me in sculpting my identity as a burgeoning physician.

On my internal medicine rotation, I was responsible for the care of a patient with multiple myeloma. His low hemoglobin level led to significant limitations in his daily activity. His symptoms were initially attributed solely to his condition, but I was not satisfied with this explanation. When I ordered his iron studies, we were able to diagnose him with concomitant iron deficiency anemia. An iron infusion quickly helped improve his quality of life, which was precious to my patient, as I knew from the time I had spent with him. That ability to help my patient made me finally feel like the doctor I aspired to be. I had found my home in internal medicine. The convergence of laboratory tests, imaging studies, and critical analysis to reach a diagnosis fuels my desire to become an internist.

Despite my passion for internal medicine, women in Afghanistan faced scant opportunities in this field. This was due to a lack of female mentors and sociocultural constraints against females being on night shifts in predominantly male hospitals. Undeterred, I embarked on another journey away from home, this time to the United States. Here, I secured a position as a medical scribe, working in tandem with various healthcare providers. This experience allowed me to absorb their expertise, familiarize myself with the U.S. healthcare system, and diligently prepare for and ultimately pass the USMLE exams.

I have come a long way, and still have a long way to go. My accomplishment of becoming my family’s first female doctor fills me with pride. Yet, I aspire to achieve more – to become a distinguished internist and an empowering role model for the women of Afghanistan. I intend to personify the belief: if you dare to dream, you are destined to achieve.

Residency Personal Statement Example #19:

Internal medicine | changing specialties.

When I was a senior in high school, my girl scout troop would organize weekly medical trips to rural parts of our community, working with local physicians to provide basic medical services to underserved patient populations. I was particularly struck by the excellent care and bedside manner of one of the physicians who used his bilingualism to connect with a non-English speaking patient who had faced significant challenges in accessing care. The doctor’s small gesture left a lasting impression on me, and, for the first time, I realized not only the curative but also the humanistic power of medicine to connect with patients across cultural barriers and in some of their most vulnerable moments. Though I had always had a proclivity for science, it was not until that moment that I had ever seriously considered a career in medicine.

In medical school, I was captivated by pre-clinical coursework in pathology and lectures on disease pathophysiology. I was torn between pathology and internal medicine during my clinical rotations, as I enjoyed the cerebral, deductive nature of each field and the fact that neither was limited to a single organ system or patient population. The opportunity to be the frontline diagnostician and to utilize advanced equipment and laboratory methods eventually won me over to pathology.

However, during my pathology residency, the pendulum started to swing back toward internal medicine. I vividly remember the turning point in my decision making. I was staring down the barrel of my microscope at dozens of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes on a peripheral blood smear. I paged the internal medicine team to help confirm the diagnosis of cerebral malaria. Hearing the excitement and celebration of the medical team on the other end, who had been struggling to identify the etiology of the patient’s undulant fevers and fatigue, I felt a pang of envy, a distinct feeling that I was missing out on the human factor of medicine.

Similarly, in my research on the utility of galectin-3 immunohistochemistry staining in papillary carcinoma of the thyroid, I found myself increasingly drawn to the human impacts of scientific investigation. For example, after my successful completion of several experiments, our department was able to secure funding to examine a wider range of malignancies. I was particularly excited when my research enabled our hospital to offer estrogen and progesterone receptor testing and hormonal therapy for breast cancer patients. I quickly realized that I did not just want to diagnose but to directly treat patients, and with each passing day, I yearned more for the ability to heal through empathic listening and the formation of meaningful rapport with patients.

Eventually, I decided to undertake the goal of retraining in internal medicine. To this end, I elected to travel to the United States to undertake hands-on clinical experiences. My time in the U.S. gave me firsthand exposure to a complex healthcare system and a deeper appreciation for the impact of advanced diagnostic technology, cutting-edge treatment modalities, and patient-centered, evidence-based care. I also gained confidence in my abilities to function as a member of a large, interdisciplinary care team, drawing on a skillset I had cultivated from many years of leading my girl scout troop and performing in church choirs.

I aspire to enter a residency program with an emphasis on strong clinical skills training, excellent research opportunities, and a dedication to clinical mentorship. Moreover, I want to be part of a program with strong camaraderie among residents and faculty and a spirit of collegiality and tireless dedication to patient care. Ultimately, I believe that my background in and extensive knowledge of pathology, my compassionate disposition, and my penchant for diligence and collaboration will make me a strong applicant to your residency program. Thank you for your consideration of my application.

Residency Personal Statement Example #20:

General surgery | the colombian img.

From the coastlines of Colombia, where I grew up assisting my mother—a nurse at our local clinic—during community emergencies, to the ORs of the United States, my journey has been driven by a single purpose: to master the art of surgery. My childhood in a region frequently struck by natural disasters exposed me to the critical need for deliberate, effective medical interventions. These early experiences ignited my passion for surgery, the field where I believed I could make the most immediate impact.

I pursued medical training in Bogotá, completing medical school and a residency in general surgery, where I became adept at navigating the complexities of trauma care under resource constraints. This foundational experience instilled in me a deep understanding of the vital role of precision and innovation in saving lives, yet it also highlighted the limitations imposed by a lack of advanced technology.

Determined to push the boundaries of what I could offer my patients and at the urging of my clinical mentors, I sought advanced training in the United States. Passing the USMLE was a challenging yet rewarding milestone. Next, after sending 100s of emails I eventually obtained a research fellowship at Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Under the mentorship of Dr. Elizabeth Hansen, a leader in robotic surgery, I delved into the intricacies of robotic-assisted surgical techniques, contributing to research that sought to enhance surgical precision and safety. This work not only expanded my technical expertise but also fueled my passion for innovation, culminating in multiple publications and presentations at national conferences. These experiences solidified my commitment to surgical excellence and my desire to lead advancements in the field.

My clinical rotation at Cleveland Clinic under Dr. Michael Choi, a pioneer in minimally invasive surgery, was particularly formative. Here, I honed my skills in laparoscopic procedures and participated in a study focusing on the application of these techniques in emergency surgeries. Our work demonstrated significant reductions in patient recovery times and was recently published in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery.

Looking to the future, I am driven by a vision to transform surgical care in underserved regions, starting with my home country, Colombia. In the short term, I hope to match into a strong general surgery program to continue to hone my clinical skills. Though I remain open, I am inclined to pursue further fellowship training in minimally invasive and robotic surgery. My end goal is to establish a center of excellence for minimally invasive surgery, where I can train a new generation of surgeons in advanced techniques that are adaptable to both high-tech environments and resource-limited settings.

The United States has offered me unparalleled opportunities to grow as a surgeon and a scholar. However, the essence of my journey remains rooted in my early experiences in Colombia—facing adversity with limited resources but abundant resolve. I am eager to join a residency program that values not only technical skills but also the drive to apply those skills in diverse and challenging environments. I am committed to becoming not just a surgeon, but a global surgical leader, enhancing the quality and accessibility of surgical care worldwide.

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Residency Personal Statement Example #21:

Emergency medicine | the flow.

Anybody who has ever played at a jam session can tell you that we all live for the flow state: that state of mind during which you can place every improvised note well before you play it, and where you can perfectly see where you fit in with every other member of your band. I found that working in the emergency room on a busy day, I could feel the same flow-state as running codes and triaging patients, deciding how to deal with whatever comes through those doors optimally. This marked the start of my journey to becoming an emergency physician.

Nothing cemented my decision to pursue this field more than when an earthquake devastated my hometown in Sri Lanka, resulting in an overcrowded emergency department for more than a week as we appropriately managed anyone coming through the door. Daily, we had pre-rounds with local authorities about expected numbers and resource management. Next, we divided the list into emergent, urgent, and stable patients and began tackling all tasks ranging from splinting simple fractures to complex multi-compartment trauma. Finally, this all occurred over our regular influx of individuals with heart attacks, drug overdoses, and other acute presentations. While it was a truly grueling experience, I discovered that once I got into the rhythm of things, managing patients became easier and easier and I found myself eagerly asking ‘What needs to be done next?’

As exhilarating as this experience was, I understood from my experience that we were thankfully adequately staffed for the situation with an appropriate number of supplies. From my discussions with healthcare professionals from other institutions, this is not always the case. To combat this issue, we assembled the leadership of several local hospitals to define what it means by a ‘local emergency’, and devise resource-sharing hotlines, and post-emergency debriefings. With this system, we hope to timely redirect patients to hospitals with appropriate resources in the event of future catastrophes. Indeed, we found that this system eventually helped us with a completely different sort of emergency in the COVID pandemic where cross-institutional training helped us tide the initial waves.

My conversations with other emergency personnel also revealed another aspect of emergency medicine that I felt I had not experienced: being a first responder. To understand the perspective of the healthcare professionals who are first on the scene, I joined a paramedic team that responded to stroke calls, heart attacks, trauma, and other such emergencies. Here, communication between the destination hospital and initial patient management needs to be juggled in a time-effective manner. With this experience, I now better realize what emergency departments can do to make first responders’ jobs easier, which can be as complex as coordinating multi-service consults to as simple as skipping the ER directly to take the patient to the catheterization lab.

As a musician, I understand that working in a team cannot be a one-man show with guitar solos all the time. The same principle applies in the ER, where sometimes you are the person best equipped for a certain situation but need to take a backseat to other experts in other scenarios. Regardless of my role, I aim to be an asset to any team of emergency healthcare professionals by honing my skills, responding to team dynamics collegially, and yearning to make the lives of first responders everywhere easier.

If you are applying to the Match and need a detailed guide on how to ace your ERAS application, check out our free ERAS Application Guide here .

Residency Personal Statement Example #22:

Primary care/im | the impoverished.

“If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” These powerful words, spoken by my mother, have echoed in my mind since childhood. Growing up in a single-parent home on the south side of Chicago, my mother worked tirelessly as a nurse in Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital’s emergency department. Every night my brother and I would wait for her to arrive after her shift ended at 7 pm. As she shared stories of dedicated physicians and life-saving interventions, I began to view these doctors in the same manner my friends viewed superheroes or sports stars, inspiring me to pursue a career in medicine.

As an African American in a neighborhood lacking professional role models, the path to becoming a physician seemed distant if not impossible. However, my mother’s belief in the power of dreams instilled in me the courage to strive for the extraordinary. With determination, I worked diligently throughout grade school and middle school, propelled by the aspiration to transcend the limitations of my circumstances. Eventually, I was admitted to Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, a magnet school named after a civil rights activist and one of my personal heroes.

Continuing to embrace every opportunity, I was able to attend Northwestern University on a full academic scholarship, where I immersed myself in neuroscience studies. Additionally, I dedicated my time as a tutor, providing support to underserved children in my former neighborhood. Witnessing the impact of education and healthcare disparities further ignited my passion for addressing these inequities.

Entering the University of Chicago Medical School, I embarked on a transformative journey. During my third-year clerkships, I discovered my calling in primary care and internal medicine. Although initially drawn to the fast-paced environment of the emergency department, I found the thoughtful, cerebral approach of internal medicine captivating. Each day, I eagerly embraced the challenge of unraveling complex medical puzzles, weaving together a patient’s diverse comorbidities to form a comprehensive list of differential diagnoses.

Following my third year, I took a gap year dedicated to serving underserved populations in Chicago. This experience provided a profound understanding of social determinants of health and the importance of preventive medicine. It solidified my commitment to bridging the gaps in healthcare access and outcomes, particularly within urban communities like my own. Looking forward, my vision encompasses practicing as a primary care physician in an urban academic center, where I can not only provide compassionate patient care but also mentor and inspire medical students and residents. Furthermore, I aspire to conduct research that addresses social determinants of health, striving to make tangible improvements in my community.

Reflecting on my journey, I realize that my mother’s quote encapsulates the essence of my pursuit. With each step I’ve taken, from the dinner table conversations with my mother to my experiences in medical school, I have seen firsthand that dreams can indeed be transformed into reality. By embracing the challenges, dedicating myself to lifelong learning, and advocating for equitable healthcare, I am ready to embark on a fulfilling career in internal medicine—a path that resonates with my values, aspirations, and the indomitable spirit instilled in me by my remarkable mother. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it.” These words, once whispered to me at the beginning of my journey, now reverberate with even greater significance as I stand at the threshold of a future where I can make a lasting difference in the lives of others.

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Residency Personal Statement Example #23:

Internal medicine | nonna.

“Not too much parmigiano, angioletta,” Nonna would call from the head of the table as I layered cutlets, marinara, and cheese. At ten, I became her hands in the kitchen, after diabetic peripheral neuropathy had stolen the fine motor strength and sensation needed to construct a perfect chicken parmesan. In Nonna’s kitchen, somewhere between deglazing the pan and helping prepare her insulin injections, I discovered a passion even more fervent than my love of home-cooked Italian food. The transformative power of medicine captivated me, and I became dedicated to pursuing a career that could allow me to help other patients with lifelong diseases like diabetes.

Throughout my clinical education, all my patient encounters reinforced the impact of compassionate, comprehensive healthcare. On my internal medicine rotation, I fell in love with the diagnostic aspect of the field, as well. For example, I had a 34-year-old patient with a seemingly unprovoked pulmonary embolism and incidental hydronephrosis on CT. After digging a little bit, I found out he had a history of cryptorchidism with unilateral orchiectomy, and I wasn’t convinced he was clotting without provocation. Testicular ultrasound showed a mass that had entirely replaced the normal testicular tissue, and CT of the abdomen and pelvis showed a lymph node compressing the ureter. I realized that this was how I wanted to spend the rest of my career—proposing a unifying diagnosis through careful interpretation of data to find patient-centered interventions.

Even the more routine aspects of medicine were exciting to me. I woke up before my alarm each morning, excited to interpret new lab data from the night before and preround on my patients to see if they were improving or needed further care. I was especially excited to participate in patient education. I spent two hours counseling one of my patients with diabetes and a new insulin requirement on the logistics and barriers of self-injection. While she was admitted with incredible resistance to the idea of insulin injections, I spent each day of admission trying to understand and resolve her fears. By discharge, she was able to self-administer basal and bolus. I have witnessed firsthand the importance of empathy in establishing trust and fostering meaningful patient-provider relationships, qualities I strive to embody in my practice.

As a South Philadelphia native, I see the social determinants of health at work in my backyard every day. I am passionate about addressing how these factors impact the delivery of care. I am deeply committed to advocating for health equity and addressing the social determinants of health that disproportionately affect marginalized communities. Specifically, I spent all four years of medical school volunteering at a student-run clinic, providing free medical care to unhoused people in Philadelphia. At this clinic, I developed an education program on commonly seen conditions which is now held annually for the residents of the shelter. In clinical practice and beyond, I am dedicated to improving health literacy and access to care for all my patients.

My academic pursuits have complemented these experiences, providing me with a solid foundation in evidence-based medicine and critical thinking. For example, I have completed a research project on the barriers to insulin distribution and injection, and the potential role of social media as an educational intervention for younger adults who are newly diagnosed. I am invested in advancing the field of internal medicine through clinical research and hope to spend my residency and career continuing to contribute to the field.

In a residency program, I am seeking to join a team with the same values I learned from Nonna almost fifteen years ago: community, supportive learning, and awe of the work we do. I hope to match at an institution that will prioritize fostering an awareness of social determinants of health and emphasize patient-centered care above all else. I am eager to continue my professional growth under the guidance of experienced clinicians and educators who share my empathy-forward approach and commitment to advancing the field for the benefit of our patients.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, these samples will help you draft an excellent personal statement to tell the great story of your medical journey!

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You can also bundle your personal statement editing with ERAS application editing and interview preparation by signing up to our Match Application Packages HERE .

If you have any questions about any of our services, don’t hesitate to reach out to our customer support service here .

Good luck with your application and always remember, The Match Guy is here for you!

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Writing Your Personal Statement for Residency

Tips to convey “ why you for residency specialty”, use your personal statement to introduce yourself to your interviewer..

Include topics that help the interview go smoothly.
Be sincere and help the interviewer know what’s important to you.
Include only the information that you want to discuss.

Write a focused essay, four or five paragraphs in length, that covers the basics.

The first paragrap h could introduce the reader to you and could focus on what led you to a career in medicine, more importantly your specialty. The tone of the first paragraph sets the tone for the rest of your personal statement.
The second paragraph should let the reader know how you arrived at your choice of the specialty. (Personal experiences from rotations, leadership activities, work, volunteer, community service, studying abroad, background and/or life/ family experiences).
The third/fourth paragraphs should confirm why you think this choice is right for you AND why you are right for the specialty. This is an opportunity further distinguish yourself.
The close/final paragraph could inform the reader what you see as your long-term goals and/or how you see yourself in this specialty. Also, avoid spending too much content on “ What I want/seek/am interested in from a residency program …” The focus should be more on why they should choose you over other candidates

Questions to ask when approaching your Personal Statement:

What are the reasons for choosing the specialty?
What are your key attributes?
What contributions can I make to the specialty and the residency program?
What are your career plans and how will your background/additional education contribute to the field?
What makes me unique enough to stand out among other candidates?

Your goal should be to write a well-crafted statement that is both original in its presentation and grammatically correct. Articulate your personal drive in as eloquent language as you can provide. The writing should flow. No one expects you to be a novelist. The most important thing is to write a concise, clear statement about why you?

Don’t spend a lot of time providing information about you that programs will generally assume to be true for most competent medical students; “I want to help people”, “I love medicine”, “I want to match into a residency program where I can learn”

If you explain your reasons for entering the field of medicine, do so to inform the reader of points beyond the career choice. Avoid spending too much time on “Why I Wanted to Go into Medicine.” How did you arrive at your specialty choice and what experiences support how you arrived at the specialty choice?

Support your strengths and skillset with examples . Most medical student personal statement list similar strengths, “hard worker/will work hard”, “good communication skills”, “relate to/interact with patients” – so if you provide strengths that are common among medical students or even unique to you, it will be important to provide evidence to support your claims, directing programs to come to their own conclusion about your strength.

I f you repeat accomplishments already listed on your CV , they should be relevant to your personal/professional growth. You want the emphasis to encourage the reader to bring this up in the interview.

Use your own words rather than rely on quotes; your own thoughts are more powerful. If you can make it work, great, but don’t dwell on quotes. With only 800 words or less…it is favorable to make them all your own.

Do NOT plagiarize your personal statement.

Length ; Since one page in length in a Word Doc is not the same as what one page will equal one page in ERAS for personal statement formatting, the key is stick to 750-850 words for your ERAS/residency application personal statement. One page in ERAS equals nearly 1,200 words, however most programs preferences for a typical personal statements in terms of Word Count will be within range of 650-850 – this will be acceptable for most residency programs.

Need a review of your personal statement…professional review and editing?

Melva Landrum , TCOM Residency Counselor will provide thorough feedback through an evaluation form that breaks down your entire personal statement including: content, grammar, structure, flow and overall impact. You can email your personal statement to [email protected] within one week.
The Career Center can also review personal statements and Center for Academic Performance (CAP) office can provide feedback mostly on grammar and structure.

This page was last modified on November 10, 2023

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ERAS Changes to Personal Statement Format

AAMC’s ® ERAS ® system generally makes small changes to their systems to improve performance and generally make life easier for medical residency applicants. This year, they’ve made quite a few big changes to their timeline , but there was an unexpected change as well.

This year, ERAS announced they would be allowing several additional formatting options on the Personal Statement page such as:

Strikethrough
Align Right
Increase Indent
Decrease Indent
Insert hyperlink

A Note from ERAS: “ Personal Statements created outside of MyERAS should be done in a plain text word processing application such as Notepad (for Windows users) or SimpleText (for Mac Users). Personal Statements created in word processing applications not using plain text may contain hidden and potentially invalid formatting. ”

But, what does this mean?

While it’s kind of ERAS to allow for more freedom in formatting for the Personal Statement– just because it’s available, doesn’t necessarily mean you should use these options.

The medical residency Personal Statement is a professional and formal document , and should be treated as such. You wouldn’t normally use bolding, italics, underline, or strikethrough in a formal document as these are looked at as unprofessional.

You should NEVER EVER use:

Bullets – All content should be in paragraph form, bulleted lists are lazy!
Numbering – For the same reasons as bulleting.
Centering – Not considered proper formatting for a professional document.
Align Right – For the same reasons as Centering.

You may consider using:

Increase/Decrease indentation

Use these tools with caution. Aligning left should be ok, because this is common formatting for any written paper. However, indenting can eat up valuable space in your document. If you choose to indent, consider not putting spaces between your paragraphs (this is not advised as it makes the document harder to read).

If you have a professional website, possibly consider hyperlinking to that website to help Program Review Committees get to know you better beyond the Personal Statement . But, this will only work if the Program Director is reading the Personal Statement on a computer as opposed to a print out.

These new changes to the Personal Statement formatting options are exciting, but remember to use common sense when deciding to use any of them. If you are in doubt, it’s better to go without.

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What is a resignation letter for personal reasons?

A notice of resignation for private reasons is a formal document that an employee submits to their employer to notify them of their decision to quit from their position due to personal circumstances.

Unlike letters based on job dissatisfaction or career advancement , this type of notice typically does not delve into specific details about the personal reasons behind the departure. Instead, it focuses on the fact that personal matters are the primary motivator for the decision to leave.

Purposes of a resignation letter due to personal reasons:

Resign letter serves as an official record of your intent to leave.
It indicates the last working day or the notice period you are providing, allowing your boss adequate time to make arrangements for your departure.
The letter conveys gratitude for the opportunities, support, and experiences you’ve had during your tenure.
It ensures that the communication is respectful and professional, which can aid in preserving your reputation and leaving a good impression.

Grounds for writing a resignation letter for personal reasons

Deciding to resign from a position can be driven by a variety of circumstances, each unique to the individual's situation. In this context, a resignation is a formal means of communicating your decision to quit.

Here are the various causes that might prompt someone to submit a letter of resignation for personal reasons.

Personal health concerns or the need for medical treatment may necessitate stepping away from work. Increased responsibilities , such as caring for a family member or managing duties. Moving to a new city or country for private reasons, such as a partner's job transfer or personal preference. A desire to improve work-life balance or manage stress more effectively. Deciding to return to school or undertake further education to focus on academic goals. Seeking time for personal growth or to explore new interests or ventures. Major life events , such as marriage, childbirth, or other personal transitions. Experiencing burnout or needing a break for mental and emotional health.

In a resignation letter for personal reasons, it’s usually not necessary to go into detailed explanations; instead, a brief mention of the circumstances is sufficient to maintain professionalism.

How to write a resignation letter?

Composing a resignation email or letter for personal reasons involves crafting a respectful communication that clearly conveys your intention to leave your position.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to write an effective resign letter:

Contacts. Include your name and contact information at the top, followed by the date. Align this to the left or center, depending on your preference.
Employer’s details. Add your employer’s name, title, and company.
Salutation. Use a professional greeting, such as "Dear [Supervisor's Name]".

2. Clear statement

Start by stating your desire to resign from your position. Be direct and concise.

Write the effective date of your quit. This is usually two weeks from the date of the letter, but it can vary based on your contract or firm policy.

3. Brief explanation (optional)

If you choose to include a reason for your resignation, keep it short and non-specific. The goal is to be polite without disclosing too much personal information.

4. Gratitude

Convey your thanks for the opportunities, experiences, and support you received while working at the organization . If appropriate, mention achievements that were particularly meaningful to you.

5. Assist with the transition

Offer to help with the transition process. This might be training a replacement, documenting procedures, or completing pending tasks.

End your letter on a positive note, reiterating your appreciation and well-wishes for the company’s future success. Use a formal closing phrase, followed by your name.

Personal reason resignation letter examples

Here are examples of resignation letters for different levels and professions, each tailored to a specific personal reason.

Entry-level resignation letter sample

Emma Johnson [email protected] 555-123-4567 August 6, 2024 Mark Stevens Customer Service Manager BrightTech Solutions Dear Mr. Stevens, I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign from my role as Customer Service Representative at BrightTech Solutions, effective August 20, 2024. The reason for my departure is a pressing family matter that requires my full attention and relocation to a different state. I appreciate the support and opportunities BrightTech Solutions has provided during my tenure. I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition and am willing to help train my replacement over the next two weeks. Please let me know how I can assist in this process. Thank you for your understanding and for the valuable experience I have gained working here. Best regards, Emma Johnson

Resignation email example for mid-level position

Resignation letter due to personal reasons for a mid-level position

Text version:

Dear Sarah,

Please accept this letter as formal notice of my resignation from the position of Marketing Coordinator at GreenWave Enterprises, effective May 20, 2024.

Due to a personal decision to pursue further education, I will be leaving my position to focus on my studies. Working here has been a rewarding experience, and I am grateful for the professional growth and support I have received here.

I am happy to assist in any way I can during my remaining time, including aiding in the transition process and handing off my current projects.

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the team.

Sincerely, David Lee

Senior resignation letter example for personal reasons

Jessica Martinez [email protected] 555-654-3210 May 7, 2024 Robert Chen Chief Technology Officer InnovateTech Corp Dear Robert, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Software Development Manager at InnovateTech Corp, with my final day being May 21, 2024. After much consideration, I have decided to step down to address significant personal health concerns that require a focus on recovery. I have greatly valued my time at InnovateTech and appreciate the collaborative and innovative environment. During my remaining weeks, I will work to ensure a smooth transition by completing ongoing projects and assisting in the handover process. Thank you for your support and understanding. Warm regards, Jessica Martinez

Resignation email personal reasons for an executive role

Resignation letter due to personal reasons for an executive role

Dear Laura,

I am writing to formally resign from my position as Chief Financial Officer at Pinnacle Enterprises, with my resignation taking effect on August 20, 2024.

The decision to leave is driven by a need to devote more time to personal family commitments that have become increasingly demanding. It has been a privilege to contribute to Pinnacle’s success, and I am thankful for the opportunities provided during my tenure.

I am dedicated to facilitating a seamless transition and am prepared to assist in the handover of my responsibilities over the coming weeks.

Thank you for your understanding and for the chance to be part of such a dynamic organization.

Best regards, Michael Anderson

Letter of resignation sample for a creative position

Olivia Brown [email protected] 555-432-1098 June 10, 2024 Ethan Patel Creative Director Minds Agency Dear Ethan, I am writing to notify you of my resignation from my position as Graphic Designer at Creative Minds Agency, effective June 24, 2024. I have decided to leave to pursue a personal passion project that requires my full attention and time. My experience at Creative Minds has been incredibly enriching, and I have enjoyed working on innovative projects with a talented team. I will ensure that all current projects are completed and will assist in transferring my responsibilities smoothly. Thank you for the support and the creative opportunities provided. Sincerely, Olivia Brown

Resignation letter due to personal reasons example

Sarah Mitchell [email protected] 555-876-5432 February 20, 2024 James Harper Office Manager Horizon Financial Group Dear James, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Administrative Assistant at Horizon Financial Group, with my last working day: on March 2, 2024. Due to a recent personal decision to relocate to be closer to family, I must step down from my role. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here and have appreciated the support and opportunities for professional growth. I am more than willing to assist in the transition process and will do everything possible to ensure that my responsibilities are smoothly handed over. Thank you for your understanding and for the opportunity to be part of such a supportive team. Sincerely, Sarah Mitchell

Resign letter example for personal reasons for a sales role

Thomas Wright [email protected] 555-321-6789 April 6, 2024 Lisa Adams Director of Sales Apex Solutions Dear Lisa, I am writing to inform you of my resignation from the role of Sales Manager at Apex Solutions, effective April 20, 2024. My decision to resign is driven by a need to focus on personal development and entrepreneurial pursuits that have become a priority for me. Working at Apex Solutions has been an invaluable experience, and I am grateful for the support and opportunities I’ve received. I am committed to ensuring a smooth transition and am available to help with the transfer of responsibilities and training for a successor. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of the team. Best regards, Thomas Wright

Sample notice of resignation for HR

Emily Carter [email protected] 555-567-8901 August 1, 2023 Robert Green HR Director Spectrum Technologies Dear Robert, I am writing to resign from my position as Human Resources Specialist at Spectrum Technologies, with my final day being August 15, 2023. Due to an upcoming relocation overseas for personal reasons, I find it necessary to resign. My time at Spectrum Technologies has been highly rewarding, and I have valued the opportunity to work with such a dedicated team. I will make every effort to ensure a smooth transition and am available to assist with any necessary handover activities. Thank you for your understanding and support. Sincerely, Emily Carter

IT resignation letter example for personal reasons

Jason Clark [email protected] 555-678-1234 September 6, 2022 Laura Mitchell Head of IT TechSphere Inc. Dear Laura, I am writing to formally resign from my position as IT Support Specialist at TechSphere Inc., with my resignation effective September 20, 2022. I have decided to leave due to personal circumstances that require my immediate attention and relocation. I am grateful for the opportunities I have had to grow professionally and contribute to the IT team. I will ensure that all outstanding issues are resolved and will assist in the transition to minimize any disruption. Thank you for the support and understanding during my time here. Best regards, Jason Clark

Letter of resignation for personal reasons for research scientist

Dr. Lisa Edwards [email protected] 555-789-4561 October 10, 2024 Dr. Alan Thompson Director of Research BioGen Research Labs Dear Dr. Thompson, I am writing to tender my resignation from my position as Research Scientist at BioGen Research Labs, effective October 24, 2024. My resignation is due to personal reasons related to an upcoming family commitment that requires me to relocate. It has been a privilege to work on groundbreaking research with such a dedicated team. I will do my utmost to complete my current research projects and assist with the handover process to ensure a seamless transition. Thank you for the opportunity and support provided during my tenure. Sincerely, Dr. Lisa Edwards

Personal reason resignation letter for an accountant

John Roberts [email protected] 555-987-1234 August 6, 2020 Karen Lee Finance Manager FinTech Solutions Dear Karen, I am writing to resign from my role as Accountant at FinTech Solutions, effective August 20, 2020. I have recently been presented with an opportunity to take on a new role in a different industry that aligns with my career goals. As a result, I must resign from my current position. Working at FinTech Solutions has been a great experience, and I have valued the professional growth and support received here. I am committed to assisting in the transition and will ensure that my tasks are up-to-date before my departure. Thank you for the support and opportunities provided during my time here. Best regards, John Roberts

Notice of resignation example for product designer

Aaron Smith [email protected] 555-654-3210 December 6, 2023 Claire Brown Head of Design Visionary Design Labs Dear Claire, I am writing to formally resign from my position as Product Designer at Visionary Design Labs, effective December 20, 2023. The reason for my resignation is a personal decision to pursue an advanced degree in design, which necessitates a significant amount of time and relocation. I have thoroughly enjoyed my role at Visionary Design Labs and appreciate the creative freedom and support provided. I am committed to ensuring a seamless transition and will assist in transferring my projects and responsibilities. Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to such innovative projects. Best regards, Aaron Smith

A resignation letter for personal reasons is not just a formality but an important step in concluding your current role.

Handling your resignation with thoughtfulness and professionalism underscores your respect for the organization and its people , leaving a lasting positive impression even as you move on to new endeavors .

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Within your MyERAS account, you may create personal statements; identify the people who will write letters of recommendation (LoRs); authorize the release COMLEX-USA and/or USMLE transcripts; and manage various documents. You may also assign most documents to their programs, and subsequently track their status, along with any additional ERAS documents.

Documents Section:

Personal Statement
Letters of Recommendation
Additional Documents

General

Each program sets individual requirements for the ERAS documents that should be submitted with the MyERAS application. You should research programs individually to determine those requirements before making document assignments.
Documents can be assigned “by document” to the full list of saved and applied to programs through the sections under Documents.
An Assignments Checklist can be found under the Programs section in the MyERAS application. This checklist is a convenient way to see the assignment statuses for documents and LoRs for programs that you have saved or applied to.
Each ERAS document has different guidelines and/or restrictions for being uploaded into the ERAS system and assigned to programs. Please review the information below for the specific guidelines and/or restrictions of each document.
Any document not listed below is not considered a standard ERAS document. A program may request materials (through their preferred method) in addition to those outlined below to assist in their decision-making; however, receipt of these materials would be determined between the you and the program.
Note for Applicants: You are advised to fully disclose results of all medical licensure examinations taken.
Note for IMG Applicants: ECFMG’s On-line Applicant Status and Information System (OASIS) allows you to upload certain document types themselves. A link to OASIS is available within the MyERAS portal on the Additional Documents page, but support for OASIS can be provided only by the ECFMG.
The EFDO is the Designated Dean’s Office for all fellowship applicants whether they are U.S. medical school graduates or IMGs. Applicants should visit the EFDO website for information about submitting their documents for upload or obtaining contact information when additional information is needed. The EFDO does not accept paper documents for fellowship applications and will not process documents sent by mail or courier. 
EFDO Online Services allows applicants to upload certain document types themselves, as well as send requests to your medical school to upload their MSPE and medical school transcript. A unique link to the EFDO Online Services account for each applicant is available within the MyERAS portal on the Additional Documents page under Documents.

Assigning Documents to Multiple Programs

You can assign a singular document to multiple programs by following these instructions:

Once you sign in to your MyERAS portal, click the Documents tab.
Applicants can choose between Personal Statements, Letters of Recommendation (LoRs), and Additional Documents.
Once a sub tab is selected, click the three dots under the Actions column.
Select Assign and select the program(s) you would like to assign the selected documents to.

Document Processing Times

Img applicants .

The ECFMG will take up to five business days to process documents once submitted. Please visit the ECFMG website or contact them directly to find out more about processing times for your documents, including LoRs.

Fellowship Applicants

All documents will take up to five business days to process to the ERAS program from the date they are uploaded through EFDO Online Services, MIDUS, or the AAMC Letter of Recommendation Portal (LoRP). Please visit the EFDO website or contact them directly to find out more about processing times for your documents, including LoRs.

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How to write the “About Me” section in a Resume? (11+ examples)

Published on September 2nd, 2024

While building your resume, the "About Me" section in a resume is that golden opportunity to showcase who you uniquely and professionally are. It is in this section that you get to tell them who you are beyond titles and skills. But how do you know this section hits the mark? Let's dive into some tips and examples to help you write an "About Me" section worth reading.

Why is the “About Me” Section Important?

Your "About Me" section is the elevator pitch of your resume. This is the summary of your professional journey, your skills, and the value you can bring to the table. If it's done correctly, it will grasp the recruiter's attention and set the tone for the remainder of your resume.

Tips for Writing an Engaging “About Me” Section

Keep it short: Your "About Me" section is supposed to summarize, not be a biography. Try to keep it within 3-4 sentences that highlight your career and what sets you apart.
Be real: This is your opportunity to shine as you. Stay away from jargon and clichés and get to the root of what makes you different from every other candidate out there.
Personalize it for the Job: Tailor-make your "About Me" section for each application. Highlight those skills and experiences that best fit the job you are applying for.
Achievements: Just listing your responsibilities isn't saying enough; show how well you can do it. Mention significant achievements or milestones that prove the impact.
Industry Keywords: Sprinkle relevant industry keywords naturally in your "About Me" section. It will not only help with the ATS but also do wonders for the human reader.
Enthusiasm: Convey that you are very excited to be hired because you love the work involved in the field.

What to Put in the “About Me” Section of a Resume?

Knowing what to put in the “About Me” section of a resume can be challenging, but it's important to strike the right balance between professionalism and personality. Here are some key elements you should consider including:

Professional Summary: In the resume summary, write a small introduction about yourself regarding your designation, experience, and key skills. This gives the reader a snapshot of your professional background quickly.

Core Skills: List some of the most important skills that you master for the job you are applying for. These would range from technical expertise to soft skills such as leadership or effective communication.

Career Achievements: Highlight some of the greatest accomplishments or milestones of your career. This will go a long way to show the impacts you have brought to previous roles and can further enhance your profile.

Personal Traits: While it’s important to focus on professional attributes, including a few personal traits can help humanize your resume. For example, you might mention your enthusiasm for problem-solving, creativity, or passion for continuous learning.

Career Goals: If space permits, briefly mention your career goals or what you’re looking for in your next role. This can show potential employers that you’re thoughtful about your career trajectory and how their role fits into your plans.

11+ Resume About Me Examples

For a Marketing Professional:

Passionate marketing strategist with over 5 years of experience in developing data-driven campaigns that drive brand awareness and sales growth. Skilled in social media management, content creation, and analytics.

For a Software Engineer:

Innovative software engineer with 7+ years of experience in full-stack development. Adept at solving complex problems and building scalable applications that improve user experience.

For a Graphic Designer:

Creative graphic designer with a knack for visual storytelling. Expert in Adobe Creative Suite with a proven track record of delivering compelling designs that captivate audiences.

For a Human Resources Specialist:

Experienced HR professional with a passion for fostering a positive work environment. Specializes in talent acquisition, employee relations, and implementing effective HR policies.

For a Sales Manager:

Results-driven sales manager with a decade of experience in leading high-performing teams. Adept at crafting strategies that boost sales and enhance customer satisfaction.

For an Accountant:

Detail-oriented accountant with a strong background in financial reporting and analysis. Committed to delivering accurate and timely financial information to support business decisions.

For a Content Writer:

Versatile content writer with a flair for crafting engaging copy across various platforms. Specializes in SEO content that drives traffic and enhances brand visibility.

For a Project Manager:

Seasoned project manager with a proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and deliver projects on time and within budget. Skilled in Agile methodologies and risk management.

For a Data Analyst:

A data-driven analyst with a passion for uncovering insights from complex datasets. Proficient in SQL, Python, and data visualization tools to support strategic decision-making.

For a Customer Service Representative:

Dedicated customer service professional with a strong focus on customer satisfaction. Experienced in resolving issues efficiently and building long-term customer relationships.

For a Teacher:

A passionate educator with over 8 years of experience in creating engaging learning environments. Committed to fostering student growth through innovative teaching methods.

How HireQuotient AI Resume Builder Help In Creating an About Me Section?

The HireQuotient AI Resume Builder simplifies creating the "About Me" section by generating personalized, keyword-optimized summaries. It analyzes your skills, experience, and achievements to craft a compelling and concise profile, ensuring you make a strong first impression on potential employers. The tool tailors the content to match the job description, enhancing your chances of standing out in the hiring process.

Ready to create a standout 'About Me' section effortlessly? Give AI Resume Builder a try – visit now and craft your perfect resume in minutes!

Instead, the "About Me" section is not just a resume filler, but it's your ticket to making a lasting impression. Whether you're a seasoned pro or fresh off the career boat, a well-crafted "About Me" section can make all the difference. Keep in mind to keep it short, real, and relevant for the job one applying for. With these few tips and examples, you're off to a great start in writing that "About Me" section, representing yourself with the real deal of what you bring to the table.

By following these guidelines, you’ll ensure your “About Me” section is not only engaging but also optimized with the keyword "About me" naturally integrated throughout the content. Good luck!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you introduce yourself in a resume?

The first words of your professional introduction should include your name, job title, and employer.

What is a good line about me for a resume?

A strong line should summarize your professional identity and key skills. Example: “Results-driven project manager with 7+ years of experience leading successful teams and projects.”

How do I write about me?

Summarize your career highlights, skills, and unique qualities in a concise, engaging way relevant to the job.

How do I tell about myself?

Briefly cover your professional background, key skills, and personality traits that align with the role you’re applying for.

How to write a personal profile?

Write a short, focused summary of your career goals, skills, and accomplishments that align with the job and capture attention.

Soujanya Varada

As a technical content writer and social media strategist, Soujanya develops and manages strategies at HireQuotient. With strong technical background and years of experience in content management, she looks for opportunities to flourish in the digital space. Soujanya is also a dance fanatic and believes in spreading light!

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IMAGES

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Sample Personal Statements For Residency
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ERAS Personal Statement Word Limit Guide
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VIDEO

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Endocrinology Fellowship Personal Statement Done Right

COMMENTS

Personal Statement
The personal statement is limited to 28,000 characters, which include letters, numbers, spaces, and punctuation marks. There is not a limit to how many personal statements applicants can create. Personal statements created outside the MyERAS application should be done in a plain text word processing application such as Notepad (for Windows ...
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4 Keys to Writing A Compelling Residency Application Personal Statement There are a variety of mixed opinions about the importance of the ERAS personal statement in the residency application process. Some people think that a personal statement, if it is captivating enough, can be your gateway to obtaining an interview. Others, however, think that a personal statement is simply a formality and ...
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In words, that's about 500-600 words. The other format requirements include: Write your statement in plain text in either Notepad (for Windows) or Text Edit (for Apple) Or. Write your statement directly into the online dialog box. These are all the technical ERAS personal statement requirements you need to know.
How to write ERAS residency personal statement
The personal statement is your opportunity to showcase who you are as a person, what type of resident you will become and what you hope to accomplish after residency.
How To Write A Good ERAS Personal Statement [Ultimate Guide]
Here's how to write a good ERAS personal statement to have a good shot at getting the residency interview!
PDF Microsoft Word
The personal statement is the only place in your application where you can showcase your writing skills. A poorly written personal statement may cause a program to reject your application. DO show your personal statement to others to obtain their feedback and for proofreading, but not for their rewrites. It is good to reach out to friends and ...
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A residency personal statement should concisely state your reasons for applying to a specific residency program using a story-driven central theme.
How to Prepare ERAS Personal Statement Properly
Where to Start Your ERAS Personal Statement Let's start with the basics and briefly explain or remind you what ERAS is, who uses it, and how to prepare your personal statement for ERAS on this platform to benefit from it.
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MAR Medical Ambassador Dr. V. Solanki (PGY1) IM Resident is here to give you helpful tips when preparing your Personal Statement for your ERAS Application. I...
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The personal statement is occasionally a chance to "make" your application, but it's always a risk to "break" it. Keep in mind: it's only 1 page (literally—it should fit on no more than one page when printed from the ERAS application, which is somewhere around 750-800 words on the longer end; 600-650 is a better
Residency Application Personal Statement Guide
Read our residency application personal statement guide for detailed advice on how to craft your personal statement and common mistakes to avoid.
20+ Residency Personal Statement Examples
In this blog, we provide you with a collection of outstanding personal statement examples from diverse specialties that you can use as references when writing your own personal statement for your residency application! We also have detailed guides on how to write your personal statement, how to complete your ERAS application, and 200+ residency ...
2025 MyERAS® Applicant User Guide
2025 MyERAS® Applicant User Guide Applying to residency or fellowship programs is an exciting and challenging time. The AAMC and the ERAS ® program are committed to supporting you as you take the next step in your medical career using the MyERAS ® system.
Personal Statement size and formatting : r/medicalschool
3/4 of a word page should definitely be under an ERAS page. Unless you're using like size 6 font lol. You should be able to play around with the spacing. Only one empty line between paragraphs, and remove all spaces/extra empty lines after your last paragraph. Reply.
Writing Your Personal Statement for Residency
One page in ERAS equals nearly 1,200 words, however most programs preferences for a typical personal statements in terms of Word Count will be within range of 650-850 - this will be acceptable for most residency programs. Need a review of your personal statement…professional review and editing?
ERAS Changes to Personal Statement Format
ERAS Changes to Personal Statement Format AAMC's® ERAS® system generally makes small changes to their systems to improve performance and generally make life easier for medical residency applicants. This year, they've made quite a few big changes to their timeline, but there was an unexpected change as well.
How to Write a Killer Personal Statement for [Residency] Apps ...
The early submission date for ERAS is just around the corner, and I wanted to swing by to give some additional tips. Thanks to those who have PMed me to remind me to post part 2! If you're just getting started, I recommend that you start by reading Part 1, where I go over some common pitfalls students make in the writing process.
Writing a Personal Statement for Residency Application
Stand out in the Match with a personal statement that tells your story, shares clear goals, and avoids distracting mistakes.
September Residency Recruitment; Updated ERAS® Statistics
The ERAS team and I also have two words for the graduate medical education (GME) program community: Thank you! We asked, and you answered by registering for the ERAS season, opting in to program signaling, and requesting access to Thalamus. We have 96% of residency programs registered for the September recruitment cycle.
ERAS® Tools and Worksheets for Residency Applicants
ERAS. Tools and Worksheets for Residency Applicants. Guides and worksheets to help residency applicants complete their MyERAS ® application. Everything you need to know about using the MyERAS System. FAQs will be updated throughout the 2025 ERAS ® season (June 5, 2024 to May 31, 2025). Review a timeline for applying for residency positions ...
Resignation Letter for Personal Reasons Examples and Guide
Purposes of a resignation letter due to personal reasons: Resign letter serves as an official record of your intent to leave.; It indicates the last working day or the notice period you are providing, allowing your boss adequate time to make arrangements for your departure.; The letter conveys gratitude for the opportunities, support, and experiences you've had during your tenure.
Documents
Within your MyERAS account, you may create personal statements; identify the people who will write letters of recommendation (LoRs); authorize the release COMLEX-USA and/or USMLE transcripts; and manage various documents. You may also assign most documents to their programs, and subsequently track their status, along with any additional ERAS documents.
How to write the "About Me" section in a Resume? (11+ examples)
How to write a personal profile? Write a short, focused summary of your career goals, skills, and accomplishments that align with the job and capture attention. Authors. Soujanya Varada. As a technical content writer and social media strategist, Soujanya develops and manages strategies at HireQuotient. With strong technical background and years ...