Residency Personal Statement: What's Your Best Strategy and How Do You Execute It?

By Michelle A. Finkel MD

Founder, Insider Medical Admissions

I frequent get residency applicants asking me if they need to showcase their accomplishments in their residency personal statements if they have already drafted a strong, full ERAS activities section. The simple answer is yes.

First, remember that you don't know at what part of your application the readers will be starting. If some start with your residency personal statement, and it's pale, you will have lost those readers from the beginning. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Also, note that the faculty members seeing your application are reading many more ERASes than just yours. If you only mention an important achievement once in your application, the program director might simply forget your accomplishment. After all, she is reading scores or even hundreds of similar applications. Your readers have to be reminded several times of your candidacy's strengths. (You'll mention those accomplishments in your interviews as well.)

Lastly, the personal statement should be a persuasive one (not a narrative one). You are defending your thesis that you are a valuable applicant who will be a strong resident and a future leader in the field. You will need to use examples to prove your point of view.

To a program director who hasn't yet met you, you are what you've done. You need to use substantive examples of your achievements in your residency personal statement to demonstrate your worthiness for a potential position. In that way you will be showing – not telling. Evidence is persuasive; use it!

The Medical School Interview: How to Manage Questions about a Gap

By Michelle A. Finkel MD

Founder, Insider Medical Admissions

You put your heart and soul into your compelling, charismatic medical school personal statement; you showcased your accomplishments and drive to succeed in your activities section; and you demonstrated the endorsement of respected faculty allies in your letters of recommendation. Now your hard work has paid off and helped you get a foot in the door: You’ve been invited to interview at your dream medical school.

But how do you manage the medical school interview questions when you have a gap in your resume? Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that you took a year off after college and moved to Barcelona to pursue an exciting romantic relationship, only to find yourself dumped two months later. You moped the rest of the year and had neither research nor volunteer experiences to show for your time off. Your interviewer asks you that dreaded medical school interview question: What exactly did you do, anyway, during the gap year?

A prepared candidate can see this interview question as an opportunity to turn a skeptic into an ally. Responding with a calm demeanor – without making excuses or delving into the intricacies of your personal life – will make you look professional. This is a great time to explain that, although you graduated college with a minimum of life experiences, your year off helped you consider alternative professional paths and strengthened your resolve to enter medicine. Consequently, you will pursue your medical career with greater maturity and commitment and a broader perspective than those who went straight through.

The medical school interview requires preparation and an optimistic attitude. Support your medical school application and candidacy with practice and enthusiasm.

Residency Personal Statement Errors to Avoid

Author: Michelle Finkel, MD

Several years after writing my own residency personal statement, I found myself reading essays and making admissions decisions as a Harvard Medical School faculty member. In assessing application essays, I learned firsthand that certain personal statement techniques fly and others don’t. A candidate’s approach can mean the difference between acceptance and rejection at his/her dream institution.

The below are some of the most common and easily-avoidable errors applicants make in crafting their personal statements:

1)      Unlike mom, an admissions essay reader doesn’t offer unconditional support for an applicant’s endeavors. Candidates who write a paragraph (or two) about their childhood surgeon Halloween costume have made two fatal flaws: First, despite the fact that applicants should know better, the tactic is overused. Second, these stories do not engage the admissions reader nor further an applicant’s candidacy because they are not built on evidence of any distinctive accomplishments.

2)      The rule applicants should remember is this: All stuff, no fluff. (No Miss America clichés!) The residency personal statement should be a persuasive document that convinces programs that a candidate is worthy of a spot at their institutions, which means it should include facts about what makes an applicant special – her achievements.

Just like a lawyer does when s/he is trying a case in front of a judge, the residency applicant must persuade with evidence. Saying he is a caring person or wants to make the world a better place is not compelling, and those claims do not distinguish the candidate from the scores of other applicants competing with him. The candidate needs to prove his value and distinctiveness with academic, clinical, research, community service, leadership, international, and teaching achievements. To the admissions reader, applicants are what they do – not what they say.

Every part of the personal statement should be distinctive, highlighting unique qualities through accomplishments. If there is even a phrase in the essay that could have been written by someone else, it should be omitted.

3)      I remember a talented residency applicant I advised a few years ago who showcased an award she had won. She listed the name, but didn’t explain what it was. When I asked her, she told me the award was an academic honor given to only the top 1% of students out of several thousand. Had she not rewritten the section, her admissions readers wouldn’t have given her an ounce of credit for that extraordinary accomplishment. What a candidate fails to adequately explain counts against her.

Bottom line: Candidates must ensure their residency personal statements can stand alone and don’t rely on the remainder of the application for clarification.

I hope this year’s applicants will leverage the knowledge I’ve offered above to anticipate a future reader’s objections so that they can strengthen their personal statements and reach their career goals.

Residency Personal Statement: Should you be A Creative Non-Conformist?

By Michelle A. Finkel, Insider Medical Admissions Founder

There is no question that being different is an asset in medicine. Those who think outside the box consider diagnoses that others miss, craft approaches to tough patients that others don’t conceive of, and come up with solutions to systemic problems that can positively change medicine as a whole. However, being different does not mean being unprofessional.

Yes, you want to distinguish yourself in your residency personal statement, but you want to do that by showcasing your unique and impressive pre-professional accomplishments, not by submitting a zany essay. Think of it this way: It would be a shame to annihilate your career goal because you’ve made a reader cringe when you were simply trying to write imaginatively.

This is not to say your residency personal statement should be boring! By using good writing techniques – crafting a catchy intro, using robust language, even choosing a compelling sequence – you can write an outstanding essay while still showcasing your accomplishments.

For the skeptic who insists, “Michelle, I’m special. I can do something wild and not scare off the reader,” I will tell you the following anecdote: In all of the time I read essays at Harvard, I remember only one applicant who submitted a truly wacky essay who still received rave reviews. (There was a lively discussion about his weird personal statement, however, before he got the thumbs up.) This person was a true superstar applicant. He came to our program, was loved by patients and staff alike, and eventually became an emergency medicine chief resident. The point of this story? I remember him because he was an outlier - the only applicant in years of assessing candidates whose strange essay did NOT kill his candidacy. Much like CPR, the vast majority of eccentric essay writers don't respond to heroic efforts to save their candidacy.

Take home point:  You get one bullet. Don’t use it to shoot yourself in the foot.

Medical School Interview Questions: Preparing for your MMI

By Michelle A. Finkel MD

Founder, Insider Medical Admissions

Although the majority of medical school interview questions are part of a traditional interview day, an increasing number of medical schools (as well as dental schools) are using the MMI platform. The MMI (multiple mini interview) is a format that uses several timed stations to assess applicants' interpersonal skills and judgment. Sometimes these stations involve actors who have parts in the scenarios. Other times, the candidateis simply provided with a situation and must reason aloud and explain how s/he might handle the story line.

A few things to note about MMI medical school interview questions:

1) They are not always medically-related. You may be asked to manage an everyday problem (e.g. a disagreement at the supermarket or on the street).

2) They are not always situational. You need to be prepared for conventional questions too (e.g. what are your three greatest strengths or why do you think we chose to interview you?).

3) Schools are trying to assess whether you can skillfully employ important techniques and demonstrate professionalism. Underlying topics might include your ability to offer effective counseling, your understanding of patient-doctor confidentiality, your ability to diffuse a heated situation, your capacity to admit wrongdoing, etc. It’s critical that you show adeptness with these sometimes awkward or challenging scenarios.

Bottom line:It is important that you practice MMI questions before you go to your medical school interview.Even if you have excellent social skills and real emotional intelligence, there are techniques you should hone to expertly manage the challenging MMI format. Consider working with a professional or someone who has offered MMI sessions in a formal setting (like a former medical school admissions committee member) to learn how to strategically navigate this up-and-coming format.