Getting your ERAS Application Together - Personal Statement: Time to put your thoughts down

At this point most of you have finished your CV details together and it is time to stop avoiding that personal statement(PS). The PS is a point of high anxiety for most applicants, so lets dissuade it right now. Program Directors complete a survey with NMRP each year, on it only 62% report the PS as a factor in selecting applicants for interview with a mean importance of 3.2 on a scale from 1 (not at all important) to 5 (very important). 

At the top 97% report SLOE as factor in selecting applicants for interview with a mean importance of 4.8 and at the bottom 11% report Honors in basic sciences as factor in selecting applicants for interview with a mean importance of 2.4. 

The list of factors more important than the PS include: 
USMLE Step 1/COMLEX Level 1 score 
Letters of recommendation in the specialty

Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE/Dean's Letter) 
USMLE Step 2 CK/COMLEX Level 2 CE score
Grades in required clerkships
Any failed attempt in USMLE/COMLEX 
Class ranking/quartile 
Perceived commitment to specialty
Personal prior knowledge of the applicant 
Grades in clerkship in desired specialty
Audition elective/rotation within your department 
Evidence of professionalism and ethics 
Leadership qualities 
Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) membership
Perceived interest in program 
Other life experience
Passing USMLE Step 2 CS/COMLEX Level 2 PE 
Volunteer/extracurricular experiences
Consistency of grades

If your goal is to get interviews and match you can relax about your personal statement, and get it done.

What you should do:

• Write a personal statement that gives the reader a window into who you are, what is special about you, why you want EM, and what you will bring to EM. It does not need to be an epic novel and it does not have to be worthy of the Moth Radio Hour. Be authentic and as with all of EM succinct and on target.

• Keep it under one page single spaced. Longer will definitely hurt your chance at an interview - so keep one page as an ABSOLUTE limit. 

• Have someone who loves you read it to ensure it reflects you.

• Have someone who is involved in an EM residency program leadership read it to ensure it will not hurt you.

• Have someone who is good at grammar and spelling proofread it.

• Last if you have a "red flag" this is the spot to address it. Don't make excuses, own it, and tell us how you have learned from it and how you will avoid repeating it. Remember if you write about it in your PS, you should be ready to talk about it on interviews. 

Next up you need to finish up choosing where to apply to.

Lucienne Lutfy-Clayton MD is an Associate Residency Director and a previous Emergency Medicine Clerkship Director. She is the current chair of the CORD Application Process Improvement Committee and past-chair of the CORD Advising Student Committee. Her eyes cross reading applications each fall.