personal statement eras examples

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

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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.

Residency Related Articles and Guidance

• Residency Match Statistics
• Residency Personal Statement
• Residency Match: How It Works & How To Get Matched
• How to write a residency interview thank you letter.
• What Outfit To Wear To Your Residency Interview
• Medical Residency Timeline & Length
• Medical Residency Salary By Specialty
• How To Master MyERAS, The Medical Residency Interview, and Common Residency Interview Questions
• Master the ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) & ERAS Timeline
• Residency Letters Of Recommendation (with ERAS Samples)
• Residency Letter of Intent
• How to Write a Residency Letter of Intent
• Residency Love Letters
• Residency Match Success: Lessons Learned

Residency Specialty Articles

• Family Medicine Residency Match: Beat more than 4400 Applications
• Pediatrics Residency Match: Beat more than 3000 Applicaitons
• Internal Medicine Residency Match: Beat more than 10,000 Applications
• General Surgery Residency Match: BEAT more than 1900 Applications
• Emergency Medicine Residency Match: BEAT more than 2600 Applications
• Anesthesiology Residency Match: BEAT more than 2,000 Applicants

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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Personal Statement

Personal statements may be used to customize the application to a specific program or to different specialties. 

In This Section:

Creating the personal statement, formatting the personal statement, previewing the personal statement, reviewing/editing the personal statement, assigning the personal statement.

You create your own personal statements in the MyERAS portal from the Personal Statements section listed under Documents. 

• Each personal statement must contain a Personal Statement Title and the Personal Statement Content. The title will be visible only to you to help you correctly assign it to programs, and the content will be visible to both you and the programs it is assigned to. 
• 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 users) or SimpleText (for Mac users). The statement should reflect your personal perspective and experiences accurately and must be your own work and not the work of another author. 
• The use of AI tools is acceptable for brainstorming, proofreading, or editing the personal statement, but the final submission should represent your own work. 
• Personal statements created in word processing applications not using plain text may contain hidden and invalid formatting. 

Note: A number of websites provide examples of personal statements. Do not copy any information from these sites and use it in your personal statements without giving credit to the author. This is considered plagiarism. 

• The ERAS program will investigate any suspected acts of plagiarism. 
• Any substantiated findings of plagiarism may result in the reporting of such findings to the programs to which you apply now and in subsequent ERAS seasons. 

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When creating a personal statement in the MyERAS application, the following formatting options will be available: 

• Bold. 
• Italic. 
• Underline. 
• Strikethrough. 
• Bullets. 
• Numbering. 
• Align left. 
• Center. 
• Align right. 
• Increase indent. 
• Decrease indent. 
• Insert hyperlink. 

Note: Personal statements created outside of the MyERAS system 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. 

After entering the personal statement title and content, you will have the opportunity to preview your personal statement before saving it. This preview allows you to view your personal statement just as the programs will view it, including the number of pages.  

You are responsible for reviewing your personal statements before assigning them to programs. 

The Preview/Print option under the Actions column will allow you to view and/or print your personal statement. 

Personal statements can be edited at any point during the application season — even when assigned to programs that have been applied to. 

Personal statements that have been edited will be reflected on the programs’ side by an updated status containing the date of the updated version, but programs are not guaranteed to view or review updated versions of personal statements. 

You may designate the assignment of one personal statement for each program. 

• Personal statements can be assigned to any saved or applied to programs from the Personal Statements page by selecting “Assign” under the Actions column of the intended personal statement. 
• When assigning by personal statement, programs listed with a disabled checkbox already have the selected personal statement currently assigned. 
• When assigning by personal statement, you should review any personal statements that are listed under the Assigned Personal Statement column before making selections or changes. 
• Personal statements can be assigned by program using the Assign option under the Actions column on both the Saved Programs and Programs Applied To pages. 
• Changes to personal statement assignments can be made throughout the application season, but programs are not guaranteed to view or review newly assigned personal statements. 
• A personal statement cannot be assigned to programs that are closed. 

How to Make a Statement with Your ERAS Personal Statement

• June 29, 2023
• Reviewed by: Amy Rontal, MD

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.

Further Reading

Keep these tips in mind as you write your ERAS personal statement, and you’ll be way ahead of the other applicants. If you start to get stressed out, remember, you have an amazing story to tell, and we are here to help tease that story out from the confines of your brain! For more help, reach out to one of our residency advisors .

Looking for more help during the residency application process? We’ve got you covered with more (free!) content written by Blueprint tutors:

• How to Get Standout Letters of Recommendation for Your Residency Application
• How to Maximize Your Chances of Matching With Your Dream Residency
• What’s It Like Working With a Medical Residency Consultant?
• Residency Interview Tips & Tricks: The Ultimate Guide
• Dual Applying for Residency: Is It Right For Me?

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How To Write A Good ERAS Personal Statement [Ultimate Guide]

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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!

Bonus: Want to learn how I got a 3.9 GPA in med school using a simple-to-follow study strategy? Get access to my exact study method from med school for free here. 

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.

Get The Exact 8-Steps I Used To Get A 3.9 GPA In Med School For Free Below!

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.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 4 ways I can help you:

1.   The Med School Handbook :   Join thousands of other students who have taken advantage of the hundreds of FREE tips & strategies I wish I were given on the first day of medical school to crush it with less stress. 

2. The Med School Blueprint :  Join the hundreds of students who have used our A-Z blueprint and playbook for EVERY   phase of the medical journey so you can start to see grades like these. 

3.   ​ Med Ignite Study Program :  Get personalized help to create the perfect study system for yourself so you can see better grades ASAP on your medical journey & see results like these. 

4. Learn the one study strategy that saved my  grades in medical school here (viewed by more than a million students like you). 

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

Until the next one, my friend…

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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

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

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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• Residency Application

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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July 11, 2022

13 Essential Do’s and Don’ts for Your Residency Personal Statement

Residency applicants can submit applications via ERAS (Electronic Residency Application Service) starting September 7th. Don’t wait until the last minute – get cracking on those residency essays now!

Why is your residency essay so important?

Your personal statement is a vital part of your residency application ; it’s where you’ll explain why you’ve chosen your specialty and show the committee why you’re the best candidate for training. And unlike other pieces of your application (such as your letters of recommendation or your medical school transcript), your personal statement is something that you have complete control over. 

For a knockout personal statement, heed these do’s and don’ts!

• DON’T reuse your med school personal statement When you applied to medical school, you had to demonstrate an interest in medicine and demonstrate that you had the potential to become a successful doctor. At this point in your education, you are a doctor – or about to be one. Unless your premed school career is very relevant to your specialty choice, there’s no need to explain why you originally pursued medicine. And if you reuse your med school personal statement, your specialty decision could come across as unformed or immature.
• DO explain why you have chosen your specialty Your decision to pursue a certain specialty is a personal one, and program directors want to hear about it. Did you have a mentor who helped you see dermatology in a new way or did you love your time in the pathology lab? What is it about delivering babies that thrills you more than caring for them after they’re born? Use specific examples to illustrate your story and your distinctive experiences and perspectives. Most importantly, where do you see yourself in the future? Make your choice unambiguous and your commitment undeniable.
• DON’T offer superficial or generic explanations for choosing your specialty “Internal medicine is like solving a puzzle.” “GPs serve as gatekeepers.” “The OR just feels like home.” Cliches like these – without the proper care – can be the death knell for personal statements. But what if you do love diagnostic puzzles, or enjoy helping patients navigate the healthcare system? What if you really do feel most comfortable in a surgical environment?
• DO bring out your unique experiences and perspectives Sharing the very specific details of your experiences and supporting your explanation can elevate your reasons from a generic cliche to a specific, and personal insight. Use anecdotes to illustrate your story and bring your unique experiences and perspectives to life. To explain why you like the fast-paced energy of the emergency room, share a particular experience you had there, how your people skills and your ability to stay calm under pressure came into play, and how you felt a sense of accomplishment in helping patients in distress. To explain why pain medicine appeals to you, you might mention how you connected with an anesthesiologist who opened your eyes to the potential of this field. The more examples you can give about why this specialty is the specialty for you, the better.
• DON’T sound pompous or self-important When describing your skills, be mindful of the line between confidence and smugness. You want to sound enthusiastic and confident, but never arrogant or boastful . For example, it can be very off-putting to a reader if you talk about how work was too easy for you, making it sound like you think you’re more accomplished than everyone you worked with. After all, your readers are considering you as a potential colleague.
• DO emphasize your strengths with tact and grace You’ve gained some valuable technical skills and exposure to clinical practice, but so have all your classmates. Which of your unique qualities will make your #1 residency program rank you as their #1 choice? Your personal experiences, both in medical school and outside, reveal more about you than your CV and USMLE Step exams. A good way to think about this is in the context of what’s needed for that specialty. Will the listening skills you developed through mentoring premeds help you as a family practitioner? Have quick reflexes, honed through years of playing piano, prepared you for the technical dexterity you’ll need in surgery? Will teamwork skills developed at the student-run clinic help you contribute to an obstetrics team? Select specific examples that demonstrate your strengths and make your essay come alive.
• DON’T send the same personal statement to every program You’re probably applying to many residency programs and the thought of tailoring each one is daunting. Yet each program has certain distinctions that make it unique. If your personal statement talks about how much you love research and hope to continue that pursuit during your residency training, program directors in community-based programs might not think you’re a good fit for them. On the other hand, a completely generic statement of what you’re looking for in residency won’t appeal to anyone. How can you show your interest in specific programs without getting overwhelmed?
• DO create multiple interchangeable versions of your personal statement While it’s unreasonable to suggest writing a different essay for every school, tailoring certain features in a limited number of essays can be a useful strategy. You might have one version for academic programs that emphasizes your future research interests, while your version for community-based programs leaves that line out and focuses on clinical opportunities. Or you might have a version for rural programs vs. urban, or for programs in your preferred geographic location vs. the rest of the country. ERAS allows you to save multiple versions that you can upload to certain schools – just be sure you give each one a unique name to keep them straight.
• DO tailor your essay to your top program Do you have a dream program, one where you’re sure you’d be able to excel? If so, it’s well worth the extra time and effort to detail exactly why you want to rank it #1. This may sound like a lot of work, but it really doesn’t take long to identify why you want to work with a specific researcher or continue learning where you had a great externship. Don’t underestimate the bonus points you can get for this approach. Tailoring your essay to their specific offerings demonstrates that you’ve done your homework and are genuinely interested.
• DON’T use all 28,000 characters for your personal statement ERAS permits 28,000 characters for your essay – around 7,000 words! – but no residency director wants to read even close to that much. Instead, stick to a one-page essay – usually 600-800 words – that addresses your key points. Your essay will be more effective if you’re more to the point and concise. In order to do that well, 
• DO keep your purpose in mind As you write, remember that you’re trying to land an interview, not detail every aspect of your medical school training. If you throw in everything but the kitchen sink, your story will be generic and lack any impact. Instead, select the key experiences that led you to your chosen specialty, the details that will demonstrate your fit for it, and where you see your future contributions in this field.
• DON’T submit without proofreading In their rush to submit, some applicants skip this step, only to later find a typo they’re unable to correct. To avoid this, take a break from writing – at least a few hours, or better yet, a day – before carefully proofreading your essay. Try reading aloud as you go along. Since your ear often picks up what your eye misses on the screen, you’ll be more likely to catch awkward phrases, repetitive sentences or ideas, or other glitches.
• DO have someone else also read your essay Even after you’ve done your own quality control, your own writing is so familiar that it’s all too easy to miss a typo. You also want to ensure that the entire essay reads well, hitting the high points that are most important, and striking the right tone. Getting the all-clear from another reader will give you confidence that you are ready to submit!

You’ve worked so hard to get to this point in your journey. Now that you’re ready for your next achievement, make sure you know how to present yourself to maximum advantage in your residency applications. In a hotly competitive season, you’ll want a member of Team Accepted in your corner, guiding you with expertise tailored specifically for you. Check out our flexible consulting packages today!

Related Resources:

• From Example to Exemplary , a free guide to writing outstanding application essays
• All You Need to Know About Residency Applications and Matching
• M3 Journaling: How to Do it and How it Can Help Your Residency Application

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PersonalStatementMan

Join my mailing list, eras personal statement example - family medicine (june 2024).

Updated: Jun 12

The following ERAS personal statement example is for the medical residency application of Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man. I made it up completely and wrote it from scratch.

Below the example is a short discussion about the personal statement's elements and why I made many of the choices I made while writing it.

Need help with personal statement writing or any other aspect of your ERAS application? Feel free to check out all the services I offer . Reach out to me to request help today !

ERAS Personal Statement Example - Family Medicine

While volunteering at my aunt’s homeless shelter, I am frequently inspired by how much of an impact I can make with just a little bit of compassion and attention. Some of the relationships I’ve built there are years in the making. Others only span a single encounter. However, with them all, I learn to better collaborate with people toward making positive life changes. Each interaction is also an opportunity to emulate the family physician I have been inspired by all my life. You see, my aunt raised me. She has numerous chronic health concerns, so many of my afternoons growing up were spent accompanying her to the doctor’s office. Our family physician was always the rock we could rely upon. She still guides us through our ups and downs today. So, of course I strive to serve my patients with similar warmth, dedication, and expertise; my commitment to building trust and strong connections has defined my performance throughout rotations. Family medicine residency will be an extension of this, and I cannot wait to get started.

As a family medicine resident, I will relish cultivating lasting relationships with my patients as I treat them over months and years. I got a small taste of that kind of continuity of care during my recent family medicine elective after a 20-year-old female, diagnosed with pre-diabetes three months earlier, presented to our clinic. She was excited to share her progress, but dismayed when we found her weight and A1C levels had somehow increased. During my interview I quickly discovered she was confused. She had stopped “eating so much sugar” but was still consuming large amounts of pasta and soft drinks. Accordingly, with my attending’s permission, I took extra time to explain to our patient her condition in simple terms, print out an easy-to-follow DASH diet, and gain her commitment to healthier eating and regular exercise. Next, I reached out to a nutritionist and set her an appointment for later that week.

That day marked the first time I spoke with that particular nutritionist. Before my rotation was over, however, I scheduled many more appointments with him for others in similar situations. Meanwhile, I maintained weekly contact with my patient via phone and was present during her follow-up visits. The last time I saw the woman she had lost weight, brought down her A1C levels, and was glowing with pride for finally understanding and taking charge of her health. I only wish I could have remained her doctor long term. After all, my favorite part of my rotations were the relationships I built -- every time I saw an appreciative smile dawn on someone’s face, I’d remember my family physician and marvel at what she still means to my aunt and me. To play a similar positive role in a patient’s life, no matter how big or small, is a humbling and rewarding honor.

“With great power comes great responsibility,” my uncle once told me before he passed away. That’s my favorite quote. It means I must keep sharpening the knowledge and tools that I can use to benefit the patients I am so devoted to serving. Volunteer work is a large part of that journey, and my service is what initially inspired me to follow this path through medical school. I will surely continue to donate my time and energy whenever I can. I will do so locally, but I also intend to go abroad with an organization like Doctors Without Borders one day. Additionally, I envision starting my own family practice, possibly near my aunt’s homeless shelter. That’s far off in the future though, so, for now, I am seeking a family medicine residency program with great mentors and a focus on giving back to its surrounding community. As a grateful participant, I will always work hard and put my team and patients first.

Thanks for your time. It would be so awesome to swing by and meet you in person this interview season.

At 661 words, Peter’s word count is ideal. Check out my article about optimal ERAS personal statement length  for further reading.

As far as structure, Peter follows my patented Cheeseburger Method, about which I go into great detail in my personal statement writing guide . It consists of three main elements:

Element 1 (The Introduction or Top Bun ): His introduction discusses his background and motivation for pursuing medicine in the first place, as well as why he's applying for family medicine residency.

He mentions his family physician, but rather than just stating how great she is, he keeps the conversation about himself , discussing how he applies her lessons to his own day to day. This is critical -- in your personal statement, you must focus on YOU as much as possible.

Element 2 (The Middle or The Meat ): Next comes Peter’s patient story, which is the meat of the personal statement.

From his introduction, he transitions into the story by utilizing relationships and continuity. Then he describes a type of patient he’ll encounter all the time as a family medicine resident.

Through his patient story, without simply telling the reader, Peter shows   himself as:

1.       A good communicator and listener - He interviews his patient and quickly discovers she doesn’t grasp what constitutes a healthy diet.

2.       Proactive - Peter takes the initiative to ask his attending if he can spend extra time with the patient.

3.       Thorough - He goes way beyond just explaining the patient’s condition. He prints out clear instructions, confirms her understanding and commitment, and then reaches out to a nutritionist. Speaking of that…

4.       Proactive (again), thorough (yup, again), resourceful, and team-oriented - By establishing contact with the nutritionist, he creates a more all-encompassing, sustainable solution for his patient. He also begins a valuable relationship with a new team member.

5.       Dedicated and relationship-oriented - Peter follows up with his patient weekly and celebrates her progress when she comes back to the office.

All of the above attributes apply very well to family medicine. Great work Peter!!

Element 3 (The Conclusion or Bottom Bun ): Now Peter transitions into his conclusion by calling back to the introduction, reminding the reader of his family doctor and aunt. This brings everything full circle, which readers love.

Then, as he enters the final paragraph, he continues that theme by bringing in a quote from his uncle.

Note: I am usually not a fan of using quotes, but that’s just my preference and not a solid personal statement writing rule . And I couldn’t resist including this one because of its relevance to Spider-Man's origin story.

In his conclusion, Peter re-emphasizes his service work, touches on the future, and declares (being general so as not to alienate any programs) what he’s looking for in a residency program and what he will bring to the table as a team member.

Finally, to mitigate a bit of an abrupt ending, he adds a respectful line at the end about “swinging” into an interview. Get it?

Sorry, I really can’t help myself.

My full ERAS personal statement writing guide goes into great detail about my methods. And please feel free to check out all the services I offer . Reach out to me to request help today !

Photo credits:

Silly Spider-Man cartoon - https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-79260172.html

Spider-Man taking questions - https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-10128286.html

Cheeseburger - Abby Curtin

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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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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?

• Dr. Peter Mosley , TCOM Assistant Director-Career Development,  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] to request a review.
• 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 September 5, 2024

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Match Application Blog

How to write a good personal statement for your residency application examples of residency personal statements.

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

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

The personal statement 📝 is the part of the residency MATCH ® application in which I find the most mistakes. Many applicants do not even realize there are problems in their personal statement because the process of self-evaluation requires significant skill and insight. Furthermore, most applicants do not have access to high-quality personal statements to which they can compare their work. Therefore, I am writing this blog to help you navigate the personal statement writing process and provide you with templates of what a good personal statement should look like.

If you need help with your personal statement editing, please reach out to us on this page .

What should you say in your personal statement 📝 ?  

1-why are you interested in the specialty 🩺.

You should try to convince the reader why you are interested in the specialty to which you are applying. Avoid cliché templates that you see online, and make sure that your interest in the specialty is as personal as possible by incorporating your experiences learning about it and what elements of this specialty most appeal to you. Think deeply about the reasons and the stories that pushed you to pursue this specialty before you start writing, and then you can put these experiences into words. 

Bad example : I am interested in internal medicine because of the long-term relationships with patients, diversity of pathologies, and intellectual challenges.

Good example : My interest in internal medicine started during my first month of clinical rotations. Seeing the diversity of patient presentations and the application of evidence-based medical knowledge in solving patients’ problems is what really drew me to the field.

As you can see from the ‘good’ example, rather than listing boilerplate characteristics of internal medicine that anyone can find online, I attempt to link my interest in the field to personal experiences.

2-Why you 👩‍⚕️👨‍⚕️? 

Why are you a unique applicant and why you should be selected among hundreds of other applicants? 

You must be careful to not seem arrogant, but also do not be shy discussing what makes you stand out. Avoid cliché self-descriptions such as ‘hard worker,’ ‘team player,’ or ‘passionate caregiver.’ Instead, replace these with unique experiences that demonstrate your defining personal qualities in action.

Bad example : I am a hard worker, and I always did my best to succeed and overcome hardships.

Good example : Growing-up in a low-resourced country and having to work two jobs to provide living for my family while in medical school, giving up was never an option. I always thrived in challenging situations, guided by both my diligent work ethic and a spirit of unrelenting optimism in the face of setbacks. My life experiences have imbued me with resilience and perseverance, qualities that will no doubt benefit me in residency.

As you can see here, I did not say that the applicant is a ‘hard worker.’ From the story, you can easily conclude that they have the resilience and perseverance required to overcome the challenges of residency.

3-What are you looking for in a program 🏥?

This part is not a ‘must’ like the previous two. However, including what type of programs you are looking for can help program directors to gauge whether you are a good fit. When discussing this point, you can emphasize factors such as good clinical training, research, camaraderie among the residents and the faculty, or any other important program elements you are seeking.

Since ERAS allows you to submit multiple personal statements for different programs, you can tailor these personal statements based on the programs to which you are applying. For example, if you are applying for programs that focus on research or to those that value clinical excellence, you can write two personal statements that reflect these respective emphases.

Additionally, if you are applying for two specialties, you can write two personal statements (one for each specialty).

Good example : I am looking for a program that offers me the clinical training to become a competent internal medicine physician in addition to providing me with the acumen to conduct pioneering research.

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4-Career goals 🎯

Your long-term career goals are another important piece of information to include in your personal statement. Read about the programs to which you are applying to ensure that your professional goals align with their educational philosophy and outcomes. If you are interested in conducting cutting-edge research during your residency, then it may not be a good idea to apply for a program with no research infrastructure or research output.

Examples of career goals include practicing in an academic setting, being involved in resident and medical student education, conducting research studies, or performing clinical duties in a large academic center or a low resource hospital (or some combination or variation of these). Again, try to understand the programs that you are applying to so they align with your career goals.

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5-hobbies and interests  .

The hobbies and interest section is another optional part to include in your personal statement where you list the activities outside of medicine that interest you. This section illustrates the qualities and passions that make you a unique candidate, whether it be winning a medal🏅in a competitive sport🏃🏀🤺🏇⛷️🏄🏊, training as a ballet dancer, or playing the bagpipes. Try to explain how the skills you gained from this hobby or extracurricular activity will translate into making you a better resident/doctor.

Example : During medical school, I was a member of our local basketball team that won the national championship multiple times. Basketball taught me perseverance and the importance of putting the team’s interest over individual achievement and success. I believe the same principles apply to medicine in that even the most brilliant surgeons or physicians, cannot work on their own; rather, they must work together and combine their individual expertise to achieve optimal outcomes for the patient. I can think of many instances in which I applied this mindset in collaborating with other medical students, nurses, and attending physicians on my clinical rotations in order to provide the best possible care for a patient.

6-Weaknesses and how you address them ❌😳

Sometimes there are obvious red flags on your CV that every program director will notice, such as low STEP scores or multiple attempts on the USMLE exams. It might be a good idea to explain why this happened or how you overcame these hurdles and what you learned in the process. Others disagree with the idea of addressing weaknesses in your personal statement and prefer that you explain them during the interview if you are asked. My personal preference is to explain why the red flag happened if you have a reasonable explanation and story

7-The introduction and the end  

The introduction and the end of your personal statement should be the most engaging parts to read. Experienced writers tend to start with a catchy opening hook to grab the reader’s attention and often end with a paragraph that refers to the beginning of the personal statement, thereby bringing the story full circle.

For example, if you were talking how a family member’s medical problem encouraged you to pursue a particular specialty, you might start with a quick introduction talking about this experience, and then end with a line or two referring back to the introduction and stating how it has informed your future career goals. The introduction and conclusion paragraphs are the hardest to write but can also serve to make your personal statement stand out.

8- Why the US?

If you are an international medical graduate (IMG), you might consider adding a few lines talking about why you chose to train in the US.

Mistakes to avoid when writing a personal statement for residency the application

1-Starting too late

One of the biggest mistakes that applicants make when writing the personal statement is that they start a week or two before the application deadline. I personally started mine two months before the application deadline. This timeline allowed me to write multiple drafts before sending it to my mentors and residents for review and feedback.

2-Submitting the first or second draft

I recommend that you do multiple revisions before you submit your personal statement. Before I submitted my final personal statement, it had gone through over 20 drafts. This number is just to give you an idea of the lengthy transformation process between the initial draft and the final product. Your personal statement should be the best version of your story summarized in 500-700 words. Your goal is to convince programs to invite you for an interview so they can get to know you better!

3-Not getting feedback

I highly recommend you have your personal statement reviewed by an individual (or individuals) with experience in personal statement editing. This might include residents or mentors who have edited other applicants’ personal statements in the past, residents who went through this process and know how it works from personal experience, or even professional advisers. Try to seek out people who will provide you with structural edits, if needed, and not just superficial grammatical edits. I helped many students with personal statement editing by suggesting a complete overhaul of their original structure so that their story would shine through more effectively. I am happy to help students with significant editing and re-writing. You can check our website to learn more about our personal statement editing.

Keep in mind that the more you show your personal statement to others, the more revisions you will receive. You do not have to accept every individual’s revisions or suggested changes, but take them into consideration and keep those changes that you think are most effective at conveying your desired message.

4-Using online templates

Stay away from using online templates because you want your personal statement to be as personal as possible. It will definitely take you more time to create your own personal statement, but then again that is why it is called a ‘personal’ statement. You must spend significant time and effort so your personal statement does not look like the hundreds of other applications each program receives. The purpose of the templates in this blog is to provide examples rather than for you to copy these in your own personal statement. This would constitute plagiarism and could get you into serious trouble.

5-Talking about why you got into medical school

If you are applying for residency, focus on why you want to enter a certain specialty rather than why you got into medical school. You are past the medical school experience at this point and you should not take a significant portion of your personal statement talking about what influenced you to choose medicine in the first place. You can definitely discuss that in a couple of sentences, but no more than that. Focus primarily on the specialty to which you are applying.

6-Having it too short or too long

Try to keep your personal statement around 500-700 words and discuss the points that have been mentioned above. Do not make it so short that people cannot understand your story or so long that it becomes boring to read.

7-Lacking structure and flow 

Many students think that the main issue with their personal statement are problems with the English language, whether in regard to grammar or word choice. However, this is an easily fixable problem. The major mistake I find in most personal statements is a lack of flow in the content (jumping from one idea to another) which makes it difficult for the reader to follow. That is why a structural edit of a personal statement takes significantly more time. I recommend you stay away from services that only change a few words here and there to make the language correct. Seek structural edits if needed. It’s definitely good to have a personal statement free of grammatical errors. However, what is most important is having nice flow and structure that makes your story enjoyable to read.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about personal statement for residency applicants

Do I have to write a personal statement for the residency application?

Yes, you must write a personal statement for your ERAS residency application.

When should I start working on my personal statement?

Around 1-2 months before the application deadline.

How long is the personal statement for the residency application? How many words should a personal statement be?

500-700 words.

Can I write multiple personal statements for my ERAS application?

Yes, you can assign different personal statements for different programs and different specialties.

How many personal statements should I write for my ERAS application?

You should write at least one personal statement for your ERAS application. However, you can write as many as you like. You can assign different personal statements for different programs and different specialties. You can only submit one personal statement for each program.

Do you recommend editing your personal statement by non-m edical professionals?

I would not recommend having your personal statement edited by a non-medical professional only, as they often will not understand the nuances of the residency Match process. Having good command of the English language is completely different from having a good sense of structure, flow, and content needed to successfully be accepted into a residency program.

How do I write a strong personal statement? 

Check the parts on what to include in a personal statement and the templates on this blog to help you write an effective personal statement.

Do you offer personal statement editing?

If you need help with personal statement editing, check out our re-write and structural edit services on this website.

Is my personal statement an important part of the application?

Yes, definitely. Your personal statement tells your story and achievements, many of which get lost in your CV. Moreover, some of your interviewers might only have access to your personal statement but not your CV.

How do you write a personal statement for residency application?

1-Start early

Starting early gives you the time to write multiple drafts and for other people to thoroughly review and provide feedback on your personal statement.

2-Start with bullet points

Write all the ideas and the topics you want to discuss you in your personal statement without necessarily making them into full sentences. At this stage, you are just trying to identify what you would like to include rather than how you are going to narrativize it. After you create your map of ideas, pick the ones that you think would be the most relevant and transform them into compelling text.

3-Start with the first draft

Expand on the points you chose from the previous step. Do not worry if the language is not perfect, because at this point, you are still far away from your final draft. Try to discuss why you are interested in the specialty, why you are unique, why you should be chosen for this spot, and what kind of programs you are looking for. Do your best to craft a memorable introduction and ending.

4-Go onto the second draft

Give it a few days to a week before transitioning to your second draft. This gap will allow the ideas to settle in your mind and for you to focus on those ideas and language choices that best convey the story you are trying to tell.

5-Send your personal statement to others

At this point, you can start sending your personal statement to friends who are experienced with editing and reviewing personal statements. Do not send it to random people you do not know because your personal statement is a confidential document, and it is unlikely that their advice will be of much value to you. If you do not know any people who are experienced with personal statement editing, seek professional guidance. I cannot tell you how many people have reached out to me to fix personal statements that they already paid for because the cheap service they first consulted was bad. You get what you pay for! If you need help with personal statement editing, check our re-write and structural editing service on this website .

After you receive feedback from others, do not accept every revision or suggestion blindly. Make sure that these suggested changes reflect the points you are most hoping to convey in your personal statement. However, if the person offering the advice is experienced in personal statement editing and/or the residency Match process, it is worth incorporating as many of their suggestions as possible.

At this point your personal statement is almost ready, and you can change a few things here and there until you are ready to submit the final version.

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‘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!

I wish you the best of luck with your residency application. Here are some more personal statement samples that can help you draft your own personal statement. More Personal Statement Samples

By    Malke Asaad

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Sample Personal Statement: Internal Medicine

Throughout medical school I have committed myself to finding the one specialty that aligns perfectly with my personality and future goals. While this task seemed straightforward and uncomplicated, I soon realized during my third-year clerkships that every area of medicine offered aspects I enjoyed. After exploring other specialties, I reflected on the qualities that I wished to possess as a physician. I envisioned myself as compassionate, respected, and knowledgeable, traits which I realized embodied the field of internal medicine. My intense self-reflection, combined with my medical school experiences, solidified my decision to pursue a residency in internal medicine.

The first patient I admitted while on my third-year internal medicine clerkship was an African American lady who was diagnosed with sarcoidosis. After I completed my history and physical, I realized the questions I had asked relied upon my ability to combine my knowledge of pathophysiology along with the clinical presentation of a disease process. At last I comprehended the importance of the basic science years as it related to patient care. I continued to follow this patient every day, and the responsibility of caring for someone's health had both a significant and fulfilling impact on me. I gained immense satisfaction from treating the whole person: her emotional needs as well as her medical needs. After completing my twelve weeks on internal medicine, I discovered that four months later this patient was re-admitted for a pulmonary embolus, which combined with her diminished lung function, ultimately resulted in her passing away. Although I was only a small part of this woman's care, I still felt connected to her. While her death saddened me, it also made me conscious of the potential rewards, such as lasting patient-doctor relationships, which could only come out of providing a lifetime of care to each of my patients.

Upon the completion of my third-year rotations, I felt that the role of the internist most closely matched my interests and abilities. The variety and complexity of the problems I encountered offered the intellectual stimulation that I desired in a medical field. I admired my attendings' breadth of knowledge across various medical disciplines, and I took pleasure in collaborating with physicians of all specialties, especially when the diagnosis proved to be difficult. The opportunity for close patient contact was also an appealing aspect. With fewer responsibilities than an intern, I found that as a third-year medical student I was able to spend more time with my patients, explaining how a diagnosis is made and what treatments might be required. Encouraged by these experiences with my patients, I was inspired to learn more about their conditions, not only for my own personal knowledge but also for their education as well.

I have many attributes to contribute to internal medicine. My experiences as a secondary education school teacher, Special Olympics swim coach, and elected class officer attest to my ability to lead and educate others. I am also analytical and detail-oriented, characteristics which originally led me to complete an undergraduate degree in economics. After my first year of medical school, I was awarded a scholarship to conduct research in the field of trauma surgery, an experience which enhanced my problem solving skills. In addition, my years as a varsity swimmer at Duke University have endowed me with certain traits that will not only make me a successful internist but also a well-balanced physician. These qualities include a never-ending quest for personal improvement, pride in my work or training, and the ability to focus on several tasks while balancing personal and professional obligations.