bad residency personal statements

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Table of Contents

Goals for Writing Your 2025 Residency Personal Statement

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

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

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

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

The Importance of a Balanced Residency Personal Statement

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

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

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

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

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

About MedEdits

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

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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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INFORMATION FOR

• Residents & Fellows
• Researchers

Personal Statement Don'ts and Do's

Hi everyone:

Every year, I read hundreds of personal statements, mostly for residency, but my labor of love is to review the statements you write for fellowship applications. Residency personal statements are straightforward: we don’t expect applicants to have sophisticated career plans; we just want to know a student has a spark, can write well, and would fit into our community. In contrast, fellowship directors want mature applicants with a more advanced career trajectory.

For those of you getting ready to write your personal statements (and those who plan to write one someday), here are some don'ts and do's:

1.Don't dwell too long on why you chose your specialty: Beyond a sentence or two explaining why you chose your field, don't waste space extoling your specialty. All nephrology applicants love the kidney and you obviously love your organ too or you wouldn’t be applying. If you really have a special story—for example, your uncle had cancer and that motivated you to spend two years studying cancer genetics—then tell that story. But if your personal epiphany isn't unique, move on.

2.Don't trash other specialties: You don’t accomplish anything by saying other specialties bore you. Do you really think rheumatology is the only specialty that requires clinical reasoning? What if the cardiology chief’s wife is a gastroenterologist?

3.Don't exceed one page: No matter how fascinating you think you are, no one wants to read a long statement. Program directors have to examine hundreds of statements, often in long, exhausting sessions. Get to the point.

4.Don't pretend you're someone you're not: Be realistic about your trajectory. If you haven't done much research, don't claim you can't wait to return to the lab. And don't try to please everyone- almost no one has a career with one third clinical work, one third teaching, and one third research. Focus.

5.Don't make spelling and grammar errors: Pay attention to details. Read your statement out loud to find mistakes.

Take your time, make yourself shine, craft a masterpiece.

1.Do show how you plan to contribute: Fellowship Directors don't care what their program will do for you; they want to know what you will do for their program. And they really don’t want to hear about how you can’t wait to begin a new chapter or start your journey.

2.Do show sophistication: What are the big opportunities and new directions in your field? How will you contribute?

3.Do show where your career is headed: What do you expect to do after fellowship? How will you spend your time? If you can be specific—“I want to do cardiac transplant”—then be specific. If you don’t know, that's fine, but show you’re thinking ahead because fellowship directors need to know if they can give you the skills you need. And remember, not all fellowships offer the same training; if you want to do interventional pulmonology, you’re not going to excite programs that don't offer that.

4.Do be exciting: Use active voice. Don’t say “Directing a MICU would be a rewarding career pathway.” What a snore! Say “I hope to direct a MICU one day." And think big- fellowship directors like applicants with ambition.

5.Do show your draft to others: Show it to friends and family. I want to read all your personal statements, often if necessary, to make sure they're great.

So remember your personal statement is your last opportunity to boost your candidacy. Once you’ve applied, your clinical performance, board scores, research accomplishments, and extracurricular contributions are pretty much set. A fantastic personal statement will elevate you from a crowd of talented applicants. Take your time, make yourself shine, craft a masterpiece.

Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. I'm on my way to the MICU,

Featured in this article

• Mark David Siegel, MD Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary); Program Director, Internal Medicine Traditional Residency Program

PersonalStatementMan

Join my mailing list, how to write a residency personal statement (april 2024).

Updated: Apr 19

Follow my proven formula for writing your medical residency personal statement because it’s easy and it works. How do I know it's effective? Because I’ve personally played a role in hundreds of successful matches .

Table of Contents:

The One Rule for Writing Your Medical Residency Personal Statement

My residency personal statement writing suggestions, the cheeseburger method: the best residency personal statement outline, the introduction, or your residency personal statement’s top bun, the middle, or the meat of your personal statement, the conclusion, or your residency personal statement’s bottom bun, the final sentence (or two) of your medical residency personal statement.

Toppings, or the Added Tasty Stuff Like Cheese, Bacon, Ketchup, Etc.

3 Takeaways

Faq: red flags, transitions, revision process, how to ask for help, etc..

This guide is meant to be a one-stop shop for personal statement writing. However, I cover additional tips and tidbits if you're interested in digging deeper. For those, check out:

4 Critical Medical Residency Personal Statement Writing Tips

5 Easy Guidelines for Residency Personal Statement Writing

No matter what anyone says, there are no hard and fast rules you MUST adhere to in writing your medical residency personal statement.

Sure, there are suggestions .

There are good decisions and bad decisions.

For instance, some people would advise you never to use informal writing in your residency personal statement. Readers will see “isn’t” or “I’m” and immediately toss it in the trash!

Nope. Not true. A few readers may grimace. Still, some readers might actually prefer conversational writing. Perhaps your casual tone will be the crucial little thing that nudges the scales in your direction and ultimately opens the door of that coveted dream residency spot.

So, what’s the ONE RULE for writing your ERAS personal statement? It’s that there are no true, set-in-stone, ironclad, must-follow-or-else rules.

Okay, so no rules, but here are the tried-and-true parameters I follow:

1) Your ERAS personal statement length should be between 600 and 800 words.

2) Don’t capitalize specialties. It’s incorrect.

3) Don’t name the the doctors/mentors you’ve worked with. This personal statement is about you, not them.

4) Include a patient story from rotations that relates to your chosen specialty and shows you in action doing things residency programs like.

Really, that’s it. Now let’s learn about my magic CHEESEBURGER method for writing a great medical residency personal statement. Yum!

A strong first sentence or two are important, but it’s a mistake to try too hard to grab attention.

Many people will tell you that immediately captivating your reader is critical. It’s not. In fact, so many students attempt to blow minds with their opening sentences that you’ll probably stand out by NOT doing so.

Instead of going for INCREDIBLE, try just being INTERESTING. Here are some examples:

Just go for a strong first sentence. After that, focus on answering the following two questions:

Why are you becoming a doctor?

Why do you love your chosen specialty?

Remember that this personal statement is not for your medical school application. You’re applying for RESIDENCY here. Thus, touch lightly on the first question and devote more energy to the second. What is it about psychiatry that you enjoy so much? Why are you so fascinated by surgery? Is there an interesting story that pushed you toward family medicine?

Your patient story is the juicy good stuff in the middle of your ERAS personal statement. This is where you win your readers over by showing yourself in action in the clinical setting.

Unfortunately, for many applicants, this is the most difficult part. You might be wondering to yourself: Do I REALLY need one?

Including a patient story is one of my core guidelines. There are some rare exceptions. However, when a client tells me they’d rather not share one, I do everything I can to convince them otherwise. Why?

First of all, your audience expects a patient story.

More importantly, it’s a great vehicle for selling yourself as a phenomenal prospective resident. Your readers know you’re just a “lowly student,” but they want to see initiative. They want to picture you in action in circumstances similar to those you’ll encounter in residency.

Here’s how to generate an effective patient story:

1) Remember: just as with your opening sentence, you do NOT need to blow your reader away. Don't try to portray yourself as a physician superhero.

2) Consider your intended specialty. If you’re applying to family medicine, brainstorm a story that shows you building a longer-term relationship. Focus on education and prevention, and/or other similar family medicine “buzz words.” Internal medicine? Teamwork, detail analysis, etc. Surgery? Calmness under pressure, dexterity, leadership, teamwork. You get the idea.

3) Include pertinent details. Details help paint a vivid picture, but too many weigh down the narrative. In choosing your details, think about what each one conveys to the reader about you. For instance, recalling an exact lab value or catching a subtle symptom or bit of prior history says you’re observant. Bringing a patient an extra blanket relates that you’re compassionate and thoughtful. Some attributes are higher on the list for certain specialties but perhaps lower for others, so prioritize details carefully.

4) Keep yourself at center stage. Sure, your attending did some amazing things that inspired you, but this personal statement needs to show how capable YOU are. Many students say they were “in awe” of what another doctor did and use that as the point their story revolves around. This is a huge mistake.

Still can’t think of a good patient story? Rack your memory or look back through your patient logs. Ask your family and friends to remind you of the interesting stories you’ve told them from rotations.

When did you go above and beyond?

What are your most memorable patients?

It’s totally fine if nothing stands out. I said it earlier, but the patient story is where applicants typically struggle the most. That just means it's time to get creative!

But PersonalStatementMan, is it okay to embellish a so-so encounter? What about completely making a story up out of thin air? Do people do that? Do they actually lie?!

YES, they absolutely do. Don’t be afraid to color outside the lines if necessary.

To be very blunt, whether it’s ethical or not, your competition will do anything they can to get ahead of you. This isn’t the time to over-worry about morals.

In your conclusion, I recommend briefly answering, in 2-3 sentences at maximum, two questions:

1) What are your aspirations for your medical career after residency?

Readers typically want to see that you’re open-minded. Think about where you were when you began medical school and know that a lot can change in the coming years. Thus, there’s no need to get too specific.

Also, many programs give extra points to applicants they think might stick around after residency. So if you’re absolutely certain about your exact path, and it doesn't involve working for your program, consider sharing that information AFTER you match.

2) What are you looking for in a residency program?

Be brief and general here. You want to come across as humble, that you’re not expecting too much above the basics like a positive workplace, an environment that promotes growth and learning, and good attendings.

I suggest NOT mentioning you want things like research opportunities unless EVERY program you’re applying to offers them.

Additionally, I encourage you NOT to state that you’re looking for a program that promotes resident wellness. Wellness SHOULD of course be a given. I know that’s not always the reality, but like it or not, some readers will view you adding that expectation into your personal statement as a sign you might not be a dream employee/teammate.

Then finally, you will use your conclusion to sum up and reinforce the rest of your medical residency personal statement. How to do this most effectively? Touch back on your introduction. This wraps everything together and creates a satisfying, full-circle reading experience.

You can also sprinkle in a little from your patient story if it fits.

The dreaded ending. Don't be intimidated, it's really not that difficult. Just as with everything else, your goal should not be to knock off any socks or blow any minds.

My winning formula for residency personal statement final sentences boils down to a mix of at least two of the following elements:

1) Enthusiasm to start residency

2) A reinforcement of your dedication

3) A reminder about what you offer to your team and patients

This is a lot to include in a single sentence, right? It is, but after writing and revising hundreds upon hundreds of medical residency personal statements, I’ve found this formula to tie the tightest bow.

Be declarative and confident. This is the career you’ve worked so hard for, and you DESERVE this residency position.

Finally, and this is VERY important: The surest way to accomplish a confident ending without sounding arrogant is to mention your team.

Here are some examples:

If you still don’t like how your ending sounds after trying your very hardest, I have a trick for you. It works every time:

Begin a new paragraph and conclude with something like:

“Thank you for your time and consideration.”

Looks pretty good, right?

Ending this way forces a finality to your medical residency personal statement. It also implies that you’re respectfully aware of your reader and appreciative of the time they spent going over your application.

Personal Statement Toppings, or the Added Tasty Stuff Like Cheese, Bacon, Ketchup, Etc.

Make your residency personal statement cheeseburger more unique by adding your favorite toppings!

Is there something interesting and different about your path to residency? Did you put yourself through college by working at Old Navy? Were you raised or did you study in a foreign country? Are you particularly proud of your research or volunteer work?

Do you fly airplanes in your free time? Run your own business?

Maybe you play an instrument at a high level, were a collegiate athlete, or have a black belt in karate.

Sharing one or two morsels like these can help you stand out among your competition. However, avoid too much emphasis and always keep in mind that the purpose of your medical residency personal statement is to show what you will bring to your program as a resident.

A common trap some students fall into is reciting their CV experience items to try to prove that they’re qualified.

Firstly, your reader holds that exact information in their hands already. Secondly, listing items from your past makes for very boring writing. You’re telling a story here! Let your other application materials speak for themselves while you make your ERAS personal statement as engaging and readable as possible.

In that spirit, do not include your toppings if they don’t fit naturally. Getting the narrative to flow together takes a lot of work and finesse, but when you get it right, it will place your personal statement among the top 1%. What does that mean? Well, it means your readers will LOVE you and your dream residency will BEG to interview you!*

*Okay you got me. This might be a slight exaggeration.

1) Your residency personal statement's length should be between 600 and 800 words.

2) Don't waste time trying to blow your readers' minds with "incredible" opening or closing sentences. Go for "interesting" instead.

3) A simple, cheeseburger-like outline has been proven over and over to achieve spectacular results: Top bun (introduction), meat (patient story), bottom bun (conclusion). And don't forget to include a few delicious toppings.

I go into more detail about many of these topics in the linked posts, but here are quick answers to some common questions. If you require further clarification and want to set up a meeting to discuss in person, please never hesitate to reach out to me .

Personal Statement FAQ

Do I need different versions of my personal statement for different specialties?

YES. You do not want residency programs thinking their specialty may not be your first choice.

For an obvious example, a surgeon has a different set of skills than an internist. They excel in different environments, cultivate different knowledge bases, and encounter different types of patients.

Less obvious is that even if you're applying to both family medicine and internal medicine, both primary care specialties, you must write two separate personal statements.

Though similar on the surface, the two fields have subtle (but critical) differences. For example, family medicine is more outpatient focused while internal medicine revolves more around inpatient medicine. FM prioritizes relationships, continuity, and prevention. Yes, these are also important in IM, but IM is more centered in analysis, diagnosis, and teamwork.

The takeaway? You must have separate personal statements for each specialty.

Should I tailor different versions of my personal statement to each program I’m applying to?

Short answer: No, but there are exceptions.

Personalizing versions of your personal statement for each residency program can be cumbersome, confusing, and risky.

I've worked with more than one student who made the fatal mistake of accidentally uploaded the wrong version to the wrong program. Oops! Needless to say, their top choices did not extend interview invitations.

Additionally, I doubt tailoring different versions is very effective. Most students try to lift key phrases from the program's website and saying things like:

"I know I am a great fit for < insert program name > because, like you, my core values are teamwork, results, and patient satisfaction."

Or they google the geographical area and say something like this:

"When I am not working hard my team and patients, I look forward to hiking the area's plentiful nature trails and exploring < insert nearby city >'s vibrant culinary scene."

Does that seem compelling to you?

Now, there are exceptions to this advice, and the biggest one is if you rotated at the program. Adding in a personal sentence or two will remind your readers they know you, just in case they forgot your name.

That said, if you choose to tailor your personal statement to different programs, learn from my previous clients' tragedies. Make sure you triple- or quadruple-check that you've attached the correct one in ERAS.

Who actually reads my residency personal statement?

Program directors and attendings are NOT the only people who you will have the chance to impress with your ERAS personal statement.

It depends on the program, but any number of staff members and current residents might also be given access to your application. Choosing new residents is often a group effort!

It's important to keep this in mind when writing your personal statement. For instance, going way out of your way to appeal to a PD might turn off prospective co-residents. Consequently, you want to remain as authentic and honest as possible, knowing you're communicating with a fairly wide audience.

When and how do I ask for help?

Having another set or two of eyes during the writing process can be very helpful.

However, be wary of having too many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone you ask -- your friends, parents, attendings, teachers, janitors -- will have a different opinion they're sure is correct. Too much input quickly devolves into a counterproductive and confusing ball of stress, anguish, and sleepless nights.

Here's what I recommend:

Complete your first draft before asking for help. Then limit your proof readers/feedback givers to just TWO people. ONE reader is even better. Of course, make sure you choose very carefully.

Then, after another draft or two, hire a professional writing service ( like mine! ) to tighten things up.

It's extremely important you keep in mind that the only opinion that truly counts is yours. If you believe strongly in a certain passage or story that one of your readers criticizes, defend it. I encounter a lot of students who look to others for the correct answers about their personal statements.

Unfortunately "correct answers" don't exist for things that are subjective.

Remember: Just like our ONE RULE that there are no rules, there is no such thing as a "correct" way to present yourself in your personal statement. No matter what you do, some readers will respond well and others not so well.

Should I hire someone to help?

Given my job, you should know my answer to this question: Yes!!

Here's my in-depth discussion about why and how to hire the BEST ERAS personal statement writing service you can find.

How do I address red flags?

Follow the link for my discussion about the two best methods for addressing red flags .

Can I use ChatGPT or another AI?

You can use it to help you write, but DO NOT use it to write your ERAS personal statement for you. More discussion here !

How do I write great transitions? (coming soon)

What is a good revision process (coming soon), how do i know when i’m done is my personal statement good enough (coming soon), i’m still struggling what do i do (coming soon), residency application faq table of contents:, what if my attending asks me to write my own letter of recommendation (coming soon), what are the eras experiences and how do i write them (coming soon).

Photo credits:

Students Who Matched: https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-12531762.html

Signs that say "NO" - https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-1655708.html

Cheeseburger & Accoutrements: Abby Curtin

Residency personal statement examples: https://www.personalstatementman.com

Red Flag: https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-1020422.html

Hand raised: https://depositphotos.com/portfolio-4218696.html

• Residency Personal Statement
• Most Popular
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Recent Posts

4 Critical Medical Residency Personal Statement Writing Tips (April 2024)

How to Find the Best ERAS Personal Statement Writing Service (April 2024)

5 Easy Guidelines for Residency Personal Statement Writing (April 2024)

Bad Personal Statement Examples and What to Do Instead

• By Med School Insiders
• April 20, 2022
• Personal Statement

Bad personal statements—we’ve certainly seen many of those, and so have admissions committees. But what makes a bad personal statement, and how do you fix yours to ensure you don’t bore, undermine, or confuse the admissions committee members reviewing your medical school application? In this post, we’ll share bad personal statement examples to help you avoid the mistakes so many premeds make.

There are so many nuances to personal statement writing, and it only takes one wrong turn to derail an otherwise good essay. Below, we’ll outline common mistakes that lead to a bad personal statement, as well as what you should be doing instead. Look for specific examples in bold , including improved examples that show changes bolded as well.

After reading this article, we encourage you to read our complete Personal Statement Guide , which outlines 11 steps to writing a personal statement.

Bad Personal Statement Examples

Starting too many sentences with ‘i’.

Yes, your personal statement is about you from your perspective, but starting too many sentences with ‘I’ shows poor form. Your writing will suffer, and you’ll be more likely to list your accomplishments from your CV rather than establish a cohesive narrative. Watch for this poor form in your writing and double check for too many ‘I’s when you edit.

For example:

“ I continued to pursue my dream of practicing medicine when I volunteered in the Intensive Care Unit at the UC San Diego Thornton Medical Center, where I gained first-hand experience interacting with patients. I talked to a patient who only spoke Spanish while I was collecting laboratory samples from nurses. I was the only Spanish speaker in the unit, and I only had a basic grasp of the language. I asked the patient about her day and family, and I was able to lift her spirits. I learned the importance of making personal connections with patients through this experience.”

The word ‘I’ will certainly be used throughout your personal statement, but leading with it every time is redundant and shows simplicity in your writing. Instead, add context to the beginning of your sentences, shape each like a story, and add diversity to your sentence structure.

“I continued to pursue my dream of practicing medicine by volunteering in the Intensive Care Unit at the UC San Diego Thornton Medical Center, where I gained first-hand experience interacting with patients. While collecting laboratory samples from nurses, I talked to a patient who only spoke Spanish. As the interpreter had not arrived yet, I was the only Spanish speaker in the unit, and my Spanish was basic at best. I asked the patient about her day and family, which really lifted her spirits. This interaction taught me the importance of personal connections with patients.”

Overusing Flowery Language

You want a personal statement that’s dynamic and well-written, but that doesn’t mean taking a deep dive into a thesaurus. Use words that convey your message clearly and concisely; don’t search for flowery or complex language to impress admissions committees.

In the end, you won’t be impressing anyone, as your personal statement will be a jumble of difficult to read sentences filled with words many people don’t understand or use. More attention will be put on your strange word choices rather than the story you’re trying to tell.

“The foremost leading reason why I want to run after a career in medicine is because of a covenant vow I made to my sister when I was but a tender youth of eight . My sister, who was only an innocuous infant , was aware I had been shepherding her health while our parents were working late. Shielding her from harm gave me a feeling of responsibility I had never experienced before. When my sister arose from her slumber with a fever, I felt impotent . Her medical practitioner was able to take care of the most quintessential person in my entire existence by systematically ruling out possible causes for the fever while still helping my sister feel safe, allowing me to see the luminescent beauty of medicine.”

When editing your personal statement, think of how you can convey your point clearly and concisely. After all, 5000-5300 characters is not very much space to convince admissions committees of your passion and dedication to medicine. Simplicity in your language will allow the reader to focus on your story and the messages you are trying to get across.

“The main reason why I want to pursue medicine is because of a promise I made to my sister when I was eight years old . My sister, who was only a baby , was aware I had been taking care of her while our parents were working late. Caring for her gave me a feeling of responsibility I had never experienced before. When my sister woke up with a fever, I felt helpless . Her doctor was able to take care of the most important person in my life by systematically ruling out possible causes for the fever while still helping my sister feel safe, allowing me to see the beauty of medicine.”

Explaining Medicine to Doctors

Doctors understand how medicine works—you don’t need to explain it to them. Don’t try to impress admissions committees with your breadth of medical knowledge in your personal statement. This is not the time to show how much you know about medicine. Let your medical knowledge and skills shine through in your MCAT score, your clinical experiences, and your letters of recommendation.

The personal statement is about your journey. Show your passion for medicine but remain humble. Even if you are top of your class, you are still a premed and have a long way to go before you become a doctor.

“Walking into the office, I heard a most unsettling sound—a distinctive, screeching, painful yelp audible throughout the clinic. I instantly knew what case I would be seeing next: Whooping cough. When I saw Brody, a toddler, I knew exactly what was happening to him. Due to my vast and extensive research on the bacteria that caused the disease, I knew it was Bordetella pertussis, a Gram-negative, aerobic, pathogenic, encapsulated coccobacillus of the genus Bordetella . Describing all that I knew about the microbe’s pathogenesis and explaining how my research could improve vaccine efficacy was comforting to the family. My research experiences have ignited a passion to continue being at the cutting edge of medicine, always seeking to improve patient care.”

There’s no need to explain what a specific disease is to the admissions committee. This only uses up your valuable space, and it could sound like you are trying to prove how much you already know. Be careful about how you word your success. Remember, you are only at the very beginning of your medical journey. You still have much to learn, so be humble. Is it “my” research or “our” research?

“Walking into the office, I heard a most unsettling sound—a distinctive, screeching, painful yelp audible throughout the clinic. I instantly knew what case I would be seeing next: Whooping cough. When I saw Brody, a toddler, I knew exactly what was happening to him. I had spent the last two years performing research on the bacteria that caused the disease, Bordetella pertussis. Describing elements of the microbe’s pathogenesis and explaining how our research could improve vaccine efficacy was comforting to the family. My research experiences have ignited a passion to be at the cutting edge of medicine, always seeking to improve patient care so that in the future, I can come to a family like Brody’s with a better prognosis. ”

Negatively Calling Out a Previous Rejection

Use light language when talking about a previous rejection to medical school. You definitely need to address your reapplication and how you are an improved candidate, but you don’t need to say “since I failed last time” or “when I messed up my application and was rejected.”

“ Although I failed to gain admittance to medical school, I’ve remained steadfast in pursuit of

achieving my dream to be a physician. Instead of accepting failure , I continued to foster these kinds of meaningful experiences with my patients and develop the traits necessary to forge the desired relationships I hope to foster as a physician, like those my father had with his patients.”

Instead, acknowledge the past while focusing on the future. What have you learned? What are you doing differently now? Why are you continuing your pursuit?

For example, here’s a better way to loop in a previous rejection.

“Directly witnessing the eternal illumination my father left on the world has shown me the incredible impact physicians can achieve in patients’ lives and their communities. My struggles with his passing forced me to further develop the resiliency necessary to not give up on this path when faced with setbacks , and instead to redouble my efforts to be a pillar of luminosity as a future doctor.”

Not Understanding Nuance and Context

Avoid mentioning anything that could be seen as drug-seeking behavior or anything that may remind doctors of drug-seeking behavior.

You don’t want to spark negative feelings in admissions committee members. Even if what you’re saying is perfectly innocent, it’s much better to leave them with a lasting positive impression. The negative association may have nothing to do with the point of your story, but it will be there nonetheless.

“A short stint in the emergency room when I was a teenager showed me how exciting and fast paced a career in medicine can be. It was at this time that I experienced morphine for the first time due to the significant injury incurred during a biking accident. I saw the care everyone in the emergency room gave to me, and I knew I wanted to be a part of that care for other people.”

While the intention here is good, this story may set off alarm bells for admissions committee members. Even if it’s not the writer’s intent, the excerpt will remind doctors of drug-seeking behavior. It doesn’t matter if the morphine was administered correctly; the connection and reminder will be there.

In this case, you’re better off finding another story or turning that story upside down to focus on other elements. It’s best not to mention the drugs you received at all. When crafting your personal statement, put yourself in the admissions committee’s shoes. How are they going to feel after they read your personal statement? What other unwanted associations might they connect to your story?

Making General Spelling or Grammar Errors

Spelling and grammar errors are not a good look. They show carelessness and lack of dedication to your medical school application. You cannot rely on simple document spellcheck alone. This is a good start, and you will be able to find typos this way, but bots can miss the context of a sentence, and they won’t catch all comma errors.

Whether you’re a fan of commas or not, they are important. There’s a big difference between saying “Eat grandma” and “Eat, grandma.” The comma completely changes the context of the sentence. Making comma mistakes in your essay can make it difficult for people to read it the way you intend.

“Running has had a positive affect on my discipline to maintain a balanced life provided me the focus to succeed in med school , and given me the drive to work toward fulfilling my dreams. Most importantly I made a promise to my sister, creating an unshakey foundation of endless motivation that will encourage myself even throughout the most distressed moments of my journey to a physician . I won’t never give up nor surrender, because I always keep my promises.”

Utilize more sophisticated editing tools like Grammarly to edit your essay. Ensure you have real people editing your work, too. Real people will be able to catch contextual mistakes that bots will miss.

For example, here’s how the previous paragraph looks once edited:

“Running has had a positive effect on my discipline to maintain a balanced life, provided me the focus to succeed in medical school , and given me the drive to work toward fulfilling my dreams. Most importantly, I made a promise to my sister, creating an unshakeable foundation of endless motivation that will encourage me even through the most distressing moments of my journey to become a physician . I will never give up nor surrender because I always keep my promises.”

Additional Personal Statement Mistakes to Avoid

The bad personal statement examples shared in this article shed light on what not to do, but this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Here are some additional mistakes to avoid when crafting and editing your personal statement.

• Not starting your personal statement early enough so that you have plenty of time for editing and revising.
• Listing your accomplishments or rehashing your CV and extracurriculars. You need to show, not tell.
• Choosing a bland topic that admissions committees see over and over again.
• Overstating the obvious and using clichés. It’s very likely that the applicants you are competing with also like science and want to help people.
• Lying or making up a personal story for your essay. You will be asked to elaborate on aspects of your application during interviews, so you need to have your stories straight. Plus, lying isn’t a great way to begin your medical career.
• Making excuses for poor grades or a low MCAT score.
• Negatively speaking about other premeds or physicians you’ve worked with.

Reviewing and Editing

After finishing your first draft, take some time away from your personal statement. After a few days, come back to it with a fresh perspective. Read your essay out loud. Doing so will reaffirm the parts of your essay you enjoy most and bring to light the weaker aspects.

Anticipate multiple edits. Avoid getting attached to a particular sentence or paragraph. Especially in the early stages, do not be afraid to restart. Just remember to save all of your rough work; you never know if it might come in handy later.

Seek out advice and editing help from friends, colleagues, and mentors—people that know your body of work and accomplishments well. These insights can be helpful in determining what items to emphasize and what to drop. Even better, ask experts to review your essay, ideally, doctors who have actually served on medical school admissions committees in the past.

From Bad to Great: Personal Statement Editing Services

Can’t tell if your personal statement is good or bad? We can. Med School Insiders offers unlimited, in-depth editing with a physician who will be there to advise you every step of the way.

View our range of personal statement editing packages and learn more about our Comprehensive Medical School Admissions Packages , designed by a team of top-performing doctors who have years of experience serving on admissions committees. With Med School Insiders, you’ll receive key insights from people who have been intimately involved with the selection process.

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20+ Residency Personal Statement Examples

I hope you enjoy reading this blog post.

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #1:

Internal medicine | the basketball player.

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #2:

General surgery | the role model (with commentary).

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

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

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

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

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

Commentary on Residency Personal Statement Example #2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #3:

Internal medicine | the healer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #4:

Pediatrics | the indian img.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #5:

Family medicine | the caregiver.

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

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

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

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

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

Looking for a full ERAS Application Template including samples of Experiences, Education, Geographic Preferences, Publications, and Personal/Biographic Information? Get your FREE ERAS Template here ! 

Residency Personal Statement Example #6:

Emergency medicine | the grocery manager.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Residency Personal Statement Example #7:

Pathology | the img pathologist.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #8:

Orthopedic surgery | the football player.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #9:

Anesthesiology | the immigrant.

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #10:

Psychiatry | schizophrenia.

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

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

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

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

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

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Residency Personal Statement Example #11:

Obgyn | the caribbean school.

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #12:

Diagnostic radiology | the pakistani img.

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #13:

Interventional radiology | the chess player.

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #14:

Internal medicine/ icu | the farmer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Residency Personal Statement Example #15:

General surgery | the iraqi female applicant.

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #16:

Pediatrics | the oncologist.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #17:

Emergency medicine | the firefighter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Residency Personal Statement Example #18:

Internal medicine | the war survivor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #19:

Internal medicine | changing specialties.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #20:

General surgery | the colombian img.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Residency Personal Statement Example #21:

Emergency medicine | the flow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Residency Personal Statement Example #22:

Primary care/im | the impoverished.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Residency Personal Statement Example #23:

Internal medicine | nonna.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final Thoughts

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

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The Residency Personal Statement Guide w/Prompts & Examples

Intro- Writing a Great Residency Personal Statement

When you get ready to apply for residency, which could happen as early as your third year of med school, there are really  two main components  to the application process: submitting your application packet to various programs and completing the required interviews for the programs interested in you. But how exactly do you make sure you get that call for an interview? One way is by including an original, memorable residency personal statement as part of your application packet.

Residency Prerequisites

Before we get to the personal statement, though, let’s look at the steps required for you to be eligible for residency.

Step 1: Receive Your Degree

Although you’ll possibly start applying for residency during the fall semester of your third year at medical school, before you can be accepted, you must have your degree. It doesn’t matter if your application looks great and your interview blows the minds of the residency selection committee; if you don’t receive your M.D. or D.O., you won’t be eligible for residency.

Step 2: Pass the Examinations

In the U.S., you’re required to pass an exam before you can become licensed to practice medicine. Traditionally, students have taken the  USMLE  (United States Medical Licensing Examination), but some schools now require you to take the  COMLEX  (Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination) either instead of the USMLE  or  in addition to it.

For Foreign Students

If you’re a foreign student hoping to be placed in a residency within the U.S., there are a few  additional requirements  you’ll have to meet.

These include, but aren’t limited to, being certified by the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG), obtaining a legal VISA that gives you the right to work in the United States, procuring additional letters of recommendation from U.S.-based providers and more.

Applying for a Residency

What you’ll need.

As you’re putting together your residency application packet, you’ll be responsible for gathering:

• Your completed application
• Your residency personal statement
• Your letters of recommendation

There are a few other things that must be included in your application packet, but your medical school will handle those items. They include:

• Your complete and sealed transcripts
• A copy of your MSPE (Medical School Performance Evaluation)
• Your licensing exam transcript

Once you’ve gotten your half of the documents ready to submit, your medical school should take care of the rest. It’s important to fill out your application completely and accurately, as every bit of information included in the packet will be verified by multiple agencies.

The ERAS: What It Is and How to Apply

To apply for residency with almost all programs in the United States, you’ll be required to fill out an application through the  Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS) . The ERAS was created and is maintained by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

It makes applying for residency much easier because you only have to fill out one application at a centralized location. That application then gets sent to all the different programs you’re interested in becoming a part of during your residency.

If you used the Common App as an undergraduate, you already have an idea of what the ERAS is like. Unlike the Common App, though, there’s one really great thing about the ERAS that many other centralized applications don’t include: the ability to submit multiple personal statements.

Why Submit Multiple Personal Statements

You may be wondering why you’d want to write more than one personal statement when writing one is stressful enough.

The simple answer is that writing multiple personal statements gives you the opportunity to personalize your statements for the specific program to which you’re applying. For example, if you’re applying for a pediatric residency in Brooklyn, you can write your personal statement specifically about why you chose that specialty and that geographic location. Additionally, if you also apply for an internal medicine residency in Washington D.C., you can write a second personal statement outlining your reasons for that choice as well.

ERAS Portal

There are  four main sections  of the ERAS application portal.

Section 1: MyERAS

This is the part of the ERAS that’s your responsibility. Using MyERAS, you’ll complete the centralized application, submit your required documentation and personal statements and select the programs to which you’re applying. When it comes to filling out the ERAS, this is the only section you’ll personally have to complete.

Section 2: DWS

The DWS, or Dean’s Office WorkStation, is where the designated person in your Dean’s office will submit what s/he is required to submit on your behalf. This will include your transcripts and performance evaluations.

Section 3: LoRP

The LoRP is the Letters of Recommendation Portal. You’ll direct people who’ve agreed to provide you with letters of recommendation to this location and have them submit their recommendation letters through the portal.

Section 4: PDWS

The PDWS, short for Program Director’s WorkStation, is where the programs you’ve applied to will receive and review their incoming applications.

Help with the ERAS

In addition to having everything you need for all your prospective programs in one place, another great thing about the ERAS is that the website provides you with  a lot of great resources  to help ensure you get everything done correctly and submitted in a timely manner.

There’s an  Applicant Worksheet  that allows you to see everything the application asks before you even start working on it. There’s also a  User Guide , an  Applicant Checklist , a  FAQ Section  and an  Application Timeline  to keep you on track.

Writing Your Residency Personal Statement

Although each residency personal statement you write should be different depending on the program to which you’re applying, there are some things that’ll remain similar or even the same in each statement, most notably the length and overall format of the statement.

Standard Residency Personal Statement Length

The ERAS allows you to use 28,000 characters (including spaces and punctuation marks) to complete your residency personal statement. This generally translates to about five to seven pages in length.  Don’t  use all 28,000 characters for your statements. That is entirely too long.

You have to be considerate of the time of the person reading your statement. S/he likely has thousands of personal statements to read through, and s/he doesn’t want to spend too much time on any one statement. If possible, you should keep your personal statements to about 3,500 to 5,000 characters. This translates to about a page to a page and a half for your statement. That’s a good length that should give you enough room to say everything you need to say without rambling on about non-essential information.

Standard Residency Personal Statement Format

The format of your statements will also be quite similar. You don’t have to worry about choosing your font, font size, or anything like that. With the ERAS, you’ll be using an embedded plain text box to type your personal statement. The only formatting options available to you will be:

• Italics, Bold, Strikethrough and Underline
• Center, Left or Right Alignment
• Bullet Points
• Numbered Lists
• Add Embedded Hyperlink
• Increase or Decrease Indent

Beyond those items, you won’t be able to change anything in the formatting, but your  content  format is important. You should have a short introduction of three to five sentences, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion of about three to six sentences. The information you put into these paragraphs will depend largely on what exactly you’re writing in your personal statement.

Red Flags of Residency Personal Statement to Avoid

There are definitely some things you want to avoid while writing your personal statement for your residency application. Let’s call them the “Don’t List.”

Don’t Use All 28,000 Characters

We’ve already discussed this, but it warrants being said twice. No one wants to read seven pages worth of a personal statement. Absolutely  do not  use all the provided characters for your personal statement.

Don’t Send the Same Statement to Every Program

This is another one that we’ve touched on already, but it, too, is worth repeating. The reasons you’re applying for various programs are bound to be different for each particular program. If you try to write one single personal statement that gets sent to every program, it’s going to end up sounding generic and unauthentic.

Different programs want to know that you chose them for a reason. They want to know what it is about their program that drew your interest. If you don’t give them actual reasons for your interest, they’re going to assume you’re just desperately applying everywhere you can in hopes of getting an acceptance. That doesn’t look good in a prospective residency candidate.

Don’t Spend a Lot of Time Talking About Why You Want to Be a Doctor

By the time you get to the residency portion of your career, you’re already a doctor. Why you decided to become one is kind of a moot point. This is one place where people often get tripped up. Your residency application is  not  a med school application. By this point, you’ve already proven you want to be a doctor by putting in all the work to become one. Why you did it doesn’t matter. You were obviously motivated to succeed. Don’t waste precious characters rehashing your reasons for going into medicine.

Don’t Be Generic

Be specific about why you’ve chosen pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery or whatever program you’ve chosen to pursue in your residency. The person reading your statement doesn’t want to hear that you’ve chosen pediatrics because you “just love babies!” You’re an adult with a medical degree. Use all those years of education and be specific about why you’ve made the choices you’ve made.

Don’t Be Overly Dramatic

You want your personal statement to be interesting and memorable, but you  don’t  want it to sound like the first page of a movie script. You don’t have to set the scene dramatically with overused and cliched stories about “Patient X lying on the bed, blood rushing down his head and barely conscious as I walked up and took his hand, looked into his eyes and told him I would save his life.” Just don’t do this.

Don’t Include Anything Considered Too Controversial

Your personal statement isn’t the place for activism. Don’t get into topics such as pro-life vs. pro-choice or why you think cloning is a sin against God. It’s okay to mention that you’re a regular church member; you don’t have to shy away from religion altogether, but you don’t want to include a strong stance you hold on something that’s known to be polarizing.

The person reading your personal statement might feel just as strongly as you do about an issue, but s/he might be on the other side of that issue. That could get your application discarded quickly.

Don’t Submit Unedited Statements

Never, never, never, never send in your first draft. Don’t ever send in a statement that hasn’t been proofread, edited, and then edited some more. Bring in a second pair of eyes to look it over ( hey! see our personal statement editing packages here ) if you need a fresh perspective, but never send in something that hasn’t been thoroughly edited for grammar, spelling, organization, and content errors.

Don’t Plagiarize!

Last but certainly not least: Don’t plagiarize your personal statement! We can’t overemphasize this point. If you aren’t a strong writer, it’s okay to reach out and have a friend, mentor or former professor help you organize your thoughts and edit the statement at the end, but no matter how much you may be tempted,  do not plagiarize  your personal statement.

First and foremost, you’ll get caught.

There are just way too many plagiarism checkers ( we recommend you use Grammarly plagiarism checker ) on the market today for you to get away with stealing someone else’s work – even if you only take a small part of it. Then, once you’ve been caught, you lose all professional respectability.

If you’ve plagiarized your personal statement, odds are you’ve cheated before now. No one trusts a doctor who cheats, and the person/people who caught you cheating have to wonder if you’re even a good doctor. Perhaps you just cheated your way through med school and really don’t know an obstetrician from an ophthalmologist.

Put simply, just don’t cheat. It isn’t worth it.

Residency Personal Statement Prompts

Although the ERAS doesn’t give you a specific prompt to follow while writing your residency personal statement, there are a few programs that do ask specific questions. If a program does ask a specific question on its website, you should strongly consider that question when writing your personal statement. Try to answer it as honestly and completely as possible.

Most programs don’t provide you with specific prompts, but there are still some questions to ask yourself to help guide your writing.

Below are some of the most commonly asked prompts and questions.

1. What are your professional goals?

This is a commonly covered question in many residency personal statements. Remember, at the residency stage of your career, you’re already a doctor, so this personal statement is no longer why you want to be a doctor; it’s about what you want to do now that you’ve become one.

Don’t be afraid to go into detail here. Talk about both your short-term (during residency and immediately after completing residency) and your long-term goals (15+ years from now).

Do you want to open your own practice? Do you plan to stay within the U.S., or would you prefer to take your expertise elsewhere through Doctors Without Borders or some other organization? What specific skills are you hoping to gain from the residency that’ll help you further your career goals?

2. What types of patients do you enjoy working with?

This question really concerns the specialty you’re interested in pursuing. For example, if you’re interested in working in pediatrics, the obvious answer here would be that you like to work with children. You shouldn’t leave it at that though.

Are there certain types of children you like to work with best? For example, would you prefer to work with special needs children as opposed to healthy children just coming in for check-ups? Perhaps you have a passion for women’s health or simply prefer to work with women.

If this is the case, an OBGYN specialty might make more sense for you. Do you want to work with the elderly? Would you prefer to work in neighborhoods full of predominantly low-income or minority households? If you hope to pursue plastic surgery, are you doing so because you want to work with amputees in order to build them new limbs?

All of these questions can be taken into account when talking about the types of patients with whom you most prefer to work.

3. What contributions can I make to the specialty and the residency program?

Chances are, the program you’re applying to knows why you want to be accepted for a residency position by them, but why should  they  want to accept  you ? When answering this prompt, talk about what makes you a good fit for the specialty you’ve chosen. If you have any particular skills or strengths that would fit well with what you’re hoping to achieve during residency, mention those.

Something else to discuss is anything you’ve done in your history that would prepare you for working with the population you’re likely to encounter in that particular residency spot. If you have an undergraduate degree in psychology, that could be hugely beneficial if your residency serves a large veteran population.

If you grew up in a low-income, first-generation neighborhood or have teaching experience at a Title I school, that could prepare you for working at a hospital in a similar neighborhood.

4. What are your strong points?

This question is really just another way of asking what benefits you’d bring to the residency if you were accepted. Many of the same things you’d write about if answering the above-listed prompt are the same things you’d write about here. You could discuss the characteristics you have that make for a good doctor.

You could also list any strengths you have academically. For instance, if you excelled at one or two particular subjects, it’s a good idea to mention those. Receiving superior performance evaluations is also something worth noting.

Residency Personal Statement Examples

The following are some of the best examples of what to do and what not to do when writing your residency personal statements. Note that these are just examples; don’t use them in your own statements.

Example Personal Statement 1

“During my third year, I rediscovered my reasons for pursing [sic] a career in Pediatrics. […] I enjoy teaching young patients and their parents about their disease and how they can conquer hardships. Also, I am excited about taking care of patients from birth to adulthood. Working with young people is rewarding because of the chance to be involved in a growing relationship with patients as they mature and learn. […] Pediatrics gives me the determination to think through problems, the curiosity to learn, and the energy to stay awake at three in the morning. When you love your patients it becomes easy to work hard for them.”

– Read the rest  here

This is a very well-written personal statement. The writer clearly has a passion for working with children, but she doesn’t just come out and say that with no detail. She talks about the specific things she enjoys about working with children.

Furthermore, she talks about how she believes pediatric medicine to go beyond just treating kids. She talks about “a growing relationship” with the patients she treats and her desire to treat them as they grow and mature into adulthood.

In addition to being a moving example of a personal statement, it also shows that the writer plans to be in the medical field for the long haul. You don’t build relationships and treat patients from infancy into adulthood unless you plan to stick with the career.

This is her way of saying, “I plan to do this for the rest of my life” without having to come out directly and say those words.

Our Verdict:

Example Personal Statement 2

“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. […] 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. 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.”

– Read the rest  here

This is another good example, written in response to  prompt number three above . The writer tells about all the things he brings to the team, but he doesn’t focus specifically on medicine.

If you’re applying for residency as this author is, you’ve obviously achieved what you needed to achieve in order to become a doctor. You’ll bring all kinds of medical knowledge to the team. The problem is that every other applicant has also received his or her doctoral degree and also brings medical knowledge to the table.

The writer knows that and goes beyond medicine when talking about his strengths and what he has to offer. He talks about being a teacher and helping with the Special Olympics. This shows that he already has experience working with children – both healthy children and children with special needs.

He brings up being an elected class officer to show he has leadership potential and that he’s well-liked and well-respected by others (otherwise they wouldn’t have elected him). Only after listing all those extra strengths does he bring up med school. This is a very impressive list of accomplishments.

Example Personal Statement 3

“Every finger of the little boy’s hand was adhered to his palm except for the extended third digit. I examined the severe burn injury as the plastic surgery attending discussed how we were going to fix the damage. Several contracture releases, K-wires, and skin grafts later, I excitedly realized he would eventually regain function of his little hand. I didn’t know what I wanted to be at the start of my third year, but after patients and cases like this one, I was energized by learning what I found in no other rotation. […] I have found my place in medicine.”

While this personal statement is well-written grammatically, it breaks rule number five on the “Don’t List.”  Don’t be overly dramatic.  This is supposed to be his personal statement, not the opening scene to  The Resident  on Fox. The writer wastes an entire paragraph – his entire introduction – on a dramatic scene that ends with one single sentence telling us this is why he wants to work as a plastic surgeon.

First of all, an introduction should be more well-rounded and introduce the reader more fully to who you are. It shouldn’t set a scene that thousands of other prospective residents have told some version of already.

Secondly, one has to hope that one single child’s broken hand is not the sole basis for this person’s decision to become a plastic surgeon. I want a doctor who has thought carefully about his/her chosen profession and decided to pursue medicine because of numerous different reasons, not just because he saw a child’s hand being fixed once.

While these types of stories may seem like an easy, interesting way to catch the reader’s attention quickly, they’re best avoided. Trust us when we say that the person reading your personal statement has read  countless  other “war stories” about prospective residents’ experiences in ERs and other situations. As amazing as your story may seem to you, it isn’t likely to impress them.

Example Personal Statement 4

“Then disaster struck. I applied to Medical School and I didn’t get in. I was heartbroken. It never occurred to me that I might not get accepted. I felt completely lost. The only dream I ever had, the one that I had spent so many hours working on, was now dead. A part of me just died. It was one of the few times I ever cried. I know [sic] had to live with a void that could never filled [sic].

Looking back, not getting accepted to Medical School in 1985 was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. It fueled a desire in me to find something else. Fortunately, I found an area where I have become more financially successful than I deserve. […] Years later, I decided to give Medical School one last try. This time I was accepted. The void began to fill. I would like the opportunity to learn more and complete the process.”

This is absolutely, 100% what you should  not  do in your personal statements. If you visit the original statement, you’ll see we only removed about two total lines from this personal statement. That means it was about ten lines long altogether, which translates to about 1,200 characters.

That is  much  too short for a personal statement. You don’t want to use the entire 28,000 characters, but you don’t want to write something less than a page long either. There’s almost no usable information here.

The writer doesn’t mention what specialty she’s hoping to pursue, nor does she mention a single strength that would make her a good candidate for the position. Beyond not mentioning any strengths, though, she highlights her failures!

If there’s something negative on your transcripts or application, it’s fine to touch on it and give a brief explanation for it and how you corrected it, but it certainly shouldn’t make up the bulk of your personal statement.

This one is just bad from beginning to end.

Example Personal Statement 5

“While medical school can teach a student the science behind medicine, I truly believe it’s a doctor’s personality and character that ultimately determines his or her success with patients. One of my greatest qualities […] is my ability to quickly connect with people. At an orientation lecture […] a speaker discussed how […] anesthesiologists are among the best at making great first impressions. […] Patients always seem to fear going to sleep more than [surgery]. Yet, an anesthesiologist may have but just a few moments […] to instill confidence in their patients. […] Since that orientation, I’ve prided myself on mastering how quickly I can earn a patient’s trust. Enjoying the challenge of making a great first impression in the shortest amount of time is among the most important reasons that have guided me into the specialty of anesthesiology.”

Let’s end on a strong note. This is another exceptional example of what your personal statements should look like. This writer has a good grasp of number three on the “Don’t List.”  Don’t waste a lot of time talking about why you want to be a doctor.  

The writer touches on med school by saying, “ While medical school can teach a student the science behind medicine. ” Then she immediately goes beyond school into the real world.

In doing so, she also showcases a very important characteristic she’s developed – putting people at ease – and tells us the specialization she’s chosen. She also explains why her ability to put people at ease is so important for her chosen specialization.

She ends by saying that this skill was challenging for her, but the way it’s written shows that she was not only up for the challenge but legitimately  loved  it.

This whole statement is well-written, well-organized, and covers all the important aspects of what the residency selection committee wants to know about a person.

In Conclusion

The most important things to remember when writing your residency personal statement are, to be honest, authentic, specific, and grammatically correct. You’ve already earned your degree; that alone shows the selection committee that you have what it takes to be a doctor because you already are one.

You just have to show that you have a passion for medicine and that you’ll bring something unique and important to their team. If you can do those things, you should be well on your way to the interview process.

Related Readings:

The Best Laptop for Medical School Guide Here

5 Best MCAT Prep Books, According to Med Students

5 Best MCAT Prep Courses, According to Med Students

The Ultimate Medical School Personal Statement Guide: (w/ Common Prompts & Examples Analyzed by Our Admissions Experts)

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Should You Address Low USMLE Scores in the Personal Statement?

Your Residency Personal Statement is a crucial component of your application package. In just one page, you need to communicate several important ideas. Of course, you’ll want to write about why you chose the specialty you’re applying to and why your experiences and strengths are aligned with the field. You will also want to stand out as a unique applicant who has something to offer the program. But what about less impressive aspects of your background? Many residency candidates wonder if they should address low USMLE Scores in the Personal Statement. Read below for our advice.

Addressing Low USMLE Scores in the Personal Statement

When it comes to writing about low USMLE Scores in the Personal Statement, you’ll want to consider a few factors. First, are your scores actually considered low for the specialty you’re applying to? Review average scores for Matched IMGs in the 18 most IMG-friendly specialties here . Just because you didn’t earn the score you’d hoped for doesn’t mean your score isn’t competitive. Next, think about the reason your scores were low. If there were extenuating circumstances in your life when you took the exam, it makes sense to explain them in your Personal Statement. If, however, the reason for low scores was failure to adequately prepare, rushing to take the exam, or another reason that, while true, does not reflect positively on you, addressing this topic in the Personal Statement might not be a great idea.

“Leaving something to the imagination” isn’t always a good thing! Taking the time to explain why you did not earn the score you hoped to on your USMLE exams can prove beneficial. Doing so gives readers insight into the circumstances that played a role in your exam score(s). Not offering any type of explanation could leave your readers wondering if your score matters to you. Or, they could come to the conclusion that you don’t want to acknowledge the score.

If you do address low USMLE scores in the Personal Statement, make sure not to go overboard. A few sentences are enough to offer your explanation. Your PS should focus on your strengths and experiences!

If your scores were significantly below a program’s typical ranges and they are reading your Personal Statement, it means your readers were likely impressed with other aspects of your application and aren’t looking to read about your scores. If you spend time explaining this topic, you’re losing valuable space to write about what readers really want to know: why you are an awesome candidate!

For more tips on writing a great Personal Statement, check out our blog Creating a Well Crafted Medical Residency Personal Statement . If you need assistance with your Personal Statement, visit Residency Statement . Our expert editors and writers are dedicated to helping you craft the perfect Personal Statement!

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• Crafting a Cohesive Application: Aligning Your Personal Statement with LORs

Interview Prep: Anticipating Questions Based on Your Personal Statement

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Reviewing psychiatry residency personal statement examples is a great way to get inspired when you are starting to prepare for residency applications . Personal statements for a psychiatry residency can be challenging to draft. Not only do we typically find it difficult to talk about ourselves, but in a residency personal statement, you need to find a perfect balance between highlighting your strengths and not sounding overconfident.

 In this blog, we share five psychiatry residency personal statement examples and five expert tips for writing a stronger personal statement to help you improve your chances of matching to your dream psychiatry program. If you need more guidance, reach out to residency application help services!

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

Article Contents 16 min read

Psychiatry residency personal statement example #1 .

I didn’t know that I wanted to be a psychiatrist until I started seeing a psychiatrist myself. It wasn't one because I saw them doing something and immediately wanted to do the same thing for a living. Rather, they helped me learn to be more introspective, which helped me figure out what kind of doctor I wanted to be. 

I come from a small family of overachievers who rarely stop and smell the roses. My mother is a social worker with 2 PhDs, my father owns a physiotherapy clinic, and my older brother was a professional athlete. Growing up around these hard-working people meant that I had no choice but to pick up the same habit. For as long as I can remember, every member of my family has always been busy. As a result, I always had to find a way to stay busy too. That's how I learned how to play three musical instruments, compete in two different sports, and lead a debate team while keeping up with my AP classes. 

Despite this, my family was close-knit. We always spent holidays together, and once a week, we volunteered at a local homeless shelter. I would watch my dad talk to people and provide them with supplies or tips that they would then come back and tell him had worked wonders for their back pains. I would also watch my mother put a smile and hope in people's eyes with a short conversation. I knew that I wanted to do what they did. Help people in the same way, but I wasn't sure which career path would be best for me.

Everything changed when I was 19, and I lost my brother to an illness that too many people are secretly battling: depression. My brother committed suicide at the age of 28, we later discovered that he had been depressed for some time. I didn't know how to deal with my anger and grief, so I buried myself in work. As you can imagine, that didn't work for long, and I needed to speak with someone who could give me better coping mechanisms. 

My psychiatrist helped me develop healthier work habits and coping mechanisms. He taught me how to be more psychologically minded and helped me realize that psychiatry combines the two aspects of my parents' professions that I love. As a psychiatrist, you get to use psychotherapy to help people in various ways and you also need to have a solid understanding of the human body and psychopharmaceuticals. 

I was completing my undergraduate at the time, but my interest had been piqued. I started to volunteer in the psychiatric ward at the hospital, and not only did I learn a lot about treating the mentally ill with respect and ensuring that they have autonomy, but it solidified my desire to become a psychiatrist. 

When I got to medical school, my interest grew. I would read the psychiatry textbooks in my spare time, diligently take notes, and excel at every exam. My curious nature would lead me to ask more questions in class. A conversation with one of my professors, Dr. John Doe, even inspired a research project on how depressive symptoms manifest differently in people of color, complicating the diagnosis process. We are currently working on the research project together, and hope to publish our findings soon. 

During my clerkship, a young woman came into the emergency room complaining of shortness of breath. She claimed that she had asthma and we decided to run some tests. I was tasked with monitoring the patient and we started talking. As she opened up to me about her struggles with Asthma, I began suspecting that she was describing a panic attack instead. I brought it up to my resident and attending who then followed up with some additional tests.

As it turns out, the patient had been having panic attacks for most of her teenagers and was not asthmatic at all. The attending sat with her for almost two hours, explaining precisely what a panic attack is, what she can do when she has one, and how therapy can help her identify her triggers and deal with them. 

I remember admiring the attending's patience and professionalism. Beyond that, I remember thinking about all the different ways in which our mental health affects our physical health and how we are just starting to understand those ways.

I hope to join the efforts of those who are helping the people who are already battling mental illness, those supporting the people who are suffering from it but don't know it, and those who are researching to help us understand more about brain chemistry and how our minds work. 

I believe that my sense of curiosity, work ethic, passion for the field, and psychological mindedness will make me a good psychiatrist. Now, I hope that I get a chance to train and learn from some of the best psychiatrists in the county so that one day, I, too, can help someone overcome difficulties and maybe even inspire another young woman to follow in my footsteps. 

"Your work is to discover your work and then with all your heart to give yourself to it." My high school counselor wrote this quote by Buddha on our whiteboard during my senior year and told us that, lucky for us, she was there to help us with the first part of our work. I remember rolling my eyes and thinking that I didn't need all that because I knew exactly what I wanted to be. I was going to be a neurosurgeon. 

I knew I wanted to be a neurosurgeon since I watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy in which Dr. Sheperd had to figure out how to remove a tumor from someone's spine without paralyzing them. Of course, I now know that although very entertaining, Grey's Anatomy does not have a very accurate portrayal of surgery or medicine. But I remember thinking that it must be amazing to spend your days working on such complicated cases, thinking outside the box to come up with creative solutions to problems that were endangering people's lives.  

I've always loved a good puzzle. It is the reason I enjoy things like sudoku, and all my favorite books revolve around solving mysteries. I simply enjoy that eureka moment, and as silly as it feels now, in high school, I was convinced that neurosurgeons got the best eureka moments. 

My mind first started changing during a conversation with that same high school counselor who informed me that I would make a great psychologist or psychiatrist after asking me a few questions. I was baffled! I asked her why she thought so, and she told me that those fields seemed to align with everything I was telling her I wanted from my future career. Even though I didn’t believe her, I couldn’t help but look into it.

I knew that I wanted to become a doctor because I'd always been fascinated by how the human body, particularly the human brain, works. So, I was more interested in psychiatry than psychology. After doing some research on the internet, I reached out to a psychiatrist in my community and asked to shadow them for a few weeks. As I observed the doctor and later on worked with patients as a volunteer at the XYZ clinic in college, I began to place more value on other aspects of medical care. Specifically, patient interaction. 

I remember one instance where the doctors were having difficulty with a patient. She was 16 years old, seemingly in good health, but she repeatedly showed up at the clinic complaining of migraines, asking for pain medication, and refusing to get examined properly. After a few visits, she was referred to the hospital for further testing, but she never went and simply kept coming back to ask for pain medication. Most of the doctors and staff had pegged her as an addict, but Dr. Diallo instructed me to talk to her and get her information. I took some extra time to talk to her every time she came in, usually documenting her symptoms, and making a bit of small talk. On what must've been the patient's fifth or sixth visit to the clinic that month, she finally opened up to me and explained that she wears glasses, but they are broken, and her family doesn't have the money to fix them or take her to an ophthalmologist. Once we knew what the issue was, we were able to help her get a new pair of glasses.

That was one of many interactions that helped me realize that talking to patients, especially listening to them, is one of the most important aspects of medicine. I wanted to choose a specialty that would allow me to spend time with patients, have that connection and help them with the root issues instead of just managing their symptoms. 

It only took a few days on the psychiatry rotation during my clerkship to realize that it was the only specialty that would allow me to solve problems, find creative ways to help my patients, and interact with them constantly. So, as it turns out, my high school counselor, Mrs. Bloom, was not wrong after all.

Now that I have discovered my work, I am ready to give myself to it with all my heart. 

Use our residency match calculator to assess your match chances and find out if you are a competitive applicant for your chosen specialty. ","label":"Tip:","title":"Tip:"}]" code="tab1" template="BlogArticle">

Psychiatry residency personal statement example #3

Growing up, I seemed to be on the path to success. I was an honor roll student, in the top 10% of my class, an elected student body member, and I was representing my school on the varsity soccer team. I already knew that I wanted to become a doctor, and there was no stopping me. 

However, I was under the false impression that the road to medical school would be easy. What I now realize is that I was accomplishing a lot without much conscious effort on my part. I was raised by parents who believed that hard work, academic excellence, and the pursuit of knowledge were always paramount. If my brother or I came home with a grade below A, my parents would act as if we had failed the assignment or exam. So, getting good grades became almost automatic to me.

I achieved great academic success, but I wasn't actively seeking knowledge or learning the true meaning of hard work at that stage in my life. I never really set any goals and worked towards them. I simply did what I felt would be just enough to make my parents happy.

I was never genuinely challenged until we relocated back to my parent's home country, Ghana, for a few years. While we had visited the country several times in the past, living there and going to school was a completely different experience. For the first time in my life, my performance was less than stellar, and I struggled to find my footing. Doing the bare minimum was no longer enough. It was when I found myself pulling all-nighters just to meet the graduation requirements that I knew that something had to change. 

I eventually realized that the problem was that the amount of effort I was putting in had not changed, despite the more difficult coursework I had to deal with. So, when my parents came back to the US, I took a different path. I'd found a premedical school in ThatTown Barbados that offered a four-year curriculum specifically for premeds. So, I packed up my bags and flew halfway across the world, anxious but eager. I wanted to prove to myself that I could rise to the occasion. I was finally setting my own goals, coming up with plans to reach those goals, and putting in the work. 

The dynamic between the mind and brain was always a topic of conversation around the dinner table in our house while I was growing up. My father is a psychologist, and my mother is a neuropathologist, and as much as they tried not to bring their work home to us, it always found its way into our conversations. I am not sure if their discussions led to my fascination with the human mind or if I asked them so many questions about it because I was already interested in the subject, but I was hooked either way. 

Even though I was a premedical student, no one was surprised when I decided to major in psychology instead of one of the natural sciences in college. I wanted to understand the mind and behavior better and hopefully get some answers to many of the questions that constantly plagued me. I wanted to know why two brains can have such completely different reactions in the face of the same external circumstances. I wanted to understand how and why our internal states transform our outer experiences. 

My degree in psychology was starting to shed some light on the complexity of the human mind. I was learning about the psychopathologies of mental illness and the anatomical and biological basis of psychiatric disorders. The more answers I got, the more questions I seemed to have. My curiosity and affinity for my mother often led me to her lab. We would discuss what I was learning in school as I watched her dissect neurological tissue under a microscope. During one of those many conversations, she reminded me how little we actually know about the brain and the mind and how we have so few resources available to help those struggling with mental illness. 

At the time, I was getting close to finishing my degree, and I had been working for a research facility conducting a clinical trial for a new anxiety medication. My mother's comment stuck with me, and it made me think about some of the experiences that the participants of the trial had been sharing with me. I remember one particular young woman in the trial who had explained to me that she did not know that she had anxiety. She always thought that everyone had headaches, stomach pain, and insomnia when they were stressed. 

When I finally got to medical school, it was with the full intention of becoming a psychiatrist. My years of learning about psychology and working with patients who had been suffering in silence for so long had convinced me that I was on the right path. I believe that as psychiatrists, we have the ability to improve people's quality of life by not only helping them mentally but also alleviating physical pain. 

During my internal medicine rotation in medical school, I was able to help a patient who came in presenting with intractable nausea and vomiting. She was about sixteen years old, and her medical workup was normal; she was admitted for observation because, although we couldn't find a cause, she had already thrown up twice in the space of two hours while being in the hospital. I spent some time speaking with her. She was timid at first, but she eventually opened to me and talked to me about a pretty difficult home situation that she was dealing with. My instincts told me that her problem might be more emotional than physical, so I discussed it with my resident. I was thrilled when I visited her a few days later on the psychiatric floor and found that she had finished all her food and had not thrown up once. 

Psychiatry allows me to continue learning about the mind and the brain while helping alleviate others' suffering, and that is why it is the perfect specialty for me. I believe that I am a good fit for it because I am not only passionate about it, but I am curious, compassionate, and very willing to learn. I am confident that with training, I can become a great psychiatrist. 

When they called my name on the day of my kindergarten graduation, I jumped out of my chair, ran to the microphone, and proudly proclaimed: "I am going to fix mummy's brain." I had a big smile on my face that slowly disappeared as no one clapped for me the way they had done when my classmates said what they were going to be in the future. It took a few very long seconds, but eventually, my mother started clapping slowly, and a few other people joined in. 

I am not sure what I felt at that moment because I do not remember any of it, but whenever I watch that video, I want to cry in shame and clap for myself a little. I like knowing that I always knew what I wanted to do, but I wish I had known better than to say something like that on a stage in front of my entire neighborhood. My mother's battle with mental illness was not a secret, though. One of my earliest memories is of her being carried away by men in scrubs, kicking, and screaming while my older sister tried to distract me with a doll. She was a paranoid schizophrenic, and I watched her fight her mind for over twenty years before she decided to take her life. 

My mother is the reason I first got curious about the brain and mental illness. As a child, I didn't understand it very well, but she repeatedly told me that she was just a little sick in the brain but that the doctors would fix it. As a teenager, I understood it a little better, and I spent a lot of time researching what it meant to be a schizophrenic. I remember being both fascinated and angry at the complex ways in which our own minds can cause us harm. As an adult in college, I understood that my mother was not the only person struggling with this illness and that many others are also struggling in ways that are very different but also very similar to hers, and I wanted to help. 

Growing up, my sister always made sure that I understood how to treat my mother with respect and dignity, even when she was going through a difficult episode. I spent most of my high school years volunteering in a psychiatric care facility, and I learned similar values there too. One of the doctors I worked with often complimented me on talking to the residents and making them a part of every decision instead of just telling them what to do like many other volunteers assumed they were supposed to do. 

I believe that my years caring for my mom and the residents of the XYZ facility helped me understand that the stigma surrounding mental illness often invites alienation, judgment, and other forms of gross misconduct. To be a good psychiatrist, you need to be more than just competent and knowledgeable in the discipline, but also empathetic and understanding of patients' daily struggles with their illness and society. 

By the time my mother passed away, I was in medical school, and my desire to help her had grown into a love for the field of psychiatry. I especially like the fact that even though we do not fully understand all mental illnesses yet, and we don't have a cure for many of them - we are able to provide some patients with the tools they need to live full, healthy lives using both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies. 

I believe that my compassion, discipline, and passion for the field will allow me to strive in your residency program and eventually join the efforts of the many other psychiatrists who were able to help people like my mom live as long as she did. 

5 tips for writing a compelling psychiatry residency personal statement

Keep in mind that your residency personal statement is one of many application components, so you should use it to provide the residency program directors with additional information about you. For example, you should avoid rehashing the experiences that are listed on your  residency CV . They already have that document as well as your  ERAS experience section . Instead, talk about what you learned from those experiences and how they helped you prepare for psychiatry residency.  "}]">

While psychiatry programs are not among the most competitive residency specialties, they are becoming increasingly popular, so it is best to have a strong, compelling application if you want to match to a good program. 

Quite important. Your personal statement is your chance to tell the residency directors why you’ve decided to pursue your specialty and why you would be good at it in your own words. It also gives them a chance to evaluate your communication skills. So, make sure you take the time to write a strong and detailed personal statement. 

Unless otherwise stated, your residency personal statement should have between 650 to 850 words. 

We recommend giving yourself at least six weeks to work on your statement. That is long enough for you to brainstorm, write, edit and polish your residency personal statement. 

After reading your statement, the residency program director should be convinced that you are not only interested in the psychiatry residency program, but that you are the right candidate for it. So, talk about why you are interested in the specialty, and what qualities make you a good fit for it

Not many International Medical Graduates match psychiatry programs, but do not let that discourage you. If your application is compelling enough, and you’ve managed to get electives and clinical experience as an IMG in the US and Canada , then you can get into a psychiatry residency program. 

You can make your statement stand out by using specific examples to back up any claims you make about yourself, starting it with something catchy like a quote or an anecdote, and letting your personality shine through. Make sure you plan ahead before you start writing and seek help when you need it

Absolutely! Consider working with residency match services or signing up for an application review service for additional help with your residency personal statement. 

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Watch: Trump Basically Admits He Tried to Overthrow the 2020 Election

Donald trump insisted he had “every right” to interfere with the election results..

Donald Trump is claiming he had “every right” to interfere in the 2020 election.

During an interview Sunday on Fox News’s Life, Liberty & Levin , Trump seemingly defended his right to illegally interfere with the 2020 election—while also claiming he did not do it, when asked about the Justice Department’s plans to “keep smearing” him.

“It’s so crazy that my poll numbers go up. Who ever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election—where you have every right to do it—you get indicted, and your poll numbers go up?” Trump said . “When people get indicted, your poll numbers go down!”

Trump: Who ever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it. pic.twitter.com/EneMFJg7kD — Acyn (@Acyn) September 2, 2024

Trump is facing charges in Washington, D.C., for alleged election interference, as well as a separate slate of charges in Georgia for election interference.

Last week, special counsel Jack Smith filed a superseding indictment against Trump in his federal election interference case. While the indictment did not drop any of the four original charges against Trump, it did remove some of the specific allegations and emphasize how Trump’s actions fell outside of the bounds of “official conduct,” in an effort to adhere to the Supreme Court’s new definition of presidential immunity.

Trump responded by going on a disturbing social media rant about how he plans to jail and even kill his enemies.

Harris Refuses to Change Course on Israel in Alarming First Interview

Kamala harris made some egregious comments on israel’s war on gaza during her cnn interview..

Kamala Harris made her Middle East policy abundantly clear during her first big media interview on Thursday: America will continue to arm Israel, unconditionally.

In the much-hyped interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, and Tim Walz by her side, Harris was asked how she’d differentiate her stance on Israel from President Joe Biden’s.

“Would you do anything differently, for example, would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel? That’s what a lot of people on the progressive left want you to do,” asked Bash.

“Let me be very clear. I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not going to change,” replied Harris. “As I said then [on October 7], I say today Israel has a right to defend itself … and how it does so matters.”

Harris went on to clarify that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed” by Israel, but still refused to commit to changing U.S. policy on Israel.

HORRIFIC. It's extremely clear that Kamala Harris would do the same as what Biden is doing on Gaza: "Would you do anything differently? For example, would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel?" Kamala Harris: "I'm unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to… pic.twitter.com/EQ0gV6vcFP — HalalFlow (@halalflow) August 30, 2024

Harris emphasized the need for a cease-fire agreement saying “we have to get it a deal done,” mentioning the Biden administration’s presence this week at negotiations in Qatar . At talks in Doha, the potential deal included a limited six-week cease-fire, prisoner release, and aid into Gaza in exchange for 33 living hostages returned to Israel. However, Hamas has not participated directly in the talks because they say the negotiations “provide cover for Israel to continue its war”—and Israel left the talks on Thursday with no final agreement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu said he believes Israel must keep military pressure to force a deal.

Harris has previously told Netanyahu, “ It is time for this war to end ,” but the Israeli prime minister has refused to accept anything but a “partial” cease-fire deal , like the one that was being negotiated in Doha.

As Bash pointed out, many Americans are looking at Harris and Biden to cease arms sales to Israel. A June CBS poll found that 61 percent of Americans oppose weapons aid to Israel, including 77 percent of Democrats and 62 percent of independents. Moreover, 77 percent of those under 30 oppose arming Israel in its continued assault on Gaza. Another YouGov/IMEU Policy Project poll this month found that voters in swing states are more likely to vote for a nominee who vows to withhold weapons.

CNN’s Bash continued by zeroing in on this issue, pressing the vice president in terms of how this deal would get done. “But no change in policy, in terms of arms and so forth?”

“No, we have to get a deal done,” Harris replied, shooting down the possibility of an arms embargo. “I remain committed, since I’ve been on October 8, to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution—where Israel is secure and in equal measure, the Palestinians have security and self determination and dignity.”

In Delicious Twist, Rudy Giuliani Is at Risk of Losing All His Assets

The defamed georgia poll workers who successfully sued rudy giuliani once are suing him again..

Former New York City mayor turned Trump fixer Rudy Giuliani may soon lose control of all his assets for his involvement in defaming two Georgia poll workers in 2020.

The defamed election workers, mother-daughter duo Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, successfully sued Giuliani last year—and asked a federal court Friday to hand over control of his assets to fulfill the judgment.

In a court filing, the pair accused Giuliani of having “spent years evading accountability for his actions” with extemporaneous litigation and unproductive bankruptcy filings.

“Now that Mr. Giuliani’s bankruptcy case has been dismissed, Plaintiffs are finally in a position to receive a measure of compensation by enforcing their judgment,” attorneys for Freeman and Moss wrote. “In this motion, Plaintiffs seek two remedies to which they are entitled under New York law: an order requiring Mr. Giuliani to turn over personal property in his possession in satisfaction of the judgment, and an order appointing Plaintiffs as receivers with the power to take possession of, and sell, both real and personal property that Mr. Giuliani does not turn over.”

Giuliani was ordered to pay nearly $150 million in damages in December to Freeman and Moss. Since then, the former Trump attorney unsuccessfully filed for bankruptcy, lost his accountant over his insurmountable debts, begged Trump for help settling his seven-figure legal fees (he refused), had his WABC radio show canceled for spewing 2020 election lies, and miserably started his own coffee brand , “Rudy Coffee,” in an effort to funnel in some extra cash.

But running out of funds didn’t hamper Giuliani’s prolific spending habits. In May, unsecured creditors for the disbarred attorney slammed Giuliani’s “extravagant lifestyle” as “gross mismanagement,” and torched him for having “accomplished almost nothing” in his bankruptcy case. That resulted in a New York judge throwing out the bankruptcy case in July, calling the former city mayor a “ recalcitrant debtor .”

Giuliani is also under the gun for a lawsuit from his former legal representation, who accused him of failing to pay his bill and allegedly only dishing out $214,000 of nearly $1.6 million in legal expenses. Giuliani, meanwhile, claimed he was stiffed by his favorite client, Trump, to the tune of millions of dollars. Amazingly, Giuliani’s legal troubles don’t end there, either: The MAGA henchman is also one of 19 co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case and was named in April in an Arizona indictment charging another slew of Republican officials and Trump allies for their alleged involvement in a scheme to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results.

After this story was published, Giuliani’s spokesperson reached out to The New Republic to decry the news.

“This lawsuit has always been designed to censor and bully the mayor, and to deter others from exercising their right to speak up and to speak out,” spokesman Ted Goodman said in a statement. “America is facing an existential crisis. We were once a country that put a premium on free speech and the integrity of our justice system, yet we now live in a time where the justice system has been weaponized against Mayor Giuliani and so many others for strictly partisan political purposes.”

This story has been updated.

Watch: Trump Struggles to Keep Track of His Thoughts in Weirdest Rant

Donald trump is becoming totally incoherent..

Donald Trump was absolutely incomprehensible at his campaign rally in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday.

While starting off talking about how Kamala Harris “destroyed the city of San Francisco,” Trump’s rant quickly devolved into him ranking which presidents were most “horribly treated.”

Of course, Trump considers himself the most persecuted, with Andrew Jackson following close behind.

“Andrew Jackson they say was the worst of all, that he was treated worse than any other president,” Trump rambled. “And I said, ‘Do that study again,’ because I think there’s nobody close to Trump,” he continued, speaking in the third person. “I even got shot! And who the hell knows where that came from.” Abraham Lincoln, whom he mentioned lower down in his ranking, also famously was shot.

Absolute incoherence, can’t keep track of a thought from one second to the next, bubbling over with whiny rage. Where are the headlines? pic.twitter.com/6OHe4s85zp — Jesse Lee (@JesseCharlesLee) August 29, 2024

But perhaps Trump’s tangent about the presidents was the most coherent part of his speech in Michigan, which was supposed to be about the economy. He struggled to find what he wanted to say after claiming California was “destroyed.”

“I own a big building there—it’s no—I shouldn’t talk about this—but that’s okay I don’t give a damn because this is what I’m doing. I should say it’s the finest city in the world—sell and get the hell out of there, right? But I can’t do that, I don’t care. I lost billions, billions of dollars.”

And yet Trump’s team says Kamala Harris doesn’t make any sense …

Watch: J.D. Vance Flails When Grilled on Trump’s Surprise IVF Proposal

J.d. vance is scrambling to justify how trump’s new proposal on ivf fits with their previous stance on “religious liberty.”.

Even Donald Trump’s number two can’t seem to make heads or tails of his recent comments on in vitro fertilization.

Speaking with CNN on Friday, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance couldn’t cook up a reasonable explanation of the Republican presidential nominee’s sudden flip-flop on IVF access, which included saying that “right from the beginning” he was “always for IVF” and suggesting that government funding or insurance companies should cover the procedure.

“How would this work if a state—and you believe that states should have the right to make these decisions—if a state bans IVF, but Donald Trump says he wants to guarantee and/or pay for IVF for everyone who wants it, how would that work?” asked CNN’s John Berman.

“I think it’s such a ridiculous hypothetical,” Vance started. “Alabama, which is maybe the most conservative state in the entire union, has actively protected fertility access and fertility treatments. There’s no state in the union, whether a right-wing state or a left-wing state that I think is trying to ban access to fertility treatments.”

That is, however, not true. Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court issued a devastating decision that classified single-celled, fertilized eggs as children, effectively stalling IVF access across the state. In a desperate bid to salvage votes, Alabama Republicans then passed a law to shield IVF providers from lawsuits or criminal charges relating to the death of embryos. Even still, legal experts have warned that while the new law helps clinics, there’s a long way to go in actually protecting fertility treatments for patients.

At the national level, Senate Republicans—including Vance— near-unanimously voted against a bill in June that would have enshrined IVF access across the country.

“You also voted against a measure that would have guaranteed access to IVF around the country, so it’s possible, right?” asked Berman, pointing to potential future restrictions on the family development procedure.

“Well, no, two things John: First of all, yes, a court made that decision in Alabama and like the next second, the Alabama state legislature fixed that problem and ensured women had access to these fertility treatments,” Vance said. “And all that I voted on, John, was for religious liberty.”

“I don’t want Christian hospitals or Christian charities to be forced to do something that they don’t want to do,” Vance continued. “We have multiple Republican measures that support fertility treatments, support IVF, but don’t require Christian hospitals or other religious organizations to violate their conscience.”

Trump has worked to soften his anti-choice position in recent weeks and appeal to women’s rights activists in an effort to draw more voters to his campaign—but his renewed rhetoric won’t change the practical effects of his presidency, not least of all instilling a hyper-conservative Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade , which Trump has proudly taken credit for. In 2023, the former president also claimed that he should be celebrated for every single state abortion ban.

BERMAN: How would this work if a state bans IVF, but Trump says he wants to pay for IVF for everyone who wants it, how would that work? JD VANCE: I think it's such a ridiculous hypothetical B: You voted against guaranteeing access to IVF VANCE: I voted for religious liberty pic.twitter.com/sU6ARpmBmw — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 30, 2024

Cognitive Decline? Trump Goes on Weird Rant About Bacon and Wind Power

Donald trump is losing it, folks..

Donald Trump seems to believe that the price of bacon is caused by the blowing of the wind.

At a campaign town hall in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on Thursday, the 78-year-old presidential candidate rambled incoherently about wind power while answering a question about inflation.

An attendee asked Trump his plan “to make life more affordable and bring down inflation,” in what should have been a softball question for the Republican candidate.

“Some people don’t eat bacon anymore,” Trump replied. “We are going to get the energy prices down,” he continued, jumping from topic to topic. 

Trump: Some people don't eat bacon anymore. This was caused by their horrible energy. Wind. They want wind all over the place. When it doesn't blow, we have a problem. pic.twitter.com/z9FnkHnYOU — Acyn (@Acyn) August 30, 2024

“This was caused by their horrible energy. Wind. They want wind all over the place. But when it doesn’t blow, we have a little problem.”

In the most charitable read, it seems like Trump was trying to complain about food price inflation, which has slowed after hitting a high in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But jumping right into complaining about wind energy decimates any point he was trying to make. Additionally, if Trump is trying to blame wind power for rising energy costs, he’s dead wrong .

This is not the first time Trump has complained about wind energy. Previously, the former president has said he “ never understood wind ,” claimed wind farms are driving whales “batty,” and told oil and gas executives that he hates wind . The more he babbles, the more it’s clear he has no idea what he’s talking about.

Trump Team Desperately Tries to Rewind His Shocking Abortion Comment

Donald trump has upset some of his biggest fans with his latest comment on abortion—and his campaign wants to make the whole thing go away..

Donald Trump and his campaign are suddenly at odds on the issue of abortion.

Speaking with NBC News , the Republican presidential nominee shared that he intended to vote in favor of abortion rights when it comes up on the ballot in Florida, believing that a “six-week [ban] is too short.”

“I’m going to be voting that we need more than six weeks,” Trump told NBC on Thursday.

He also elaborated that he believed there should be exceptions in abortion restrictions in instances of rape or incest, and that medical intervention should be allowed to maintain the life of the person pregnant.

But that wasn’t what his campaign had expected him to say. In a statement to NPR , Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt left the political decision ajar, insisting that “President Trump has not yet said how he will vote on the ballot initiative in Florida, he simply reiterated that he believes six weeks is too short.”

Florida’s abortion ban , which went into effect in May, is one of the most extreme in the nation. The new law prohibits abortion well before a lot of people even realize they’re pregnant, and just one week before drug store pregnancy tests can detect pregnancy hormones in their earliest, and least reliable, window. The restriction has forced patients in need of the procedure to seek treatment in North Carolina, where abortion is banned after 12 weeks, or even further.

Prior to the ban, Florida allowed abortion up to 15 weeks, making it a haven for people seeking the medical procedure in the South. The six-week ban passed alongside similarly restrictive bans in neighboring states, meaning that abortion access throughout the entire region has been crippled.

Backlash to Florida’s new law has been extreme, with more than a million Floridians signing a petition to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. The effort has placed abortion rights on the ballot in November. That initiative, known as Amendment Four, would protect abortion until “fetal viability” at approximately 24 weeks. Still, a possible win in the second half of the year will come “on the backs” of people who have had to suffer in the interim, giving birth “when they didn’t want to,” executive director of the Chicago Abortion Fund Megan Jeyifo told NPR shortly after the ban was enacted.

“I was able to kill Roe v. Wade , much to the ‘shock’ of everyone,” Trump posted on Truth Social last year, “and for the first time put the Pro Life movement in a strong negotiating position.… Without me there would be no 6 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks, or whatever is finally agreed to.”

Trump Botches IVF Policy Roll Out With Extremely Weird Speech

Donald trump spent an entire speech purportedly about the economy jumping between random topics..

Donald Trump seemed well and truly out of it during a chaotic, self-aggrandizing speech in Potterville, Michigan, on Thursday. 

Trump spoke at a private messaging event at Alro Steel, where he was meant to speak about the economy—but flanked onstage by a few dozen workers dressed in hard hats and neon vests, he barely mentioned the economy at all. 

Having walked onstage more than half an hour late, Trump appeared shaken, and incoherently skipped through different talking points, repeatedly diverting to heap compliments on himself. 

“We will bring back the American Dream, bigger, better, stronger, and just better, bigger, better, we love the American Dream,” Trump said in his opening remarks, appearing to immediately lose track of what he was saying. “You don’t hear about the American Dream. When was the last time you heard about the American Dream?”

Trump: We will bring back the American dream better, stronger and just better, bigger, better. They don't talk about it. They copy every thing else I do so I guess that'll be next. They'll be copying saying the American dream. pic.twitter.com/d4Z1JHiEAw — Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024

Trump immediately began attacking his opponent, Kamala Harris. “The only good thing that she’s uh—flip-flopping,” Trump said , stammering. “She’s the greatest flip-flopper—things that she’s never even thought of. She probably goes back to her room and gets sick to her stomach when she says what she has to say.”

Trump: The only good thing she’s done— flip flopping. She’s the greatest flip flopper. She never even thought of pic.twitter.com/dhvjAre4at — Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024

Trump also diverted to criticize his former opponent President Joe Biden for “laying on a beach, sleeping all day long” as he vacations in Rhode Island this week. “No seriously, who the hell wants to sleep—and who wants to sleep in public?” Trump said incredulously. “He’s sleeping!”

Trump: Who the hell wants to sleep in public?!??! pic.twitter.com/7LbWSLKghH — Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024

The weak attack is especially weird coming from Trump, who reportedly fell asleep multiple times during his hush-money trial in New York. 

During his rambling speech, Trump debuted a new blatantly false claim about Harris.

“Did you know that she was the leader of Defund the Police?” Trump asked, at one point.

“I said, ‘Why do I have to make a speech?’ All I have to do is say that ‘She was the leader of the Defund the Police movement,’ and then I say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much,’ and then leave, because when you hear that,” Trump said laughing. 

Trump then went from criticizing Harris to complimenting himself. “With me, I make a speech, I speak for two hours, everybody loves it,” Trump said . “I got thousands of people, by the way, outside trying to get in.”

“They never said Trump’s a great speaker, I don’t even want that, but I must be a great speaker right? We got thousands of people!” Trump said. 

Trump: I make a speech, I speak for two hours. Everybody loves it. I got thousands of people, by the way, outside trying to get in. I never— they never said Trump's a great speaker. I don't even want that. But I must be a great speaker, right? pic.twitter.com/HGMDnRCDL6 — Acyn (@Acyn) August 29, 2024

The event was not open to the public, but a crowd of more than 100 people gathered outside. Trump later claimed that there were people “as far as the eye could see” gathered outside of the event.

“But no, I don’t care about that,” Trump said, suddenly serious. “I care about uh, winning for our country. I care about making America great again.”

Brian Pannebecker, swagged out in an Auto Workers for Trump T-shirt and visor, was called on stage at one point to criticize electric vehicle mandates. Pannebecker reportedly once called former President Barack Obama “a race hustler,” and was possibly behind a review praising KKK Grand Wizard David Duke’s memoir. Pannebecker has previously been invited on stage to speak at rallies in Waterford Township, Michigan, in February, and again in Grand Rapids , Michigan, in July.

Back behind the mic, Trump made lengthy remarks about trucks, complained about being the most persecuted American president in history, and whined about Harris’s interview with Dana Bash scheduled to air Thursday evening. Finally, he got to his big announcement—which he had more or less spoiled in a pre-speech interview with NBC. 

Trump announced that under his administration, the government would pay for IVF treatments—or mandate insurance companies to pay, but he didn’t seem clear on which. He also did not acknowledge that his administration’s policies and the Supreme Court justices he appointed are the reason IVF is currently under attack from his own party.

“Because we want more babies, to put it nicely,” Trump said.  

“And for this same reason, we will also allow new parents to deduct major newborn expenses from their taxes. So that parents that have a beautiful baby … will be able … so, we’re pro-family, nobody’s ever said that before,” Trump said, sounding confused.

“I’ve been in favor of IVF right from the beginning,” Trump claimed, after months of waffling on his position ever since fertility treatments became a political liability for Republicans earlier this year. 

“They have ads like I’m against it, it’s just the opposite. By comparison, they’re against it. But I’m totally in favor of it,” Trump said. 

Not dwelling on his major announcement for long, Trump quickly changed subjects to inflation and the so-called “migrant invasion.” Although he mentioned he would soon be concluding, he carried on complaining about several different issues including an altercation Monday, in which Trump’s staffers reportedly shoved an employee at Arlington National Cemetery who was trying to prevent them from illegally filming after a memorial for 13 service members killed during the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Trump’s response was nothing short of extreme. 

“Joe Biden killed their children, by incompetence. Shoulda never happened. Kamala killed their children. Just as though they had a gun in their hand, by gross incompetence,” Trump said, blaming his opponents for their deaths. 

J.D. Vance Is Openly Begging Peter Thiel to Save Trump

J.d. vance is publicly asking his billionaire tech bro mentor for help this election..

J.D. Vance is begging his old friend Peter Thiel to help Donald Trump win the 2024 election.

The co-founder of PayPal and Palantir has helped swing elections in the past, but previously stated that he would sit this one out. However, Vance is trying to capitalize on their long-standing relationship to get Thiel “off the sidelines” and funding the Trump-Vance campaign, according to the Financial Times .

“I’m going to keep on talking to Peter and persuading him that—you know he’s obviously been exhausted by politics a little bit—but he’s going to be really exhausted by politics if we lose and if Kamala Harris is president,” Vance told the FT in an interview published Thursday.

“He is fundamentally a conservative guy, and I think that he needs to get off the sidelines and support the ticket.”

Vance was once Thiel’s pupil in Silicon Valley, and when Vance started his own fund, he was financially supported by the PayPal founder, whom he considered a mentor. When Vance ran for Senate in 2022, Thiel shelled out a record-breaking $15 million to secure his victory. Trump and Vance reportedly initially met through a meeting put together by Thiel himself.

The billionaire venture capitalist and Trump have fallen out in recent years, and Thiel did not financially support Trump in 2020. Last year, Thiel said he wouldn’t give “any money to Republican politicians in 2024,” but left the door open, saying “there’s always a chance I might change my mind.” Many have seen Trump’s pick of Vance as a nod toward Silicon Valley right-wingers like Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk.

In July, after Trump announced his V.P. pick, Thiel hinted that he could be swayed. “I always try to resist getting swept up in excitement,” he told The New York Times . “But in spite of many misgivings I had earlier this year, it makes me more hopeful that a second Trump term will be better than the first.”

Panicking Trump Begs CNN to Bully Harris in Her First Interview

Donald trump is desperate for kamala harris to look bad..

Donald Trump has begun pestering CNN’s Dana Bash to ask hard-hitting questions of Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz during their interview, which airs Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. E.T.

The interview was filmed around 1:45 p.m. according to The New York Times , so Trump started his day early by pushing for Bash to seize the opportunity to speak to Harris and Walz.

“Dana Bash of CNN has a chance at greatness today. If she gave a fair but tough interview of Comrade Kamala Harris, she will expose her as being totally inept and ill suited for the job of President, much as I exposed Crooked Joe Biden during our now famous Debate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “How cool would that be for Dana and CNN???”

“Also, the interview should not have Tampon Tim present to help with the inevitable Kamala stumbles, and under no circumstances should the transcript be allowed to be changed in any way, shape, or form,” Trump wrote, echoing right-wing critics who say Harris should appear alone and will use Walz as a crutch in their first major interview since receiving the Democratic Party’s nomination.

In Trump’s first interview after being nominated at the Republican National Convention in July, Trump and J.D. Vance appeared together in an interview with Fox’s Jesse Waters, who tends to go for sexist comments over hard-hitting questions. During the interview, Trump shyly deferred to Vance when asked whether he thought Joe Biden’s ouster was a “coup.”

“Dana and Jake were fair, but firm, in my CNN Debate with Crooked Joe. This is a chance for Dana Bash to reach REAL stardom, while at the same time doing a great service to our now failing Country,” Trump wrote. “Good luck, Dana, do the right thing!!!”

Bash moderated Trump’s debate against Biden in June. Although he had criticized Bash before the debate, afterward Trump had nothing but good things to say.

Trump’s pleas to Bash come after he went on a rageful social media rant, calling for his enemies to be jailed and even killed .