Residency Application Mailbag: The Personal Statement

It’s been a while since my last Mailbag… but recently I received a few questions about residency applications in general and the personal statement in particular, and it felt like a good opportunity to publicly clean out the old inbox. PERSONAL STATEMENT FAQs: 1:34 - Should I write a creative personal statement? 6:32 - Should I share sensitive personal information in my personal statement? 8:42 - Do I have to include a patient encounter in my personal statement? 12:15 - Should I discuss my USMLE failure in my personal statement? 19:39 - Should I write program-specific personal statements? 22:36 - Is it okay to use a two-page personal statement? 24:16 - How do I make my personal statement better? - MUSIC: “Clutch,” by Nicolas Major.