 All right, so by now you've probably seen my previous video when I partnered with Motivate MD to talk about personal statements for medical school. And if you haven't seen that video, link up here. On today's video, I will be partnering with Motivate MD, yet again to talk about personal statements, but this time focusing on the residency personal statement. So if you're currently in medical school and applying to residency, AKA almost every med student, sit back and take notes because I promise you this video will help you a ton. Okay, let's get into it. All right, so let's start off from the beginning here. What is the residency personal statement and what is its purpose? The personal statement is used by the program directors to find information on the candidate that can't be obtained by the candidate's grades or CV, such as the candidate's character or motivation or interesting details about the person that would make them want to meet the candidate in person. The goal of the personal statement is to highlight qualities and experiences that may be particularly relevant to the specialty they are applying to. Can also give them a chance to talk about their professional aspirations or experiences that motivate their career choices. It may be only a portion of the residency application, but it's still an important one. So what should the personal statement include? Again, this is your chance to tell the program why you are unique, qualified, and or someone they may want to work with for the next three to seven years. Some major things you need to include are something about your path into this specialty and why you are choosing this specialty, attributes that make you stand out from other applicants, and a bit about what you are looking for in your future plans. So how do you know about writing this personal statement? Ah, yes, the hardest part, actually writing it. Well, at least it was for me. And if we're being completely transparent here, I've always been horrendous at putting my thoughts onto paper. So writing a personal statement for medical school and residency was quite the task for me. So trust me, I know how you feel when you're writing this thing. One of the easiest ways to start writing your personal statement is to reflect on your journey up to this point. Think about meaningful experiences that you have encountered that have helped shape you into the person or student doctor you are today. Basically, anything you can include to help shape the overall narrative. You can also think about specific qualities or attributes that you want the program to know about you. And then think of other scenarios or details about these qualities that you would wanna share with these programs so that they get to know you. Here's a quick example courtesy of our friends over at Motivate MD. As an example, I personally feel that one of my strengths is my work ethic. When I reflected upon why I have a strong work ethic, I realized that growing up with parents that immigrated to the US is a major reason that I personally developed this trait as I watched my parents work very hard growing up. This is something that I wanted to share about myself with programs. So I was able to reflect upon my strengths and add in some more personal details to include in my essay. And if you're still struggling to write your personal statement, consider taking a long look at your medical school personal statement, which is kinda like a cheat code. Obviously you've grown since then, but it may help you provide some structure for your residency personal statement or at the very least help you remember why you went into medicine in the first place. There are also a few characteristics that are essential to becoming a good resident, such as being a team player or dedicated. You can think about these things and then write personal anecdotes for each of them. How to create the narrative of your personal statement. One way to have a strong residency application is to make sure your entire application is strong, which includes the personal statement that tells you a story about who you are and how you got to where you are. This could start with why you went into medicine initially, any setbacks you encountered and where you hope to be in the future. This should ideally complement other parts of your application as well. For example, if you did a lot of research, mentorship and teaching on your application, and then you also want to go into academics, all of that would form a nice cohesive story about what you've already done and how it is setting you up to be excellent in academia. The next part of the personal statement is addressing weaknesses. Let's not forget that the personal statement is the only part of your application that you have full control over. Because of this, it can be a great place to address any weaknesses. Now, let's not confuse this with a time to make excuses, but it may be a place to provide any necessary context to things already on your application. And just like anything on your application, make sure you are okay with discussing it on interviews. Because anything on your application is complete fair game to bring up on interview day. And now that we've mentioned all the do's on your application, let's talk about the don'ts. Do not talk about why the field you are going into is great in rehashing all the things that physicians do in your specialty. The physicians reading your personal statement already know what they do. It's better to talk about what drew you to the field or maybe what the future of the field holds. Another don't is don't have bad grammar or misspellings on your personal statement. This may go without saying, but just in case, make sure the essay is just as polished as everything else on your application. Do not rehash your CV. And this is a very common mistake when writing personal statements. The reader is already looking at your CV and they don't need your personal statement to summarize it. The key here is show, don't tell. Meaning that it is much more useful to use your personal statement as a place to expand on your experiences and how they led you to this path rather than just restate your CV. The next don't is don't be shy. The best person to advocate for you is you. It's time to brag about yourself and show your best qualities. And of course, this can be easier said than done for certain people. Don't forget to tie it all together at the end of your personal statement. Wrap up everything at the end of your personal statement and use it as a way to show what you're looking for or where you wanna be in the future or anything like that. Another huge no-no is to not go over one page. Remember that one page in the ERAS application system is very different from one page on a Word document. Make sure you always preview that one page in ERAS before submitting and make sure it fits all on one page. Okay, so now let's talk about personalizing your personal statement. Did you know that you can upload different iterations of your personal statement for each specific program? For instance, I use separate personal statements when applying to my surgery internships than I did with my radiology residencies. This can be a good way to customize your personal statement per program but can be not so good if you aren't organized. The last thing you wanna do is send a personal statement talking about why you love Stanford so much to NYU because that would guarantee you not to do an interview. And finally, if you still need some help with your personal statement or just wanna make sure that your personal statement is the best it can be, you need to reach out to MotivateMD, which happens to be the sponsor of today's video. They have an unmatched personal statement editing service at a price point you can actually afford. MotivateMD does not believe in the cookie-cutter process for essay reviews. All reviews and advice given are tailored to you individually as an applicant. And by viewing the admissions process from the applicant's perspective, they have identified the patterns that make certain applicants memorable and competitive. MotivateMD has a team of residents and attendings across the country with different backgrounds and different experiences to help you craft the perfect essay. MotivateMD offers the ultimate match package for $1,499.99, which is an all-encompassing package for residency applicants who want to optimize their time and increase their chance of matching. What's included in this all-in-one ultimate match package? Well, I'm glad you asked. You get an unlimited personal statement reviews, unlimited ERAS application editing, unlimited ERAS supplemental application editing, two mocked interviews, application consultation and support, five hours, limitless messaging with the team, 48 to 72 hour turnaround, custom feedback and recommendations, complete analysis of content, voice, and tone. And this is a full proof reading package. And let's stop forget Becca, the director of operations over at MotivateMD is here to help you. And just an aside here, I personally worked with Becca for probably three years now and she is absolutely amazing and responds immediately with any message or email, anytime, any day, even on vacation. So feel free to text her if you have any questions about the packages. I'll put the number right here and also in the description box below. And if you choose to work with MotivateMD like I have for so many years, Becca will be here to help you as well and use my code DRChalini for 10% off. So that officially concludes this video. Hopefully you all learned something and hopefully this video will help you write an amazing residency personal statement. As always, tap that like and subscribe button, follow me on Instagram and TikTok if you're not already and I'll see you all on the next video. Bye.