Personal Statement Advice

Wish I had read this article earlier.  It speaks about really being "personal" in a personal statement as opposed to what I was told - to just write something safe so I don't sound like I'm cuckoo.  Always a fine balance!


Excerpt:

As the director of an internal medicine residency program, I read hundreds of personal statements every year. I know many program directors who find them irrelevant at best, and I confess I can't blame them. These statements usually follow 1 of 3 scripts: The candidates relay a medical catastrophe that afflicted them or their family. Curiosity is piqued. They indulge their curiosity by poring over endless tomes of biologic sciences and end up in medical school. Or, they know that they've wanted to be a doctor since conception. They were always exceptionally skilled in the sciences but really wanted to help people. Medical school was the natural conclusion. Or, lastly, the curious case of Mr. X, who tells me a great deal about the unfortunate patient but surprisingly little about the candidate. All candidates then have some sort of revelation during their internal medicine clerkship, and that is how their applications arrived on my computer screen.

I hate them all. Not the candidates, but their personal statements. Because there's really very little that's personal about them. The major thing they've told me about themselves is that they are very much like 90% of the other candidates for my program, or that they've engaged the services of whatever essay mill produces such stultifying prose. I'm not sure which is worse.

Turi McNamee, MD. In Defense of the Personal Statement. Ann Intern Med. 6 November 2012;157(9):675

Nerdy Jokes

Since I'm a nerd and I love all things nerdy:
20 Spectacularly Nerdy Science Jokes (Thanks ML)

Typing While Sleepy

Trying to send an email for research while very sleepy:

Dear Dr. O-----,

I've entered in some data, and I have had a few questions.  I've modified the excel sheet you gave me with all her nephews looking at it.  

Nephews? Huh?? Thank goodness I read over this email before sending it.  I think I was subconsciously thinking about my roommate's nephews because she was talking about them during the day.  

Grandmother's fashion tips

Conversation at the dinner table:
Grandmother: Is that really what you wear every day?
Me: Yes...
Grandmother: You dress so old fashioned!
Me: O_o  ...YOU dressed old fashioned!

Watching TV:
Grandmother: you said you didn't like dresses, so do you like skirt pants? (pants that look like a skirt)
Me: No...
Grandmother: come try my skirt pants!
Me: No thanks.
Grandmother: Come, come, try it on and see!
Me: No, please.
Grandmother: (while pushing my head) come on! Let me see how you fit, and I can get you skirt pants!
Me: No! No! Please don't make me!
Grandmother: Well, you said you don't like dresses, so you should wear skirt pants.
Me: I never said I DON'T like dresses, just that I don't care for them!