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How to Navigate the Residency Personal Statement when You’re Applying for a Preliminary Year

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<img src="... alt="Residency Personal Statement"/>Candidates who apply to certain fields – dermatology, ophthalmology, etc. – need a preliminary or transitional year of residency before initiating their specialty training. So does that mean those applicants need to toil over two personal statements?

No, thankfully. It’s very appropriate (and strategic) to use the same essay with modifications. Ensure you explicitly address why a prelim year will advance the rest of your career and how you will contribute to the training program as a future specialist.

When you use a very similar essay, you can be honest about what your professional goals are. After all, the reader knows you’re applying for a one-year position anyway.

Remember that many preliminary/transitional year programs are eager to match residents who are moving onto competitive fields. In general, those applicants will have strong USMLE scores, evaluations, and clinical skills.

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Get a Better Letter

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After over a decade of reading medical school and residency letters of recommendation (LOR), I can tell you that the biggest error I see in the LOR process occurs when applicants settle for mediocre letters. In other words, they know that a supervisor/faculty member/attending isn’t going to write them a strong letter, but they fill the LOR slot with the middling endorsement anyway.

Please take a look at my most recent Student Doctor Network article, “Get a Better Letter” for concrete ideas on how to approach the letter of recommendation process.

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Graduate Medical Education Bill Introduced

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Here’s some interesting information from the Association of American Medical Colleges on the recently proposed Graduate Medical Education (GME) Bill. The legislation’s intent is to increase the number of residency training slots in an effort to improve the U.S. physician shortage problem

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How to Be Happy in Residency

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I’m sending a big congratulations to all of those residency candidates who successfully matched last week! Next year will be the start of something wonderful and challenging. Here are my tips for being happy (or at least as happy as possible) during residency:

1. Physician heal thyself. You will be working a ton, but eating healthfully and getting exercise will make everything a little better.

2. You’ve got a friend. You may be working 80-hour weeks, but plan to spend at least half an hour every week catching up with someone who makes you laugh.

3. Vacation – all I ever wanted. Figure out somewhere fun you want to travel when you are not working, and then happily anticipate the trip.

4. Date night. Take time out for your spouse or partner. Although I was not yet married when I trained, I remember being upset by seeing several marriages and relationships split up. You can never get that back. (This advice goes for children too, if you have them. You have an even greater challenge ahead of you than most if you are a parent in residency.)

5. Dance dance party party. Knitting, hiking, dancing, watching movies, kayaking, reading – whatever it is , do not let yourself become unidimensional.

6. Realize that the honking drivers have simply had a bad day. When I was in medical school, a brilliant upper classman came to speak to us about being on the wards. He told us that when someone aggressively honks at you on the road, it’s often because s/he in a bad mood – not because you are about to cause an accident. The same is true in the hospital. Tired, burned out professionals can make you feel bad. Don’t let them.

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Physician Heal Thyself By Getting Help

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I wrote recently about burnout, which affects 37.9% of doctors, as compared to 27.8% of the general population, according to an Archives of Internal Medicine study.

Beyond burnout, suicidality is a major problem for doctors. Physicians have much higher suicide rates than the general population with male doctors at 70% higher and female physicians at 250-400% higher, according to a JAMA piece.

For the younger cohort in the profession, things are also rough: Fifteen to 30% of medical students and residents screen positively for depression, according to Medscape, and suicide is the number one cause of death among medical residents.

Excessive work burdens and expectations, lack of a perceived internal locus of control, and isolation from friends and family can all lead to clinical depression among medical students and trainees. It’s critical to take note if you see symptoms in yourself or colleagues, including hopelessness, withdrawal, anger, recklessness, anxiety, substance abuse, excessive feelings of guilt, and inability to concentrate. Realizing that many others are in the same boat and that most institutions have psychological counseling options can be a relief. Additionally, a national resource is the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1 800 273 TALK.

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the White Coat Investor podcast:

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