Annals of Internal Medicine On Being a Doctor

In Defense of the Personal Statement

A s the director of an internal medicine residency pro-
gram, I read hundreds of personal statements every
year. I know many program directors who find them irrel-
knowing that it was a large part of my story. This was the
truth and the essence of me in 500 words or less.
The response was overwhelming. Every single inter-
evant at best, and I confess I can’t blame them. These viewer asked me about it, and it usually led to a spirited
statements usually follow 1 of 3 scripts: The candidates and satisfying conversation. One flat-out told me that he
relay a medical catastrophe that afflicted them or their fam- thought I was lying, and I spent the greater part of the
ily. Curiosity is piqued. They indulge their curiosity by interview convincing him otherwise. Another looked at me
poring over endless tomes of biologic sciences and end up almost thankfully and told me it was one of the best per-
in medical school. Or, they know that they’ve wanted to be sonal statements he’d ever read.
a doctor since conception. They were always exceptionally Now that I’m a program director, I think I know why.
skilled in the sciences but really wanted to help people. The overwhelming majority of personal statements are ex-
Medical school was the natural conclusion. Or, lastly, the cruciatingly boring. It seems that our standardization of
curious case of Mr. X, who tells me a great deal about the the medical school curriculum has led to a generation of
unfortunate patient but surprisingly little about the candi- physicians who feel the need to be standardized people as
date. All candidates then have some sort of revelation dur- well, even when making statements that are by their very
ing their internal medicine clerkship, and that is how their title intended to be personal.
applications arrived on my computer screen. Give me the personal statement that describes cowering
I hate them all. Not the candidates, but their personal under the kitchen table during a raging kitchen fire. Give me
statements. Because there’s really very little that’s personal the one that describes the conflicting feelings of having an
about them. The major thing they’ve told me about them- oppositional soldier in the cross hairs, knowing that one day
selves is that they are very much like 90% of the other you may be the very medic assigned to help him. I want to
candidates for my program, or that they’ve engaged the hear from the candidate who appreciates the fibers of alpaca
services of whatever essay mill produces such stultifying wool, the benefits of painting with oils rather than acrylics, the
prose. I’m not sure which is worse. one who won the world clogging championships at the age of
I’ve felt this way ever since I had to write my own 12, or the one who worked hard at becoming a varsity football
personal statements for college, medical school, and resi- player but ended up handing out towels on the bench. These
dency applications. I felt that the personal statement was a are the personal statements that convey appreciation of fear,
great opportunity to tell the programs how I differed from conflicted emotions, beauty, success, and failure. These are the
the other candidates. My scores may not have been the ones that demonstrate a feature that is still key to being a
best, and my grades wouldn’t bowl anyone over, but my doctor: humanity. How else are we to know about this side of
personal statement—that was an opportunity to convince our candidates if not for their personal statements? And don’t
the program that they should still give me a look. The one even think about suggesting that we rely on the letters of
that I remember most vividly is the one I wrote for my recommendation: I have read far too many that are written for
internal medicine residency application. I wrote about different individuals but are word for word identical. They’re
growing up on a South Dakota farm in the mid-1970s, in frequently much worse than the personal statement, and for
the era before genetically modified soybeans were bred to that, shame on us.
resist some of the most potent herbicides known to man. Our medical students need to be encouraged to bring
Back then, we got rid of weeds the old-fashioned way— by themselves to life in their personal statements. They need
hand. As 1 of 4 children, I was expected to wake up at to find something—anything—that describes them as an
dawn in the summer months and join the rest of the kids individual. Encourage them to share their love of dogs,
in our more than 100-acre soybean field, slowly trudging up their fear of clowns, their culinary successes, and their
and down each and every row attacking any weed we encoun- camping nightmares. Tell them to present themselves as
tered, with either my hands or the blunt kitchen knife I car- someone swimming in this ocean of life and not the buoy
ried. Some of the weeds were taller than I was and seemed to bobbing on top of it. For the sake of program directors
attract multitudes of stinging insects that I am convinced have everywhere, I beg this of you.
yet to be catalogued. After 5 hours of this, we would all be Turi McNamee, MD
glazed with some combination of sweat, dirt, and mangled Sanford School of Medicine of the University of South Dakota
insect corpses. We weren’t paid for this. Our reward was a Sioux Falls, SD 57103
possible trip to the public swimming pool that afternoon. (We
were, by the way, probably the driving force behind why peo- Requests for Single Reprints: Turi McNamee, MD, Sanford School of
Medicine, 1400 West 22nd Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57103; e-mail,
ple are required to shower before entering the water.) I winced
[email protected].
a little as I mailed my statement, hoping that I hadn’t por-
trayed myself as too much of a hayseed, while at the same time Ann Intern Med. 2012;157:675.

© 2012 American College of Physicians 675

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