Your personal statement gives you the chance to make a good first impression on program directors ...before they even meet you! Program directors have reviewed your test scores, read your letters of recommendation, and are familiar with your CV. While all of those do play an important role in the applications process, your personal statement offers you a unique opportunity. You have to make sure that your statement adds something that none of these other documents have. This is your chance to show the reader just who you are. What makes you unique? Why will you be a better resident than any of their other applicants? What is it about you that makes you uniquely suited to their program? What special skills and talents will you be bringing to their practice?

As an IMG, you need to put a bit more into the personal statement than most applicants. In addition to presenting a clear, grammatically correct statement, you'll need to convince program directors that not only do you possess the same clinical skills and knowledge as an American doctor, your background has given you additional strengths that a typical applicant doesn't have. Did the struggle to gain American accreditation increase your determination to become a doctor? Did witnessing poverty and illness push you to become the best doctor that you could be? Did you have to struggle and compensate when working without proper medical facilities? How has your foreign training added to your medical skills?

Discuss your experiences! Let the reader know what you've done --and, more importantly, what you gained from it. Discuss those topics that don't appear on your medical school transcript: How did your time in medical school prepare you to practice medicine? What practical knowledge did you gain from your rotations? And while your CV will list your work experience, your personal statement gives you the opportunity to answer some more questions: What were your duties in the places you've worked? How did your patients relate to you? How did your supervisors feel about your work? Were there any specific incidents that have impacted you? What has your experience taught you?

Remember --focus on your own unique talents and skills. Program directors have seen your transcripts, they've reviewed your letters of recommendation, and they know what your test scores are. Use the personal statement to showcase those talents and skills that are not listed on a resume or evident from test scores.

Please note that we recommend that your statement be about one page long on the ERAS system, or about 750- 850 words long. (You can check the word count in Microsoft Word by selecting Tools and WordCount.) At IMGPrep, we do not edit statement that fall short of the minimum length of 650 words. We want to help you edit and polish your statement, but we cannot write it for you.