Part II<\/a> concerns\u00a0how having published research affects your competititiveness, whether you should\u00a0differentiate yourself by stating a career path, and the new timing of the\u00a0application cycle.<\/p>\nCardioExchange: What do programs look for in personal statements? What is the best way of approaching this aspect of the fellowship application?<\/strong><\/p>\nde Lemos:\u00a0 <\/strong>These should be clear, succinct, and focused\u2014please dispense with all BS!\u00a0 Too often, I read flowery descriptions of why someone wants to be a cardiologist. For us, this is a given — who wouldn\u2019t love cardiology?\u00a0 Also, statements trying to be clever totally turn me off.\u00a0 Remember that the statement can hurt you much more than help you.\u00a0 It should describe your journey, focusing on aspects of your career to date that provide evidence of your future direction.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve done research, this should be described in more detail, including your role in the project.\u00a0 You should clearly state a future direction, even if it is still vague in your head.\u00a0 We are looking for individuals who are organized enough, and plan well enough, to describe a clear path forward for their individual career trajectory.\u00a0 We all know it may change — even before you start your first day of fellowship!\u00a0 Finally, two don\u2019ts:<\/p>\n(1) Never, ever go over one page.<\/p>\n
(2) Be very careful about your personal stories\u2014all of you have personal reasons for choosing cardiology, but too often the descriptions of these sound corny and self-serving. <\/strong><\/p>\nKates:<\/strong> We are looking to see that applicants can put together coherent thoughts in a clear way.\u00a0 I tell our residents to <\/strong>avoid waxing poetic or trying to write the next great novel.\u00a0 I also tell them to avoid the story of pursuing medicine as the wish of dear departed grandmother or other family member.\u00a0 Talk about your<\/em> plans.\u00a0 Talk about what motivates you.\u00a0 The personal statement is the opportunity also to explain if you had taken a nontraditional pathway to medicine or if you took a year or two off or changed programs.\u00a0 What\u2019s most important — unless you have a great story to tell, just be concise and be yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\nRyan:<\/strong> Whereas your resume is about what you have done, the personal statement is about what you are going to do. Creating a succinct, realistic plan about what you hope to achieve over the next 5-10 years is useful. To do this, I think you should look at junior faculty members who finished their residencies 5-10 years ago and use their achievements as an example of the type of physician you want to be.<\/p>\nCardioExchange: How should applicants decide who should write their letters, and do all the letter writers need to be cardiologists?<\/strong><\/p>\nde Lemos:\u00a0 <\/strong>Remember one thing first and foremost.\u00a0 You are asking for a letter of recommendation — not an evaluation letter.\u00a0 Your program director or Chair will write the letter comparing you to your peers, but your other letter writers should all say you are a workhorse with a heart of gold and the intellect of Osler.\u00a0 When you identify possible letter writers, ask them whether they would be willing to write a very strong letter in support of your application \u2014 you need to know the answer to this before you get the letter.\u00a0 If they feel lukewarm about you, thank them for their honesty and ask someone else.\u00a0 There is nothing worse than faint praise. \u00a0Since almost all of the letters exaggerate and inflate the candidate, yours needs to do the same to be competitive.\u00a0 In my opinion, they should all come from cardiologists and, if possible, from cardiologists with connections or reputations outside your institution.\u00a0 However, it is better to get a strong letter from someone who is not well known than a lukewarm letter from a national figure.<\/p>\nKates:<\/strong> Letters should above all be from people who know you well.\u00a0 While not all letters need to be from cardiologists, the majority should be.\u00a0 The letter from your PD\u00a0 tends to be more of an advocacy letter than a letter of recommendation.\u00a0 Applicants want to get letters from famous names, but in reality a letter from a well-known person who spent a week with you on service says less than a letter from junior faculty who worked with you for two or three months.\u00a0 If you have done research with someone, get a letter from them \u2013 especially if the research was published.<\/p>\nRyan: <\/strong>I think it is important that the letter writer truly knows you — the personal relationship should shine through, as a form letter can be obvious. Also, you must be confident in the fact that the referee is going to actually write a supportive letter. At times, residents ask the wrong person to write them a letter because he or she is well-known in the field but does not know the applicant well — this comes out easily. If you have done research during residency, then get a letter from the research supervisor who can highlight your skill as a researcher. Still, having a letter from a cardiologist known around the country is important (with the caveat that the cardiologist should know you well). When it comes to interview season, your letter writers will be your greatest asset in making and receiving phone calls supporting your application.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this two-part post, the moderators of the Fellowship Training blog advise residents on everything from what not to say in the personal statement to whether you need to know your future career path. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-30245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-fellowship-training-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nejm.org\/cardioexchange\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}