DLA's Blog of Expert Writing & Editing Tips - Applicants

Hook Them Through to the End

You can hook your reader with the introduction to your personal statement. And you can wow them with magical words in your personal statement. But if you don’t write a strong conclusion to your personal statement? You’ll leave program directors and admission committees with a whimper, rather than a bang.

15+ Years' Experience

With over 15 years’ experience in guiding candidates in applying for medical residency and fellowship, and having reviewed and edited 1,000+ ERAS Applications during that time, I have seen firsthand just how far the way in which you fill out your ERAS Application goes in communicating to program directors the kind of resident or fellow you would be in their programs.

How Do I Stand out?

One of the greatest challenges—and for many the single greatest challenge—in applying for medical residency is deciding what to write in the personal statement. How do I stand out? What can I write to catch the program director’s attention?

Standing out From the Crowd

One of the greatest challenges every candidate faces when applying for fellowship or residency training, graduate school or college is deciding what to write in their personal statements. The next greatest challenge is how to write it.

Keys to Success

While the best personal statements for law school are as unique as the candidates writing them, they also have certain elements in common. Ensuring you use them is the first step toward achieving an outstanding personal statement for your law school application.

The Other Side of the Coin

With as much time as candidates spend thinking about what to write in their personal statements, what often gets overlooked is what NOT to write in a personal statement.

It Has to Be One Page?

We hear it all the time from candidates applying for medical residency: my personal statement has to be one page. One of my attendings told me so. A program director told me so. It is ERAS' recommendation.

Red Flags Come in Many Forms

There are no personality traits more attractive in a candidate than self-awareness, confidence and humility. And nothing makes these traits more attractive than the barriers the candidate had to overcome to obtain them.

Hook Them, and Keep Them Hooked

You can use fancy words in the body of your personal statement. You can end your personal statement with a bang. But if how you start your personal statement doesn’t hook your reader? Program directors and admission committees may stop reading, and turn to the next application.

Concerned Applicant!

A few years ago, I had a call from a concerned potential client. His question: How do I know your services are not a scam?

15+ Years' Experience

With over 15 years’ experience in guiding candidates in applying for medical residency, fellowship and other educational, training and career opportunities, I have seen firsthand what it takes for a letter of recommendation to stand out as a strong one to program directors and hiring managers.

I will never forget the call I received two years ago from an international medical graduate from Hungary asking for me please to give him the “magical words” for his personal statement.  It was August, 2013, and he was preparing his ERAS application for medical residency for the 2014 match.  He did not wish for any advice for improving the content of his personal statement, nor did he wish for his personal statement to be edited.  He wished only for the “magical words” to use in his personal statement that would be sure to get him an interview.

Thinking About Getting Pregnant?

Every year, in my role as a medical residency consultant, I get asked about getting pregnant–and more specifically giving birth–while in residency. Should you do it? Is there a better time to do so than another?

What Do I Do if I Don’t Match?

I have seen it firsthand: the range of emotions you can be feeling, from frustration and confusion to self-doubt and despair, when the results come back and you have not matched. And the inevitable question that comes up: What do I do next?