FAQs
Are you really a medical doctor?
Yes, really, I am a medical doctor. 😊 Specifically, I am a board-certified anesthesiologist. I completed my anesthesia residency at Stanford and currently work as an academic anesthesiologist.
My academic interest is “crisis simulation,” where we life-threatening things happen in a pretend operating room to a patient mannequin. Medical simulation is a fun and powerful educational tool for our residents.
What can I expect when I work with you?
I start with reviewing your existing personal statement draft and CV.
Using these documents, I craft a list of personalized questions for you to answer in a “brainstorming document.” The goal of this exercise is to create a repository of high impact stories. I will usually do four to six rounds of follow up questions via email to obtain further details about the stories that stand out the most to me.
After these rounds of emails, I will send you a proposed outline of your personal statement, comprised of your strongest stories from your brainstorming document.
We will then work on finalizing your personal statement over the course of several addtional rounds of revisions and feedback.
What makes a good personal statement?
Humans connect through storytelling and naturally gravitate towards stories of heroism, inspiration, and resilience.
The goal is to tell these stories in a way that is immediately relevant to your goal (e.g. medical/dental school, residency, fellowship).
What are the benefits of a strong personal statement?
1: My HERO method will highlight stories about you that are Heroic, Exciting/Inspiring, Relevant, and One-of-a-kind. When your reviewers read your stories, they will naturally be excited to meet you.
2: You will have a key unfair advantage at your interviews, as your authentic and compelling stories will set you up for meaningful human connection with your interviewer.
3: When the admissions or rank committee meet, your interviewers will be able to effectively advocate on your behalf by telling your stories to the committee.
How many rounds of revisions do you recommend?
It depends on the client, and for this reason, I bill my services hourly and do not offer packages.
On average, I do six to eight rounds of edits with each client. Very rarely, I will come across an already outstanding personal statement which requires only a single round of revisions.
What is your turnaround time?
To accommodate unexpectedly long and busy call shifts in the hospital, my promised turnaround time to provide feedback and revisions is 48 hours. However, my goal is to send recommendations back to clients within 24 hours.
Can you write my personal statement?
No, that would violate the rules and regulations of medical school, dental school, residency, and fellowship applications. Nevertheless, the coaching and editing services I provide will empower you to highlight your story in your own voice.
How do you decide what makes a high impact personal statement?
Please see my YouTube video on this topic here: