Feedback

September 24, 2008 at 7:39 pm | Posted in neurosurgery | 1 Comment

Ah, feedback. Not fun, but better than letting an error become a habit.

I do have a tendency to get defensive about things that really don’t deserve that much attention. However, as someone who’s always found it easy to figure other people out, and know where I stand with them and why, it’s very distressing for people to hold opinions of me that I don’t know the reason for, and therefore can’t address.

And apparently my personal statement is very dry. To which I say, better dry than crazy. Plus, that’s what happens to writing when it gets edited by large numbers of people. And mine has been edited by a small army.

Nonetheless, like George Michael, I apologize for boring you.

But seriously, consider the audience. For every resident and junior faculty who’d appreciate a shiny and entertaining personal statement, there’s a Chairman out there who’d consider it the sign of a ditzy dilettante, unsuitable for the serious reputation of their program. And if I can only show a single dimension of myself, then guess what? I’m going to play it safe.

If people want to see a more multi-faceted picture, they can always come here.

And speaking of feedback, I just got two interview invitations, both from programs that might actually be a good fit. Yay! Although you can never really tell until you visit. But it made my day. Particularly since it’s CNS week, and I really wasn’t expecting any.