Medical Student Power Clicks

Powerful information to help today's medical student excel in medical school

Getting into Medical School

In efforts to gain admission to medical school, premedical students sometimes forget to reflect on the meaning and significance of their varied experiences in community service, research, and extracurricular activities. In "Do it for the right reasons," Georgia McLendon, an undergraduate student at Duke University, reminds us that it's about more than checking off items on a checklist.

 

 

Preclinical Success

Although research has shown that medical students value the guidance and support of a mentor, many students do not have one. Medical schools have responded by creating mentoring programs. At the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, four advisory colleges have been established, and two faculty mentors have been appointed for each college. In a recent article at the UCSF website, students, faculty, and administration discussed the program, and how it has benefitted students. If you would like to initiate a relationship with a mentor but are not sure how to proceed, our book, Success in Medical School: Insider Advice for the Preclinical Years, offers detailed advice on how to intitiate, cultivate, and nurture a mentor-mentee relationship. Mentoring is introduced in the first chapter of the book (Page 9), and we have made the chapter available to you on our website.

USMLE News

 

Are you interested in practicing in Israel? U.S. physicians who have passed the USMLE within the past decade are now eligible to be licensed in Israel. “We are trying to make it easier for Israeli graduates who completed their medical studies in the US and also for new American immigrants," says Dr. Amir Shannon, the head of the Health Ministry's Medical Professions Licensing Department, in an interview with the Jerusalem Post.

 

Residency Match Success

The 2013 AOA Match Results are now available. Congratulations to all osteopathic students who matched. I had the great opportunity to work with some of these applicants, and was impressed with the contributions they had made in community service, patient care, teaching, and research as students. A phone call from an applicant who has matched never gets old! It's always a joy for me to share in the excitement.

 

Use of Facebook and Twitter by Residency Programs in Evaluating Applicants

Personal statement. Letters of recommendation. MSPE. Medical school transcript. ERAS application. Your social media presence. All are important components of the residency application. "Wait a minute," you say. "Did I read that right? Social media presence?"

Some residency programs are now assessing an applicant's social media presence, and possibly using the information in the residency selection process. Researchers at the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, led by Dr. Carl Schulman, surveyed 600 medical school admissions officers and residency program directors. Nine percent reported using social networking websites in the selection process. The study was published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal.

“There is no question in my mind that some percentage of medical admissions officers and residency directors do go online and Google and Facebook people to see what they’ve got up on their personal sites,” said Dr. Henry Sondheimer in a Kaiser Health News article. Dr Sondheimer is the senior director of medical education projects at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC).

In 2008, we raised this as a potential issue in an article written for the Student Doctor Network, and offered advice to residency applicants on how to manage their online presence.

AMSA review of Success on the Wards

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak about the "Keys to Clerkship Success" to a group of second-year medical students at the Baylor College of Medicine. Unlike most medical schools, Baylor students begin clerkships after 1.5 years of basic sciences. These students were just a few months away from their first clerkship, and were understandably experiencing a range of emotions - excitement mixed with nervousness and even fear. Our discussion reminded me of how I felt when I transitioned from the basic science to clinical years of medical school.

Perhaps that's why my book, Success on the Wards: 250 Rules for Clerkship Success, is particularly meaningful to me. Although years have passed since I transitioned from the basic science to the clinical years, I continue to see students facing the same struggles. In writing this book, my goal was to provide a resource that would ease the transition for clerkship students, not just at the beginning of the year but with every clerkship.

Clerkship grades are also extremely important in the residency selection process, and this is a concern that weighs heavily on the minds of many students. For this reason, the book begins as a how-to guide with clerkship-specific templates, along with sample notes and guides, for every aspect of clerkships. The book reviews proven strategies for success in patient care, write-ups, rounds, and other vital areas. 

In September 2012, AMSA reviewed the book in The New Physician and wrote:

The book offers the preclinical reader insight and an insider's view of what you will face during the clinical years of medical school, and that will allow you to really perform well. It focuses on the details, and those details will be the ones that set you apart from other medical students.

Read the rest of the AMSA review

Welcome to The Successful Match Blog

Welcome to The Successful Match blog. Through this blog, I hope to make you a well-informed residency applicant. A better understanding of the residency selection process can help you develop an approach that maximizes your chances of a successful match into the specialty or residency program of your choice.

Not too long ago, I came across the following words, written by a residency applicant:

“Where was the career guidance I needed for the past three years? No one sat me down in my first year and told me what it would take to get the career of my choice. Had I been handed a residency application form in my first year, I would have made many decisions differently. I cannot help thinking that my medical school has let me down. I am not going to shine on my residency application, as I had hoped.”

-S. Ellen Morch (Morch SE. Students unprepared for residency applications. CMAJ 1994; 151(9): 1237-8)

These words really struck a chord with me. From my own experience as a residency applicant, I know how difficult, anxiety-provoking, and mysterious the residency selection process can be.

In the years that have passed since my own successful residency match, I have served on several committees, including residency selection and medical school admissions committees. Through my work, I have gained considerable insight into the obstacles that prevent applicants from reaching their professional goals.

My experience, insight, and research led me to coauthor the book, The Successful Match: 200 Rules to Succeed in the Residency Match, a resource used by thousands of residency applicants. In writing the book, our goal was to help applicants make informed decisions by offering highly specific, evidence-based advice and recommendations.

Now, with this blog, I can provide you with additional information on a more frequent basis.

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