Family Practitioners' Salaries

I recommend an article in the Business Section of the NYT called "Study Shows ‘Invisible’ Burden of Family Doctors." The piece reports that less than ten percent of medical school graduates choose primary care specialties. Note too that, generally, the lesser the compensation, the less competitive the residency. The converse is true too.

Accepted!

Below is the current list of medical schools to which my clients have been accepted. These are listed by descending order from U.S. News and World Report's 2010 Best Medical Schools - Research. Those not ranked are listed at the end alphabetically.

Harvard University
University of Pennsylvania
Washington University
Duke University
University of Michigan
University of Washington
Columbia University
UCLA
University of Chicago, Pritzker
Vanderbilt
Northwestern
Case Western University
Emory
University of North Carolina
University of Texas Southwestern
Baylor College of Medicine
Boston University
Dartmouth
University of Southern California
University of Minnesota
Georgetown University
Tufts University
University of California, Irvine
Medical College of Wisconsin
St. Louis University
Rush University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Wayne State University
Loyola University
University of Nevada
---------
Ben Gurion
Loma Linda University School of Medicine
Marshall School of Medicine
Mayo Medical School
Meharry Medical College
Tulane University
Pacific University of Oregon
Pennsylvania State
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Southern Illinois University
Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
University of Illinois College of Medicine
University of Southern Nevada
University of Toledo

I'm tremendously proud of my clients. Please contact me for help with your application. Earlier is always better.

The Making of Erroneous Assumptions

by Michelle A Finkel, InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Claire Cain Miller's recent New York Times article, "Why So Few Women In Silicon Valley?" is a good read with some great anecdotes. The subject is very applicable to the medical field.

Physician - Writer

by Michelle A. Finkel MD, InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Sheri Fink MD just won the Pulitzer Prize in the investigative category for her article on doctors' care at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. Her article, "The Deadly Choices at Memorial" was published in the NYT in August of last year. Sheri was a colleague of mine at Harvard and completed the American Association for the Advancement of Science Media Fellowship several years after I did. Although Sheri's accomplishments are clearly exceptional, her achievement demonstrates that those with an MD can accomplish a lot in ways other than clinical.

Emailing Your Letter of Intent

By Michelle A. Finkel MD, InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

In a previous entry, I recommended sending your letter of intent (LOI) both by snail mail and email - the latter if the institution has not explicitly banned electronic correspondence with them. If you are sending your letter by email, ensure that you send it in the body of the email - not as an attachment. Even one more step (opening the attachment) might impede your document's being read.

Contact me for LOI editing help.

Language Proficiency

by Michelle A. Finkel MD, InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

A tip for your CV and the application process in general:

Unless you are prepared to conduct an interview exclusively in another language, use the term "proficiency" instead of "fluency" when describing your foreign language skills. You do not want to face embarrassment (or worse) regarding an overstatement of your abilities.

Regarding Previously-Open General Surgery Residency Slots

by Michelle A. Finkel MD, InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

I've received a few emails recently asking whether there are still open General Surgery residency slots at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center (Southern California), a tip I mentioned in a March blog entry. Unfortunately, my contact says there is no funding for more slots and thus, the only applicants who might be considered now would be orphans (residents whose programs have folded and thus come with their own funding). Sorry for the news.

Residency Application Handout

by Michelle A. Finkel MD, www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

I've received a few requests for the handout I created for the AMSA talk last month. If you would like a copy of my PDF "Don't Let ERAS Kick Y'ERAS" please shoot me an email: insidermedical@gmail.com.

Happiness

by Michelle A. Finkel MD, InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

I received really bad advice when I was applying for residency: A dean told me that I would be working so hard, it wouldn't matter where I lived. He said I should choose the most competitive program regardless of location.

I couldn't disagree more. If you're applying to medical school, residency, fellowship or a post bacc program, it's essential to think about what will make you happiest. Usually, that means being near your significant other, family and friends. It might mean being in nice weather, near your religious community or in a place where you can continue your favorite hobby.

In case you don't believe me, here's an article from the NYT to back me up.

As always, contact me for help.