Insider Medical Admissions: Language Proficiency

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

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.

About Me

Years of candidate selection at Harvard taught me what characteristics comprise a desirable applicant and how even bright candidates make mistakes that undermine their admissions success. I am a practicing Emergency Physician with nine years of experience training medical students, residents and fellows. I won three teaching and mentorship awards while at Harvard. Please see Insider Medical Admissions for the full array of personalized services I offer to clients applying to medical school, residency, fellowship and post baccalaureate programs.

Dr. Finkel thanks David Presser, MD, MPH for his contributions to the content of her blog entries. Dr. Presser is a practicing Emergency Physician who has written several primers for applicants to medical school and Emergency Medicine residency. Dr. Presser is a graduate of Stanford University, UCSF Medical School, the UCLA/Olive View-UCLA Emergency Medicine Residency Program and the Harvard School of Public Health.

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