Are you a Residency Candidate Applying in More than One Specialty? Read this.

If you're planning to apply in more than one field, you have a challenging road ahead of you, and you should strategize accordingly. Remember that, although your ERAS activities cannot be individualized to different residency programs, your personal statement and letters of recommendation can. Demonstrating commitment to each field through your essay and letters will be a challenge, so take time to write thoughtfully, and make sure you speak candidly to your faculty recommenders.
 
Above all: Ensure that you assign the correct specialty-specific documents to the correct programs!

Allopathic Residency Candidates, Check out this Super Useful AAMC Data

I recently found this AAMC website that provides USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK Scores of (2015-2016) first-year residents by specialty. You can look up your desired specialty and then cross check your Step 1 score with your Step 2 score. The chart tells you how many applicants (and what percentage) successfully matched with those Step numbers in your desired specialty - helpful for predicting application success in a chosen field. Check it out.

How to Draft a Strategic Residency Personal Statement

Each year residency applicants ask me if they need to showcase their accomplishments in their residency personal statements if they've already drafted strong ERAS activities sections. The simple answer is yes.

First, remember that you don't know at what part of your application the readers will be starting. If a residency director peruses your personal statement first and it's thin and boring, you'll have lost that reader from the beginning.

Also, note that the faculty members seeing your application are reading many more ERASes than just yours. If you only mention an important achievement once in your application, the program director might simply forget your accomplishment. After all, s/he is reading hundreds of similar applications. Your readers need to be reminded several times of your candidacy's strengths. (You'll mention those accomplishments again in your interviews.)

To a program director who hasn't yet met you, you are what you've done. You need to use substantive examples of your achievements to demonstrate your worthiness for a potential residency position. Evidence is persuasive; use it!

Looking for a Laugh?

Over a decade ago the American College of Emergency Physicians solicited its members to submit a true story to the television show "Untold Stories of the ER." Lo and behold, my story was chosen, and my husband and I were invited to act in a fictionalized rendition of my tale. If you're interested in seeing it, check out Netflix's "Untold Stories" episode 17.
Enjoy!

Be an Adult: Don't Accept Helicopter Parenting

Check out this hilarious (and sad) piece in the New York Times about helicopter parenting and note that two of the anecdotes are physician related. (Can you imagine interviewing for an attending position with your dad present?)

My policy at Insider is to work exclusively with applicants (not parents or spouses) to maintain confidentiality, avoid redundancy, and ensure candidates assume primary responsibility for their work. It's a winning strategy.