Your Residency Application: What Do Program Directors Really Want?

Imagine that you're a program director (PD) going through scores of ERASes and interviews. What questions would you ask yourself as you assessed each residency candidate to avoid big headaches?

1) Can this person do the job? Is s/he competent?

2) Will this person "play well with others" and not create complaints from patients, faculty, or other services.

3) Will this person stick with the program and not leave prematurely? A PD does not want to scurry around to fill an open call schedule/ residency slot.

As you approach your interviews, consider how you can demonstrate your competence and collegiality, as well as your commitment to the field and the residency program. For the former, ensure you showcase academic successes, extra curricular activities that demonstrate teamwork, and - if asked - hobbies and reading materials that demonstrate your personality. For the latter, highlight research projects in the specialty, sub-internships, and knowledge about the program and city.

Making sure the PD knows you are not going to cause him/her trouble is at least half the battle.

White Coat Investor Scholarship Winners Announced

For the past few years, the White Coat Investor has funded a scholarship for full-time professional students, including those in medical, osteopathic, dental, law, pharmacy, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, optometry, and podiatry schools. The goal is to both reduce the winning students' debt burden and spread "an important message of financial literacy throughout medical, dental, and other professional schools."

This year's first place winner's essay is here. It's great and worth a read. Second through fifth places can be found here. Keep your eye out for next year's contest. The financial support is significant. 

I Believe

I was recently speaking to a friend who is a law professor at a prominent institution. He teaches first-year law courses and thus, meets students when they are just entering their careers and not yet polished. He was telling me that he is taken aback by how many of his students use "I believe" before their statements in class. The preface "I believe" diminishes the student's point; my friend is looking for persuasive pronouncements, not thin opinions. 

Consider this issue when interviewing. Note the difference between "I'll make a strong medical student" and "I believe I'll make a strong medical student." The latter introduces that inkling of doubt you don't want to impart.

I have advisees who worry about saying "um" or "uh" during interviews. (I advised a pre-med who, in preparing for interviews, asked his girlfriend to gently slap his hand every time he said "um" so he'd experience negative consequences. Yikes!) As I tell my mentees, I'm not worried about an "um" or an "uh." (Note President Obama, well-known to be an excellent orator; he inadvertently uses vocal pauses when he speaks.) 

Instead, the key to a persuasive interview is to have confident responses that are bolstered by persuasive evidence. 

What Is the One Thing You've Learned...?

I was with my children at a four year-old's birthday party a few years ago when I met the grandfather of the birthday-boy. As it turned out, before retiring, the man had been on the admissions committee of a prestigious medical school for decades.

So, I asked him, "Looking back at all of those years of experience, what is the one thing you learned from interviewing medical students?"

The man chuckled and said, "They have no idea what they're getting themselves into."

In life, we never have any idea what we're getting ourselves into, but I think of this man every time I practice the question "What will you like least about being a doctor" or "...least about being a [insert your medical specialty here]" with my medical school and residency mentees, respectively. Saying you'll love everything about being a physician or psychiatrist or pediatrician or internist sounds disingenuous and naive. You need to show that you have some idea what you're getting yourself into.

Having said that, I would avoid tacky topics like money. And talking about how horrible night shifts are is not going to win you many points. But a sophisticated applicant can infer what the challenges will be in medicine or in her specialty and can express them with aplomb.

...As with everything, practice your answer in advance.

Accomplished, Not Lovely

Last week I went to hear the author Nicole Krauss speak about her recently-released novel Forest Dark. I am a big fan of Krauss' writing. The day I heard the author speak, she had published an opinion piece in the NYT Sunday Magazine called "Do Women Get to Write with Authority?" In the article, Krauss speaks about the lack of authority that women writers have compared to men, and specifically, how female artists' work is often characterized as "lovely," a word she describes as lacking in "independent power."

I must admit that I sometimes use the word "lovely" (both for women and men) when I like someone. But Krauss made me think about the word in the context of achievement - not personality - and her point is well-taken.

What does this have to do with medical school and residency admissions? When you interview, you want the faculty member to leave the table saying you were "accomplished," not "lovely." Many applicants miss this point: You don't want to simply be liked; you want to be seen as worthy. It's important that you focus on that important goal as you practice for interviews. 

As an aside, I have not gotten a hold of Forest Dark yet, but I would strongly recommend Krauss' Great House and History of Love.