Does Getting Into Medical School Mean Losing Your Heart?

Here is a nice piece called "Beautiful Pathologies" by Nathaniel Morris, a student at my alma mater Harvard Medical School. I can just imagine everyone in the lecture hall as this happened.

Get More Med School and Residency Interview Help

Make sure to watch this - a new Insider Medical Admissions Guru on the Go© stop motion video. These under-one-minute videos give you professional admissions tips for free... and they are fun to watch! This one, called “Stars are Made, Not Born,” guides pre-meds and residency applicants toward some good interview advice.

Your Residency Application Starts Way Before Your Fourth Year... USMLE News

Just a quick tip that updated Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK) practice materials are now available on the USMLE website. The website, by the way, is worth keeping your eye on because there are useful announcements posted regularly.

Med School and Residency Interview Advice

Early this year I launched the Insider Medical Admissions Guru on the Go© stop motion video series with residency application and medical school admissions tips. Now, as medical school and residency interview seasons approach, I'm posting the first of three original Guru on the Go© videos called "No Ring, No Thing." Take a peek.

Medical School and Residency Interview Tips

Early this year I launched the Insider Medical Admissions Guru on the Go© stop motion video series. These super speedy videos, offering expert admissions advice, give great tips in under a minute. Now, as medical school and residency interview seasons approach, I'm posting three original Guru on the Go© videos over the next few weeks. Keep your eye out for the first one, "No Ring, No Thing."

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

2014 Residency Application Timeline

The Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) offers a very cool interactive timeline for the residency application process on the ECFMG website. Here is the link. It's useful for international/ foreign medical graduates and U.S. medical students as well.

AMCAS is Done. Now Prepare for Your Next Big Step.

By Michelle Finkel MD, Insider Medical Admissions

Pre-meds, now that your AMCAS personal statement writing is completed, are you starting to worry about your medical school admissions interview?

Have no fear! I've just started a series of interview blog entries as an invited guest writer on the Varsity Tutors blog. Take a look at the first in the series "How to Prepare for Your Med School Admission Interview" here.

Note: This series of entries will offer residency interview strategies too. Take a peek.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

NRMP® Data

Here's a reminder that the National Residency Matching Program® (NRMP) provides a cornucopia of Match data, which can be very useful in deciding how to approach your residency candidacy. It's impressive that the NRMP publishes this data, offering transparency in what can be a confusing process. Some newer reports are viewable here.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Emergency Medicine Should Not be your Back Up

I've recently heard from several residency applicants who are considering emergency medicine as a back up specialty for the coming Match. These candidates are interested in applying in their field of primary interest and using emergency medicine as a safety specialty. I would not recommend this strategy! Emergency medicine's popularity has waxed and waned over the years, but currently it is pretty hot. It's far from a back up.

For more information about emergency medicine candidacies and careers, take a look at my piece "Why Are Emergency Physicians Burning Out" on KevinMD.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Get Started on Your ERAS® Now

Every September a swarm of panicked residency applicants contacts me asking for urgent help. Don't be one of those harried people, approaching your future career goals in a frenzy! It's time to get started on your ERAS® personal statement and experiences section now. MyERAS® is already open for candidates to start working on their applications, and residency tokens are already available for International Medical Graduates (IMGs) through the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates® (ECFMG).

Here is a list of the residency application services I provide and here is my comprehensive package.

And for those of you who don't think the personal statement matters, take a look at the (bizarrely) high percentage of residency directors who site the personal statement as a factor in selecting whom to interview in the 2012 NRMP Program Director Survey.

Finally, for fun, take a look at my under-one-minute Guru on the Go® stop-motion, animation video "Honors Won't Make It Write" about the import of the residency personal statement.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

The Complete Package

If you plan to hire me for the Complete Package for Residency Applicants, please do so very soon. The benefits of an early Strategy Session are numerous: I can assist you in furthering your candidacy and avoiding common missteps. Also, getting your written materials polished early will afford you a strong advantage in the residency application process.


Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Cutting for Stone

It's a stressful time right now for pre-meds, so I thought I would try to cut the anxiety by recommending a medically-related novel called "Cutting for Stone" by Dr. Abraham Verghese, Professor for the Theory and Practice of Medicine at Stanford University Medical School and Senior Associate Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. The book follows twin brothers born to a nun and a surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. The story is wonderful.

Try to kick back and enjoy this masterpiece.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Getting the Best Letters of Recommendation Part 2

Check out part two of my Varsity Tutors guest blog on getting the best letters of recommendation to strengthen your candidacy.


Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

How to Get Outstanding Letters of Recommendation

Click here to read my guest entry on the Varsity Tutors blog explaining how to obtain the best letters of recommendation possible to bolster your candidacy. The article focuses on medical school applicants, but contains very useful information for residency, fellowship, post-bacc, and dental applicants as well.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmsissions.com

AMCAS Calendar Change

AMCAS has announced that the opening for the 2014 AMCAS submission is being delayed until Monday, June 10 at 9:30 am EST because of technical difficulties. Check out this page for details.

AMCAS Calendar

Here's a quick reminder for med school applicants that 2014 AMCAS opens for submission tomorrow, June 4. For more information, check out this AMCAS web page for applicants.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Medical School Letters of Recommendation: You Get More Bees with Honey

Making the process of letter of recommendation (LOR) writing and submission smooth for your faculty recommenders will likely improve the content and turnaround time of your LORs. Your medical school LOR writers have several options for submitting to AMCAS. Because you want to make the process as convenient as possible, and because different faculty members may have varying preferences, you should offer each writer all feasible alternatives.

Below are the options. Note that your AAMC ID and AMCAS Letter ID (found on your Letter Request Form) are required, regardless of the means of submission:

1. AMCAS Letter Writer Application: This site enables letter writers to upload documents to AMCAS securely.

2. Interfolio: AMCAS can receive letters sent to Interfolio if the applicant is an Interfolio user or if the faculty member’s institution/organization uses the program.

3. Snail mail:
AMCAS, attn: AMCAS Letters
AAMC Medical School Application Services
P.O. Box 18958
Washington, DC 20036

(If your recommender plans to send the letter by snail mail, be courteous and provide him/her with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.)

4. VirtualEvals (VE): VE is available to members of the National Association of Advisors for the Health Professions (NAAHP).

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

What Your Personal Statement Reader is Thinking

Please take a look at part 2 in my series of expert guest blog entries on the Varsity Tutors blog. This piece (and the one prior) are a good reminder of what to target and what to avoid when writing your personal statement for medical school, residency, fellowship, and post-baccalaureate programs.  Also, for "edutainment" take a look at my Guru on the Go® videos here (mid-page) on the same topic, called "Personal Statement Russian Roulette #1 and #2." 

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

Emergency Medicine: Can a Sizzling Hot Specialty Burn You to a Crisp?

Please take a look at my recent guest entry on the KevinMD blog exploring the disconnect between emergency medicine's immense popularity in the Match and an Archives of Internal Medicine study documenting severe burnout among emergency physicians. (According to the research, emergency physicians experience burnout at a rate of more than three times that of the average doctor and more than anyone else inside or outside of the medical field.) Pre-meds and medical students will find useful information in my guest blog entry, as they consider their future fields and lifestyles.

Check me out at www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com

How Do International Medical Graduates (IMGs) Perform in the Match and How Can that Information Guide Future Applicants?

I've reviewed data here in my blog regarding IMGs' performance in the 2013 Match, but here are some graphics and additional data published by the ECFMG (Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates). Again, the numbers are a reminder of the challenges IMGs face.

Also, for those interested in how IMGs have performed in specific specialty Matches, here is the NRMP's (National Residency Match Program) data for 2012. Check out page 5 for "Matches by Specialty and Applicant Type."

One of the pieces of data I find interesting here is that a greater number (more positions) and percentage of non-US IMGs matched to Internal Medicine Categorical (IM) over Family Practice (FP), but in looking at "Charting Outcomes of the Match," IM applicants require higher board scores and generally tougher credentials to match to their specialty versus FP. It's hard to interpret this data, but it may mean that non-US IMGs who have higher board scores and stronger credentials have a shot at IM positions, whereas those who have lesser credentials have a better chance with FP. Something to consider.