Medical School Applicants: Here's How to Hit the Ground Running

For those applicants looking forward to starting their medical education next August and those who just started a few months ago, here's a piece called, "Setting the Right Goals During Medical School." How do you set yourself up for a successful residency Match while avoiding burnout? This short piece will give you some ideas to chew on.

Wednesday is Only Two Days Away, Which Means the ERAS Open Date is Fast Approaching

Residency applicants, this is a reminder that this Wednesday, October 21 at 9am EST is when programs can begin reviewing applications. ERASes submitted today through Wednesday will still display an application date of October 21 so ensure your ERAS experience section and personal statement are in tip top shape and then, simply submit by Wednesday. (Applications submitted after that day will be date-stamped in real-time.) For help, check out "15 ERAS Tips to Boost Your Residency Application" and "5 ERAS Platform Quirks to Heed." Then get your ERAS in and take a well-deserved break. 

How to Handle the Toughest Medical School and Residency Interview Questions

With medical school interviews in full gear and the start of the residency admissions cycle merely a few weeks away, it's past time to start practicing for your interviews. Personal experience and situational questions can be tough, but what happens when you have a serious gap in your candidacy or are faced with an awkward or even illegal question? Check out my two Student Doctor pieces:

Redemption Awaits: Let Your Medical School Interview Transform Liabilities into Assets
and 

Difficult Interview Questions: Learning To Hit A Curveball Out Of The Park

for clear and detailed guidance. 

You don't want to be caught with your pants down: As always, planning and robust practice are your friends.  

Awesome Paid Summer Opportunity

I was an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mass Media Science Fellow in 1995. The program was truly fantastic and life-altering.

Applications for this year's AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellowship just opened on October 1 and will remain available through January 1, 2021. This cycle's fellowship dates are June 2 through August 17, 2021. Here's the link to application information. The scholarship is a 10-week summer program that places science, engineering, and math undergraduate and graduate students at media organizations across the nation - outlets like NPR, the Los Angeles Times, and WIRED. I worked at the Oregonian in Portland and had a tremendous time, learning how to write effectively and edit. I also gained an appreciation for the amazing public health opportunities journalists have. 

Residency Personal Statement Tips

I've received questions recently about the residency personal statement, so I'm including some articles and blog posts that might be useful:

• For an overall approach to the personal statement, check out this article.
• Is Your Personal Statement a Little Too Personal? is a fun, pointed piece by guest blogger David Presser MD, MPH.
• Should you be a creative nonconformist when writing your personal statement? Find out here. 
• Examples of outstanding essay intros (from Stanford undergraduate applicants) are here.

And as always, contact me for help.

Five ERAS Platform Quirks to Heed

I've been editing a lot of ERASes lately. Let's briefly cover five quirks of the ERAS platform to help you get through the drafting process. The ERAS platform...

1) Does not support italics. While journal articles and some phrases (e.g. "summa cum laude") should be italicized, don't be surprised when you can't. 

2) Prompts you for a supervisor for each activity. In some cases, you simply may not have one, but whenever you can, name someone. A name validates the experience.

3) Prompts you for average hours per week for each activity. It can be difficult to calculate this number for certain experiences, especially those that are intermittent, but it's worth making your best estimate rather than leaving the question blank. 

4) Offers space to include a "reason for leaving" for each activity. Don't skip this section, but keep your answers brief. 

5) Limits you to 1020 characters for experiences, 510 for the interruption in medical training section, and 510 for each of the awards sections. Be aware of these limits as you write, so you are not furiously cutting later.   

For tips on how to craft your ERAS, check out this short blog entry. 

Contact me for help with this weird and wild process. 

How to VITAlize your VITA interviews

 At the end of the spring, with the weightiness of COVID clearer, the AAMC (much to their credit) strongly recommended that medical schools and residencies conduct virtual interviews during the upcoming admissions season. Upending years of in-person sessions, the announcement has made a huge impact on this season's admissions process. Virtual interviews will likely diminish some of the bias that plagued the system previously and will save everyone a bundle of money. 

The AAMC did not urge the use of any particular platform, but it does provide its own, called the Video Interview Tool for Admissions (VITA), for interested medical schools. The AAMC describes VITA as a one-time, one-way recorded video interview to help medical schools assess applicants' pre-professional competencies that are important for success in medical school. 

The AAMC indicates that VITA questions will target the below capabilities:

• Social Skills
• Cultural Competence
• Teamwork
• Reliability and Dependability
• Resilience and Adaptability

An applicant's VITA session will include six questions presented in text form (no interviewer), and applicants record a video response after having one minute to read and reflect on each question. Candidates then have up to three minutes to record a response. If an applicant needs a break between questions, that's not a problem: All six questions can be completed in one sitting, or candidates can choose to have breaks of any desired length between questions. (Of course, the interview must be submitted by a medical school's deadline.)

According to the AAMC, questions can be related to personal experience (e.g. "Why did you choose medicine?"), past behavior ("Describe a time..."), or hypothetical situations ("Imagine you are... What would you do to resolve this issue?"). 

These types of questions can be tricky without practice, but are bread-and-butter for someone who is prepared. 

Remember the time you spent a week studying for the MCAT? No, you don't ;). That's because one week is not enough time to study for the MCAT! Along those lines, it's important to start early, preparing yourself fully for VITA and other virtual interview platforms. Much of interviewing is confidence, which can be developed. Please hire me now for help. 

How to Save a Bundle of Money

The big question of financing medical school and residency interviews is often swept under the rug, but this year things are - believe it or not - simpler: The virtual interview process is going to save everyone - applicants and institutions - a wad of cash. Please check out my Physician on Fire guest post The Virtual Interview for Medical School and Residency Will Save Everyone a Bundle of Money and feel free to share. 

Could Virtual Interviews Help Mitigate Systemic Sexism in Medicine?

Congrats to a few applicants who have already received very early medical school interview invitations. For most, the season will be starting in the next month or so. Virtual interviews through VITA or other platforms will be standard, and how that will affect the admissions process and next year's medical school classes is anyone's guess. My guess is that the virtual interview process will reduce discriminatory practices that have plagued the system for a while. See my Doximity article "How Virtual Interviews Might Mitigate Systemic Sexism in Medicine" and please pass it along. 

My Personal Experience with (What Appears to Have Been) "COVID Fingers"

I usually don’t use this blog to talk about personal issues, but I recently wrote this piece in KevinMD “Why Are COVID Antibodies of Questionable Relevance Being Marketed to the Public” regarding my experience with pseudo-chilblains (burning spots on my fingers – ouch) and my subsequent COVID antibody test. 

Even in the past week since the piece was published, there has been more in the news about the likelihood that T-cell modulated immunity may play an important role in COVID recovery. 

15 ERAS Tips to Boost your Residency Candidacy

 I've started editing ERASes this cycle and have developed this list for guidance:

1. Include relevant pre-professional accomplishments from college. If you conducted research, for example, list and describe it. Do not include high school achievements unless they were truly unique (worked at the White House, sang on Broadway, published in Nature).

2. While you want to include many strong achievements, you do not want your ERAS to be so long that your reader is tempted to skim it, so avoid small activities (like an afternoon health fair). 

3. Keep your descriptors to approximately five to seven sentences. Fewer can look lazy and more can look self-indulgent.

4. Use full sentences. It’s a formal application, and you want to make your written materials as readable as possible.

5. Avoid abbreviations. Ones you think are common might not be familiar to the reader.

6. Avoid contractions; they are too informal for your ERAS. 

7. Make sure you spell out your accomplishments clearly. If your reader doesn’t understand an activity, you won't get “full credit” for what you’ve done. Make no assumptions - not even that the reader has reviewed the experience's introductory information (location, name of activity). 

8. Write about yourself and your role – not an organization. For example, don’t use the space to discuss Physicians without Borders. Use it to discuss the specifics of your role at Physicians without Borders.

9. Use numbers to be persuasive. Saying that the conference you organized had 300 participants says it all.

10. Unless your PI won the Nobel, avoid using supervisors' and/or doctors' names in your descriptors as they will be meaningless to the majority of your readers.

11. Do your best not to leave the "Medical School Awards" section blank. Even if you have to simply include clerkships in which you obtained honors (or high honors), fill that section out.

12. If you have not already, consider joining your specialty's national organization and listing it under the "Membership in Honorary/Professional Societies" section. If you are applying in two fields, take this advice, though. 

13. Try to end your entries with a sentence about how the experience you just described will help you as a future specialist. Making that connection for the reader furthers your candidacy. 

14. As with all good writing, avoid redundant language. Having the word "research" three times in two lines is distracting and demonstrates a lack of originality. 

15. Get help. Don't submit your residency application without having it reviewed by someone with a lot of experience. You do not want to put forward suboptimal materials for a process that is this important and competitive.

No, I Can't Fix Your Computer

My husband spotted a man wearing a t-shirt with that saying on it, and we have ever since jokingly referred to it when someone in the house is having a tech problem. 

As we all probably know, there is usually someone in the extended family who is the "computer person." 

Well, we could use that individual now. While I am a big fan of the virtual interview for medical school and residency (see my upcoming Doximity article on the topic), I do worry about technical glitches. A client recently wrote me that her asynchronous, recorded virtual medical school interview had a problem, leaving her with one question unanswerable. (I counseled her to inform the school.) I'm crossing my fingers that this is an anomaly and not a reflection of what's to come this cycle.

As always, make sure to practice for your interviews; you wouldn't go into a standardized test without a lot of preparation, and the same should be true for interviews. 

Contact me here for help. 

The Virtual Medical School Interview: What to Expect when You're Expecting... An Unconventional Format

In the late spring, to its credit, the Association of American Medical Colleges® (AAMC) recommended that all medical school, residency, and fellowship interviews be done virtually this cycle. Formats may vary, but interviews should not be in-person.

One configuration that seems to be emerging for medical schools (at least) is a two-part model: asynchronous and synchronous. The former involves a recorded session in which a computer platform - without a live interviewer present - provides questions to applicants who then have a set time to record their answers. The synchronous session is a live, remote interview.

The advantage of virtual interviews - beyond obvious health benefits and cost containment - is a standardization of the process, but mastering the new, remote processes may be difficult and anxiety-producing. 

To get help with this new world of virtual interviews, contact me. 

Applying in Two Specialties

Most residency candidates know that their lives will be made easier if they apply in only one specialty, but some apply to a competitive field with a backup, and others are still deciding between two at the time of ERAS submission. 

Here are some clarifications about what ERAS offers that will help you apply in two specialties:

1) Different personal statements can be assigned to different programs. This means you can assign your ob/gyn essay to ob/gyn programs and your internal medicine (IM) statement to IM residencies.
2) Different letters of recommendation (LORs) can be assigned to different residency programs as well. (A maximum of four letters may be assigned to each program.)

You will have only one MyERAS application. It will go to all of your programs. (Note that if you list your membership in multiple ob/gyn organizations, that will be viewed by your IM readers as well and might make them question your commitment to IM.)

If you are thinking of applying in three specialties, I'd say don't. Navigating the application and interview process while showing commitment to each field could be miserable. If you're at three, take a moment for some reflection, and pare your list to one or two.

How the New ERAS Schedule Might Relieve Your Stress

This year, in light of the COVID crisis, while ERAS will open on September 1, residency programs will not have access to applications until October 21, which is more than a month later than last year's date of September 15. At first glance, this alteration might seem minor: After all, if programs download applications in batches by chronological order, an applicant would still be better off submitting on September 1. However, all applications submitted September 1 through October 21 will appear to programs as being submitted on October 21. This affords residency applicants more time to get their applications in order. 

Having said that, ECFMG is still recommending that applicants submit by October 14 to be on the safe side, and I'd also suggest not waiting until the last minute. Good writing takes a long time, and you do not want to be behind the eight ball, submitting suboptimal written materials. 

For help with your residency written materials, contact me. 

"Why Our School" Secondary Essay: How to Get Started

Secondary essay prompts vary, but there are a few that are standard fare. See my recent blog entry for guidance on the familiar "diversity essay." "Why do you want to attend our school?" is also a common topic pre-meds will encounter.

Medical school admissions officers want to be assured that you know their institution, are seriously considering it, and will fit in well there. In approaching the "why-our-school" question, do your research on the institution and link something specific about you with the school's philosophy, curriculum, patient population, and/or extracurricular programs.

For instance, if you were a teaching assistant for chemistry in college, you might link your use of the Socratic method with a school's tutorial-based learning. In that way, you demonstrate knowledge of the school, show that you connect well with it, and showcase your accomplishment.  

The paradox here is that - although you are theoretically focusing your essay on one school - because so many institutions have overlapping philosophies, curricula, and objectives - you can oftentimes use the same essay framework for many different schools. 

That's one strategic way to cut down the overwhelming workload that secondary applications present. 

AAMC Fee Assistance Program Expands

In light of the COVID crisis, the AAMC has recently expanded its Fee Assistance Program income eligibility. Please take a look here for current requirements. For more information on the FAP, including an online webinar, see this AAMC page.  

To support those with financial need, l continue to offer a discount to those applicants who can demonstrate a current FAP. Contact me with questions. 

Diversity Essay: How to Get Started

I've had several questions on how to approach the secondary essay diversity prompt. In considering your strategy and content, I'd recommend you ask yourself the following question: 

What ethnic, religious, racial, gender, language, socioeconomic, or sexual orientation aspects of me, my family, or my experience make me distinctive?   

Please note that experience is part of the question I have posed. An applicant I mentored a few years back wrote me concerned that she did not fit into a minority category and thus, could not answer the prompt effectively. I suggested she consider an experience that targeted the prompt's theme, and she wrote a strong essay about her successful efforts to increase diversity during sorority rush. I crafted one of my secondary essays on my experience hearing Spike Lee speak in person. Don't be afraid to think outside the box.

How to Get Clinical Experience Safely During the COVID Pandemic

I've written before about the importance of premeds' getting clinical experience. Not only is robust clinical participation critical to obtaining a medical school acceptance, it's also important to ensure you like working with patients before heading down the long medical training path. 

During this pandemic, working as an EMT, scribe, or certified phlebotomist can be risky. So how can you get clinical experience without being in the clinic?

Here are three ideas:

1. Become a contact tracer -  I tweeted last month about a great Johns Hopkins training opportunity. Working as a contact tracer is a way to do a good deed, learn to convey difficult information to lay people, and make some money. 

2. Work on a crisis hotline (phone or text) - Many people are, understandably, in distress right now, and learning to assist those having emotional challenges will help you as a future physician.

3. Work on a COVID information hotline - There is a lot of misinformation floating about. Conveying accurate scientific concepts to the public is, again, an excellent skill to have in your tool box as a future doctor. 

Check out my goofy, less-than-one-minute video about the importance of getting clinical experience here. 

Brevity is the Soul of Wit

As William Shakespeare so wisely pointed out, being concise is critical for good writing.

I've been editing a lot of personal statements over the last few months, and I deliberately recommend a word count of 750 or fewer for my advisees for a couple of reasons:

First, I've found that that number is just the right balance of content and streamlining: Over 750 words for an admissions essay lends itself to meandering writing.

Second, your reader is likely reviewing tens or even scores of applications in a short period of time. S/he is looking to spend as little time as possible on your written materials, while still getting a good flavor for your candidacy. Don't burden your reader with verbiage.

Having trouble being brief? Here's a helpful trick: Imagine AMCAS, AACOMAS, or ERAS is charging you $10 per word. How would you keep costs down?