Here’s a short downer of an article on medical school debt. Per the NEJM, The median cost of attending medical school for one year (including fees) is $62,243 at private schools and $44,390 for state residents at public schools. The graph – following the trends in cost and reimbursements over the past ten years – is particularly grave.
Interviews: What are they really looking for anyway?
It helps to prepare for your interviews by considering what the questions are really asking. There are several reassurances medical school, residency and fellowship interviewers are seeking:
1. Are you sure you know what you’re doing? If you’re applying to medical school, can you demonstrate that you are familiar with what being a doctor entails? (Giving examples of clinical experience helps.) If you are applying for residency or fellowship, are you confident you want to be a [insert specialty or subspecialty here]? Institutions do not want to accept someone who later quits. It looks bad and can be very inconvenient, especially for residency and fellowship schedules!
2. Are you crazy? Is there anything that tips the interviewer off to some problem personality? Are you going to harass your colleagues, commit a crime or do anything that will cause the institution extra work and embarrassment? (A colleague told me about an applicant who started his interview by putting his feet on her desk and ended it by winking at her. Needless to say, he was not ranked to match.)
3. Are you really interested in this institution? If we send you an acceptance/ put you high on our match list will you really come here? You can try to convince them by knowing the institution and the city it’s in.
For individualized help on your interviews give me a jingle: insidermedical@gmail.com. I have excellent feedback from my clients on my personalized mock interviews: http://insidermedicaladmissions.com/about/testimonials.shtml .
Tags: December 2008
Napping on the job?
The saga continues. Read this editorial on resident (and medical student) fatigue. I agree that mandating a nap is impossible to enforce. And can you imagine the chutzpah a resident would have to have to demand his/her nap in the current hierarchical medical training system?
Tags: December 2008
How to be a good doctor
Anyone who reads my blog knows I am a big New York Times fan. There was another good article recently (even my mom pointed it out to me) regarding hubris in physicians. Just like in a good Greek tragedy, being arrogant can hurt you and your patients. Take a look at the article and remember my advice: If a nurse ever asks you to come see a patient do it. You’d be surprised how many times they can save the patient… and you.
Tags: December 2008
Medical Training: Long and Dangerous Hours
Check out this NYT’s article on residency training hours. What the author doesn’t mention is that – despite the mandatory maximum 80-hour work week – many residents are working more. The residents have no incentive to report this to the Residency Review Committee (RRC) because they don’t want to find themselves in unaccredited programs. The incentives are misaligned, leaving the residents without recourse.
Tags: December 2008
Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital. She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more
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