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Your Residency or Medical School Application: Maybe Leadership is Overrated

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As an Assistant Residency Director at Harvard, I often heard my colleagues ask, “Will she be a leader?” or “Can we count on him to show leadership qualities?” when we discussed applicants.

But maybe being a leader or even an extrovert is not what we should be seeking in all applicants. Poor leaders can bully, be arrogant, and may ignore excellent advice. In academics, I saw many leaders who were not role models in their behavior or scruples.

Here’s an interesting New York Times piece about the need for introverts and even followers in college admissions. I found the story about the young woman who tried to overhaul her personality and activities to fit the admissions mold to be particularly telling.
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Residency Match!

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Congratulations to so many successful Insider Medical Admissions applicants in dermatology, plastic surgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, anesthesia… and many others. You should feel good about your hard work.

And speaking of hard work… It’s time for third year medical students (and graduated IMGs) to get started on a plan for this coming Match season. As of this writing, I have a few Strategy Sessions slots left in April. Advising discussion topics at this time of year should include creating a fourth year schedule, if/where to do away rotations, potential letter writers, crafting an outline for a personal statement, understanding how to write solid ERAS activity descriptors, reviewing an individual’s prospects in a desired field – using data, and producing a timeline for the application process. Also, note that some applicants contact me to discuss their current indecision about what field to pursue, and that’s fine too; those conversations should happen soon.

Here is a list of my residency services. Contact me for help.

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Congratulations!

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Many congratulations are due to those residency applicants who had a successful Match. I would really appreciate hearing from this year’s clients regarding their Matches. 

On a related note, unfortunately, as of July 1, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) will allow first-year residents to work 24+ hours without a break. I’ll come out as saying that I think this is a very poor idea.

I remember a horrible week during my internship in which I worked 138 hours (absolutely true). I still have nightmares about the experience. I also remember surgical resident friends who were “rewarded” with operating the morning after being on-call all day and night.

Here’s an NPR piece and a Forbes piece on the topic. Extreme hours lead to danger for patients and residents and keep talented folks out of medicine.
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Residency Applicants: The Big Day is Approaching

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Here’s a condensed version of this week’s Match schedule from the NRMP website:

Today

11 am EST: Applicants learn if they matched via email and the R3® system. SOAP-eligible unmatched and partially matched applicants have access to the List of Unfilled Programs in the R3 system.

2 pm EST: SOAP applicants can start preparing and sending applications in the AAMC ERAS® system. Applicants cannot communicate with a program until contacted by that program.

Wednesday

SOAP Round 1

12 pm EST: SOAP Applicants begin receiving offers by logging in to the R3 system. Applicants accept or reject offer(s) once all offers have been generated.

2 pm EST: SOAP Applicant deadline to accept or reject Round 1 offers in R3 system.

2:05 pm EST: List of Unfilled Programs updated in R3 system for SOAP-eligible applicants.

SOAP Round 2

3 pm EST: SOAP Applicants begin receiving offers in the R3 system.

5 pm EST: SOAP Applicant deadline to accept or reject Round 2 offers.

5:05 pm EST: List of Unfilled Programs updated in R3 system for SOAP-eligible applicants.

Thursday

SOAP Round 3

9 am EST: Applicants begin receiving offers in the R3 system.

11 am EST: Applicant deadline to accept or reject Round 3 offers.

SOAP ends

12 pm EST: List of Unfilled Programs accessible from R3 system and updated to include unfilled programs not participating in SOAP. All applicants who are unmatched or partially matched have access to List of Unfilled Programs. Programs not participating in SOAP can be contacted by unmatched or partially-matched applicants, including applicants who were not SOAP-eligible.

Friday – Match Day

1 pm EST: Applicants learn the location of program(s) to which they matched via email and in the R3 system.

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Using SOAP to clean up the NRMP Match

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I’m very hopeful that all blog readers who are residency applicants will be Matching successfully this year. But it is worth understanding how the NRMP SOAP (formerly called “the Scramble”) works.

Years ago, when I was an applicant, the Scramble was all that unmatched candidates had… and it was not great. For a quick history on the Scramble’s transition to SOAP, check out this article.

For details on this year’s SOAP (and Match week) schedule, check out this PDF that includes great details.

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

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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