One of my former emergency medicine residents Christine Tsien Silvers wrote this provocative piece, “Doctorectomy: Why One EP Stopped Practicing Medicine.” The article is charming and insightful, and it provides useful perspective on how your current career choices might clash with your future priorities.
Blog Archives
How Amy Cuddy Can Help You
I recently discovered the work of Dr. Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist who teaches at Harvard Business School. Her research is really fascinating, including evidence that body language can directly affect interviewers’ perceptions of candidates. For those of you who are not yet familiar with her work, it is worth examining.
MSPE Releases Today
Just a reminder that the ERAS Medical School Performance Evaluation (MSPE) release is scheduled for today – October 1st – instead of November 1st, as in years past. Likely this will lead to earlier interview invitations at many residency programs.
If you are interested in mock interview assistance, please consider contacting me early, so you are not caught with a surprisingly early interview without professionally-guided practice.
Take a Lesson from Google
I recently read this article in the New York Times regarding recruiting and keeping women at Google. Toward the bottom of the piece is something that is relevant to those applying to medical school, residency, fellowship, and dental school. Here’s the excerpt:
Google’s spreadsheets, for example, showed that some women who applied for jobs did not make it past the phone interview. The reason was that the women did not flaunt their achievements, so interviewers judged them unaccomplished.
My Mock Interview clients know that I reinforce that applicants must showcase their accomplishments fully. In the almost ten years I’ve conducted real and practice interviews, I’ve noticed that women and non-U.S. born candidates are more likely to be “overly modest” in interviews. Although modesty is an excellent trait, one doesn’t want to be overlooked because s/he is not highlighting important achievements. If you feel that it’s rude to “brag,” consider that you are really just stating facts when you speak to an interviewer about what you’ve done. Remember, too, that by understating your achievements you may be overlooked when others are skillfully showcasing successes.
For Mock Interview help, contact me. Please note: I am currently booking 2 to 3 weeks in advance.
Earlier Release Date for Medical School Performance Evaluations (MSPEs)
This year the MyERAS PostOffice will release MSPEs to U.S. residency
programs on October 1, one month earlier than last year. (Remember:
The MSPE is a close equivalent to a dean’s letter.)
U.S. medical students’ designated deans’ offices will attach the MSPE
(and the medical school transcript) to applicants’ electronic files;
the documents are then automatically sent to all the programs to which
a candidate applies.
International applicants must ensure that their MSPEs are submitted to
ERAS Support Services at ECFMG. The documents are then processed and
transmitted to the ERAS PostOffice. (For more information on
submitting documents – including the MSPE – see the ERAS Support
Services for Applicants section of the ECFMG website at
http://www.ecfmg.org/eras/applicants-index.html.)
As always, please ensure your supporting documents are ready early in
order to avoid harmful delays in your application.
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
Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on The Visible Voices podcast:
Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the White Coat Investor podcast:
Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the FeminEm podcast: