Blog Archives

How to Turn the Elephant in the Room into a Cuddly Kitten

No application to medical school (or residency) is perfect, which is why it’s important you have a well-considered strategy for managing interview questions about gaps in your candidacy. Addressing a bumpy freshman year or a suboptimal first MCAT attempt with aplomb can make a big difference in how an interviewer and admissions committee perceives you.

Check out this KevinMD article I wrote a few years back that specifically addresses how to be upfront about a major deficiency in your candidacy and how to demonstrate — with evidence from the remainder of your application — that the weakness is not representative of your abilities.

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Medical School and Residency Interviews: Power Pose

Those of you who have worked with me may recall that I am a big fan of the “fake it until you make it” philosophy espoused by Harvard’s Amy Cuddy. Many applicants are overly humble about their accomplishments, leaving their interviewers mistakenly underwhelmed.

Cuddy’s TED talk has been viewed over 19 million times. It’s definitely worth a watch.

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Medical School and Residency Interview Thank You Note Etiquette

medical school interview and residency applicationSee my last blog on the low cost and high potential gain of writing thank you notes after your interviews.
I get asked by clients what the best way to send post-interview thank you notes is – email or snail mail. I strongly advise sending your thank you note by good old USPS. The reasons are:

1) Email may be viewed as lazy. Hand-written notes demonstrate you’ve put some time into being appreciative.

2) Email can be deleted without much thought. Emotionally, it’s harder to throw someone’s hand written note in the trash.

Get your handwritten thank you notes in quickly. The night after you’ve completed your interview or the next day is a good time to write and send.

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Medical School and Residency Interview Thank You Notes – So Easy for You to Do

medical school interview and residency interviewTwo years ago a medical school applicant wrote me to say that the dean of the school at which she had recently interviewed called her to tell her that he was impressed with her candidacy and the hand-written thank you note she had sent. The client thanked me for my help and the thank you note tip I had given her. As you might have guessed, she was admitted to that med school.

Writing a thank you note after a medical school or residency interview is so easy for you to do, and it can go a long way. More on thank you notes in future posts.

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Your Medical School Admission or Residency Match May Boil Down to How You Sit at Your Interview

For those of you who have never watched this TED talk, hunker down with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy. Professor Amy Cuddy is Harvard Business School faculty, and her TED talk reached 2 million views within 2 months of being posted. Dr. Cuddy argues that your body language affects how people (interviewers) perceive you. This video is instructive, funny, and sad. It’s worth the 21 minutes.

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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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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: