Blog Archives

Do Interviews Matter?

There’s an interesting NYT’s article from this past week called “Do College Admissions Interviews Matter?” Although the article makes a convincing argument that undergraduate interviews may not matter in many cases, it does point out that many graduate school interviews do. It also recommends doing mock interviews.

The NRMP Program Directors’ Survey makes it quite clear that residency interviews matter a lot, which was also my experience as Assistant Residency Director at Harvard. I remember very robust conversations about even small comments that candidates had made in their interviews that adversely affected their ranking on our Match list.

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Why an Early ERAS Submission Will Help You

When I was an Assistant Residency Director evaluating ERAS, I was impressed with residency applicants who submitted their materials early. I figured those were the people who were on-the-ball and would make reliable residents. Also, early in the season, when I had only a few applications to assess, I was able to spend extra time on each ERAS. Later in the season, when I was flooded with applications, I could only give each one its allotted time.

For those two reasons, I strong recommend submitting your ERAS on September 1. Please contact me now so that you can achieve that goal.

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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 White Coat Investor podcast:

Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the FeminEm podcast: