Archive | November, 2012

How Interviews Should be Used and What Their Limitations Are

As I am in the midst of writing many essays for my residency applications, I am also thinking ahead to the inevitable interview stage. I started to reflect on my experiences, the questions I was asked, and really the most important topic – what value do interviews contribute, why should we use them, and therefore, how should we use them?

Actions speak louder than words

Before I dive further into interviews, I want to point out why I think someone’s resume should be the most important part of the application process for anything. Really, it comes down to one simple reason:

Past behaviour is most predictive of future behaviour.

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High School Courses that Should Exist but Don’t

I have now spent the last 20 years of my life in the formal education system. This includes all kinds of schooling: private school, public school, a self-directed learning high school, undergraduate studies, and most recently, professional school. I have 1 year left to go in medical school, but if you count residency as a formal education, then I actually have at least another 3 years to go (assuming I do Family Medicine residency, which is the plan).

Every student at some point in his or her life comes across a school subject they hate and asks:

Why do I have to learn this? I'm never going to use this again.

Usually parents and teachers say something like “you might not understand now, but someday you'll see why it's important”. Sometimes this is actually true. But other times, chances are your parents and teachers are thinking the same thing you are.

So why are there all these different subjects that often don't seem to really matter?

The main theory that comes to mind is to expose students to a variety of subjects. How do you know what subjects would interest you until you try them? It's like trying new food – you're missing out on a ton of great stuff if you never try anything new.

I think this concept is sound on a theoretical level. And so it makes sense that not every student is going to like every subject out there. You might try Science and hate it, and never want to do it again. On the other hand, you might try Science, love it, and become a scientist.

Both outcomes are useful: if you like the subject, you are closer to finding a career or interest; if you don't like it, well at least you can rule stuff out.

My problem with this theory

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How to Be a Great Clinical Clerk

How to Be a Great Clinical Clerk

I have written a lot about medical school, but mostly about getting in and some of my experience as a “preclerk” – the primarily classroom based learning I did in my first two years of medical school.

Now that I am in my 4th and final year, I have over a year of clinical experience under my belt. Besides two weeks off for winter break, I have spent the last 12 months straight working in hospitals and clinics, rotating through every single service imaginable. One week I would be suturing lacerations in the emergency room, and the next I could be delivering a baby. I am a firm believer that a medical student’s first clinical year presents the steepest learning curve in all of medical training.

However, I didn’t write much about clerkship for a few reasons.

The first is that it was my busiest year ever, and that meant I always found an excuse not to write: too tired, too busy, too stressed, etc. Fortunately, 4th year is full of elective rotations, and my schedule is much improved. I don’t have any excuse for not writing unless I get lazy. Hopefully that doesn’t happen (look, this is the first time I would have blogged two days in a row in forever – when was the last time that happened?).

The second is that I was always worried about what I would be allowed to write from clerkship. Given that I am seeing patients and coworkers day in and day out, I was scared to write something that would identify another person. It doesn’t help that I write openly as myself – anyone who has come into contact with me on service might think I am writing about them. Now that I have completed my core rotations, I have a bit more freedom to write, but of course I will be safe and cognizant of privacy.

The third is that I just wasn’t experienced enough to write about clerkship. It has taken me the full year to really realize the value of clerkship and what it takes to be a great clerk. Chances are, what you think might make a good clerk probably is far from the truth – I know that was true for myself and my peers (hint: if you think the clerk who studies the most impresses the most, think again). It takes experiencing something as intense as clerkship to really realize what is expected of you and what you should really expect of yourself.

Now that I have this experience, I feel ready to freely share my thoughts on what it means to be a great clinical clerk. For those of you who have recently started or will soon be starting clerkship, I hope there are some gems in this article for you. For those of you still not yet in medical school but hope to one day, I hope this gives you a bit of insight into what being a medical student is like and what attitudes and skill would be useful to adopt in your life going forward.

Disclaimer: Before going forward, I just wanted to say that the following are a collection of ideas of what I think make a great clinical clerk. I’m not saying that I personally do all of these things or do any of them well or that I am even a great clinical clerk myself – I know I have much to learn, and that if I followed my own advice more closely, I would be a much better clerk than I am today.
Create value

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How to Become Great at Writing Essays

I was recently consulted through EssaySensei to help a high school student with her application for a prestigious undergraduate program. Her mother saw the progress we had made since her first draft and was really impressed:

Hi Josh, I love this essay. It turned out so good. I couldn't be happier. Thank you thank you! Do you have any tricks my younger daughter could learn?

Residency applications

As I write this blog post, I am in the midst of completing my own applications for residency programs. Residency is the next step after medical school and involves additional training to become a specific type of doctor. For example, a family physician requires two extra years of residency training and a general surgeon requires six.

Similar to the process of applying to medical school, we need to write personal statements, C.V.s, and obtain reference letters from physicians and supervisors who have worked with us. And like medical school, we again have to apply to residency programs at various universities. This means that we need to tailor parts of our application to the different schools we are applying to. Suffice to say, it is a lot of work and brings back memories of applying to medical school. (Subtext: you will be jumping through hoops for the rest of your life.)

Over the last week, I have been working hard to write my personal statement. I need to write a convincing letter about why I want to pursue Family Medicine, how my experiences prepare me for residency, and why I am a good fit for each of these universities.

Fortunately, I developed my theme and structure relatively quickly, and I did not have too much trouble writing my first draft. I don't want to make essay writing sound easy, because it's not. But at the same time, it's not a mountain for me. Clearly, there must be skills or knowledge I could impart to help others with the essay writing process.

So what tips could I provide to this mother's daughter?

There is no substitute for experience

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