The Residency Match

by Desai, Samir P.

• ISBN13: 9780972556118
• ISBN10: 0972556117
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-04-30
• Publisher: Md2B

Summary

In late March, a life-changing day occurs for students at medical schools across the United States. On Match Day, students learn where they will be pursuing their residency training. For some it is a time to rejoice. For others, however, there is bitter disappointment when the match does not turn out as expected. Every year there are medical students who do not match at any residency program. There are many others who do match but are disappointed to learn that they did not match at one of their top programs. These outcomes often leave students wondering what went wrong along the way. During every step of the residency application process, mistakes can be made that prevent you from matching with the residency program of your choice. Although these errors have been well known to those involved in the resident selection process, they are not well recognized by students applying for residency. Now, for the first time, Dr. Samir Desai identifies the 101 all-too-common mistakes students make during the residency application process. He also shows you how to avoid them so you don't fall into the same traps. Here are some of the mistakes you'll learn to avoid: Mistakes made: On the CV. On the personal statement. When interviewing. When ranking residency programs. And much more. Take charge of the residency application process, instead of letting it take charge of you. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Samir Desai, MD has mentored many medical students and residents during his time as a faculty member at the Baylor College of Medicine. He has been recognized for his work with multiple teaching awards. He is also the founder of www.md2b.net

Table of Contents

About the Author	p. v
Preface	p. xiii
Commonly Made Mistakes with the Transcripts and the Dean's Letter
Not requesting your transcripts early enough	p. 2
Not looking over your transcript/Dean's letter before it is submitted	p. 2
Not confirming that the transcript/Dean's letter has been sent out	p. 3
Not sending an updated transcript	p. 3
Commonly Made Mistakes with the Curriculum Vitae (CV)
Procrastinating	p. 5
Not concise	p. 6
Too long	p. 6
CV is not professional looking	p. 7
Not correcting spelling or grammar errors	p. 9
CV is not complete	p. 9
Including unnecessary information	p. 12
Leaving time holes in the CV	p. 12
Not using action words	p. 13
Not having others review the CV before submission	p. 14
Lying	p. 14
Not sending an updated CV	p. 15
Commonly Made Mistakes with Letters of Recommendation
Not reading the instructions carefully	p. 16
Not requesting letters of recommendation at the right time	p. 17
Not asking the right person to write the letter	p. 18
Not knowing how to ask for a letter of recommendation	p. 20
Not giving the letter writer enough time	p. 22
Not providing your letter writer with the information needed to write the letter	p. 22
Writing your own letter of recommendation	p. 24
Not thanking your letter writers	p. 25
Pressuring the letter-writer to complete and submit the letter	p. 26
Commonly Made Mistakes on the Personal Statement
Underestimating the importance of the personal statement	p. 28
Procrastinating	p. 29
Not knowing your audience	p. 30
Personal statement is too long	p. 31
Personal statement is too short	p. 31
Not knowing what to address in the personal statement	p. 31
Personal statement is poorly written	p. 32
Not correcting spelling mistakes	p. 33
Not correcting grammar mistakes	p. 33
Exaggeration	p. 34
Lying	p. 34
Personal statement is not much different than the CV	p. 35
Not seeking help when writing the personal statement	p. 35
Not beginning your statement with an attention grabber	p. 36
Not being concise	p. 36
Focusing on your preclinical or undergraduate years	p. 37
Personal statement is too creative	p. 37
Coming across as arrogant	p. 37
Discussing taboo topics	p. 38
Commonly Made Mistakes during the Interview
Not being considerate to the residency program's administrative staff	p. 40
Not knowing when to interview	p. 40
Scheduling the first interviews with residency programs that you have the most interest in	p. 41
Clustering interviews over too short a period of time	p. 42
Not participating in a mock interview	p. 42
Not understanding the importance of the interview	p. 44
Not understanding the goals of the interview	p. 44
Not researching the program	p. 45
Not meeting with the house staff and faculty at your own institution who have trained at the institution where you will be interviewing	p. 46
Being a no show for your interview	p. 47
Not bringing everything you need for the interview	p. 47
Arriving late for the interview	p. 49
Dressing unprofessionally	p. 50
Not presenting yourself properly	p. 51
Not being cordial to everyone you meet	p. 51
Not knowing who will be interviewing you	p. 52
Not saying the interviewer's name	p. 52
Not shaking the interviewer's hand	p. 53
Sitting down before the interviewer asks or does so himself	p. 54
Not knowing where to look during interview	p. 54
Not recognizing how important the first few minutes of an interview are	p. 55
Not maintaining an equal balance of power	p. 56
Not listening	p. 57
Not thinking before you answer	p. 57
Not having answers prepared for certain questions	p. 58
Not rehearsing answers to commonly asked questions	p. 60
Responding to a question with a yes or no answer	p. 61
Not knowing how to handle difficult questions	p. 61
Not knowing how to handle silence	p. 64
Not having a case ready to present	p. 65
Being robotic	p. 66
Lack of enthusiasm	p. 66
Being negative	p. 67
Lacking confidence	p. 68
Lying	p. 68
Being evasive	p. 69
Not being courteous	p. 70
Not being aware of your own nonverbal communication	p. 70
Not recognizing important nonverbal cues given to you by the interviewer	p. 72
Being too anxious	p. 72
Letting the stress get to you	p. 73
Not asking the interviewer any questions	p. 74
Not ending the interview properly	p. 76
Not meeting with faculty or house staff who trained at your own institution	p. 76
Not meeting with the house staff on your interview day	p. 77
Not speaking with senior medical students at the institution where you are being interviewed	p. 79
Not grading the residency program after your visit	p. 79
Not grading yourself after the interview	p. 80
Not visiting the program again	p. 81
Not writing thank-you notes	p. 82
Commonly Made Mistakes Ranking Residency Programs
Not giving enough thought to your rank list	p. 84
Ranking a program you have doubts about	p. 85
Creating too short of a rank list	p. 85
Ranking residency programs based upon where you think you will get accepted	p. 86
Not considering your goals for your future	p. 86
Ranking a program higher because the program tells you that you will be ranked at the top of their list	p. 87
Not discussing your rank order list with your advisor/Dean	p. 88
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