an academic medicine weblog
I swear, the hardest part of internship is not the long hours or the work load, it’s the waiting–the anticipation of impending pain. The worst is when you’re sitting there on the eve of a painful 12 day stretch and you can just imagine how bad it’ll be. Of course it’s never that bad but [...]
I was gonna write about something else but then I noticed that someone got to my blog using the google search terms:
how to change out of my shitty fucking internal medicine residency
Dang. It’s not that often I hear an internal medicine resident describe his/her residency as “…shitty fucking…” and it harkens back to some clinical rotations I’ve been on, [...]
So one of the biggest challenges facing a mudphudder is the prospect of putting aside all research for several (anywhere from three to five) years during residency training. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing–residency training is meant for producing competent physicians not researchers. But having actively participated in research for the last six to [...]
The match is over and I know where I’ll be for the next chunk of my life. I lucked out because I’m going to my top choice for residency. But still, I can’t help but feel like I’ll miss having the residency match process to always complain about. Sort of like having a 25 pound tumor cut [...]
It’s almost over. The search for a residency program. We’ve talked about the pains of traveling for residency interviews, of getting stuck in snow storms, of getting our luggage lost, of crashing planes and of the flaws in the process. And now it’s almost over. But not over yet.
This past Monday medical students found out whether we matched [...]
So my residency rank list was finalized last night at 9pm. It is no longer in my hands. Now some computer algorithm written by a guy who undoubtedly still plays Dungeons and Dragons will determine my future. Note I didn’t say Advanced Dungeons and Dragons because that would have tipped some of you off that I [...]
Nothing gives me more confidence in a residency program than when I ask an interviewer a question regarding a concern I have about the program and I get a very defensive and accusatory response. Over the last week, I was at a few residency interviews and at one of them, I asked one of the more senior interviewers [...]
Obviously you will probably have your own personal questions to ask faculty during your residency interviews, but if you are ever at a loss for questions to ask, here are some safe ones:
What medical schools do the current residents come from?
What is the success rate of graduates on specialty boards/fellowship spots/finding jobs?
What are clinical/Non-clinical/administrative responsibilities [...]
Here are two surprising residency interview questions that have previously caught residency candidates off guard:
1) Tell me a joke.
2) What are five things you can do with a potato [or some other object]?
Note, do not tell a dirty or sexist joke–no matter how funny. I have it first hand from a faculty member who does [...]
So my first residency interview did not go at all as I expected. I think I was asked two questions the whole time: what do I like to do for fun and to talk about my PhD dissertation. Actually, I was asked one other question over and over again: “what questions do you [...]
Final stages of preparation. See my earlier post questions not to mess up during an interview. Reviewing my questions not-to-miss. Looking up faculty in the department doing research related to my interests. Gaining an understanding of that research. Probably should have done this sooner, but who has the time? Which is why I’m putting it [...]
Tomorrow. I made into Chicago in one piece with little trouble. Note, if you do fly to Chicago–either Midway or O’hare airports–and you’re not renting a car, take the metro/subway/L (whatever you want to call it) into town. It costs much less than a cab ($2 vs. $50) and it’s convenient.
Ran into some trouble at the [...]
