MEDICAL SCHOOL
study tips
I am very happy to announce that I am done with all three portions of the usmle medical licensing exam! Below I've listed a few tips that I picked up over the past 2+ years of using uworld as a study resource. Feel free to contact me with questions either in the comments section or on the contact page. I also love your suggestions for future posts!
Call me a nerd, but I really enjoy long study days where I can just sit with material and finally put all the pieces together. Over the years, I've come up with a check-list of things to have in my bag for a productive study day. Here they are listed below. I've also included a more concise list at the bottom to screenshot and save as a reference.
advice for the wards
choosing a specialty
I briefly discussed a few of the factors that went into my decision to apply to dermatology residency in the how to chose a medical specialty post (and the price of it all in this and this post), but I intentionally kept it short and vague. I was afraid that I might bias you - that my passion for dermatology might subconsciously affect your desires and your future career. Instead, I encouraged you to reflect internally on who you are, who you want to be, and what you want to do everyday with your life. Since then, I have realized that a person's individual story can be just as useful in helping someone find their path. My intention for this article is to share a little bit more about me and inspire you to work your butt off to fulfill your dreams.
In this article, I’ll discuss factors to consider when choosing a specialty and then I’ll show you the contents of my “What I want to be when I grow up” post and encourage you to make your own.
residency interviews
You don't want to be remembered for what you wore. This means don't be sloppy, but also don't be fashionable. Your interview attire should be generic. You shouldn't stick out from other interviewers in a headless line-up. This is about who you are, not what you're wearing.
Dr. Milhouse is a urologist that specializes in female urology. We asked her for advice on doing well in medical school and matching urology in her career profile (coming Thursday!) and she gave such a detailed answer it deserved its own blog post! It echos a lot of the points I included in the Tips to match a competitive specialty part 1 and part 2 posts, but in a different voice and specific to urology.
In addition to your time and hard work, matching dermatology requires dollars - thousands of dollars.
Whenever you ask for a letter of recommendation, I recommend you offer to provide the letter writer with a draft (it's even better if you've written the draft before you ask so that you can send it to them later that day).
The rank order list is really stressful especially if you don’t understand how the match works. As strongly as I feel against the match system, it does favor the applicant. It’s important for you to really understand this before you make your list. Basically, no one can take your spot from you. There’s no true incentive to rank a program you think you have a “better chance of matching at” higher than a program you love.
In general, it's important to figure out what your studying style is. Me personally, I really like to read textbooks and take notes, which is something most people hate. It works for me because I remember information better when it has context. Below, I've listed three other ways that I've found to add context to study material.