Applications

As this month is a study month for me, I've not had many clinical encounters to comment on. What I have been doing is studying for the next board exam, which is currently scheduled for September 6th. Nothing new there; I imagine we all have an idea of what it's like to study. What has been sort of new is beginning the long, arduous process of applying to residencies. I say "sort of" because I have done an important, extensive application every few years for the last decade. College wasn't too hard to get into, med school was much harder, and residency is looking to be at least on par with med school.

I have just revised my curriculum vitae based on suggestions by our dean of clinical affairs. We have a mandatory meeting with a dean to touch base and make sure our dean's letter is as accurate and as supportive as possible. Also, we get feedback on our CV, personal statement, generalities about which letters of recommendation would be good to use, etc. I received feedback on my personal statement, too, but I decided to revise the CV first because that came down to simply reformatting a list of facts about my life. For the personal statement, not only had I barely written anything, but I was headed in the wrong direction. The dean said I shouldn't focus on the past and what has led to my choosing medicine and ortho, but instead should focus on "Why ortho, why now?"

So, I need to justify why I'll be a good orthopedic resident and ultimately ortho surgeon, and explain what is currently driving me to seek orthopedics. Marketing myself has always been awkward, and now trying to explain why I want to be an orthopod without dragging up the fact that this has been my goal for half of my life will be a challenge. Perhaps residency directors are looking to see that applicants have actively re-evaluated their desires and skills instead of just defaulting to what sounded good in high school. I think I may incorporate my insight during my EMT training, which confirmed that I need to have more than a technician's level of understanding. Then in med school, I wavered in my drive to become an orthopod, initially because I was worried about being competitive enough, then because I realized I had little experience with many specialties and should at least keep an open mind to other avenues. After stepping back and re-evaluating my career goals, I ended up choosing ortho anyway. Until just now as I'm writing this post, I thought of my "wavering" as a liability and wanted to sweep it under the rug as a possible indicator that I can be easily swayed from my goals. I now think I will include that experience as a demonstration that I am able to re-evaluate my direction in life and don't blindly continue pursuing plans that were based initially on ignorance.

Back to it.

Scott