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Happiness: Be All That You Can Be

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Medical school and residency training usually decrease one’s happiness for several reasons. Happiness researchers have demonstrated that a feeling of control and the amount of spare time one has both correlate with happiness. Both of those factors are limited during med school and residency. Relationships are also correlated with happiness, and those can be squashed during medical training as well.

I’m not trying to be a downer here! I want to encourage applicants to consider this happiness quotient when selecting an institution and training program. If you are able, maximizing your contentment by choosing an institution that fosters your greatest happiness is key. Geography; proximity to family, friends and community; and a location that provides an opportunity to enjoy hobbies during limited free time is significant.

Excellent training is important, but, in the end, many programs turn out equally qualified clinicians. At least consider your well-being as a factor in selecting where you might be for the next three plus years of your life.

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The East Coast – West Coast Conundrum

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If you are from either coast and are interviewing on the opposite side of the country, it’s really important that you make clear that you are willing to move. There is a prejudice – especially in the West Coast to East Coast direction – that applicants may not be serious about a cross-country institution.

Don’t be afraid to come out and tell your interviewer that you would like to try the other coast – experience something new. Or if you have family in the institution’s area mention that. Institutions want to know that you are serious about them before making an offer.

For help with your interviews contact me through InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com .

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Tips for how to improve the likelihood of training in a city you enjoy

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Please see my July 12 blog entry about the importance of prioritizing a nice place to live for your medical training, if possible. As I pointed out, not everyone gets the opportunity to go to medical school or train in a residency and fellowship program in a city that is fun and populated by a personal support system. However there are a few things that can be done to increase your chances:

1. For residents, tailor your personal statements. (ERAS allows you to do this.) I have advised people who are desperate to be in a particular city to make that clear with an extra sentence in their essays. (Just make sure, via ERAS, that you send the correct personal statement to the correct program.)
2. For medical school, residency and fellowship applicants, tell all the important individuals you encounter at your interviews. Some programs may not believe, for example, a Californian will move to the East Coast. (As a devote Californian, I hardly believe it.) If you want to move let them know and tell them why so that you are convincing.
3. For all applicants, when you write thank you notes tell the receivers.
4. For all applicants, choose accordingly. Don’t box yourself in by pursuing schools/programs in cities you cannot stomach. You may feel you need to apply broadly because of weaknesses in your application or because of how competitive medical school admissions or your specialty is. This is reasonable for many candidates. But if you have some options, explicitly consider geography as well as school/program reputation. This is particularly important for residency and some fellowship applicants who are bound to their match lists.

As I said in my July 12 entry, where you live for your medical training is as important (or more so) than the quality of your training program. For one-on-one help from me with your application please see www.InsiderMedicalAdmissions.com .

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The importance of geography for your medical school, residency and fellowship applications

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When I was a medical student applying for Emergency Medicine residency programs, a well-meaning dean gave me some bad advice. I was deciding the order of my rank list and was particularly concerned about one program that had an excellent reputation but was in a city I didn’t like. The dean told me, “You’ll be so busy during residency it won’t matter where you live.” Luckily, the advice rubbed me the wrong way, and I wholeheartedly disregarded it. Where you live for your medical training is as important (or more so) than the quality of your training program! The reasons are several-fold:

1. Medical training is extremely time-consuming, and you want to be in a city you can enjoy fully when you’re able to blow off steam.
2. Medical training is extremely stressful and you want to be in a city where you have social support.
3. Medical training is not completed in a vacuum. Your personal life continues. If you’re single you may meet someone and end up staying in the city where you have trained for the rest of your life (gasp). If you’re in a long-term relationship you may decide to have children or may already have them. Down the road you may not want to relocate your family.

Not everyone gets the opportunity to go to medical school or train in residency and fellowship programs in a city s/he likes. But you can make choices that will increase your chances. In a future blog entry I’ll talk about how. In the meantime, prioritize geography and certainly don’t be embarrassed to do so!

For one-on-one help with your application please see http://www.insidermedicaladmissions.com/ .

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About Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Michelle Finkel

Dr. Finkel is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Medical School. On completing her residency at Harvard, she was asked to
stay on as faculty at Harvard Medical School and spent five years teaching at the world-renowned Massachusetts General Hospital.
She was appointed to the Assistant Residency Director position for the Harvard Affiliated
Emergency Medicine Residency where she reviewed countless applications, personal statements and resumes. Read more

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