Blog Archives

Welcome to Match Week

This is Match Week:

Monday: Programs find out if they filled; applicants find out if they matched; SOAP begins. Here’s a 2025 primer on SOAP.
Tuesday through Thursday: SOAP process in play.
Friday: Match Day.

If you were one of my residency clients this year, I’d appreciate hearing from you when you have a moment to update me. I’m sending everyone the best of wishes.

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Medscape Physician Mental Health Report 2025: Burnout is Still Very High

The annual Medscape burnout survey is out, and, while the numbers are being touted as an improvement, a whopping 47% of physician respondents reported being burned out and 24% reported depression. (The burnout statistic is lower than it was over the last few years’ surveys.) When asked, “Can doctors in your specialty be happy and well-balanced?” only 63% of emergency physicians (my field) said yes, the lowest of all specialties surveyed. (Of note, 94% of allergy and immunology physicians gave an affirmative response, the highest of all specialties surveyed.) Additionally, 63% of physicians responded that they would accept a pay cut for better balance.

According to Medscape, “These results portray a profession that has work to do in finding happiness, balancing work and family demands, and developing friendships that sustain one in a demanding career.”

Here is a graphic representation of the survey results.

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Funky Away Rotations

The AAMC’s Stacy Weiner recently wrote a piece on creative away clerkships, highlighting interesting medical school rotations, including those in wilderness medicine, Emergency Medical Services, and autopsy medicine. See her piece here. Of note, international rotations are also a fantastic opportunity to explore something new for a manageable amount of time. In medical school and residency, my husband traveled to Kenya, China, Bali, and Argentina for rotations and other medical opportunities. He also spent six weeks in Santa Rosa, California for a family medicine rotation, living in a double-wide trailer with other medical students. (He describes it as “paradise.”)

Whether you’re interested in doing an “audition” rotation or something more unusual, it’s worth starting with the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLOs) website/database here.

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Your Residency Application: Five Factors to Prioritize When Creating your Rank List

Creating your Match rank list can be absolutely agonizing because it feels like so much is at stake. Sometimes it helps to step back and look at the big picture. Below, I briefly note a few important considerations when making your list:

  1. Make sure you understand how the NRMP algorithm works. See my previous blog post regarding errors to avoid at all costs. The key is to rank in the order you want – first goes first, second goes second, etc.
  2. Consider your happiness and life balance. Blasphemy perhaps, but I would argue that they are more important than the strength of the training program.
  3. Reflect on the culture, geography, size, and even maturity/age of the program. Think about whether you will fit in.
  4. Consider whether you could spend your whole life at the institution or in that program’s location. It’s a lot to grapple with, but many residents graduate and stay for the rest of their careers. (Of course, you don’t have to stay post-residency, so if this consideration is too stressful, don’t worry about it.)
  5. Decide whether you liked the program director, chairperson, and faculty generally. They could make or break your happiness and success.
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¡Ay Caramba!

More from the AAMC: I read a troubling piece recently regarding a bizarre problem Puerto Rican medical students are having. Apparently, some folks don’t understand that Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Some Puerto Rican students report they are being misidentified as international medical graduates (IMGs).

The crux of the matter is that Puerto Rican medical schools are – like other U.S. allopathic medical schools – accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. On the other hand, many medical schools in other parts of the Caribbean are not LCME-accredited and graduate IMGs. 

IMGs have a tougher time matching. In the last cycle, U.S.- citizen IMGs matched at a rate of 67% and non-U.S.-citizen IMGs matched at a rate of 58.5%. On the other hand, U.S. MD graduates matched at a rate of 93.5%. Thus, being misidentified as an IMG is to the detriment of Puerto Rican medical students in the Match.

See Bridget Balch’s interesting article with more details here.

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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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Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the White Coat Investor podcast:

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