A few clients have asked me about the new supplemental ERAS application for dermatology, internal medicine (categorical and preliminary), and general surgery (categorical) applicants. The application is more work for these candidates, but the AAMC says the supplemental app will foster a more holistic approach to the residency process. For more information, check out the PowerPoint presentation from a recent webinar the AAMC held on the topic. The supplemental application opened last week.
At the end of the spring, with the weightiness of COVID clearer, the AAMC (much to their credit) strongly recommended that medical schools and residencies conduct virtual interviews during the upcoming admissions season. Upending years of in-person sessions, the announcement has made a huge impact on this season’s admissions process. Virtual interviews will likely diminish some of the bias that plagued the system previously and will save everyone a bundle of money.
The AAMC did not urge the use of any particular platform, but it does provide its own, called the Video Interview Tool for Admissions (VITA), for interested medical schools. The AAMC describes VITA as a one-time, one-way recorded video interview to help medical schools assess applicants’ pre-professional competencies that are important for success in medical school.
The AAMC indicates that VITA questions will target the below capabilities:
An applicant’s VITA session will include six questions presented in text form (no interviewer), and applicants record a video response after having one minute to read and reflect on each question. Candidates then have up to three minutes to record a response. If an applicant needs a break between questions, that’s not a problem: All six questions can be completed in one sitting, or candidates can choose to have breaks of any desired length between questions. (Of course, the interview must be submitted by a medical school’s deadline.)
According to the AAMC, questions can be related to personal experience (e.g. “Why did you choose medicine?”), past behavior (“Describe a time…”), or hypothetical situations (“Imagine you are… What would you do to resolve this issue?”).
These types of questions can be tricky without practice, but are bread-and-butter for someone who is prepared.
Remember the time you spent a week studying for the MCAT? No, you don’t ;). That’s because one week is not enough time to study for the MCAT! Along those lines, it’s important to start early, preparing yourself fully for VITA and other virtual interview platforms. Much of interviewing is confidence, which can be developed. Please hire me now for help.
In light of the COVID crisis, the AAMC has recently expanded its Fee Assistance Program income eligibility. Please take a look here for current requirements. For more information on the FAP, including an online webinar, see this AAMC page.
To support those with financial need, l continue to offer a discount to those applicants who can demonstrate a current FAP. Contact me with questions.
There is no time like the present to plan how you’ll practice for your virtual medical school interview: Last week the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) announced that they are strongly encouraging medical schools and teaching hospital faculty (that’s you, residency programs) to conduct all interviews with applicants in a virtual setting. In an additional, reinforcing announcement on away rotations (see below), the AAMC specifically addressed the residency cycle for this coming year saying that they recommend that all residency programs commit to online interviews and virtual visits for all applicants for the entire cycle. The AAMC suggests “that the medical education community commit to creating a robust digital environment and set of tools that will yield the best experiences for programs and applicants.” I applaud the AAMC for their willingness to be proactive, encourage public health, and decrease medical school and residency applicant anxiety.
Assuming there are no in-person interviews, this medical school and residency application cycle will look completely different with no applicant visits to institutions or face to face conversations with current students/residents and faculty. Schools and residency programs will be left with quite a burden to make their institutions looks distinctive and to select qualified applicants.
For the latter, be prepared to strategically handle a virtual medical school interview. Consider getting my help. For the virtual residency interview, get my help here.
On the same date that AAMC announced the recommendation regarding the virtual medical school interview, they also announced that for the 2020-21 academic year, because of COVID, away rotations should be discouraged and that ERAS’ opening be delayed. The latter has already come to fruition: While ERAS will open on September 1 for candidates to submit their applications, residency programs will not being reviewing applications and MSPEs will not be released to residency programs until October 21 this year (compared to September 15 and October 1 last cycle). Of note, ERAS did not announce a change in Match Day yet.
There are a lot of changes afoot. To keep up, check this web page, which AAMC has been updating regularly.
The Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) is an online database that allows users to search, sort and compare information about U.S. and Canadian medical schools. (I hate to date myself, but when I was applying to medical school and used the MSAR, it was a hard copy book.) The 2019 MSAR came out last month, and if you are applying to medical school, I’d recommend purchasing it ($28) because it provides so much information about schools and their admissions statistics. The MSAR allows you sort and compare schools by median MCAT scores, AMCAS GPAs, and other criteria.
You should use the MSAR to help determine which schools are in your range and which are “reach” schools. While it’s fine to have a lot of “reach” schools (if you can afford it), it’s critical to ensure you are applying wisely to schools that match your numbers. The advantage of the MSAR is that you can make evidence-based decisions. I’ve found some applicants have eye-opening experiences when they thoroughly review schools’ statistics and either realize that their numbers are low and that they should apply accordingly or, happily, that they have numbers that match with top schools. Either way, reviewing the data is critical to good decision making.
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
