Blog Archives

Talented Pre-Meds: Leverage your Money

Recently I’ve heard from a few fortunate Insider medical school applicant clients who were not only accepted to several medical schools, but also were offered scholarship money to attend. They’ve asked me this: Is there a way to leverage the money I’ve been granted at one medical school to get funding at another?

Well, it’s worth a try.

As long as you’re diplomatic, contacting other medical schools, advising them of your scholarship, and requesting a match might help, although I’d suggest having low expectations. Still, if done politely, it cannot hurt.

In a different vein, a sometimes-successful technique I’ve encountered is to use the scholarship award as a means of obtaining an interview or trying to get off the wait list at another school. Send a note to your wait listed schools to let them know of your promised funds. After all, if you’re competitive enough to earn a scholarship at one place, you should be competitive enough to be accepted at another.

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Congratulations!

Many congratulations are due to those residency applicants who had a successful Match. I would really appreciate hearing from this year’s clients regarding their Matches. 

On a related note, unfortunately, as of July 1, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) will allow first-year residents to work 24+ hours without a break. I’ll come out as saying that I think this is a very poor idea.

I remember a horrible week during my internship in which I worked 138 hours (absolutely true). I still have nightmares about the experience. I also remember surgical resident friends who were “rewarded” with operating the morning after being on-call all day and night.

Here’s an NPR piece and a Forbes piece on the topic. Extreme hours lead to danger for patients and residents and keep talented folks out of medicine.
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Residency Applicants: The Big Day is Approaching

Here’s a condensed version of this week’s Match schedule from the NRMP website:

Today

11 am EST: Applicants learn if they matched via email and the R3® system. SOAP-eligible unmatched and partially matched applicants have access to the List of Unfilled Programs in the R3 system.

2 pm EST: SOAP applicants can start preparing and sending applications in the AAMC ERAS® system. Applicants cannot communicate with a program until contacted by that program.

Wednesday

SOAP Round 1

12 pm EST: SOAP Applicants begin receiving offers by logging in to the R3 system. Applicants accept or reject offer(s) once all offers have been generated.

2 pm EST: SOAP Applicant deadline to accept or reject Round 1 offers in R3 system.

2:05 pm EST: List of Unfilled Programs updated in R3 system for SOAP-eligible applicants.

SOAP Round 2

3 pm EST: SOAP Applicants begin receiving offers in the R3 system.

5 pm EST: SOAP Applicant deadline to accept or reject Round 2 offers.

5:05 pm EST: List of Unfilled Programs updated in R3 system for SOAP-eligible applicants.

Thursday

SOAP Round 3

9 am EST: Applicants begin receiving offers in the R3 system.

11 am EST: Applicant deadline to accept or reject Round 3 offers.

SOAP ends

12 pm EST: List of Unfilled Programs accessible from R3 system and updated to include unfilled programs not participating in SOAP. All applicants who are unmatched or partially matched have access to List of Unfilled Programs. Programs not participating in SOAP can be contacted by unmatched or partially-matched applicants, including applicants who were not SOAP-eligible.

Friday – Match Day

1 pm EST: Applicants learn the location of program(s) to which they matched via email and in the R3 system.

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Using SOAP to clean up the NRMP Match

I’m very hopeful that all blog readers who are residency applicants will be Matching successfully this year. But it is worth understanding how the NRMP SOAP (formerly called “the Scramble”) works.

Years ago, when I was an applicant, the Scramble was all that unmatched candidates had… and it was not great. For a quick history on the Scramble’s transition to SOAP, check out this article.

For details on this year’s SOAP (and Match week) schedule, check out this PDF that includes great details.

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How to Be Happy in Residency

I’m sending a big congratulations to all of those residency candidates who successfully matched last week! Next year will be the start of something wonderful and challenging. Here are my tips for being happy (or at least as happy as possible) during residency:

1. Physician heal thyself. You will be working a ton, but eating healthfully and getting exercise will make everything a little better.

2. You’ve got a friend. You may be working 80-hour weeks, but plan to spend at least half an hour every week catching up with someone who makes you laugh.

3. Vacation – all I ever wanted. Figure out somewhere fun you want to travel when you are not working, and then happily anticipate the trip.

4. Date night. Take time out for your spouse or partner. Although I was not yet married when I trained, I remember being upset by seeing several marriages and relationships split up. You can never get that back. (This advice goes for children too, if you have them. You have an even greater challenge ahead of you than most if you are a parent in residency.)

5. Dance dance party party. Knitting, hiking, dancing, watching movies, kayaking, reading – whatever it is , do not let yourself become unidimensional.

6. Realize that the honking drivers have simply had a bad day. When I was in medical school, a brilliant upper classman came to speak to us about being on the wards. He told us that when someone aggressively honks at you on the road, it’s often because s/he in a bad mood – not because you are about to cause an accident. The same is true in the hospital. Tired, burned out professionals can make you feel bad. Don’t let them.

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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:

Listen to Dr. Finkel’s interview on the FeminEm podcast: