How to Survive Medical School: Residency Application Season

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Hello friends! This post is very belated. It was meant to be my first official post since graduation and clearly multiple posts (although not as many as I anticipated) have come between that time and now. It’s hard to believe that this space–that I first used to document my experience as an pre-medical student–has become such a resource for other individuals. It is even harder to believe that there are individuals who have followed my journey (via this blog) for five years. I am in serious shock and I feel serious gratitude.

Since my last life update: I completed my MD/MPH, received awards from both the MD program and the MPH program, drove a rental van with all my belongings to Philadelphia (24 hours – alone, the scenery is gorgeous; the drive was…long), and started residency. Today marks my first entire week of elective (child abuse & adoption medicine) after completing my inpatient rotations for this year. Residency is not easy but I like it more than medical school. There’s no comparison. At all.

I meant to write about residency application season right after match day but I got caught up in writing my public health analysis and then I graduated and then I moved and then I wanted to spend time with my co-interns (basically, I have a ton of excuses). I think the delay is beneficial. I have now had the opportunity to evaluate medical students and sub-interns (which feels totally wild because I was literally a medical student not too long ago) and have heard a little bit from co-residents and administration about what aspects can hurt your application.

This post will be divided into four sections: pre-interview season, interview season, post-interview season, and general tips. It is important to keep in mind that I applied for pediatrics and so not all of this advice is generalizable. I recommend taking a look at my dear friend Yang’s Match Series to see high-yield advice from now-residents who matched into specialties aside from pediatrics. For those of you who are going in the amazing field of pediatrics, I have a document that I made for my mentees applying into pediatrics last year that you can use to set goals to get your application ready.

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Lessons from the Wards: Glasses

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open your eyes

I like to believe that words can be likened to sutures. That the turns of phrases that we use to deliver unfortunate diagnoses and prognoses can be restorative, healing. I like to believe that the moments we spend at the bedside to listen, to share, and to learn are important.

I don’t like the emergency department. I didn’t like it as a medical student as I weaved my way between residents and attendings who ran through the pods with ultrasound probes. I didn’t like it last month as a first year resident as I worked my way toward room 45. Per chart review: 13 year old presenting after a syncopal event. Per observation: she was wearing glasses that were pretty cool (which I told her) and a bulky sweatshirt. She was incredibly tall (which I told her was an amazing thing) and incredibly reticent.

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Guest Post: Health Career Spotlights

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Years ago, I started to follow Christel of Black Man, M.D. Months ago, I met him during his sub-internship at CHOP. He’s recently matched pediatrics at an amazing institution and it has been such a delight to move from social media acquaintances to in-real-life colleagues. I am beyond grateful to have been featured as one of his health career spotlights. Please check out my contribution here.

 

How to Survive Medical School: Step 2 CK and CS

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Over the past couple of months, I’ve received a flurry of emails and Instagram messages about USMLE 2. These messages have one common question: “how do I study for USMLE 2 CK?” These questions, by my interpretation, are sent by medical students who are a bit more flustered than the medical students who send inquiries about USMLE 1. There are probably a couple of reasons for this. For one, there is insane pressure to receive a higher score on USMLE 2 than USMLE 1. If you crushed USMLE 1, you’re left kind of wondering…how can I reasonably do better? And, understandably, if USMLE 1 did not go the way you wanted…the pressure to do extremely well on USMLE 2 is high.

The awesome thing about USMLE 2 is that you’ve been studying for this exam since you started your clerkship year. The manner in which you prepared for your shelf examinations is honestly the way you should prepare for USMLE 2. I won’t address in this post how I approached each particular subjective given that there are three posts that address my approach to OB/GYN, Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Neurology.

You figured out the kinks of studying for standardized examinations when you studied for USMLE 1. Aspects that I addressed in my USMLE 1 post such as registration, study schedules, and etc. aren’t worth revisiting in this post. Give yourself some credit. You already know how many hours you can study a day, how many days off per week you need to feel like a normal human, and what examination snacks are gonna carry you through test day. I say all of this to reassure you: you are going to be great. I say all of this because I am still extremely aware of how panicked I was before USMLE 2 and I was legitimately more stressed for USMLE 2 CK than USMLE 1.

Why? Well, I think people downplay USMLE 2. I asked quite a few people the year above me for their advice for Step 2. The advice I received was minimal: “you don’t need more than two weeks or so. It’s easy.” You guys are going to do well on this exam, I have faith in you, but it is by no means easy. Like all standardized examinations, USMLE 2 CK can be tricky. There are questions that are you almost guaranteed to look at…skip…come back to…look at…shed tears…say a prayer…make an educated guess. That’s fine and honestly to be expected.

In this blog post, I’ll share my approach to receiving a 250+ score on USMLE 2 CK and share a little bit about how I prepared for USMLE 2 CS.

step 2

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