ERAS CAF

This is where the majority of your application is completed. You can complete the application in multiple sessions. The information in the application can be updated until it is certified and submitted. You can only submit your application once. Once your application is completed, certified, and submitted to ERAS, you cannot make any changes.

The application, or Common Application Form (CAF) as it is known, consists of 12 pages:

• Page One – General Information
• Page Two – Education (include only higher education)
• Page Three – Medical Education
• Page Four – Current/Prior Training
• Page Five – Experience(s)
• Page Six – Publications
• Page Seven – Examinations
• Page Eight – Medical Licensure
• Page Nine – State Medical Licenses
• Page Ten – Race
• Page Eleven – Ethnicity
• Page Twelve – Miscellaneous

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Home

The Home section of the Application tab allows you to get a copy of the Worksheet (CAF), view your CAF, view your Curriculum Vitae (CV), and to submit and certify your application.

The copy of the Worksheet is a printable PDF of the CAF. Both your CAF and your CV are automatically generated as you fill out your application. The CV is the same information you entered in the application section of MyERAS. The Program Director’s Workstation (PDWS) will display it as a CV. The CV is nothing more than the CAF formatted in a different manner for the benefit of those programs that prefer to view a CV format. It is provided as a report so you can see how your information will be formatted.

You can submit your application by clicking Submit Your Application. Once you certify and submit your application you will not be able to make any changes to it.

This page contains a Quick Stats table that lists each page of the CAF and also lists whether or not it was saved.

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Page One – General Information

Page one of the CAF allows the you to enter information such as your permanent mailing address, birth place and date, gender, and if you have any military service experience or obligations.

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Page Two – Education (include only higher education)

Page two allows entries for each undergraduate and graduate school you have attended. Complete the required fields (marked with an asterisk *) and Save. The page will refresh to allow additional entries. For each undergraduate or graduate school you have attended you must list:

• Institution name
• Location
• Education Type
• Major
• Degree earned or expected
• And dates of attendance (leave month/year blank if experience is ongoing)

Since many non-U.S. educational systems do not follow the U.S. model, almost all students and graduates of international medical schools will indicate None on this page.

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Page Three – Medical Education

Page three allows entries for each medical school you have attended. Complete the required fields (marked with an asterisk *) and Save. The page will refresh to allow additional entries. For each undergraduate or graduate school you have attended you must list:

• Institution name and the country it is in (this must match the institution from which you received your token)
• Degree expected or earned
• Type of Degree
• Dates of Attendance

For the question “Have you spent six or more months at a regional clinical campus?” you can either choose an option from the drop-down menu (if any are listed) or you can specify the name of the clinical campus in the “other clinical campus” field.

If your medical education is ongoing leave the month/year blank.

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Page Four – Current/Prior Training

This page allows entries for type of training you have completed. Complete the required fields (marked with an asterisk *) and Save. The page will refresh to allow additional entries. For each entry you must list:

• Type of Training
• Specialty of the residency/fellowship
• Institution/Program name, country, city and state
• Years you were completing the residency/fellowship
• Name of the Program Director
• Name of your supervisor
• Chief Resident (fellowship applicants only)
• Dates of residency/fellowship
• Reason for Leaving

If you have no previous training experience, select None.

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Page Five – Experience(s)

Page five allows entries for each work, volunteer, and research experience/position you have attempted or completed. Complete the required fields (marked with an asterisk *) and click Save. The page will refresh to allow additional entries. For each entry you must list:

• Experience Type (work, volunteer, or research)
• Organization Name
• Position
• Name of your supervisor
• Average Hours per Week
• Description of Duties
• Reason for Leaving
• Dates of Experience

If you have no work, volunteer, or research experience select None.

You can choose from three experience types: work, volunteer, or research. Work experience refers to any employment for which you were compensated. Volunteer work refers to service where there was no compensation. Research experience refers to employment where research was conducted regardless of whether or not you were compensated.

List only experience that you believe is relevant to your application.

If the experience is ongoing leave the end date blank.

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Page Six – Publications

Page six allows entries for each of your publications. Publications can include but are not limited to abstracts, poster sessions, and invited national or regional presentations.

Complete the required fields (marked with an asterisk *) and click on the Save button if you have publications to enter. If not, select None. The page will refresh to allow additional entries.

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Page Seven – Examinations

Page seven allows entries for each examination that you have taken. If you have not taken any examinations click on None. The examination options are:

• USMLE Step 1
• USMLE Step 2 CK (Clinical Knowledge)
• USMLE Step 2 CS (Clinical Skills)
• USMLE Step 3
• ECFMG-CSA
• ECFMG Examination (prior to 1985)
• ECFMG English Test (prior to 3/3/99)
• ECFMG-FMGEMS Day 1 (prior to 1994)
• ECFMG-FMGEMS Day 2 (prior to 1994)
• ECFMG-TOEFL
• ECFMG-VQE (prior to 1985)
• Osteopathic-COMLEX Part 1
• Osteopathic-COMLEX Level 2 CE
• Osteopathic-COMLEX Level 2 PE
• Osteopathic-COMLEX Part 3
• Canadian-MCCE
• Canadian-MCCEQE Part 1
• Canadian-MCCEQE Part 2
• NBME Part 1
• NBME Part 2
• NBME Part 3
• FLEX

You must indicate the status and month/year the exam was taken for each exam you list. The options you have for the status field are:

• Passed on
• Failed on
• Awaiting results from
• Will take on
• Incomplete

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Page Eight – Medical Licensure

Page eight is used to answer questions regarding medical licensure. Questions concerning malpractice cases, termination of your medical license, felonies and criminal offenses, and board certification and DEA Registration must be answered.

If you answer Yes to any of the licensure questions, a detailed explanation limited to 510 characters, must be entered in the Reason field.

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Page Nine – State Medical Licenses

Page nine is used to list any state medical licenses you might have. For each state medical license you have you must enter:

• State the license is from
• License Type (Full, Temporary or Limited, or Inactive)
• License Number
• Expiration Month/Year

If you do not have any state medical licenses then select None.

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Page Ten – Race

Page ten allows you to enter your race. This question is optional, if you choose not to indicate your race please select No Answer. The options you have for race are:

• White
• Black
• American Indian or Alaskan Native (specify the name of the enrolled or princial tribe)
• Asian (Asian Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, or other Asian)
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, or other Pacific Islander)
• Other

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Page Eleven – Ethnicity

Page eleven allows you to enter your ethnicity. Like page ten, this page is also optional; you are not required to identify your ethnicity. If you choose not to disclose your ethnicity select None. The options for ethnicity are:

• No Answer
• Not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/Latina
• Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/Latina

If you select Spanish/Hispanic/Latino/Latina you must select another option from the drop-own menu. These options are:

• Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano/Chicana
• Puerto Rican
• Cuban

If you do not fit under any of these categories you can enter your ethnicity in the Specify Other field.

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Page Twelve – Miscellaneous

Page twelve consists of two questions asking if you have any limiting aspects and if your medical education/training was extended or interrupted.

If the first question about limiting aspects is answered with a No, then an explanation must be entered under Limiting Aspects.

If the second question regarding interrupted medical education/training is answered with a Yes, then an explanation must be entered in the Reason field. These explanations are limited to 510 characters (including spaces).

This page also allows you to list language fluency, hobbies and interests, medical school awards, other awards/accomplishments, and membership in honorary/professional societies.

If you do not wish to list anything for non-required sections on this page you can simply leave them blank.

ERAS Step By Step Guidance

ERAS

• Developed by the AAMC for transmitting residency applications, LORs, the MSPE, transcripts, and your photo to residency programs using the internet

The ERAS Process

• Explore the ERAS website at

www.aamc.org/students/eras

• Research programs at their websites to gather information

The ERAS Process

• In mid-June click on “Resources to Download” – select “ERAS 2009 Applicant Manual” to download it

• In early July use your token to register for ERAS

The ERAS Process

• Use your CV to complete your CAF in ERAS

• Save your PS as a text file, then copy and paste it into ERAS

• The ERAS Post Office opens Sept 1^st and that’s when programs can begin downloading your documents

• Type names of LOR writers into ERAS

LORs

• Once you approve, designate in ERAS, and assign LORs to your programs, It will be uploaded to the ERAS Post Office for programs to download

ERAS Fees

• Application fee (10 progs) – $60
• 11-20 programs – $8 each
• 21-30 programs – $15 each
• ≥ 31 programs – $ 25 each

USMLE Scores

• Know your USMLE ID number – you’ll need it to release your scores via ERAS and the NBME

• First question: answer “yes”

• Second question: if you want Step 2 score automatically released, say “yes”

USMLE Scores

• If you want to see your Step 2 score before the NBME re-releases it to ERAS, say “no” to second question

• Then remember to go into ERAS and manually re-release your Step 2 score

• 
  

ADTS

• Use the Applicant Document Tracking System to see what documents have been uploaded and downloaded in ERAS

• Access ADTS at www.aamc.org/eras/adts

The ERAS Process

• ERAS is designed to be dynamic

• Don’t wait till every document is in place before you submit your ERAS

• Complete the profile and CAF (the CAF can’t be changed once certified and submitted) near Sept 1^st

The ERAS Process

• LORs, transcripts, and photo can be added as they arrive

• The sooner programs get your profile and CAF, the sooner they can invite you to interview

• Programs will want your application complete before you interview there

Fee For applying into Program

first 10 applications – $65 total

11-20 : $8 each

21-30 : $15 each

31 or more: $25each

new for ERAS 2010

New for ERAS 2010

International medical students/graduates and Fifth Pathway participants planning to participate in ERAS 2010 must read these important announcements. ERAS 2010 Tokens can be obtained via ECFMG’s OASIS beginning on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. You can register using your Token at MyERAS beginning on Wednesday, July 1, 2009.

All ERAS 2010 participants should also refer to the important announcements posted on the Announcements page.

• ERAS Token Fee Increases
• Mandatory Use of Digital Photograph Upload Feature
• ERAS 2010 Repeat Applicants Can Reuse Letters of Recommendation
• ERAS Support Services at ECFMG Working with International Medical Schools to Implement Electronic Submission of Supporting Documents

ERAS Token Fee Increases

The fee for a Token has increased to $90 per ERAS application season. The Token is a 14-digit, alpha-numeric code required to register at the MyERAS website. Tokens are valid for one ERAS season only; the ERAS software will not recognize a Token issued for a previous ERAS season.

You can obtain a Token via ECFMG’s OASIS beginning on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.

Mandatory Use of Digital Photograph Upload Feature

If you wish to submit a photograph as part of your ERAS application, you must submit a digital photograph via the ERAS Support Services section of ECFMG’s OASIS. Photographs mailed to ERAS Support Services for scanning will not be accepted. For instructions on how to upload your digital photograph, see the Documents page.

If you participated in the ERAS 2009 season and submitted a photograph, ERAS Support Services will reuse that photograph for ERAS 2010. If you wish to update your photograph, follow the instructions for uploading a digital photo via ECFMG’s OASIS.

ERAS 2010 Repeat Applicants Can Reuse Letters of Recommendation

If you participated in the ERAS 2009 season and also participate in the ERAS 2010 season, you are considered a Repeat Applicant. Repeat Applicants are not required to resubmit Medical Student Performance Evaluations (MSPEs), medical school transcripts, or photographs unless they want to update these documents. New for ERAS 2010, Repeat Applicants also will be able to reuse those Letters of Recommendation (LoRs) that they assigned to at least one program during the ERAS 2009 season.

You will be automatically identified as a Repeat Applicant at the time you make an ERAS 2010 Token request via OASIS. ERAS Support Services will retrieve your stored ERAS 2009 MSPE, medical school transcript, and photograph and upload them to the ERAS 2010 PostOffice within three to five business days from the time you use your Token to register at MyERAS. ERAS Support Services will retrieve any LoR that you assigned to at least one program during ERAS 2009 and upload it to the ERAS PostOffice within one to two business days from the time that you reserve an electronic slot for the letter writer at MyERAS. You will be able to track the status of these existing documents via the ERAS Support Services section of ECFMG’s OASIS.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Only those LoRs that were assigned to at least one program during ERAS 2009 will be reused for ERAS 2010. If you submitted an LoR but did not assign it to any programs during ERAS 2009, that LoR will not be available for reuse in ERAS 2010. To use that letter for ERAS 2010, submit it to ERAS Support Services, accompanied by a completed Document Submission Form.

For more information, including instructions on how to reuse LoRs, see Repeat Applicants.

ERAS Support Services at ECFMG Working with International Medical Schools to Implement Electronic Submission of Supporting Documents

ERAS Support Services at ECFMG is collaborating with international medical schools that have formally agreed to submit supporting documents electronically to ECFMG on behalf of their students/graduates. These documents include MSPEs, medical school transcripts, and LoRs.

Electronic submission of supporting documents eliminates the need for ERAS Support Services to scan these documents, enabling ERAS Support Services to upload documents to the ERAS PostOffice within two to three business days of their receipt at ECFMG. Currently, ERAS Support Services requires up to four weeks to scan and upload documents to the ERAS PostOffice.

This method of document submission is open to all international medical schools that wish to participate. For more information, interested schools should contact ERAS Support Services at eras-support@ecfmg.org; enter “Electronic Document Submission / Attn: Ms. Anna Iacone” in the subject line

Tips on making The most out of Your Observership/Externship/Clinical Rotation During Residency

• Be familiar with and able to apply the core

content of the rotation specialty. Before

your rotation begins, take time to review one or

two relevant textbooks and go over any notes

you may have. Be sure to draw on this body of

knowledge as you demonstrate your diagnostic

and clinical skills.

• Read as much as you can about the illnesses

of the patients you are seeing. Monitor your

patients’ charts daily. Research patient problems

using journals, reference manuals recommended

by your team, and Internet sources, such as

Medline or UpToDate. This will help you prepare

for rounds.

• Be a team player. Get to know your ward team

– who they are, what they do and how your role

interacts with each of them. Having a good working

relationship with the ward team is highly valued in

the clinical setting. True standouts evenly share

responsibility, are well liked, and communicate

effectively with other team members.

• Dress professionally, be on time and be

enthusiastic. Attitude and appearance count.

Take extra care on your rotations to look your

best. On the first day of a rotation, unless you

know that scrubs are acceptable attire, dress

professionally. Make sure your style of dress is

appropriate for the setting. Showing up early or

staying late could also score you points – as long

as you are being productive and learning in the

process (and not just “hanging out”). Finally, in

everything you do, no matter how dull, boring or

insignificant the task, show enthusiasm.

• Establish an informal learning agreement

with your preceptor, resident or attending at

the beginning of each clinical rotation. This

exercise affords you and the supervising physician

a touchstone for you to learn the clinical decision-

making and procedural skills you want from the

rotation. Agreeing on goals and understanding

how information will be taught ensures that your

clinical experience is valuable.

• Keep a journal for each rotation. Record such

things as the number of patients you see every

day, the types of illnesses your patients have,

any of your medical “firsts” (i.e., the first physical

you perform, the first baby you deliver, etc.) and

any expectations you have for the rotation before

you begin. This will help you remember your

experiences and process your feelings. When

it’s time to choose a specialty, your journal will

help you reconcile your experiences with your

expectations and goals.

• Learn to ask enough questions to satisfy your

hunger for knowledge without monopolizing

precious time. Although you don’t want to stifle

an important question, it is necessary to make

the most of limited time with attendings, residents

and interns. Pay attention to other students and

learn from them – if other students are getting on

your nerves because of their constant barrage of

questions, don’t repeat their mistakes.

• Maximize time spent waiting during rotations.

Since you never know when you’ll have extra time,

don’t go anywhere without something to read.

Keeping journal articles or reference materials

with you will afford you the opportunity to study,

read up on a patient, or prepare for your next set

of rounds.

• During down time, resist the urge to engage in

excessive non-rotation tasks, such as personal

e-mail, Web surfing, blogging or personal

phone calls. Your residents and attendings may

interpret this as boredom, distraction or disinterest.

Instead, check out online resources such as Virtual

FMIG, FAMILYDOCTOR.org and the AAFP’s Board

your rotation experience.

• When you are on call (or working a long shift

on rotations), take time to go outside for a

few minutes. Even if you are extremely busy,

you should be able to find at least 30 seconds to

stick your head out the door and take in few quick

gulps of air between patients or hospital errands.

You’ll be amazed at what a breadth of fresh air can

do to your psyche – especially when you’re going

to work in the dark, going home in the dark, and

you’re bathed in the fluorescent light of hospital

bulbs during most of the day.

• To stay awake and alert while you are

on call, find ways to keep physically and

mentally active. Take the stairs, write notes

while standing up, stretch, read stimulating

materials, or talk to other staff members.

According to experts, the normal circadian cycle

involves a 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. slump. During

this period, remaining awake or maintaining

alertness is most difficult. The key is to keep

physically active.

• In the middle of each rotation, ask your senior

resident or attending for a verbal evaluation.

Don’t wait until your final evaluation to find out how

you’re doing. If you get feedback early in your

rotation, you can use it to improve before you are

formally evaluated.

• If you are not afforded the opportunity to

perform some clinical decision-making and

procedural skills that you wish to perfect

during a rotation, ask your supervising

physician what you can do to gain more

experience. In a busy practice or on the wards,

it may be difficult for the supervising physician

to know which skills you want to enhance. If

your supervising physician indicates that you will

not have an opportunity to perform a particular

procedure, ask what you can do to gain that

experience.

• When you have completed a rotation, take a

moment to assess what you’ve learned. Here

are some key questions to ask yourself: What

did you learn about illnesses and diseases

from your patients? Did you achieve a level

of proficiency in any procedures during this

rotation? Which ones? What procedures do

you need to work on? What procedures would

you like to gain a greater proficiency in? Are

you more comfortable presenting patients?

What areas do you excel in? What areas need

improvement? What did you learn from your

mistakes and those of others? How frequently

did you seek out verbal feedback? How did you

benefit from this feedback? Use your responses

to these questions to help make the most of your

next rotation.

• At the beginning of your ambulatory block

experiences, identify opportunities to gain

skills beyond doing H&Ps, documentation and

procedures. With your preceptor, identify the

clinic’s most pressing needs as they relate to the

care of patients. Examples might include patient

education programming, developing stronger ties

to community-based ancillary health agencies

and participating in the clinic’s quality assurance

process. Also, keep in mind that a preceptor may

be hesitant to assign tasks if he or she thinks you

are uncomfortable. Don’t be afraid to volunteer.

However, be prepared if the preceptor prefers to

do a task alone.

• Avoid asking questions of the preceptor

during the patient encounter. You should

have some time built in at the end of the day or

between patients to ask questions.

• If you find yourself on the receiving end

of harsh criticism, don’t take it personally.

Remember that the attending, intern, resident or

preceptor is not criticizing you as a person – they

are criticizing your actions. No doubt you have

experienced criticism many times by now, and you

will experience even more during residency. Try to

understand that you are human and you will make

mistakes. Distance yourself from the criticism or

situation, deal with it and move forward.

• Do your best to get through emotionally

draining experiences and, when you get a

chance, take a few minutes to process your

thoughts and mentally recuperate. Students

as well as interns and residents can experience

some powerful emotions during rotations and on

call. Because these situations are often stressful

and don’t allow you to get away immediately, find

a quiet place or walk outside for a few minutes

when you can. For really tough situations,

consider discussing your emotional reactions

with a student support group. Many schools offer

such groups to help students get through the

challenges of medical school. Ask your office of

student affairs what resources are available on

your campus.

• As the end of third year approaches and

you start to work more independently,

it’s important to ask your preceptor for

suggestions for improvement. Preceptors are

under pressures and time constraints and may

not be as focused on teaching as you would

like. Because of the hurried environment, your

preceptor may not take the time to give you the

counsel and constructive feedback that you need

to improve. Remind your preceptor that his or her

input is important to you by asking “What skills do

I need to work on?” or “What can I do to become

a better physician?”

• If you are on an away rotation, take steps

before the rotation begins to get oriented to

your new location. Many fourth-year medical

students opt to do an away rotation in the fall.

September seems to be an especially popular

month for medical students to do a rotation at a

particular residency program of interest. These

rotations are sometimes referred to as “audition”

rotations. If you are on an audition rotation or any

away rotation, you will need to become familiar

with your new working environment quickly. Here

are some tips:

1. Study the hospital layout ahead of time.

Before your rotation begins, tour the facility.

Obtain a map, if necessary, and locate the

essential areas, such as the patient floors,

operating rooms, labs, cafeteria, etc. Knowing

your way around will reduce some of the anxiety

associated with being at a new place with new

people.

2. Find out where your ward team will meet

on the first day. Before your rotation begins,

phone your contact or call the department’s

main office at the university or program to

confirm where you will meet the first day and at

what time.

3. If you know individuals who have done this

rotation, ask them for pointers. Find out what

they felt were the greatest challenges and the

most rewarding experiences. Pay particular

attention to their comments about people you

may be working closely with.

4. Have copies of your CV, personal statement

and other application materials. This

information will come in handy if you decide

to request a letter of recommendation from an

attending (to give the attending as supplemental

information about you) or if the program asks to

interview you while you are still on the rotation.

Interview Tips

Practice Interviewing

Practice will make you calmer, more organized, and help you sound better during the real thing – practice with friends, classmates, etc.
MOCK INTERVIEW – Ask a specialty advisor, a faculty member, or the Office of Student Affairs staff to conduct it.
Prepare as if it were a real interview – review your answers to specific questions.
Carry copies of your CV, personal statement and transcripts, your list of questions you wish to have answered, and a note pad with you as you would for your interview (use a nice leather portfolio).
If possible, dress as if it were a real interview (see suggestions below).
Know Yourself

Make a list of your top strengths, goals, values, accomplishments and abilities to use as a general reference for all interview questions. This will provide your answers for a majority of the questions you are asked.
TOP 5 PLAN – go into every interview with 5 key things you want a program to know about you. What makes you a good candidate? What makes you unique?
Create a checklist of things you want/need in a residency program:
Rank your needs/wants in order of importance to you.
Assign a score to each program immediately after your visits for each of your wants/needs.
At the end, compare your scores, notes, and information from the various programs.
Review your own medical school file before the interview.
Know the Program and Specialty

Know a great deal about the individual residency programs:
Review all the information they send you.
Visit the program’s web site.
Ask for an interview schedule ahead of time if it was not included (fax or e-mail).
Ask the program what to expect and what materials to bring for the interview day.
Find out about the faculty, particularly any interviewers (Medline search, web search).
Speak with any Rush graduates in the program or others you might know.
Speak with residents and M4s on interview day for the real story.
Know a great deal about the specialty’s culture:
What do practitioners in the field really do?
What types of procedures do they perform?
How are they perceived by other specialists?
Do they have opportunities for subspecialty training?
Specialty board exam requirements?
What do they value or view as important as a specialty?

Looking the Part

Dress should always be conservative, tasteful, neat—and comfortable.
Have the appearance of a successful, mature physician, not a medical student.
MEN should wear a suit, not sport coat or khakis.
Navy or gray, solid or pinstripe.
White or pale-blue shirt.
Conservative tie: solid, stripes, or small pattern (red or navy).
Keep jewelry to a minimum.
Short hair, preferably no goatees.
WOMEN should wear a suit – skirt or pants are acceptable.
Classic, solid colors: medium to dark gray, medium to dark blue, or black.
Simple white or cream top.
Simple, comfortable shoes.
Keep jewelry to a minimum.
Make-up and perfume work best when they are not noticed.
Be prepared for bad weather – always have an umbrella and overcoat with you.

Create a List of Questions You Want Answered

Based on the needs and wants you outlined for yourself earlier, brainstorm a list of information you wish to find out during your visit. Below is a list of possible questions.

What is the success of graduates: board scores, help finding jobs/fellowships?
What are the clinical, non-clinical, and administrative responsibilities of the residents?
Are there research opportunities?
Status of the program and hospital: Have any house staff left the program? Accreditation?
Quality of current residents? Have any left the program recently?
How are residents evaluated? How often? By whom? How may they give feedback?
Teaching opportunities?
Do you foresee any changes in the next three years?
What makes this program so unique?

Create a list you wish to specifically ask residents, such as:

What contact will I have with clinical faculty?
How are the attendings to work with?
What is the average daily work load for interns? Is it varied?
How much didactic time is there? Does it have priority?
What types of clinical experiences will I have?
What is the work schedule? Call schedule? Time off?
What is the patient population I will see?
Are you happy? Was this a good match for you?
Do the residents socialize as a group?
Moonlighting opportunities?

Questions Not to Ask

These are topics you should typically not ask about during the interview. Most of this information will be in the packet they send you or covered in an introductory meeting. If not, it is better to contact the institution’s Graduate Education office.

Salary
Benefits
Vacation
Competition
Maternity leave arrangements

The Questions – What Interviewers May Ask

Make a list of potential questions you may be asked. Practice your answers ahead of time. The following is a list of potential questions that may aid you in your preparation.

How are you today? (there are NO innocent questions)
Do you have any questions? (yes…)
Tell me about yourself.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Why are you interested in this specialty? (#1 question asked)
What other specialties did you consider?
Why are you interested in our program?
What are you looking for in a program? Where else have you interviewed?
Why should we choose you? What can you contribute to our program?
How well do you feel you were trained to start as an intern?
Describe your learning style.
Tell me about… item(s) on your CV or transcript, past experience, time off, etc.?
Can you tell me about this deficiency on your record? (do not discuss if you are not asked)
What do you see yourself doing in five (ten) years?
What do you think about…the current and future state of healthcare, this specialty, etc.?
What do you do in your spare time?
Present an interesting case that you had… as if you were in clinic.
Tell me about a patient encounter that taught you something.
What would you do if you knew one of your more senior residents was doing something wrong? (filling out H&P’s without doing the evaluations, tying someone’s tubes without consent…and other ethical questions.)
Which types of patients do you work with most effectively? (least effectively?)
How do you make important decisions?
If you could no longer be a physician, what career would you choose?
How do you normally handle conflict? Pressure?
What to do think about what is happening in…? (non-medical current event questions)
Teach me something non-medical in five minutes.
Tell me a joke. (keep it simple and tasteful)
What if you do not match?
Can you think of anything else you would like to add? (yes…)

“Illegal” questions might include:

What are your plans for a family? Are you married? Have children?
How old are you?
If we offered you a position today would you accept?

Make sure to:

Not ramble.
Listen to the questions asked – make sure you understand what is being asked.
Answer the question that was asked.
Not answer a question they did not ask or add too much loosely-related information.
Be comfortable with pauses, silence – stay poised and confident.
Sound fresh every time – be prepared to answer the same question 20+ times throughout the entire interview process.
Smile! – highly underrated; often forgotten when nervous and tense.
Consult someone from the specialty about common questions in their interviews.
Always send a thank you letter after an interview.

GL

medhelp Team

More Personal Statement Tips

Personal Statement Format Your Name Paragraph 1: Introduction State directly why you want this residency position. Elaborate on these points in the rest of the document. Paragraph 2: Your Undergraduate Years Relate your undergraduate years to points made in the introductory paragraph. If applicable, include information about your major, and courses you liked and why you liked them. Extracurricular activities and medically-related volunteer work should reflect developing traits and skills. Paragraph 3: Your Medical School Years Describe your medical school years� experience and relate all that is applicable to the specialty you are pursuing. Paragraph 4: Your Specialty Choice and Why You Selected It �I have chosen this specialty because�� Focus on matters like continuity of care, dealing with the whole patient, role models, liking patients of a particular age range, challenges, variety of illnesses to treat, etc. Paragraph 5: The �I Seek� Paragraph Describe what you are seeking in a program. Consider important experiences such as strong academics diverse patient populations, outreach efforts to the community, research and teaching opportunities. This paragraph is important- Put some thought into it! Contact UA graduates in the residency program to which you are applying and get information/suggestions from them as to what is most important to focus on. How to write a personal statement: Some tips 1) Titles and subtitles help to tell your story. They also break up the page. 2) Grammar and spelling COUNT! This statement is YOU! Make sure it is clean, and free from errors. A carefully proofed personal statement is taken as a sign that the author is compulsive and thoughtful -just what the training program is looking for. 3) Don’t be afraid to be YOU! No one will remember that your grade school teachers elected you most likely to become a doctor. They will remember the candidate that had to deliver a baby horse on a farm as a teenager. They will most definitely remember the candidate that ran for public office and lost or the one who was promoted in the field from medic to platoon leader. Too many good candidates persist in thinking that the statement is only for academic achievements and medically relevant stuff. 4) Use whatever stories help define you, your skills, your character. Find a way to work your career as a medical interpreter into your story or even a background in sales or your athletic skills. 5) Use the personal statement to highlight your accomplishments. You may want to dedicate some space in your personal statement for these accomplishments with its own title and a skipped line to make it stand out. 6) Whatever you do, don’t just print out your curriculum vitae in the personal statement space. This is translated as “I had nothing to say so I thought I’d just plop this down here.” 7) BEWARE of the TOO SHORT PERSONAL STATEMENT. Having a pleasant amount a white space on the personal statement page is one thing. It makes the whole thing more readable. A 10 or 15 line personal statement is the quickest way to turn off a program. It says that your patient write-ups will also lack imagination and style. PERSONALIZE your personal statement. Don’t settle for telling your audience that there was a diverse population of patients where you trained. Tell them (briefly) some of the stories of the people you have treated. Doctors LOVE to read each other’s war stories. You may even find that the stories form the basis for some of your interviews. 9) Don’t make the classic writing mistake of beginning every sentence with “I”. In fact, you must work hard to make the piece a good bit of writing. Every paragraph should have a topic sentence followed by two to three sentences that support the topic and then a concluding sentence. Every paragraph should build on the one before it. The first paragraph traditionally ought to tell the reader what you hope to prove and then the last paragraph should tie up to the first and show how you succeeded in telling them. 10) Have someone good read your personal statement and give you feedback. 11) The personal statement should fit on one side of one page. No one who reads hundreds of personal statements wants them to be long and drawn out. 12) There should be some white space on the page. A big box of words can be visually discouraging. If you want it to be read, make is appealing. 13) Never fawn. Never tell the program director that you are desperate or that he/she will be blessed if they accept you. This kind of behavior undermines your ability to be perceived as a quality doctor on your own terms. In fact, think as positively as possible. Believe it in your heart and make it clear that you consider yourself doing the program a favor by coming for an interview. 14) Avoid the same old clich�s. No program director wants to read 300 statements that begin, “I have wanted to be a doctor ever since I was treated by my family doctor.” 15) Don’t be afraid to be creative. Programs are looking for creative people. Creative people make good problem solvers. They are thought of as more able to handle emergencies. Use poetry (in limited quantities), religious stories, and flashbacks to your childhood. Use different narrative lines for effect like switching back and forth between the patient’s point of view and yours. 16) Back up every descriptive thing you say. It’s one thing to say, “I’m a team player.” It is another thing entirely to say what makes you a team player. Describe the team you were on. The Personal Statement is your opportunity to take what is uniquely you out of the �cut and dried� format of the CV and application form. This is the time to give a program director a sneak preview of you, the applicant. Often though, it seems that most students tend to find this point of the application process quite difficult GL Medhelp Team For Personal Statement Writing Service Mail at medhelp@live.com

Personal Statement Tip

Some Words on Structure

Structure refers to how you choose to present the information in your personal statement. Good structure will make your piece flow, and enhance the reader’s ability to understand what you are trying to get across.

Some people can write well without thinking too much about structure. They naturally organize their information to be seamless, transitioning well between points and making their comments relevant to a theme. Most people, however, need to work at it a little more. Here are some very basic tips on how to make sure your personal statement has good structure.

Choose a FOCUS

What is it?
Focus refers to the main point of your statement. Sometimes it is called a theme. Most of what you say in your statement will contribute to supporting your focus. In the very broadest sense, the focus of all medical school personal statements is “Why I Should Be Accepted to Medical School,”. However, you need to choose something a little more subtle and personal to make a positive impression. Your focus should entail a value or an observation that has shaped you as a person. Most of the time a focus is an abstract quality: the desire to help others, the importance of individual contribution, the drive to unite science and compassion.

How to choose it.
Because of the abstract nature of focus, it can seem like a daunting task to choose one for your personal statement. Instead of sitting down and trying to come up with abstraction that you think defines you, it is much easier to come up with a list of experiences that have had an impact on your life. You can then examine the experiences to see what, exactly, about them made them important. This will often yield a good focus.

Here are some tips to consider when choosing an experience to evaluate for a focus:

• It should be unique. It does not have to be life shattering, but you should be able to write about it with conviction, enthusiasm and authority.
• It should be an experience you feel some passion for. You must be able to support it as a “turning point” in your life. Ask yourself, “How did I change as a result of this experience?” For example, did it give you a new perspective or understanding, did it give you a new direction in life, or help you come to an important realization?
• Don’t limit yourself to thinking of experiences that can translate well into the moral of ” . . . and that’s why I want to be a doctor.” Choose something that you feel is truly representative of you, and something that you feel you can use to transition to other relevant aspects of your life. Otherwise, your statement may come off sounding staged or strained.
• It should be sustainable throughout your statement. In other words it has to have enough depth and flexibility to carry you through your statement while avoiding repetition. The details of the event should afford you opportunity to talk about related experiences that you want the people who are considering your for an interview to know.

Can you give me an example?
Perhaps am experience that impacted you was the time you were thrown from your horse and dislocated your hip on the day before an important riding competition. It was a pivotal experience because it was the first time you were a patient with a serious injury, and because it was the biggest disappointment of your life. While in the hospital, your roommate was a woman who had just had both of her legs amputated due to diabetes. One possible focus that could be derived from this experience is how you learned how to put the elements you your life in perspective. This is a lesson that might have helped you in ensuing experiences, and you could outline ways that it could help you during medical school, or as a doctor.

There are also many ways to use the experience to talk about other issues involved in becoming a doctor. You could talk about how you felt as a patient, and the things about your treatment that you appreciated. Perhaps your doctors were attentive to your deep disappointment as well as to your injury. You could talk about how you used the time away from riding to develop an interest in sports medicine, or volunteering, or riding instruction, or psychology The possibilities of a well-chosen experience are limitless. As long as the experience was memorable and formed you in some way, it is a good candidate for the production of focus.

Create a FRAME for your FOCUS:

What is it?
When most people think of frames, they think of the structure around a picture, or the structure that holds something up-like a skeleton or building frame. That is a pretty accurate way to think about the frame in writing, too. A frame will give your statement a shape. It will provide a concrete way for you to introduce and talk about your focus.

Most of the time, if you’ve come up with a good experience from which to draw a focus, you can use details of the same experience for your frame. While the focus is often an abstract idea, the frame consists of concrete details-places, people, action It provides a means for anchoring your focus by setting a scene.

Many people think of the frame as a story, and in a lot of ways it is. In a personal statement, it usually consists of an anecdote that is introduced at the beginning of your statement and is brought to some sort of closure at the end.

Can you give me an example?
Keeping with the experience we used to derive a focus, here is an example of how frame might function to open a personal statement:

Nothing was more important to me on that warm morning in June than the upcoming competition. I’d been riding horses since I was six, and tomorrow I’d be riding the most difficult jump course of my life. I’d come out early to practice, and although it was sunny, there was still dew in the grass. The first time around the course I heard my horse’s hooves click against the top bar of barriers twice. Determined to have a perfect sweep, I sent her into the course a second time without stopping for a breather. My impatience cost me dearly. As my horse gathered herself to clear the third and largest fence of the course, I felt her falter and leaned forward to encourage her. My last minute adjustment didn’t help. The barrier caught her at the knees and we crashed down together.

Of course, you don’t want to use up too much of your limited space just setting a scene. Make sure your frame serves multiple purposes:

• It introduces the occasion of the focus
• It introduces you
• It is creative enough to spark interest in the rest of your statement

By framing the statement with an anecdote, you provide your audience with immediate access to some aspect of your past, your character, and your personality. Also, you give them incentive to read on to find our what happens next.

Make sure you return, even if it is only in a cursory way, to the frame at the end of the statement. Often, this is a good opportunity to summarize the important points of your statement and tie them together into a concluding observation.

What is a concluding observation?
The concluding observation is a restatement of your focus, but in a way that shows how it has evolved over time from a lesson that you learned as a result of a specific event into a bit of wisdom that you’ve found useful to apply to other situations in your life–and that will continue to serve you in medical school and as a doctor.

Here is how the frame and concluding observation might function at the end of a statement:

I’m sometimes a bit ashamed when I think that I had to dislocate my hip in order to learn that my approach to life was limiting my horizons. The first day that I returned to the saddle I was too sore to do more than ride very slowly through the fields near the stables. I remember that it was be best ride of my life, and to this day I only ride my horse for pleasure, not competition. To be honest, it’s because I haven’t had the time! My accident forced me away from a consuming passion and gave me the opportunity to discover other treasures in my life, treasures that to this day I find more rewarding than competitive riding. The foremost of those pleasures has been working at the summer camps for children who have lost arms and legs to amputation. I want to continue to broaden myself in medical school and beyond so that I might encounter yet more treasures along the path to becoming a pediatric surgeon.

Create Strong TRANSITIONS

Transitions refer to the language you use to move from one idea to the next. Most of the time transitions are accompanied by a paragraph break. You should never assume, however, that a paragraph break is enough of an indication that you are leaving one idea behind and moving on to another.

One way to check for clear transitions is to make sure the first sentence of every paragraph is somehow related to the last sentence in the previous paragraph. Even when you need to shift gears pretty drastically, you should find a way to create a “bridge” between your ideas.

If you have chosen a strong focus and frame, your transitions will come much easier. This is because you can use your frame and focus as a sort of hub that is the origin of each new idea that you choose to explore in your statement.

In addition to making sure that you transition well between your ideas, you should also make sure that your ideas are presented in a logical order that your reader can identify and follow. Many students choose to use chronological order. You might choose to order things from most to least important, or use categorize your ideas (e.g. academics, volunteer experience, work experience, etc.) Whatever order you choose, be faithful to it

II. Some Words on Style

Style refers to how you choose to use words to say what you have to say. There are a lot of different styles, and many of them are acceptable for a personal statement. However, you don’t want to compromise on several points:

Grammar
Make sure that your syntax is correct. Not only must you be fastidious about basics such as spelling and subject verb agreement, you should pay careful attention to your form. Make sure that you don’t have sentence fragments or run on sentences. Use punctuation correctly. Always have someone proofread your statement, and if grammar is not your thing, have someone who is good at grammar check your statement for errors.

Follow Through and Flesh Out
If you bring raise issues, be prepared to follow through on them and offer explanation or background. A common mistake is to make a statement and then assume that the reader will be able to place it as relevant. You must be explicit, and make sure that you round out the issues you raise with supporting details. For example, if you introduce the fact that you are a single mother, you must make sure that it is relevant to your focus, and you should offer details about how it is relevant. If you say that your desire to become a doctor started after your trip to Mexico, you need to tell why this is so. If you say, “I didn’t think I’d ever make it at a college like Carnegie Mellon,” give the reasons that you felt this way. Sometimes writers rely too much on meaning that they believe to be implicit and leave the reader with questions. Remember, the person reading your essay knows very little about you, your life experiences, your character, or your personality. Be clear.

Show, Don’t Tell
This is the most valuable–and most cited–piece of advice given to writers. Writing that is preachy or full of generalities sheds little light onto the character of the writer and, worse, is boring. You can be perfectly technically correct in your prose, but if you’re just telling and not showing, you are not communicating.

Here is an example of writing that tells a lot, but really doesn’t say much:

The medical profession combines knowledge and wisdom from just about every aspect of life which is directed towards helping humanity. A physician is not just part of the heath care team but the leader of the health care team. He is free to practice broadly or to acquire a specialty of his own choosing. Thus medicine offers the challenges and fulfillment that I am seeking in a career.

These statements profess truths that might be indisputable, but they are also full of platitudes and common knowledge and offer the reader no real information. This sort of general language of telling should be avoided at all costs.

Often when writing personal statements, students fall into the habit of telling and not showing in an effort to squeeze in all their accomplishments, resume-style. They resort to lists:

My desire to work with people is demonstrated by my many interactions as a volunteer. In 1997 I aided elderly and blind residents at the Homewood Retirement Community read their mail and write letters. The following summer, I served food at the local homeless shelter. As secretary of my high school chapter of SADD, I arranged for speakers at several community and school fundraisers. In addition to my volunteer activities, I’ve held a job since I was twelve. I worked on my uncles farm until I started ninth grade, at which time I was able to get a position as dish washer at a family restaurant. When I got my driver’s license, I took a cashier’s job at the gift store at Mercy Hospital in Altoona.

Although these accomplishments might be important to an application to medical school, they shouldn’t appear list-like in a personal statement.

The reader doesn’t get a sense for why you did these things, or how you felt about them, or what you learned.
Here are some ways that you can be sure to show and not tell:

• Use sensory details to help set scenes. Note what the sky looks like, what color a child’s dress is, how the food smells. Make sure your reader is right there with you.
• Share your personal emotions and indicate how your surroundings affected you. This will give the reader a better idea of your individualism and make experiences that are common seem unique.
• Be anecdotal and use examples to illustrate your observations.
• Write with the intention of communicating something original. Don’t just put down what you think the reader wants to hear.
• Avoid general commentary.