UMN Vital Signs: A Career Development Newsletter

April 9, 2021, Volume 2, Issue 3

Welcome to the April Edition of Vital Signs! As we are wrapping up the end of Spring semester, there is much to celebrate. We had a successful Match with the Class of 2021 in spite of all of the challenges of this application cycle. The COVID-19 vaccine is much more easily available. The sun is shining and birds are singing!

If you are interested in contributing content for future editions of Vital Signs, please contact me directly at mbraaten@umn.edu .

Take care, and be well!

Kindly,

Maija Braaten



Congratulations, Class of 2021!!!

Top 5 Specialties

  1. Internal Medicine

  2. Family Medicine

  3. Emergency Medicine

  4. Pediatrics

  5. Psychiatry

53% matched in Primary Care

47.3% matched in Minnesota

Check out the complete list and statistics HERE.

Balancing Family and Medical School: Match Profile on Curtis Bashore

For graduating medical student Curtis Bashore, combining medical school with family life has been a great blend. Check out the article here to learn more about his story and tips for thriving and juggling medical school with family life and responsibilities.

Navigating Residency Applications During COVID-19: An Interview with MS-4 Hayley Sharma

Want to learn more about the career discernment process, interviewing, and match process during the era of COVID-19? Check out this video interview with Hayley Sharma!

Professional Development Spotlight: Resident Mentoring Program

Want to learn more about this exciting new way to connect medical students with residents? Check out this article to learn more about the Resident Mentoring Program.

What Can I Be Doing Now?

Class-specific suggestions for ways to support career and professional development.


MS-1s

  • Exploring Specialties to learn more about potential career paths, links to useful information, and more!

  • Take CiM Assessments to help build a foundation for the Understand Yourself phase. Although opportunities to gain clinical experiences and shadowing may still be impacted by COVID-19, there are still many things you can do to gain insight into yourself through Careers in Medicine assessments, researching potential specialties, updating your CV, and other action items.

  • Monitor your email for any announcements related to virtual events to enhance career exploration.

  • Keep connected with your Faculty Advisor for professional and career development advice. Group meetings will be occurring in May - watch your email and monitor Canvas for updates.

  • Reach out to Specialty Experts to find out more information and get advice for how to best prepare to match in their fields.

MS-2s

Balancing Step 1 preparation and beginning MS-3 curriculum are the highest priorities. As your schedules allow, you may want to consider the following:

  • Review information in the new Career Development Toolkit for Explore Your Options and possibly Choose a Specialty phases. Although opportunities to gain clinical experiences and shadowing may still be impacted by COVID-19, there are many things you can do to gain insight into yourself through Careers in Medicine assessments, researching potential specialties, updating your CV, and other action items.

  • Monitor your email for any announcements related to virtual events to enhance career exploration. Prepare for the clinical environment!

  • Explore Specialties.

  • Reach out to Specialty Experts to learn more about specialties of interest.

MS-3s

Residency Launchpad is your one stop shop for videos, handouts, and other important information to help you with your residency application process.

Writing your Personal Statement and Noteworthy Characteristics take time, effort, and energy. Take advantage of time you have early this summer to help craft great statements.

Requesting Letters of Rec. Be sure to follow-up with potential authors very soon after you complete clinical rotations to see if they are able to write a strong letter of recommendation for your residency application. The sooner you do it, the better they remember you and will be able to include details.

Sign-up for MSPE appointments. Watch for communication from your Faculty Advisor or Maija Braaten for more details and to sign-up for the meetings. These appointments will happen between May and August 6th.

MS-4s

Pay it forward! Complete the Texas STAR survey ASAP if you have not already.

Graduation! Watch for information from Rachel Rudeen for all of the details. Celebrate your success as you prepare for residency.

Go forth and conquer!