We have made it to deep winter, this could be a time to reflect and set the stage for the upcoming spring and summer. Take a look at upcoming opportunities in a cross-campus operational  and opportunities calendar (the more we all use it, the stronger it becomes!) and year-specific checklist guides to career and professional development which consolidate and link your resources (see below).

If you are interested in contributing content for future editions of Vital Signs, please contact me directly at baue0437@umn.edu.  For those of you active in the Houses, you can log your career development engagement within the  LiveSchool app to gain house points.

Sincerely,

Megan Bauer-Erickson

You have been in a flurry of learning this Fall. Deep in classes and clinical experiences; thinking about next steps. Take a moment to reconnect with why you are motivated to be in the field of medicine.

This can also be a time to think of the ways in which you can positively impact the people and communities around you. Whether big or small, our collective effort is shaping the world in which we wish to live and work. Watch Dr. Núñez,  Dr. Warlick, and Dr. Mustafa as they share some of their own thoughts and actions on  impacting DEI within medicine DEI in Medicine Careers Panel: Stories and Perspectives.  

Look below for class-specific suggestions on ways to navigate your career and professional development.  

Whether you have a clear idea of your career path ahead or are open to many options, continuing to connect with who you are, how you operate and the ways you can sculpt your working environment sets a strong foundation for navigating your career. Look into your web resources: UMN Career and Professional Development and  Careers in Medicine.  

• Utilize assessment and reflection to understand yourself within medical education by:

  • Getting exposure, ask questions, research your interests 

• Explore your options

  • Research specialties and departments, attend Student Interest group events and exposure series

    • Surgical Specialties Exposure Event: 2/9/24 This will be a great opportunity to learn about the differences between surgical specialties and gain exposure to the field! RSVP here. 

  • Review the Summer opportunities event materials and recording 

• Build your skills - these are upcoming workshops in March, but access the materials as you need

  • Prepare your materials for summer: Introduction to Curricula Vitae Workshop CV Video Guide, Materials, examples, slides 

  • Networking: Informational Interviews workshop slides 

• Winter is a great time to continue researching specialties and doing comparisons of your top choices.  Check out the Explore Options bucket in Careers in Medicine and consider doing the Compare Specialties activity.  

• Revisit the parts of yourself that will shape your success in any specialty: 

  • Revisit the Medical Specialty Preference Inventory (MSPI) Has anything changed? 

  • Connect your values with those Physician Values in Practice Scale. Watch the workshop for a guided experience.

• Explore your options through your network and brush up on Informational Interviewing skills (slides)

• Attend the relevant exposure and specialty-specific sessions for more information (stay tuned for more late spring sessions)

  • Surgical Specialties Exposure Event: 2/9/24 This will be a great opportunity to learn about the differences between surgical specialties and gain exposure to a field you may not have considered! RSVP here. 

  • MedOpps

• As you are continuing to experience a variety of  clinical environments in your clerkships, now is a great time to explore (or revisit) the Choose your Specialty section in Careers in Medicine and to reflect on each of your clinical experiences (helpful template "Clinical Rotation Evaluation"). 

• If you are struggling with choosing between a few different specialties, it can be helpful to take the Specialty Indecision Scale (SiS) to help pinpoint the reasons behind the challenge and identify action steps to help with the process.  

• Consider doing some informational interviews to make connections and learn more about specialties you are interested in pursuing.  This article  in CiM explains the benefits of this activity and how to go about contacting potential people to interview for an effective experience. 

• In preparation for residency applications you can read  A Very Short Guide to the Match and use your token (in your email) to register with ERAS.  If you need it resent, ask us at resapp@umn.edu . (April 4th Residency Launchpad will have more information)

  • Be proactive with acquiring Letters of Recommendation for your residency application.  Review the LoR - Preparing for Residency Application Success  slides for information and strategies.

• Interview season is still going!  If you need to find a place to have your virtual interview that is distraction free, check out the Interview Spaces.  

• Take our Residency Interview survey to help us collect accurate data/feedback on your interview experiences. 

• Careers in Medicine - Prepare for Residency is still a resource during residency interviews and as you are starting to think about rank order lists.  Check out the articles and other information.  

• If you have any concerns about your interviews and the match process in general, reach out to your Faculty Advisor or resapp.

• Get ready to celebrate or support your SF Match colleagues; they find out February 1st!

• Remember to register with the NRMP if you have not already done so (by January 31st).  You must be registered in order to participate in the Main Residency Match.