Sunday, November 25, 2012

Friends, Formulas, and Finding Out

It's weird competing for residency spots with all of your friends. When I applied to medical school I didn't know a single person who was going through the same process. Now most of my Canadian friends here are scrambling for the same (extremely limited number of) residency spots.

Ugh.

Gah.

I hate that thought. I don't want to be sitting next to one of my good buds, on one of those uncomfortable steel framed chairs with the stuffing falling out of the cushion, waiting in line to be interviewed. How awkward will that conversation be?

"Residency, hey? One position at this school...*cough*...so....what is your rank list? How was Christmas?...Cold out there, hey?"

"Yep."

Also, at least one of the schools I applied to uses the following formula for interviews:

EE score: 20%
Personal letter: 20%
School marks/ranking: 20%
Research/publications: 20%

Then they interview the top "x" number and the interview is worth 20%. The schools rank list is based on that overall score.

So this is my worry...my true attributes and qualities don't necessarily shine when traditional formulas are applied. My complete lack of Canadian medical school interviews speaks to this. I mean, sorry, I haven't managed to crank out any major publications this year. Does that mean I am not going to be the most competent and safe and fun-loving resident you've ever had?! Hell no!

Maybe if the formula was:

Relevant health care experience: 20%
Culinary skills: 10%
Class ranking: 20%
Personal statement: 10%
EE score: 5%
Interview: 30%
Dentition: 5% 

Then I could rest assured that I'd have a job next year...!

Sigh.

Tick tock. Still a month of nail-biting to go...

How I currently feel...





1 comment:

dolce vita said...

Applying to MD/PhD programs with the same people was just bad-there are only so many good ones in the country. It actually killed my friendship with my best friend of 9 years-we had worked in adjacent labs, were inseparable in hs/college, but truth be told, we were clawing for the same thing.