Education

1
Education
Doctor of Medicine (candidate) 2003-PresentQueen
s University, Kingston ON Bachelor of Science
(candidate) 2000-2003University of Western
Ontario, London ON - left after 3 years to
pursue M.D. program - D.F. Jing award for
excellence in microbiology

• Do NOT include high school
• (unless requested or
• youre a child prodigy and
• high school was last year)

2
Describing Clinical Experience

• Cardiac Surgery April 2003 May 2003
• Toronto General Hospital, Toronto ON
• You may wish to include pending electives as
  well

• Attended pre-op clinic, valve clinic and ORs
  (performed sternotomy) and participated in the
  staff surgeon teaching programme.

3
Describing Clinical Experience

• Rural/Remote Family Medicine (4 wks) Mar
  2005-Apr 2006
• The Pas, MB
• Saw patients independently during 2 weeks of
  family medicine clinics in Blackfoot General
  Hospital/The Pas.
• Worked independently and with supervisor during
  ER shifts and anesthesia plus first assist in OR
  (gen surg) spent one day on air ambulance.
• Attended to own family medicine patient list
  during one week visit to remote northern
  community hospital.

4
Publications, Abstracts

• Author names (bold yours). Title of publication.
  Journal of Something, October 2002.
• Author names (bold yours). Title of publication.
  Journal of Something. (In press).
• Author names (bold yours).
• Title of publication.
• Journal of Something (Submitted).
• Author names (bold yours).
• Title of publication.
• Journal of Something (In preparation).

5
Research Experience

• Can include
• summer work
• observerships
• volunteer work
• academic work
• Name of supervisor(s), institution, location,
  date
• Topic or title
• Significant findings or goals
• Publications, abstracts, conferences

6
Additional Experience

• Relevant or professional work experience
• Student leadership activities
• Community service
• Conferences attended
• Presentations given
• Interests

7
References

• Banish the boring
• Consider relevance, reputation
• Help them to help you
• Twice is nice
• How many is too many?

8
Personal Letter Ingredients

• Opening statement
• Why this specialty?
• Skills developed
• Relationship to goals
• Why their program?

9
Application Pitfalls

• Avoid
• Telling the Program Director what his/her
  specialty is about
• Anesthesia is both an intellectually and
  technically challenging specialty.

• Better
• Talk about why the specialty fits you
• I enjoy continuously applying my knowledge of
  physiology, pharmacology and internal medicine in
  anesthesia. The fact that diagnosis, treatment
  and results often happen within a short period of
  time is exciting and sits well with my need to
  see the results of what I do.

10
Application Pitfalls

• Avoid
• Vague, supposed to statements
• I am inquisitive, hardworking and enjoy medicine
  immensely.

• Better
• Show, dont tell
• I served one year as the Chairman of the
  Physician Supply Committee which opened my eyes
  to the politics and difficulties of managing
  health care at the population level.

11
Application Pitfalls

• Avoid
• Spiralling down into negatives
• I found my family medicine electives very
  routine and boring after a while and would much
  rather spend my career in a more interesting
  specialty such as dermatology.

• Better
• Show the connection with what you DO like about
  this specialty
• I found that I was consistently fascinated,
  often to the point of distraction, by the
  dermatological aspects of a patient while working
  in my family medicine electives. I strive
  towards a future focused on this intriguing
  specialty.

12
Great Beginnings

• A large part of why I entered medical school was
  because of the various physicians I had met who
  had an incredible passion for medicine. One
  particular physician gave me a powerful
  impression about his life in medicine when he
  said to me, A doctor never stops being a
  doctor. When I got into medical school, I was
  eager to find a specialty that I too would be
  passionate about and was more than just a job,
  but a part of my life. That specialty is
  internal medicine.

13
Great Beginnings

• An approachable people-person, an
  international traveler and a compassionate
  ophthalmologist these are what I wish to be
  known for. Through the new few paragraphs, I
  will endeavour to give you a glimpse of who I am
  and why I aspire to become an ophthalmologist.

14
Great Beginnings

• I have always had diverse interests that
  included both life and technical sciences. While
  the latter led me to pursue an engineering
  physics degree, the former motivated me to enter
  medicine. In radiology, I have found a career
  that can combine both interests.

15
Why This Specialty?

• I am not suited for very many occupations. It
  is not that I lack the skills or competence, but
  that I am very specific in my professional
  aspirations. I want to be able to make comical,
  happy faces as a routine part of my daily work.
  I seek opportunities to practice my jokes and
  puppetry skills on an audience who might actually
  laugh. Even on the busiest of days, I want
  updates on the nuances of the Barney and
  Teletubby culture. Fortunately, childrens
  medicine is one of those rare fields that offers
  all of these things. In addition to the playful,
  I am drawn to the serious aspects of pediatrics

16
Why This Specialty?

• My initial clinical exposure to Obstetrics and
  Gynecology was in an Adolescent Obstetrics and
  Gynecology clinic with Dr. Someone Important. I
  left that clinic exhilarated and inspired by the
  dynamics of the specialty and the physician I was
  fortunate enough to observe. This observership
  surpassed my experience in other specialties and
  heightened my interest to learn and experience
  more. I was also fortunate to be able to shadow
  Dr. Someone Else Important, Dr. Absolutely
  Dazzling and Dr. Known Everywhere during my
  summer back home in Toronto. My aspiration and
  potential to become an accomplished surgeon is
  fueled by the scope of innovative advancements in
  laparoscopic surgery, ultrasonography, surgical
  procedures in Urogynecology, Maternal-Fetal
  Medicine, among others.

17
Why This Specialty?

• I remember the intrigue and attraction of my
  first exposure to plastic surgery, witnessing a
  gracilis muscle transplant in the hands of two
  pioneers of facial reanimation. As I watched the
  procedure unfold in wonder, I thought to myself,
  this is what I want, to be doing cutting edge
  medicine, to one day be a pioneer. This desire
  was fostered as I became involved in research
  both in Toronto and at Queens University. The
  culmination of these experiences provided me the
  opportunity to give presentations at two national
  meetings (CSPS, RCPSC), reinforcing my
  aspirations of an academic career.

18
Skills Developed

• One reason to consider me for your program is my
  strong academic performance as evidenced by my
  attaining the highest standing in Immunology and
  Histology. I was also selected as one of six
  medical students to dissect cadavers and teach
  anatomy to first year medical students based on
  my academic performance in anatomy. Recently, I
  was granted a Medical Research Council of Canada
  Summer Studentship, a University of Somewhere
  Department of Surgery Summer Scholarship in
  Surgical Science, a Hospital Summer Scholarship
  and the Some Important Person Memorial
  Scholarship for having demonstrated evidence of
  excellence in academic and clinical surgical
  performance.

19
Skills Developed

• My electives exposed me to the broad range of
  responsibilities faced by anesthetists. Although
  I spent most of my time in the OR with adult
  patients, I made a special effort to experience
  pediatric and obstetrical anesthesia, try my hand
  at some regional anesthesia, participate as a
  member of the trauma team and acute pain service,
  and take part in a day of training with an
  anesthesia simulator. My elective in pediatric
  ICU sparked an interest in critical care.

20
Skills Developed

• In Some Small Town, B.C. I worked in the
  hospitals Emergency Room and attended calls with
  the EMS team. Over the four weeks I participated
  in the management of a broad spectrum of
  presenting complaints, from oil field traumas to
  drug overdoses to childbirth in the E.R., in a
  diverse patient population. I practiced
  Emergency Medicine skills such as suturing,
  casting and lumbar punctures and further
  developed my clinical and decision-making
  skillsat a rural hospital with few specialists
  and limited investigations possible, the latter
  was necessary.

21
Relationship to Goals

• In my future, I would like to pursue further
  research, e.g. PhD, in the field of Something
  Related, which is a field that has captured my
  imagination. During my elective in Some Town, I
  was fortunate to partake in a study, and submit a
  paper to Neurosurgery for publication, that
  attempted Something Neurologically Fascinating.
  I have enjoyed exposure to laboratory research
  dealing with Some Other Neurological Topic. More
  recently, I have had exposure to neuroscience
  research in the form of projects dealing with
  Some Brain Disorder and Another Brain Disease.
  The Brain Disorder research is currently being
  done as we are developing Something Cool to
  Combat It. I had excellent exposure to the
  modern, highly sophisticated technological
  aspects of neurosurgery with my Special Research
  Project at Some Neat Place. Potential
  applications of this work could be in Some New
  and Novel Area.

22
Relationship to Goals

• During one of my medical school interviews
  several years ago, I was asked to name a role
  model. I cited Dr. Helen Caldicott, the
  physician nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for
  her work campaigning against the proliferation of
  nuclear weapons in the 1970s and 1980s. At the
  time, I admired her work as a doctor, not
  thinking specifically about her specialty,
  pediatrics. How interesting that as I discovered
  my passion for childrens medicine, she continued
  to be an ideal role model. Like her, I hope to
  balance my career in clinical medicine with
  continued work on community issues such as
  environmental conservation.

23
Relationship to Goals

• Palliative care is also a facet of radiation
  oncology that interests me. Taking care of Carol
  in the last few months of her life taught me how
  fulfilling palliative care could be, both
  personally and professionally. I find that
  radiotherapy, in a setting of crisis intervention
  such as hemorrhage, has rewards comparable to
  those of surgery. In the end, Carol was thankful
  for our ability to control her symptoms of
  physical distress that allowed her to write
  letters to her daughters. The personal
  satisfaction I gained is immense, and is an area
  of radiation oncology that I find tremendously
  rewarding.

24
Why Their Program?

• Through my interactions and inquiries with your
  residents and faculty, I have become aware of
  your programs strong emphasis on research and
  academic excellence a unique feature that
  attracts me to your program. I have experienced
  first-hand, through my electives at NYGH and MSH,
  the level of expertise, education and training
  provided in community and tertiary centers by
  your highly accomplished and regarded staff. With
  family and friends living in the greater Toronto
  area, I am enthusiastic to return and complete
  residency in Toronto.

25
Why Their Program?

• Much of my surgical experience has been at the
  University of British Columbia and I am fortunate
  to have had these opportunities. Both of my
  summer research positions and my elective with
  Dr. Someone Special were extremely positive
  experiences. This was in large part due to the
  outstanding mentorship and teaching that I
  received from the staff, fellows, and residents.
  These people have played a large role in my
  choice of surgery as a career. The opportunity to
  learn from, be part of, and contribute to the
  group of people affiliated with your program is
  one of the primary reasons that I would like to
  train at UBC. As well, your program offers
  unparalleled educational opportunities with
  respect to patient volume and diversity, clinical
  teachers, and the opportunity to pursue research
  through the Surgeon Scientist Program.

26
Why Their Program?

• The Dalhousie University internal medicine
  programme is of particular interest to me for a
  number of reasons. I have had occasion to visit
  Halifax and the QEII Health Science Centre and
  was impressed with the medical facilities. The
  inclusion of the teaching and practice of
  evidence-based medicine and opportunity for
  learning in the ambulatory care setting are two
  aspects of the Dalhousie programme that hold
  special appeal for me.

27
Risky?

• My spouse and I plan to have another child
  during residency and we hope to plan this birth
  with appropriate faculty such that an ideal
  interim is attained for both the residency
  programme and our family. (Psychiatry)

Achieving balance in life is very important to
me. The personal time I spend with my wife
Claire, family and friends is an essential part
of my life. (Anesthesia)
28
Switching Streams

• It is my suspicion that I arrive at the process
  of applying for an internal medicine residency
  position from a bit of a difference background
  and pathway than most applicants. Early in my
  medical career, I expressed an interest in
  cardiac surgery and quickly became swept up in
  all that I was told or perceived was necessary
  for a successful application to a cardiac surgery
  residency program. While I enjoyed many aspects
  of this interesting surgical subspecialty, I
  discovered that the part I found the most
  interesting was the medical care of the surgical
  patient and the management of their concomitant
  illnesses. My clerkship core rotations in
  internal medicine provided the opportunity to
  confirm my previously latent desire to pursue a
  training position in this specialty.

29
Switching Streams

• After multiple electives and clinical
  experiences in obstetrics and gynecology, I found
  that the part of obstetrics I liked best was
  counseling my patients and helping them deal with
  their interpersonal and emotional difficulties. A
  subsequent psychiatry rotation with Dr. Great
  Mentor gave me an excellent view into what it is
  like to be a resident in psychiatry. This
  wonderful experience and Dr. Great Mentors
  support were most influential in my decision to
  pursue a career in psychiatry.

30
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way through
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