Career and Professional Development for MD Students

Penn State College of Medicine’s Faculty Advisor program is designed to provide a structured framework for advising our medical students throughout medical school. Advising provides students with academic counseling, career advising, professionalism and wellness support. The program strives to provide a supportive, reflective, learner-centered environment for the personal and professional development of each individual student, enriching the foundation towards a successful transition into graduate medical training and beyond. Each student is assigned a faculty advisor who is responsible for supporting students longitudinally during their journey in medical school. Advisors meet with students at least once per semester and focus on a variety of topics. Topics covered include:

• Academic Counseling

• Career Advising

• Professional Identity Formation

• Well-being support

• Individual Coaching

Faculty advisors

• Bernadatte Gilbert, MD (bgilbert1@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• Banku Jairath, MD (bjairath@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• Abigail Myers, MD (amyers@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• William Trescher, MD (wtrescher@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• Joseph Enama, MD (jenama@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• Edward Bollard, MD, DDS, MACP (ebollard@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• Taha Al-Shaikhly, MBChB (talshaikhly@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• Alfredo Bellon, MD, PhD (abellon@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

• Shou Ling Leong, MD (sleong@pennstatehealth.psu.edu)

Contact Us

MD students can contact the Office of Student Affairs, studentaffairs@pennstatehealth.psu.edu for any questions related to their faculty advisor assignment.

The Early Career Exploration Program provides medical students in Phase I of the curriculum an opportunity to gain early exposure and experience in areas of medicine in which they may have an interest or want to explore. Students are encouraged to seek broad exposure to specialties in order to get a taste of a variety of practice options early in their medical careers.

How does the program work?

Medical students in Phase I of the curriculum are free to email the faculty contact person listed below to express their interest in that specialty and to request a shadowing opportunity. This will allow the student to be connected with a faculty member to shadow.  Following that experience, the student may set up a separate meeting with a specific faculty member to further discuss the students clinical or research interests, or they may agree that no further meetings are necessary. Students are encouraged to fully utilize this program by contacting faculty from all specialties in which they may have an interest.

What role can Student Interest Groups play in early career development?

Student Interest Groups should be viewed, and used, as a gateway to the specialty. We strongly encourage students to begin their career exploration by first attending meetings of the specialty interest group. In particular, these groups hold periodic group meetings that serve as a broad introduction to a specialty.

Students have access to more than 30 Specialty Advisors at Penn State College of Medicine. Each Specialty Advisor serves as an additional resource to support students once they have identified a specialty of interest. Specialty advisors provide students with:

• Individual career consultations

• Connecting students with speciality specific research and shadowing opportunities

• Reviewing and assessing competitiveness for the speciality

• Guiding and reviewing research year applications and away rotation applications

• Assisting with preparation and review of residency applications, including CVs, and personal statements

MD students can contact the  Office of Student Affairs at studentaffairs@pennstatehealth.psu.edu for the contact information of our specialty advisors.

All students are actively encouraged to explore their career options by utilizing the AAMC’s Careers in Medicine (CiM) program. During each phase in their journey, MD students can complete the CiM self assessments.

• Medical Specialty Preference Inventory (MSPI)

• Physician Values in Practice Scale (PVIPS)

• Physician Skills Inventory (PSI)

• Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsey Temperament Score (MBTI / KTS)

• Specialty Indecision Scale (SIS)

Additionally, a student-led Careers in Medicine team provides MD students with a peer-to-peer supportive network to help guide medical students during their medical career journey. The team hosts a variety of webinars, workshops and events such as:

• CiM Residency Career Fair

• Getting Through Interview Season - Panel with Intern/Residents

• 4th Year Rotations & Away Rotations - Student Panel

• Scheduling Clerkships - Virtual Student Panel

• What to Do for MS1 Summer Panel

If you have questions, please contact Careers in Medicine at cim@pennstatehealth.psu.edu or the student leadership team below:

• President - Cici Burke, cburke3@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

• Vice President - Courtney McCrory, cherr2@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

• Secretary - Justin James, jjames7@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

• Event Coordinator - Paige Richards, prichards@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

• MS3 Representative - Hannah Artz, hartz1@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

• MS2 Representative - Cameron Coakes, ccoakes@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

• MS1 Representative - Sandy Zeng, szeng@pennstatehealth.psu.edu

When it comes to residency preparation, Student Affairs is highly involved in supporting medical students from the day of their matriculation through residency applications through graduation. The office aims to walk medical students through the process of identifying a career of interest, identifying career goals, researching residency programs, applying to the programs, working with the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), San Francisco Match (SFMatch) and the Military Match. Student Affairs offers webinars on:

• Early career interests and competitive specialty preparation

• CV creation and maintenance

• Early personal statement preparation

• MSPE and Noteworthy Characteristics

• Introduction to ERAS Residency Application with Skills, Values, and Characteristics

• CV for ERAS Application

• Residency Application Preparatory Session & Letters of Recommendation

• Personal Statement Development Workshop

• Couples Match

• Application Tips- ERAS Experiences

• ERAS Application Submission Q and A

• Residency Interview Preparation Webinar

• Residency Program Evaluations

• NRMP Rank Order Lists & SOAP for Concerned Applicants

The Office of Student Affairs provides group and 1:1 support and guidance on individual CV, personal statements and ERAS experience reviews. They also assist in scheduling residency practice interviews for all interested fourth year medical students. All documents and resources related to residency applications can be found in the Phase III Events and Resources canvas course. Questions related to ERAS, ResidencyCas and Central Application can be directed to studentaffairs@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.

When crafting your personal statement for your residency, there are some tips to keep in mind. The personal statement should supplement and complement your CV. After reading it, someone should understand:

1. Who you are

2. How you developed an interest in the specialty

3. What your important, relevant experiences are

4. What attributes will make you a good resident

5. What your professional goals are

Most of the other considerations are similar to instructions in all writing: Write in full sentences, avoiding abbreviations and jargon. Try avoid repetitive sentence structure, poetry and make sure to keep quotes to minimum. While it’s OK to use a thesaurus, you should keep in mind that a) if you don’t use the word regularly, you might not use it properly, and b) the point of a personal statement is to introduce yourself, so it should still sound like you. Once you have written a draft, set it aside, then review later. Be sure to ask your specialty advisor to review.  Make sure you (and someone else) proofread your final draft. Here are some pointers for writing an interesting and effective personal statement:

• Start early

• Have multiple versions

• Write a focused essay covering the basics, 4-5 paragraphs and less than one page

• Address any academic issues (elephant in the room) at the start

• Do not make a list of excuses explaining your negative records

• Write in full sentences and use correct grammar and spelling

• Always do a spellcheck

• Don’t use abbreviations and acronyms

• Avoid repetitive sentence structure

• Express yourself in a concise, less pretentious style

• Write to spark some interest for the reader

• Do not try to be "too cute"

• Do not use the pronoun "I" too much

• Be honest and consistent with the rest of your application