Adventures from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
My Match Day in March 2015 was probably one of the best days of my mid-twenties. I stood around a table with my best friends and my significant other — also a medical student — as we opened our Match letters together. It was our best day — I was headed to Baltimore, and he(...)
Every March, thousands of fourth year medical students simultaneously open letters containing the names of their future residency programs. A pediatrics resident nearing the end of her training reflects on things she wishes someone had told her as she prepared to become an intern. Most days, you will have to choose between getting enough sleep,(...)
It’s the beginning of my third and final year of residency, and I can finally see the light at the end of the training tunnel. Second year was challenging — the first half was filled with weeks of nights, a crash course in pediatric intensive care, and months on the pediatric hematology and oncology floor.(...)
(Disclaimers: Although much of the following comes from my medical education, it should not be generalized to all medical students. Certain details — name, identifiers, complaints — have been modified for privacy reasons.) 7:59 p.m. I am standing outside the patient’s room in the hospital. She has just been transferred from the emergency department (ED).(...)
I am no stranger to medical institutions. I’ve spent time in hospitals and clinics all throughout my life — shadowing physicians, working in the operating room as an administrative intern and now as a first-year medical student. However, while walking through the busy corridors of The Johns Hopkins Hospital, I feel distinctly different. Of course,(...)
The last time I wrote about applying to residency, fourth-year medical students were just about to hit the submit button on the Electronic Residency Application System. Several long weeks later, the interview season has begun. The irony of the phrase “hurry up and wait” becomes acutely painful for students during the weeks between submitting residency(...)
Matching into residency was one of the greatest days of my life. Years of hard work and dedication had finally culminated into the opportunity to become a doctor and practice medicine where I wanted, and in the specialty where I fit best. A few years into being a resident, the process started over, with the(...)
As August begins, rising fourth-year medical students at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine are preparing to apply to the next step in their medical training – residency, a three-to-seven-year apprenticeship where students transform into independent practicing physicians. In fact, with applications due in September, many students have already been preparing for weeks, if not(...)
July 1 marked a monumental day for all first-year residents, also known as interns, across the country. All freshly minted medical graduates began the rite of passage of what purports to be the most challenging year in medical training. No longer medical students, interns suddenly must take up the mantle of responsibility and make real-life(...)