NRMP Residency Match Application Profiles:
Internal Medicine Match Applicant Profile

• How did you decide on your specialty?
• How did you prepare yourself for application to your chosen specialty?
• Who wrote your letters of recommendation for your application?
• Which programs did you apply to and why?
• What kinds of questions did programs tend to ask you?
• What would you have done differently in applying?
• What was the most difficult part of the application process?
• What should I look for on my interview and tour day?
• What questions should I ask of residents, faculty, and program directors?
• How did you form your rank list?
• What advice can you give seniors applying in your specialty?

How did you decide on your specialty? It was a tough decision between medicine and peds. I did electives and subi's in both fields and still ended up liking both. The pros and cons for each field worked out almost evenly so that I was left in indecisionville for quite a long time. I actually ended up applying to both fields through ERAS.

How did you prepare yourself for application to your chosen specialty? As mentioned above, I did electives and subi's in both. I have a Ph.D. in skeletal muscle physiology/electrophysiology which didn't really help differentiate between medicine and peds. It did, however, help in the context of what I saw myself doing in 10 years. My premise ended up being that I was probably going into some sort of academic medicine in the field of cardiology device development. With this in mind, the established channels for research in cardiology are significantly better established for adult vs. peds cardiology. Moreover, I wanted to leave some options open for career ventures outside of medicine. Having a general internal medicine background would likely be a more useful preparation in this context as well. I solicited advice from dozens of people, literally. Current MD's, PhD's, MD-PhD's, people in the corporate world, and of course fellow students. I even interviewed at both peds and medicine residency programs before eventually pulling out of my remaining peds interviews (interviewing at 2 disciplines within the same institution is a no-no, if you didn't know already). The sum total of all the advice along with my own "gut feeling" had me going into adult internal medicine.

Who wrote your letters of recommendation for your application? I ended up having 2 sets of letters for medicine and pediatrics. Most were from full-time senior faculty within the fields, but when assigning letters via ERAS, I always included the appropriate department chair's letter along with a letter from my laboratory's principle investigator. Also, I assigned letters based on whether or not the author might have some particular influence with a particular program director. For example, one of my internal medicine letters came from someone who know Stanford's program director very well. My letter's author even suggested that I especially include his letter with my documents to that program.

Which programs did you apply to and why? I applied to most of the competitive medicine and pediatrics programs for a total of 22. These included major academic centers on the West coast and the East, including UCSF, Stanford, UCLA, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Harvard, etc. I then withdrew from most of the pediatrics programs and ended up doing 11 interviews total.

What kinds of questions did programs tend to ask you? All questions were more or less the same. More of social visit and heavy recruiting than any kind of strenuous "diagnose this patient" kind of questions. Most interviews were very relaxed and unstressful.

What would you have done differently in applying? No regrets. Strategy was highly effective.

What was the most difficult part of the application process? Trying to discriminate between programs. All the quantitative stuff blends in together (# call nights, open vs. closed ICUs, etc.). The thing that worked for me was trying to come up with a single word or phrase to describe my gestalt feeling about a program within a couple days of my interview.

What should I look for on my interview and tour day? Believe the hype. All colors run together eventually. Keeping extensive tables and charts about each program may work for some uniquely type A individuals, but the majority will become frustrated with this exercise in futility. Try to pick out feelings you had during the day--what made you uncomfortable, what got you excited, how well you meshed with the current faculty and housestaff.

What questions should I ask of residents, faculty, and program directors? Just be honest with yourself and ask those questions that would most have an impact on your lifestyle and happiness at a particular program and city.

How did you form your rank list? Location is very important to me. I personally have always wanted to go to Boston for medicine training, so my first two choices were straightforward. The only west coast program that I really liked was UCSF, so I ranked it third. The rest of the list kind of followed with my personal feelings towards them defining where they ranked.

What other advice can you give seniors applying in your specialty? To match at the top programs in internal medicine, a strong research background is a huge leg up on the competition. AOA is a plus as well, obviously. Just as with medical school in general, if you have a plan and a passion and have shown some ability to execute these elements along your career, you'll do well. If you're just interested in matching, however, medicine is also a good bet because of the multitude of spots available.