Thursday, August 28, 2008

Meeting with the Big Guy


Yesterday I had one of the most important, and yet terrifying, meetings of my life (ok I am known to exaggerate). I met with the Residency Director for the Emergency Department at my Medical School. He is known to be a bit blunt and tell you exactly how he sees things, so I was ready to be tackled down and told that I was never ever going to become an Emergency Pediatric Doc.

He surprised me.

I first sat down wishing I had not worn a white top because I knew that sweat marks were already shining through, when he barked "So why did you want to talk to me?" I took a deep breath and opened my mouth and replied "I came here for 2 main reasons. First I want to know about what you think about letters of rec...." and I really didn't close it much after that. For some reason he responded well. He went over each and every one of the residencies on my list and graded them for me based on what I said I was looking for. He then did a mock interview and told me how to revise what I said. Which is when I decided it was time to know, to really know, how I stood up against other applicants. Because I'm gonna be honest---sometimes I'm like an ostrich--I just like to keep my head in the sand and push on through without realizing everyone is running away from the lion.

So I told him my Step 1 board score---its pretty much the mean of what his department takes--which I expected. We discussed Step 1 for a bit. And then I mentioned that I honored everything except for medicine. Now, here comes the hard part. I am pretty sure I prefaced that with "In third year I honored everything but medicine," but looking back, I am not so sure. He was impressed. He asked if I was AOA (they are the ones to be impressed by!). I said "No--I have a very competitive class." And thats when he said, "Well if you rocked Step 2 then I think this whole Em/Peds Residency is a reality for you." My head swelled up 2 sizes and I floated away from that conversation elated. ELATED.

It wasn't until 7 hours later when I realized he might have thought I meant I honored EVERYTHING except for medicine---meaning everything first year, everything second year, everything third year----except for medicine. My elated feeling fizzed and now I'm back in the sand again with the lion circling. I mean what was I thinking?? I knew that conversation went too well. My luck isn't that amazing. So I wasn't sure what to do with this new thought. Some of my closest friends (I love you guys) told me thats definitely not what he thought, it was clear that we had moved on to 3rd year when I mentioned that. And hopefully they are all correct. I am just having a hard time shaking this one off.

Tuesday I start Peds Infectious Disease---you all know how I love the little buggars!!!

1 comment:

PGYx said...

Hmm, I think there's a good chance he thought you meant you honored every rotation except for Medicine. That's what I thought until you clarified your statement (and honestly, I can be quite the stickler).

I've heard that residency directors don't care much about pre-clinical grades, anyway. Step 1 tells them what they need to know about what you gleaned before you entered the hospital. You obviously did well once you got to the hospital, so it sounds to me like you'll be just fine!

Peds ER is a long road and you clearly love it enough to travel the path. Good luck getting the very best residency for you.