Advice: Addressing the change

[upontherocks]

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Long story short, I originally applied for anesthesia and ended up as a GMO in the US military. I'm getting out next June and applying for psychiatry this ERAS cycle (see past threads for more details). I've finally had a chance to speak with my school associate dean for feedback on my PS and goals last week (hard to schedule), which didn't really go so well imo. I got the impression he thinks I don't have a good chance without saying it, and I didn't want to ask that directly (since I feel he would have said to apply broadly and stuff).

Some things I'm drawing a blank on if anyone has advice on how to address it.

-Why the change (so adcoms won't have to be concerned about me changing my mind again). I thought my PS would be where I address that

-In my personal statement, I put down why I want to go to my school's program (plan was for every program, add a small blurb in the PS why I'm interested in the program). He thought it wasn't necessary at best and detrimental at worst (I said school program offers XYZ, he said so do other programs). Some programs I looked at on their websites did say they look for that in the PS, not my school though, so for programs like my school, keep it more generic?

-What I hope to bring to psychiatry (not really sure what to say other than my military experience is unique, but what works for the military wouldn't really work for civilian settings, other than do more and more with less and less)

-Regarding the impactful experience section, he was saying to discuss in there my development as an officer and caretaker in the military. I originally put in there that I grew up poor in a single mom household (so no mentors, connections, support, etc., pretty much bumbled/figured out everything/advocated myself to get where I am) and while being in the military, I was part of (insert US military operation here) that could have turned bad fast and how that put's everything into perspective for me. He hasn't read my ERAS application so he wouldn't know that

-Also said I don't need to have 10 experiences, making it sound like my military time would be one experience. I've broken my military service into several entries (being a doctor in clinic with my own empanelment, being the chief of the department, deploying a few times, chief/director of x and y positions, etc) which all together could easily be more than 10 things, but I did put some non-military entries about volunteering and other things.

Appreciate any and all advice anyone has to offer.

 

[dozitgetchahi]

Long story short, I originally applied for anesthesia and ended up as a GMO in the US military. I'm getting out next June and applying for psychiatry this ERAS cycle (see past threads for more details). I've finally had a chance to speak with my school associate dean for feedback on my PS and goals last week (hard to schedule), which didn't really go so well imo. I got the impression he thinks I don't have a good chance without saying it, and I didn't want to ask that directly (since I feel he would have said to apply broadly and stuff).

Some things I'm drawing a blank on if anyone has advice on how to address it.

-Why the change (so adcoms won't have to be concerned about me changing my mind again). I thought my PS would be where I address that

-In my personal statement, I put down why I want to go to my school's program (plan was for every program, add a small blurb in the PS why I'm interested in the program). He thought it wasn't necessary at best and detrimental at worst (I said school program offers XYZ, he said so do other programs). Some programs I looked at on their websites did say they look for that in the PS, not my school though, so for programs like my school, keep it more generic?

-What I hope to bring to psychiatry (not really sure what to say other than my military experience is unique, but what works for the military wouldn't really work for civilian settings, other than do more and more with less and less)

-Regarding the impactful experience section, he was saying to discuss in there my development as an officer and caretaker in the military. I originally put in there that I grew up poor in a single mom household (so no mentors, connections, support, etc., pretty much bumbled/figured out everything/advocated myself to get where I am) and while being in the military, I was part of (insert US military operation here) that could have turned bad fast and how that put's everything into perspective for me. He hasn't read my ERAS application so he wouldn't know that

-Also said I don't need to have 10 experiences, making it sound like my military time would be one experience. I've broken my military service into several entries (being a doctor in clinic with my own empanelment, being the chief of the department, deploying a few times, chief/director of x and y positions, etc) which all together could easily be more than 10 things, but I did put some non-military entries about volunteering and other things.

Appreciate any and all advice anyone has to offer.

Not really sure why there would be a problem? Usually, applicants with medical military experience are looked at positively.

Psych isn’t *that* hard to match.

Sounds like you’re doing the right things in general.

Any red flags? I’m assuming your board scores/rotation grades etc were good if you applied anesthesia originally?

You may want to ask this in the milmed forum, as you’ll probably get a more tailored answer there.

@DrMetal

 

[upontherocks]

Passed all steps (23x, 24x, 21x) and classes with no fails*. Red flags were not matching the first time and I have no research which is what it is. Only thing I can think is my school doesn't really care for military cause him and the department chair had lukewarm reception to my goals when I was connected to them for advising.

*Closest thing to a fail I have (which idk if the associate dean knows or not, I didn't tell him) is that due to one bad evaluation out of 4 others that were pass or better, I "failed" my FM rotation, but I took a 2 week clinical skills elective to remediate. When I look at my transcript is shows I passed the rotation, nothing indicating I failed it as far as I can tell, but clearly no one in their right mind would take an elective like that unless they had to.

 

[comp1]

If the "fail" is not on the transcript, it shouldn't get you filtered out, so that's the important thing. Is your associate dean a psychiatrist? I think you need to share your personal statement with some psychiatrists in academic medicine, preferably those on admissions committees. You also definitely need to be sharing this with non-military people as I assume you'll be primarily applying to civilian residencies (which you should to make sure you match since the military numbers are limited). I get the impression that it can be very hard for career military people to conceptualize how people who were never in the military view a military applicant. I do agree with the above that it's generally quite positively, but I wonder if your associate dean is assuming a lot of knowledge about what a GMO even is that isn't going to exist outside military people. I don't remember seeing program specific personal statements when I sat on an adcom. I might get kind of weirded out by it? I do agree that it'd need to be something really specific to the program and also your interest would need to be supported by the rest of your application or it would just demonstrate that you are able to read (a website). I detest personal statements and found them by far the least enjoyable and interesting part of the application cycle. You growing up poor isn't unique, special or interesting. Even people who most definitely didn't will somehow uniformly make it seem like they did in their personal statement to create some sort of hero's journey narrative. I'd definitely rather read about your military experiences, but maybe that's personal taste?

 

[upontherocks]

If the "fail" is not on the transcript, it shouldn't get you filtered out, so that's the important thing. Is your associate dean a psychiatrist? I think you need to share your personal statement with some psychiatrists in academic medicine, preferably those on admissions committees. You also definitely need to be sharing this with non-military people as I assume you'll be primarily applying to civilian residencies (which you should to make sure you match since the military numbers are limited). I get the impression that it can be very hard for career military people to conceptualize how people who were never in the military view a military applicant. I do agree with the above that it's generally quite positively, but I wonder if your associate dean is assuming a lot of knowledge about what a GMO even is that isn't going to exist outside military people. I don't remember seeing program specific personal statements when I sat on an adcom. I might get kind of weirded out by it? I do agree that it'd need to be something really specific to the program and also your interest would need to be supported by the rest of your application or it would just demonstrate that you are able to read (a website). I detest personal statements and found them by far the least enjoyable and interesting part of the application cycle. You growing up poor isn't unique, special or interesting. Even people who most definitely didn't will somehow uniformly make it seem like they did in their personal statement to create some sort of hero's journey narrative. I'd definitely rather read about your military experiences, but maybe that's personal taste?

So this associate dean is a neurologist. I did have my old psych clerkship director review the PS who thought it was fine, just some formatting, organization stuff to improve. It's very clear that I was practically equivalent to a PCP (I am a PCM, primary care manager in the military) so I should be good there on my PS and as one of my activity entries. I'm not too sure how he felt about me being a GMO in that context, I've updated my PS for him to review again. I've gotten mixed advice on making specific PS's, with the strongest argument being to not have that but instead say what I'm interested in and what I can bring so that's edited out. PS one of the few things I have some control over at this point so trying to not have that be an issue. He also did say I should use the impactful experience section to talk about my military service and development as an officer, caretaker, what military showed me, etc. Thanks for the comment.

 

[mistafab]

Military is a plus for most psych programs. Big bonus points really - many psych departments have VA docs as residency faculty. You've got a lot of experience under your belt, and have worked hard. A residency program knows they aren't signing on for a resident who has never worked a day in their life (i.e. weak losers). You've got a big edge here for attractiveness.

Your personal statement should be "why psychiatry" and should have nothing else. Leave that specific program junk out. You can be specific about "why our program?" in your interviews (and you should be).

If you are applying psychiatry - do not apply to just a handful of programs. Apply broadly and use your signals well. Select a few regions you want to live in and make sure you hit all the programs in there you are competitive for. Your stats are solid for solid programs.

So this associate dean is a neurologist. I did have my old psych clerkship director review the PS who thought it was fine, just some formatting, organization stuff to improve. It's very clear that I was practically equivalent to a PCP (I am a PCM, primary care manager in the military) so I should be good there on my PS and as one of my activity entries. I'm not too sure how he felt about me being a GMO in that context, I've updated my PS for him to review again. I've gotten mixed advice on making specific PS's, with the strongest argument being to not have that but instead say what I'm interested in and what I can bring so that's edited out. PS one of the few things I have some control over at this point so trying to not have that be an issue. He also did say I should use the impactful experience section to talk about my military service and development as an officer, caretaker, what military showed me, etc. Thanks for the comment.