Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students

[LizzyM]

Do you have them?

Service orientation
Social skills
Cultural Competence
Team work
Oral Communications
Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others
Reliability and Dependability
Resilience and Adaptability
Capacity for improvement
Critical thinking
Quantitative Reasoning
Scientific Inquiry
Written Communication
Living Systems
Human Behavior

https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/competencies/

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[NotASerialKiller]

Uh oh... if this isn't pass/fail I might be in trouble

 

[Lawpy]

Uh oh... if this isn't pass/fail I might be in trouble

I was just waiting for your response... especially in regards to "personal skills"

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Capacity for improvement

Can't fix what ain't broken

 

[Green Grass]

Can't fix what ain't broken

But are you "teachable"?

 

[Taddy Mason]

Service orientation
Social skills - X
Cultural Competence -X
Team work - X
Oral Communications - X
Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others -X
Reliability and Dependability - X
Resilience and Adaptability - X
Capacity for improvement - ........
Critical thinking - X
Quantitative Reasoning
Scientific Inquiry - X
Written Communication - X
Living Systems
Human Behavior - X

Welp that knocks out 99% of my class in the competency arena...

 

[toogoofy]

I have a pizza. Doctors should have pizza

 

[LuluLovesMe]

Do you have them?

Human Behavior

Oh no.. the humans are onto me.

 

[Cotterpin]

Too bad Sarcasm isn't a core competency because everyone in this thread has it well covered.

 

[MaxPlancker]

Nope…off to the Caribbean!

 

[LizzyM]

Joke if you wish but check the link and think about how adcoms will be looking at your application and your interview to see whether you are competent to begin medical school. The link provides descriptions of each attribute.

 

[deleted407021]

Oh no.. the humans are onto me.

Hail, fellow hominid! I too enjoy blinking every 3 to 5 seconds.

 

[deleted407021]

But on a serious note, applicants would probably do well to consider these competencies and be able to demonstrate that they maintain them through coursework, extra-curricular activities and through one's PS and interviews.


I could certainly see improvement in a combination of social and teamwork skills. Giving constructive feedback, criticism and disagreement aren't my strong points.

 

[MaxPlancker]

Certainly good qualities to nudge your recommenders to highlight

Same with ACGME criteria when applying for residency

 

[Psai]

Uh, is this multiple choice? My answer is...c?

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Many people enter medical school with these competencies, but whether they leave medical school with them is a better question.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Goro]

It's worth noting that the bolded are the ones most related to scientific knowledge. Note how they are a minority compared to the humanistic domains.

BTW, these aren't merely the core competencies for admission to med school, they're required for graduating med school as well. LCME and COCA have required these for close to 20 years. I'd say we've only gotten serious about them in the last decade.

Do you have them?

Service orientation
Social skills
Cultural Competence
Team work
Oral Communications
Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others
Reliability and Dependability
Resilience and Adaptability
Capacity for improvement
Critical thinking
Quantitative Reasoning
Scientific Inquiry
Written Communication
Living Systems
Human Behavior

https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/competencies/

 

[Crayola227]

Service orientation XXX
Social skills XX
Cultural Competence XXX
Team work X
Oral Communications - this can &*^ you so hard
Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others XXX
Reliability and Dependability XX
Resilience and Adaptability XX
Capacity for improvement XX
Critical thinking XX
Quantitative Reasoning XXX
Scientific Inquiry XX
Written Communication 0-XXX
Living Systems XX
Human Behavior XXX

https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/competencies/[/QUOTE]

If you don't think you're a great oral communicator, you should consider another field for sure.
If you are not a good descriptive writer can adept at being *concise*, this can also sink you.

 

[Crayola227]

before I even had secondaries, when I was months ahead of time crafting a PS (and incidentally doing a final "examination" of myself for medicine) I saw a tip somewhere to take that list, and for each quality rephrase it in terms of what it means to you personally, examples in your life where you applied the principles, examples where you struggled, and tying that all up for why medicine/why you're suitable.

I did this little exercise, and it actually paid off (I only needed to adress 2 or 3 in my PS ultimately) in being great fodder for secondaries. I was able to cut and paste and recraft my own work doing that exercise making everything easier. Sometimes I would combine a few and make it flow or just make an entry longer. It also helped me prepare for interviews and helped my confidence. Helped me answer the dreaded "what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses" questions.

For residency interviews, I reviewed what I had written! Doing that actually helped me with more perspective on my strengths and weaknesses for choosing specialty. To be honest with my past idealist and compare him to the bitter shell I had become in med school. I also googled a list of commonly asked interview questions for residency and my specialty and did the same thing (wrote an answer to each one).

just an idea for how considering @LizzyM 's post and how it can be useful for getting into medical school. She wanted you to use it to see if you should even go to med school (I think). However, I hope that the tangible benefits I described can motivate you guys to do some real introspection as she suggests.

 

[LizzyM]

before I even had secondaries, when I was months ahead of time crafting a PS (and incidentally doing a final "examination" of myself for medicine) I saw a tip somewhere to take that list, and for each quality rephrase it in terms of what it means to you personally, examples in your life where you applied the principles, examples where you struggled, and tying that all up for why medicine/why you're suitable.

I did this little exercise, and it actually paid off (I only needed to adress 2 or 3 in my PS ultimately) in being great fodder for secondaries. I was able to cut and paste and recraft my own work doing that exercise making everything easier. Sometimes I would combine a few and make it flow or just make an entry longer. It also helped me prepare for interviews and helped my confidence. Helped me answer the dreaded "what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses" questions.

For residency interviews, I reviewed what I had written! Doing that actually helped me with more perspective on my strengths and weaknesses for choosing specialty. To be honest with my past idealist and compare him to the bitter shell I had become in med school. I also googled a list of commonly asked interview questions for residency and my specialty and did the same thing (wrote an answer to each one).

just an idea for how considering @LizzyM 's post and how it can be useful for getting into medical school. She wanted you to use it to see if you should even go to med school (I think). However, I hope that the tangible benefits I described can motivate you guys to do some real introspection as she suggests.

This is gold. Thank you for taking my bare bones post and explaining how it can be used. Although we disparage the "check box" mentality, I think that these 15 check boxes is really what we do want to see pre-meds work on during their preparation for medical school.

 

[Lucca]

before I even had secondaries, when I was months ahead of time crafting a PS (and incidentally doing a final "examination" of myself for medicine) I saw a tip somewhere to take that list, and for each quality rephrase it in terms of what it means to you personally, examples in your life where you applied the principles, examples where you struggled, and tying that all up for why medicine/why you're suitable.

I did this little exercise, and it actually paid off (I only needed to adress 2 or 3 in my PS ultimately) in being great fodder for secondaries. I was able to cut and paste and recraft my own work doing that exercise making everything easier. Sometimes I would combine a few and make it flow or just make an entry longer. It also helped me prepare for interviews and helped my confidence. Helped me answer the dreaded "what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses" questions.

For residency interviews, I reviewed what I had written! Doing that actually helped me with more perspective on my strengths and weaknesses for choosing specialty. To be honest with my past idealist and compare him to the bitter shell I had become in med school. I also googled a list of commonly asked interview questions for residency and my specialty and did the same thing (wrote an answer to each one).

just an idea for how considering @LizzyM 's post and how it can be useful for getting into medical school. She wanted you to use it to see if you should even go to med school (I think). However, I hope that the tangible benefits I described can motivate you guys to do some real introspection as she suggests.

This sounds like a really great idea for preparing to apply for things in general, thanks for this I'll give it a shot.

 

[To be MD]

before I even had secondaries, when I was months ahead of time crafting a PS (and incidentally doing a final "examination" of myself for medicine) I saw a tip somewhere to take that list, and for each quality rephrase it in terms of what it means to you personally, examples in your life where you applied the principles, examples where you struggled, and tying that all up for why medicine/why you're suitable.

I did this little exercise, and it actually paid off (I only needed to adress 2 or 3 in my PS ultimately) in being great fodder for secondaries. I was able to cut and paste and recraft my own work doing that exercise making everything easier. Sometimes I would combine a few and make it flow or just make an entry longer. It also helped me prepare for interviews and helped my confidence. Helped me answer the dreaded "what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses" questions.

For residency interviews, I reviewed what I had written! Doing that actually helped me with more perspective on my strengths and weaknesses for choosing specialty. To be honest with my past idealist and compare him to the bitter shell I had become in med school. I also googled a list of commonly asked interview questions for residency and my specialty and did the same thing (wrote an answer to each one).

just an idea for how considering @LizzyM 's post and how it can be useful for getting into medical school. She wanted you to use it to see if you should even go to med school (I think). However, I hope that the tangible benefits I described can motivate you guys to do some real introspection as she suggests.

This is the gospel truth, SDN.

I expected nothing less from House Targaryen.

 

[Crayola227]

Hey @Crayola227 , perhaps you can write this up including the list of competencies in the thread start for something that stand a single blurb as part of SDN wisdom. Hmm, maybe @Goro can incorporate it into his guide. I am certainly going to steal...er...use it.

BTW, the competencies list does look very much like part of scoring sheet that is often used when evaluating an application

LOL, will do. Feel free to use this advice and if you remember it was me tag me. I'm working on my public image on SDN.

I will even edit it to be concise! First time write of any post is unfortunately my stream of consciousness.

 

[Lawpy]

before I even had secondaries, when I was months ahead of time crafting a PS (and incidentally doing a final "examination" of myself for medicine) I saw a tip somewhere to take that list, and for each quality rephrase it in terms of what it means to you personally, examples in your life where you applied the principles, examples where you struggled, and tying that all up for why medicine/why you're suitable.

I did this little exercise, and it actually paid off (I only needed to adress 2 or 3 in my PS ultimately) in being great fodder for secondaries. I was able to cut and paste and recraft my own work doing that exercise making everything easier. Sometimes I would combine a few and make it flow or just make an entry longer. It also helped me prepare for interviews and helped my confidence. Helped me answer the dreaded "what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses" questions.

For residency interviews, I reviewed what I had written! Doing that actually helped me with more perspective on my strengths and weaknesses for choosing specialty. To be honest with my past idealist and compare him to the bitter shell I had become in med school. I also googled a list of commonly asked interview questions for residency and my specialty and did the same thing (wrote an answer to each one).

just an idea for how considering @LizzyM 's post and how it can be useful for getting into medical school. She wanted you to use it to see if you should even go to med school (I think). However, I hope that the tangible benefits I described can motivate you guys to do some real introspection as she suggests.

Hey @Crayola227 , perhaps you can write this up including the list of competencies in the thread start for something that stand a single blurb as part of SDN wisdom. Hmm, maybe @Goro can incorporate it into his guide. I am certainly going to steal...er...use it.

BTW, the competencies list does look very much like part of scoring sheet that is often used when evaluating an application

LOL, will do. Feel free to use this advice and if you remember it was me tag me. I'm working on my public image on SDN.

I will even edit it to be concise! First time write of any post is unfortunately my stream of consciousness.

If you want, I could add the post as a temporary placeholder before adding the new thread with all the competencies listed.

 

[Crayola227]

@Crayola227 you just color my world (sorry i couldnt resist)

lol go for it I'm not sure exactly what you want to construct but I'm glad to help

 

[Cyberdyne 101]

before I even had secondaries, when I was months ahead of time crafting a PS (and incidentally doing a final "examination" of myself for medicine) I saw a tip somewhere to take that list, and for each quality rephrase it in terms of what it means to you personally, examples in your life where you applied the principles, examples where you struggled, and tying that all up for why medicine/why you're suitable.

I did this little exercise, and it actually paid off (I only needed to adress 2 or 3 in my PS ultimately) in being great fodder for secondaries. I was able to cut and paste and recraft my own work doing that exercise making everything easier. Sometimes I would combine a few and make it flow or just make an entry longer. It also helped me prepare for interviews and helped my confidence. Helped me answer the dreaded "what are your greatest strengths/weaknesses" questions.

For residency interviews, I reviewed what I had written! Doing that actually helped me with more perspective on my strengths and weaknesses for choosing specialty. To be honest with my past idealist and compare him to the bitter shell I had become in med school. I also googled a list of commonly asked interview questions for residency and my specialty and did the same thing (wrote an answer to each one).

just an idea for how considering @LizzyM 's post and how it can be useful for getting into medical school. She wanted you to use it to see if you should even go to med school (I think). However, I hope that the tangible benefits I described can motivate you guys to do some real introspection as she suggests.

Thanks Crayola!!

 

[tskbdmnd]

Do you have them?

Service orientation
Social skills
Cultural Competence
Team work
Oral Communications
Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others
Reliability and Dependability
Resilience and Adaptability
Capacity for improvement
Critical thinking
Quantitative Reasoning
Scientific Inquiry
Written Communication
Living Systems
Human Behavior

https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/admissionsinitiative/competencies/

I feel like I'd lose my humility if I said yes.

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

Hey so basically I was wondering if this information is available in logarithmic or Likert style format or someone could organize this format for further introspective purposes thanks.

Also how can I improve my Human Behavior and Capacity for Improvement sections thanks. In addition I am curious as to whether or not any of these competencies have proven effective in other areas. Can cultural awareness and competence enhance your quantitative reasoning which may enhance oral or written communication, that sort of thing, any input is very good thanks.

 

[Hospitalized]

Medical schools are quite overzealous.

"Hey, you need to be perfect at being a human while having content shoved down your throat at an immeasurable pace and constantly being critiqued by your superiors. Test on Tuesday, see you then."

 

[Tenk]

That is literally everything. Just say: you have to have everything, like all of the things, to get in.

 

[Lucca]

Hey @Crayola227 , perhaps you can write this up including the list of competencies in the thread start for something that stand a single blurb as part of SDN wisdom. Hmm, maybe @Goro can incorporate it into his guide. I am certainly going to steal...er...use it.

BTW, the competencies list does look very much like part of scoring sheet that is often used when evaluating an application

I wouldn't tell people about the scoring sheet! We don't want a world where pre-meds just shoe-horn in keywords as a replacement for legitimate self-reflection, haha.

"The difficult patient proved a serious obstacle for myself and the other service oriented volunteers. Using compassion, team work, and cultural competence we managed to patiently overcome adversity with resilience and adaptability."

Then we're no better than the business schools!

 

[XxThaDoggxX]

Had this list next me the entire time when writing my PS and activities for Primary application this time around...think it made a huge difference