Margarita, MD

As I stared on the electronic application on my screen, I realized that I had no idea how to fill it out. Do I use full sentences? How much should I write? How detailed should I go? After receiving advice from friends who had gone through the process, this is what I came up with:

1) Full sentences, though I definitely knew people who used bullet points and I think it’s a-ok as well. I just didn’t want to detail with any formatting issues. 

2) 3-5 sentences in length. The general format for me was:

- Introduce what the activity was. Remember that people reading your application are not from your school/region and will not know what random acronyms mean. Example: As one of the internal medicine interest group leaders, our goal was to provide students with exposure to the field of internal medicine and itssubspecialties.

- Explain your exact roles and what you did in those roles. Use action verbs! Example: My responsibilities included organizing Q&A sessions with sub-specialists, post-match panels, and bedside rounds for those interested in the field.

- Highlight what you learned or gained from that experience in order to summarize the importance of this activity. Example: This experience allowed me to develop skills in coordinating and executing school-wide events.

Happy Holidays! I know I haven’t been on recently - the residency application journey has been a real ride. I finally have a bit of time to myself and have been baking a ton for some stress relief. Here, I have a picture of some scones that I made recently (which didn’t even last a full afternoon, haha). I hope y’all enjoy it :) 

Here is my favorite basic scone recipe (makes 8 triangles):

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

6 tbsp granulated sugar

Dash of salt

2.5 tsp baking powder

½ cup unsalted butter, grated

½ cup heavy cream + extra for brushing

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

Coarse sugar for dusting

-       Preheat oven to 400 (can drop to 390 if oven is hot)

-       Blend all of the dry ingredients together  (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder)

-       Blend all of the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl (heavy cream, egg, vanilla)

-       Grate frozen butter and place into dry ingredient bowl. Use your fingers to cover the butter with flour. Then, break up butter into pea-sized pieces. 

-       Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients

-       Bring the mixture together lightly within the bowl using a spatula. Then, pour onto a work surface (like a cutting board or counter). Use a bench scraper to help bring the dough together (just barely) and shape into a ball. Don’t overwork the dough or else it will get tough due to gluten formation! 

-       Press the ball into an 8 in. disk and cut into 8 wedges, then place onto a  baking sheet covered with parchment paper. 

-       Refrigerate for around 30 min to make sure the dough is cold (or else will spread too much!)

-       Brush with heavy cream + dust with coarse sugar right before baking

-       Bake for around 20-22 min, may need to turn pan once

For some fruity fun:

- Incorporate some zest from a citrus fruit in the dry ingredients! 

Hey guys! I am now deep within interview season and will be occasionally updating y’all with questions I have gotten. Here is part II.

1) Tell me something about yourself that’s not in your application.

2) Why X program?

3) Where do you see yourself in 2035? 2050?

4) Tell me about a time that someone (could be you) was unprofessional and what you did about it?

I just submitted my application on the 21st and am now doing supplemental applications - I will do a post on how to answer the experience section of residency/med school apps soon! 

Love,

Here’s how I do my pre-rounding in the mornings! Keep in mind that everyone’s style is a bit different. 

This is the scutsheet that I use: https://medfools.com/downloads/medicinecard2.pdf

1) Start by chart check the patients you are following

2) Vitals - record the range of signs. Depending on your attending, they may allow you to just report that the vitals were normal (wnl), but most of the time they want to hear ranges from medical students at the beginning.

3) Daily labs - want to check their daily CBC and BMP/CMP. Then, follow-up on any labs you ordered during admission. The benefit of using a scutsheet is that you can see how the labs are changing by day. Keep in mind that the trends of vitals and labs are important (i.e. White count downtrending; BP in the 80s but that’s where she lives). 

4) Medications the patient received / are on - including the PRN (meaning the as needed/voluntary medications). If they are on a course of meds, note the # of days left (i.e. Day 4 of 5 of X antibiotic). 

5) Skim notes that are new since you last checked the chart, including any from consult services. Make a note of any acute/major events or updates that happened.

6) Go see the patient. Ask how they are doing, if they have any new symptoms, any improvement of old symptoms. Then do a quick review of systems (everyone has their go-to list):  any pain, fever, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, cough, constipation, diarrhea, appetite, passing gas. 

7) Do a focused physical. My go-tos are the cardiac, pulmonary, and GI exam. 

This is an addendum to my original post about how to write personal statements. 

Show don’t tell! Describe your story and experiences, don’t just state them. 

For example:

My morning routine~ 

So skincare has always been a passion of mine and this is what I currently have going on  in my morning arsenal. 

1) Wash with some lukewarm water and gentle cleanser (i.e. Cetaphil)

2) Put some hyaluronic acid on. I’m using the one by the Ordinary due to its price: https://theordinary.deciem.com/product/rdn-hyaluronic-acid-2pct-b5-60ml

3) I use some of the Blackhead Power Liquid by Cosrx on my nose because I’ve always struggled with blackheads. This may be unnecessary for you! https://www.ulta.com/bha-blackhead-power-liquid?productId=xlsImpprod15641056

4) Put some Vitamin C serum on, in this case the Ascorbyl Glucoside 12% from The Ordinary: https://theordinary.deciem.com/product/rdn-ascorbyl-glucoside-solution-12pct-30ml?redir=1

5) Layer sunscreen on top. The Aloe soothing sun cream by Cosrx is my current favorite: https://www.cosrx.com/cosrx-aloe-soothing-sun-cream-spf50-pa-1.html

Sunscreen + an antioxidant (in this case, Vit C) is the most important step in this routine in my opinion. You don’t want the sun to be aging you prematurely and it protects against skin cancer! 

Again, here is my disclaimer about taking advice from other people with a grain of salt. Everyone is different and therefore no-size-fits-all. 

My answer to this question is: No. And this is coming from someone who has a decent amount of anxiety, overthinks everything, and barely took science-based courses during senior year of college.

The truth is that little of the things you study will help you during MS1, nor do early pre-clinical grades matter most of the time (more on this below). We describe MS1 as trying to drink water from a firehose - it’s almost impossible to predict or understand the sheer amount of knowledge that is headed for you. What is important is figuring out a study method that works for you. 

During undergrad, I was the person that needed to know every detail behind a fact - I liked knowing for the sake of knowing. Pretty quickly, I learned that that is not a good way to study in medical school. So after studying this way for more than 10 years of my life, I needed to adapt. And figuring out that change needed to happen is better done early than later on. 

And what I meant about early grades not mattering is multi-faceted. 1) Many medical schools are pass/fail for the pre-clinical years. 2) You probably won’t remember most of what you learn MS1. 3) If you were a science major, most of it is repeat knowledge. 

I personally found it more important for me to just enjoy life before starting the next chapter of my educational life. 

Would just like to provide some information of long-acting reversible contraceptives, aka LARCs, considering the unease that many people with uteri may be feeling right now. 

- Margarita, MD

I did not come into medical school thinking I would apply into dermatology. In fact, I considered and shadowed many specialties.

So how did I end up picking dermatology? The shortest and most realistic answer I have is...the lifestyle. I, unfortunately, need a lot of sleep and could not see myself providing good care to my patients when very tired. This may seem like an obvious problem; however, I will say that most of my friends do and can function well without sleep / don’t need sleep that much. Fun fact: the whole “8 hours of sleep being the perfect amount” thing is not accurate. People generally need either 7 or the 9, averaging out to 8. I am a 9 hour person, sadly. I am also a night owl, so waking up at 5 AM is not my cup of tea. Dermatology does not have a crazy schedule (unless you want it) and most people end up working normal 9 am to 5 pm jobs. 

The second major reason is the diversity possible within the field, both intellectually and in patient population. Dermatology has a lot of cross-over with internal medicine, pathology, rheumatology, oncology, pediatrics, psychiatry, and surgery. People can do dual medical-dermatology residencies by adding just one year to their residency time (5 instead of 4). They can do complex medical dermatology or dermatopathology fellowships after residency. We can do a Mohs fellowship and become surgeons. We can do a pediatric derm fellowship, focusing on just the little ones. And we can see up to 50 patients a day, allowing us to interact with people from all walks of life. 

The third reason is the people in the field. I had met a mentor early on during my medical school career that I loved and this is actually the reason why I even considered derm in the first place. Having a mentor in dermatology is incredibly important - this field is very dependent on knowing the right people and having connections. 

Lastly, it was important for me to pick a field in which I felt that I could provide answers or solutions to my patients relatively swiftly. The best way I can explain this is to compare derm to something like neurology. The physical exam findings of neuro are super interesting and can really point you towards the diagnosis. However, many times, you cannot do much for your patients due to the limited treatment modalities. 

This post is already getting long so I will end it here. If you have any more questions, please let me know! 

- Margarita, MD

It very much depends on when you are planning to apply for med school!

If you do not want to take time off between college and med school (gap year), you would have to study and take the MCAT during your junior (3rd) year of college and apply to med school at the end of your junior year / beginning of senior year. With this plan, winter break and having a less hectic spring semester is very important. 

If you are planning to take time off, then you could take it sometime during the same “school year” as when you would like to start - or even before! For example, if you would like to matriculate in Fall 2021, you could take it anytime before Spring 2021. 

Hope this helped!

Oh, personal statements. The amount of time I have spent staring at the flashing cursor on my computer is...a lot. In fact, I am (still) working on my personal statement for residency right now. 

How does one condense their entire existence into one page, make it flow seamlessly, keep to the point, and not bore their reader? I do not purport to be an expert at writing in any way, but this is currently the simplified anatomy of a PS I have come up with in order to make my, and hopefully your, life easier: 

1) Interesting hook to grab the readers attention: I tend to draw from experiences in my own life. 

2) Why do you want to do this thing/something?

3) Why would you be good at this? For this question, you must have your own understanding of what would make someone, anyone, good at said thing. 

4) Future plans in said thing 

5) Summary statement that ties all of your points together, maybe even loop back to your intro statement 

- Margarita, MD

Here is a progress / SOAP note template that I used for inpatient medicine rounding! Again, it is kind of detailed so this is better for someone who is new to clinical rotations.

Once you get used it, you probably won’t need this. 

SOAP stands for Subjective (What the patient reports), Objective (what  happened during their hospital course since the last time you saw them), Assessment, and Plan! 

Anthony Bourdain

Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain was and still is my absolute favorite book. I actually took Step 1 on the day he died and it was jarring to say the least.

His commencement address to the CIA is something that I re-read regularly. Yes, I know that this is a “chef’s book,” but honestly, there are so many similarities. I think a lot of people idealize a career in medicine (I 1000% did), and although I would not choose anything else to pursue, it was something I wish I knew. 

Here is a PDF of the book: https://joeandjin.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/anthony-bourdain-kitchen-confidential.pdf

The address is at the end - So you want to be a chef? A commencement address. 

What is your favorite book? 

Just wanted to create a framework to show how one generally becomes a physician in the US! 

- 4 years of high school, where you have to take either the ACT or SAT standardized exams

- 4 years of undergraduate studies (college), where you will have to take the MCAT exam

---------Many people take time off between college and med school!--------

- 4 years of medical school, where you have to take the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1, Step 2 Clinical Skills (CS), and Step 2 Clinical knowledge (CK) exams. These are also known as the boards and range from 8 to 9 hours in time each. 

During clinical years, you will also have to take National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Shelf exams after every rotation block. These are subject exams that are specific to the specialty that you are rotating in. For me, they were: Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, General Surgery, Neurology, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, OB/GYN, and Emergency Medicine. 

- 3-7 years of residency, depending on your specialty. You will have to take the USMLE Step 3 exam and later on, a board certification exam for your specialty. 

- Optional: post-residency fellowship, which is very variable in length