Residency

The residency personal statement is an identity problem

Education

May 26, 2026

Last year around this time, a student offered me $1,000 to write the personal statement for their residency application.

Not to coach them through exercises that would help them write it themselves. Not to edit a finished draft. One thousand dollars for me to write 800 words about their life that they could submit alongside their transcripts and Dean’s Letter to the Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS).

At first, it would have …

Medical education needs diversity and true excellence

Aba Black, MD, MHS

Education

May 20, 2026

The momentous annual occasion known as Match Day was recently upon us. Thousands of medical students across the country opened envelopes that revealed their academic destiny for the next several years. What medical students learn during several intense years of study and practical application has evolved over time, with increased recognition that biomedical knowledge is necessary but not sufficient to develop humanistic, person-centered physicians. Noticeably missing from the curriculum, however, …

International medical graduates need real protections

Vasilii Khammad, MD, PhD

Physician

May 13, 2026

In 2019, I completed my medical training in Russia and arrived in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar. My award carried the U.S. president’s personal signature, a powerful welcome to a country I saw as a place of opportunity, freedom, and cultural exchange. It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime honor that most foreign physicians can only dream of. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2020, while still in the …

Finding meaning and purpose in medical residency training

Gus W. Krucke, MD

Physician

May 6, 2026

If you have just matched into residency, the profession is about to begin shaping you in ways that are not always visible at first. You have made the right decision and chosen a life of service, one whose rewards are far greater than a bank account will ever reflect. What follows is not part of a curriculum, and it will not be captured on a slide. It is learned more …

Why residents unionize: systemic reform, not entitlement

Paz De la Torre, MD

Physician

March 19, 2026

I read a recent JAMA Viewpoint on medical trainee unions not just with disappointment, but with a deep sense of recognition. It presents a narrow and skewed interpretation of unionization, framing it not as a response to systemic dysfunction but as a threat to medical education and hospital finances.

We do not unionize for marginal gains or lighter schedules. We are responding to an embedded educational hierarchy that excludes us …

What Match Day teaches us about unexpected life paths

Kathleen Muldoon, PhD

Education

March 17, 2026

There are moments in life when everything you imagined for yourself fits inside a single envelope. This week, every fourth-year medical student in the United States will open the same one at the same moment. Some people scream. Some people cry. And a few people quietly realize their life just went somewhere they never planned to go. Match Day is the moment medical students learn where their futures begin. Last …

Why medical education assessment kills curiosity in residents

Mythili Ransdell, MD

Education

February 16, 2026

Sarah, a new attending, has been asked to work with June, a PGY-1 resident who has struggled with new admissions.

On rounds, June recommends a urinalysis for a patient with advanced dementia and new agitation.

“Why a UA?” Sarah asks.

“Behavior changes can indicate a urinary tract infection in older adults,” June replies, confident and fluent.

Inside, Sarah splits. She wants to teach, to pause, invite uncertainty, and help June reason through delirium and …

The physician-nurse hierarchy in medicine

Jennifer Carraher, RNC-OB

Education

December 5, 2025

When an attending doctor recently took me aside after a particularly hard clinical case with a first-year resident, she made pains to point out to me that the resident felt she wasn’t being treated fairly by nurses, because she was a woman. The physician went on to describe the difficulty of being a woman in a professional world where male colleagues are taken more seriously and treated with more respect, …

An IMG’s story of exclusion in U.S. residency

Fereshteh Kagar Bafrani, MD

Physician

September 7, 2025

When I was a child, I watched a neighbor struggle after a stroke. He survived, but without rehabilitation he remained trapped in his disability, dependent on others for every task. That memory shaped my understanding of medicine: Survival alone is not enough. Patients deserve a chance to reclaim independence and dignity.

Years later, after completing medical training abroad, I came to the United States as an international medical graduate (IMG), determined …

How IMGs can find purpose in clinical research [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

August 18, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Clinical research physician Khutaija Noor discusses her article, “Why clinical research is a powerful path for unmatched IMGs.” She addresses the intense pressure and profound disappointment international medical graduates (IMGs) face when …

Why clinical research is a powerful path for unmatched IMGs

Dr. Khutaija Noor

Education

July 14, 2025

For thousands of International Medical Graduates (IMGs) every year, the third week of March is defined by a single, gut-wrenching question: Did I match? The entire future seems to hinge on a single email. We spend years navigating exams, clinical rotations, and visa applications, all for a shot at a residency spot in the United States. But what happens when that email doesn’t bring good news? For many, it feels …

Dear July intern: It’s normal to feel clueless—here’s what matters

Tomi Mitchell, MD

Education

July 13, 2025

It’s July—the official new year for medicine.

You’re either a brand-new intern, wide-eyed and exhausted, equal parts proud and terrified, or maybe you’re stepping into fellowship, wondering how you’re suddenly supposed to be the expert. You’re navigating hallways you haven’t mapped yet, still figuring out whether your badge works on the north wing or the south elevator, trying to remember where you parked, and already questioning if you made a huge …

Residency match tips: Building mentorship, research, and community

Simran Kaur, MD and Eva Shelton, MD

Education

July 4, 2025

The residency match process is one of the most defining and often most daunting milestones in a medical student’s journey. It represents the culmination of over eight years of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work in pursuit of a dream many of us have nurtured since childhood.

Building a strong application is challenging for everyone. Whether you’re navigating personal doubts, managing financial strain, lacking mentorship, or simply trying to figure out the …

When doctors forget how to examine: the danger of lost clinical skills

Mike Stillman, MD

Physician

June 20, 2025

An older woman with osteoporosis fell at home, developed back pain, then went to urgent care and was diagnosed with a “muscle strain.” During a follow-up visit in my office, she told me she’d had transient urinary incontinence after her fall, and on exam she had midline back tenderness, hip flexor weakness, and hyper-reflexive knee jerks. This woman had suffered a vertebral fracture, not a pulled muscle.

One of my patients …

When the white coats become gatekeepers: How a quiet cartel strangles America’s health

Anonymous

Physician

June 19, 2025

A nation that can map the human genome, transplant a face, and land rovers on Mars somehow cannot guarantee its citizens a timely doctor’s appointment. The official story blames “complex market forces,” “geographic maldistribution,” or the ever-handy “burnout.” But beneath the diagnostic babble lies a simpler, more uncomfortable truth: A powerful medical guild has learned that scarcity pays—and it intends to keep the spigot only half-open.

A cloister in white

Walk the …

2 hours to decide my future: Why the NRMP’s SOAP process is broken

Anonymous

Education

June 13, 2025

“We are sorry, you did not match to any position.”

That sentence alone is enough to crush someone who has spent over a decade chasing the dream of becoming a physician. But what came next was a blur of rushed decisions, emotional exhaustion, and the pressure to uproot my life—without knowing if the choice was right for me or my family.

I entered SOAP, the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program—advertised as a …

Professional identity: a new narrative for medical education [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

June 10, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Otolaryngologist Kevin C. McMains discusses his article “The hero’s journey: Understanding professional identity formation in graduate medical education.” Kevin discusses the ongoing crisis of burnout and mental health issues in medical training, …

Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

Vijay Rajput, MD

Education

May 30, 2025

In the race to get into competitive medical residency training, today’s medical students are chasing something that may surprise you: scientific abstracts, posters, workshops, and research papers.

Lots of them. Not necessarily new ideas or meaningful research—just enough to stack their résumés and stand out during the screening of their application for postgraduate residency match. But while scholarship can be a powerful tool in shaping their future, there’s a growing question …

An introduction to occupational and environmental medicine [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

May 17, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Occupational medicine physician Robert Nathan Clapp discusses his article, “Why you should take a closer look at occupational and environmental medicine.” Addressing the pervasive issue of physician burnout, Robert introduces occupational and …

What my first Match Day as a program director taught me about hope

Ryan McCarthy, MD

Physician

May 8, 2025

Today was my first Match Day as a program director and, while most of my emotions are unprocessed, I already have many thoughts.

I can’t forget the concurrent drop in my stomach, pause in my cardiac systole, and the involuntary intake of breath which occurred when the email arrived—2 minutes early!—from the NRMP. I stacked an extra gasp even before I exhaled the first while I fumbled to open the email. …

Residency

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