Help for every stage of your veterinary career
A couple of weekends ago, I presented a CE talk. It was a one-hour talk which I’ve done before. I enjoyed giving the talk- the attendees laughed in all the right places and I felt like I dispensed some good advice and information. The talk was preceded by a four hour drive, and followed by
Well, the blog is going well even though, honestly, I haven’t been doing as much as I would like to do with it. It looks like we’re reaching more people, which is fantastic. I’ve had some positive emails from people who have gotten faculty positions and house officer positions who found the blog valuable. I’m
I was watching an interview with my favorite role-playing game GM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, and something he said made me literally sit up in my chair. I thought, “This. This is why I teach students.” And if students understood it, life would be so much easier for themselves and for me. First, though, a quick
Once you’ve identified mentors to write you a letter of recommendation (LOR), the next step is to reach out to them to ask that they write said letter. In that process, you might want to write a cover letter which provides them with some information to help them write the LOR. Why write a cover
I’ve spent a lot of time writing about personal statements. There are general rules, which I’ve written about here and here. Also, there are important and simple grammar rules to pay attention to, like these and these. I’ve provided some examples of poor letters of intent, so now it’s time to look at some good
Imposter Syndrome is the feeling that you are in a certain position but don’t deserve to be. Someone made a mistake somewhere- you’re not as good as people think you are. You feel inadequate as a consequence of this belief. Even though there’s external evidence of your success (e.g. getting a job, getting good annual
I believe that grade inflation hurts everyone- admissions committees, faculty, and parents. But, most importantly, it hurts students. To understand why, we have to examine the purpose of grades and what grade inflation is. Why Grades? There are two types of assessments. Formative assessments are designed to provide feedback to the student so they know
I participated in the interview and selection process for a vet school this year, and we had another amazing pool of applicants. Nonetheless, the three faculty conducting the interviews generally agreed to place some applicants on the “do not offer” list. This is not out of any malice- we just needed a way to reduce
The other day a work friend of mine and I were chatting about student loans and the current forbearance for student loans. They are working in academia partly to get Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), which pays off all loans after 10 years of working for a qualifying charity or government organization. Unfortunately, they didn’t
Although time consuming, I greatly enjoy reading the intern application packets we get. They are packed full of interesting stories, and the accomplishments of these applicants honestly amazes me. Many of them have faced serious personal hardship- cancer diagnoses, generational poverty, fleeing war-torn countries. Many of them are truly inspirational. Most of them are just