The Secondary Application: Bragging vs. Confidence

How can you brag about yourself without bragging about yourself?

We are taught from a  young age (most of us, anyway) not to brag. It is better, we may sometimes hear, to show confidence. Listener Rachel wrote in with a question about the secondary application: how does one confidently talk themselves up without coming across as a braggart? Lucky for Rachel, we have Daniel Schnall from our admissions staff on hand to help Mark Moubarek, Kylie Miller, Aline Sandouk, and Gabe Conley with some great advice about how to sell yourself on your application and also back it up.  Don’t want to look like a chump? Dan has your answer, Rachel.

Kylie had an excellent idea: med students are pressed for time, and nutrition can be one of those things they deep six in favor of studying.  Her thought: let’s make a cookbook for Med Student Success, and listeners can contribute! Do you have a favorite recipe you use to keep your Kreb’s cycle in tip top shape? Then submit the recipe so we all can benefit! Comfort food, speedy prep, healthy living, or whatever, we want to hear about it! We’ll publish the results in some fashion, and everyone who contributes will get a free copy! Plus, the group plays Doctor Forehead. Do you know the terms and concepts Dave found in the news last week, and why they were even being talked about?

This Week in Medical News

Everyone knows ortho residents don’t get enough exercise. Skinny, pale, weak, they’re practically collapsing under the weight of their own skin. Which is why we’re relieved that someone took pity and created a peer reviewed(?) workout routine for them, using common materials found around the ortho workroom. Get swole! Is the NIH doing it’s job of funding innovative research and fostering research careers? Doesn’t sound like it. And the AMA goes all in on a call to ban the American Dream sale and ownership of assault weapons. Image: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4773691/ On The Short Coat Podcast, medical students from the University of Iowa and their co-host Dave Etler discuss news, fresh views, helpful clues, and interviews. Hear new episodes on iTunes and the Short Coat Podcast website every Thursday, republished Fridays on the Student Doctor Network.