Medical students often enter the College of Medicine without knowing exactly what kind of physician they want to be. Do they want to practice primary or general care, or do they want to specialize in a particular area of medicine? Do they want to be involved in direct patient care or be the doctor’s doctor who provides the analyses and findings needed to make the final diagnosis? These are just a few of the questions that medical students confront as they learn about the various medical specialties and professional responsibilities of being a physician. The College of Medicine’s Office of Student Life’s career advising and professional development programs support medical students as they progress from specialty decision to the match process.
Career Advising
The College of Medicine has a robust network of career advisors, including dedicated advisors within Student Life and faculty advisors within each specialty represented in the OSU Wexner Medical Center. Students also have access to robust career advising databases such as the AAMC's Careers in Medicine, Residency Explorer tool; the Texas Star Database, and their very own OSU College of Medicine match data set available in Vitals.
Professional Development Thread
Woven through the first two years of the College’s Lead.Serve.Inspire medical curriculum are sessions dedicated to career exploration and other professional development activities. This includes three dedicated weeks in which medical students have both hands-on and classroom-based interactions with faculty from nearly every specialty. During these weeks, students are also introduced to topics such as financial planning, dual degree options, global health opportunities, and USMLE Step 1 support.
The Residency Match Series
Starting early in the third year, the career advising staff within the College of Medicine provide an extensive curriculum revolving around having success in the match. Medical students are offered step-by-step support through the process from CV building, personal statement writing, interviewing, application strategies, among many other topics. College of Medicine students perform very well in the Match, typically matching at or above the national average rates to high quality institutions.
Residency Application and Match Service Support
The Office of Student Life provides residency application and match service support through the Program Manager for Residency Match and Communications. The Program Manager provides assistance in preparing documents needed, gaining access to residency application systems, and monitoring application progress and match service activities. The Program Manager can provide CV and Personal Statement review in addition to other documentation support. MSPEs and medical school transcripts are also prepared and uploaded through the Office of Student Life’s Program Manager and many steps are taken to ensure integrity, compliance, and accuracy in documentation that is uploaded to the service applications.