A Season for Suits
I recently escaped from the torrential downpour that has become autumn in Oregon. Rivers of rainwater cascade down sidewalks and gutters, forming writhing lakes at street corners in the place where sewer drains long ago clogged up with damp leaves. No crisp, bright fall here; gone are the brief days of crunching through fallen leaves in dry canvas shoes. They have been replaced by the inevitable descent into dampness.
As this great transition between seasons begins, I too am standing on the brink of a transition of my own. How about that for metaphorical transition into the topic of my entry, which is this: medical school - - -> residency. Transition.
And speaking of seasons, there is a new season that is upon us, one only recognized by a small segment of medical society... The Interview Season. This is the period between mid November to January where medical students spend vast amounts of money to travel around the country, interviewing at various residency programs in their field of interest. Much of medical school to date has been leading up to this, and it is really hard to believe that I am getting there. I spent the past couple of months putting the finishing touches on my online application, a weighty task, considering that said application includes not only a long list of facts about yourself, but also a personal statement, four letters of recommendation, and a dean's letter summarizing the comments that have been made about you by every single person you have ever worked with or passed in the hallway. Oh, and a picture of yourself (mine was artfully taken by my mom in my backyard in Minnesota).
I am now in the midst of the arduous process of scheduling interviews in various cities across the country. All I can say is I am about to spend a RIDICULOUS amount of money. And as part of this spending spree, I recently made a momentous purchase, of a thing that every medical student must acquire before Interview Season officially opens: The Interview Suit.
Now, much debate has been made over the necessary qualities of an Interview Suit. The standard advice is to go with conservative black or blue. In fact, one of the speakers at the conference in New Orleans said that the interviewing student should "dress like a banker." In essence, it is not my job to stand out in appearance. This is no time for personality or flare or a sense of humor to interfere with your cold hard professionalism. This is a concept which goes against my nature, and as a naive third year I was confident that I would purchase a kelly green tweed skirt-suit to wear with vintage pumps, or something that similarly alluded to how much more of an interesting, unique person I was compared with my colleagues. But yesterday, faced with the challenge of purchasing the first suit of my life, I balked at the choice of supreme individuality in favor of the status quo. This was of course compounded with the challenge of finding a non-matronly suit to fit a very tall lady who wished to spend less than one million dollars.
And after an exhausting day of braving frantic crowds at Nordstrom Rack (or "Nordy's Rack" as some ladies in the dressing room kept referring to it - ick) and trying on suit after suit in various shades of frumpiness, I finally found something that I am not entirely embarrassed by.
So with great fanfare, I now announce that I am the proud owner of an "espresso" brown suit. A pant suit. I am a person who owns a pantsuit.
But the Saga of The Interview Suit does not end there. For yet to come is the Adventure of The Interview Shoes. Fasten your seatbelts.
As a native northwestener, who went to Nordstrom's Rack as a kid when it was just the basement of the downtown Nordy's (and whose mother went to school with the kids of the founders): You're absolutely right. It's not "Nordy's Rack". It's "the Rack" or "Nordstrom Rack". "Nordy's" is a perfectly fine nickname for the main stores of the non-Rack variety, but should not be paired with "Rack".
And, nice suit! Good luck with your interviews!
yah! three posts in a row! Great suit btw..I like the large buttons as opposed to the tiny "more professional" (not in my opinion though) ones.
hi :) i just wanted to say i have been reading your blog and as a kindred 4th year med school spirit, i feel your pain! i also think it's funny how we all go through these SAME little experiences (the usmle . . . the interview suit . . . and even the shoes!). maybe you could do what i did on my blog and let the readers pick the shoes to go with the suit: http://lostandallalone.blogspot.com/2006/10/lets-let-viewers-decide.html. also: i went to my first interview last week and was the only brown suit in a sea of black and a few gray. i thought that was cool.
Lol
I had my interview shirt, which got me into medical school - unfortunately I lost it a couple of years ago, which means from now on I'm going to have to sink or swim based on my own competency (a scary idea!) I hope you passed anyway, it's nice to read these blogs and know that medicine's so hard even on the other side of the world.
I've heard the American boards are pretty difficult - as I think I mentioned before we become doctors at the age of 23, and then specialise at 25, hopefully becoming a consultant (I think you call them Attendings based on my experience from ER and Grey;s Anatomy?) So I suppose we just get going a bit earlier, and should have roughly equal knowledge to you by the time we reach the age you qualify at? Do you think it was useful doing another degree first? Did you get financial support? I can't imagine doing 10 years of degrees.
Anyway, what kind of residencies are you going for? I'm loving my paeds attachment, while my girlfriend's fancying obs and gynae - she couldn't get enough of pulling babies out of vaginas! America definitely has a lot of glamorous medical opportunities - over here we have the NHS (National Health Service) which means everyone gets equal free care, but it means we don't have the money to spend on the amazing huge cutting edge centres with massive operating theatres and separate rooms for patients. Is that really what hospitals are like over there, or do the dramas (Grey's Anatomy and ER) and docusoaps exaggerate? I've heard there are massive inequalities in the quality of hospitals, is that really true? I find it hard to imagine the idea that money really buys better healthcare and facilities rather than being based on clinical neccesities - I'd be interested to know if that brings loads of ethical dilemmas.
Sorry my post got so long, but I suppose you'll have lots of time to waste now you've finished revision! I'm just putting off revising the management of fits and seizures in children, but I suppose I should get back to it. Thanks again for the great blog - I catch up on it every few weeks, and if you're ever in Nottingham call in to the QMC (one of the top hospitals - you might find it on the web if you google "QMC, legionnaire's outbreak, faulty Aircon,"), find me, and I'll give you a tour,
Ian
First, I'd like to point out all of the incredibly cute brit-words that Ian wrote: "paeds attachment" (which I think means pediatric rotation in American- "peds" here), "obs and gynae" (OB-Gyn - how do you pronounce that last word?), fancying, centres, theatres, fits, revision. I think English English must be the most adorable language on earth - nothing like our rude, flat, unitedstatsean nasality.
But to answer some of your questions, I do think it was of benefit to have gotten an undergraduate bachelor of arts degree before entering medical school. I personally got a degree in Hispanic Studies (in addition to a minor in chemistry), giving me the opportunity to become fluent in Spanish and study in Latin America for a year. And I think a liberal arts degree gives you in depth exposure to many subjects, such as history, sociology, economics, music, etc, that you might not get if you just jumped staight into medical eduation at the age of 18. I think a broader understanding of the world and the social context in which we operate as individuals, is very relevant to being a good physician.
Your other comments basically get at the existance of inequalities of medical care in the U.S. Do inequalities exist? Hell yes. To an unacceptable, ridiculous degree. The difference in hospital resources based on the funding they receive is sometimes pretty staggering. But what's truly upsetting is the fact that millions of people in this country (about 43 million at last count) don't have health insurance, meaning that they don't have access to any kind of medical care whatsoever, except emergency care (at great expense to the patient and the system as a whole). It is a horrible, ineffecient system that is at the same time unbelievable expensive to operate - and it makes me mad to think about it. But since much of the medical industry is profit-driven, we do have some amazing facilities.
And Sarah, I love the idea of having your readers help in your shoe selection! I wish I could have done that. But, as you will see in my next post, I don't have much of a selection to chose from.