Uncynical Wednesdays

I finally sent out my fellowship applications. Medical fellowships have a rather complicated application process; I’m applying for July 2008 now. The whole thing is computerized. I send my application to a central location and specify which programs I want to receive it. The application is a nine piece conglomeration which includes my C.V. (Curriculum Vitae, an academic version on a resume), med school transcript, board scores, dean’s letter from the medical school I attended, letter from the program director of my residency program, three letters of recommendation (which have to be impressive and from impressive faculty), a picture of my face (front on, face taking up at least 1/3 the image, no smaller than 2 x 2 but no larger than 3 x 4.5), the dreaded personal statement, and a basic application form.

I actually have been interviewing applicants to our program this week. Let me tell you, about half of the personal statements contain the phrase: ‘I enjoy being intellectually challenged.’

I figured I’d start hearing back mid-January, but I got my first request for an interview yesterday. It’s nice that the first program that I’ve heard from is an interview and not a rejection. I’ll keep you all posted as things move along, but I don’t get my final answer until June 27th. I’ve applied to 26 programs: the top fifteen programs, my hometown program, and 10 very good programs. I applied only to programs that are in cities that I am willing to live. I applied to programs in the Boston area, New York City, D.C., Baltimore, Durham (NC), Atlanta, Miami, New Orleans, Chicago, San Francisco, and Seattle.

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Confidential to ML: Why am I unable to say ‘I love you’ until someone’s trying to break up with me? I’m attempting to answer the age old question: ‘is it possible to talk yourself out of being dumped?’ The temporary answer, apparently, is ‘give me a week to think about it.’

I’ll find out next week if I’m singing Carol King’s ‘It’s Too Late, Baby’ or ABBA’s ‘Take a Chance On Me.’