In this Issue:
- American College of Rheumatology program for medical students
- Peer to Peer: Road to Residency Tip of the Month
Project LEAD is now recruiting!
With the American College of Rheumatology’s (ACR) efforts to advance the diversification of the rheumatology pipeline and workforce, the ACR Collaborative Initiatives (COIN) has joined forces with the Rheumatology Research Foundation to launch the 2025 version of its initiative known as “Leadership Education and Development of Underrepresented Medical Students,” or Project LEAD.
The primary objective of Project LEAD is to engage and educate medical students from underrepresented backgrounds.
This will be achieved through a series of 3-4 virtual roundtable discussions, focusing on the field of rheumatology, the requirements for rheumatology training and practice, and related topics.
Please assist in our outreach efforts and send this opportunity to current medical students and/or medical professionals/programs within your network.
Students may use the following link for more information and apply to the 2025 cohort.
https://rheumatology.org/project-lead
The deadline is February 21, 2025, with a projected cohort launch in March 2025.
Should you have additional questions, please contact Chambree’ Harris at charris@rheumatology.org.
Peer to Peer: Road to Residency Tip of the Month
This advice is for all students and includes first generation and BIPOC student lenses.
MS3: You’re almost done with the Patient Care Phase! Congratulations! Now that you are sorting through your E&F schedule, double check that it’s set up with enough time off for Step 2 (about 4-8 weeks) depending on your plan with your designated learning specialist) and residency interviews (6-8 weeks is preferred).
FYI: Spring C rotation is the last clerkship on the MSPE and Summer B is often the last grade on your transcript for your residency application. It’s common for MS4s to have their specialty rotation/s in the summer quarter, so remember to ask for a Letter of Recommendation (LoR) from your specialty rotation/s. The LoR can be more comprehensive than an MSPE entry and programs know that specialty rotations are often not on the MSPE, and this is common for many schools. Also, you can provide programs with an updated transcript after you submit your residency application if needed!
Ideally, you are narrowing down your career choices to one to two specialties with a secondary specialty until fourth year – if one of the specialties is not family medicine (FM), pediatrics (Peds), or internal medicine (IM). You can meet with your specialty career advisor to review your initial competitiveness, MS4 electives, and, for a few specialties, Away rotation planning, including strategies and programs that might be a good fit for you. If you are applying to an away rotation work on your VSLO application now!
- Reviewed by MS4 Abraham Correa-Medina. Originally written by alum Shanelle Briggs, MD.
We welcome tips and ideas from all students. Please reach out to Career Advising at medadv@uw.edu.
Have a wonderful week!