In this issue:
- Road to Residency Integration Week Sessions: Residency Planning & Away Rotations
- Dermatology Research Opportunity at Northwestern University
- Career Advising Tip of the Month
Road to Residency Integration Week Sessions: Residency Planning & Away Rotations
The recordings and slide decks from the Residency Planning and Away Rotations sessions held by Career Advising during the December Integrations week are now available to access. These sessions provide MS3s and expanding MS4s with advice and resources for specialty and career planning, residency application strategy, and Away rotation planning.
View the Residency Planning Recording and Access the Slide Deck.
View the Away Rotations Recording and Access the Slide Deck.
Dermatology Research Opportunity at Northwestern University
Second- and third-year medical students considering a career in dermatology are invited to apply for a one-year gap year research fellowship with the Division of Dermatologic Surgery, Department of Dermatology at Northwestern University. Running from June 2026 through May 2027, this mentored, unpaid position focuses on clinical research in skin cancer and skin surgery, with support to present at national meetings. Graduates of the program have had a strong track record of matching into dermatology residencies.
Interested students should email Dr.AlamLab@gmail.com with their CV, Step 1 and 2 score reports (if available), and at least two letters of recommendation from prior clinical or research mentors who know them well. All documents should be combined into one PDF titled the applicant’s first and last name.
The application deadline is January 31, 2026, and interviews will be offered on a rolling basis.
Career Advising Student Advisory Board Tip of the Month
This advice is for all MS3 students and includes first generation and BIPOC student lenses.
We hope you had a restful winter break! With the new year, it may be helpful to take stock of your future plans. If you are feeling unsure, you can complete the AAMC CiM’s Specialty Indecision Scale to narrow down to two specialties of interest (with different levels of competitiveness) by spring.
If your specialty recommends away rotations, review how away rotations work, finish updating your CV, and work on VSLO application components like gathering a letter of recommendation and drafting a short letter of interest/personal statement.
UWSOM Registration will talk about how you will get access to VSLO in the near future. In the meantime, they put together a great compilation of resources regarding away rotations on their website.
Many programs offer scholarships, so be sure to look at the websites of programs you are interested in, particularly their GME or Justice/Equity/Diversity/Inclusion department sites. Also, both the AAMC Visiting Scholars Resources Database and a separate site, The Funded Away Rotations for Minority Medical Students (FARMS) Database, contains funding opportunities available to all students participating in visiting electives.
Edited & reviewed by MS4 Cara Chapman. Originally written by alum Shanelle Briggs, MD.
Career Advising welcomes tips and ideas from all students. Please reach out to Career Advising at medadv@uw.edu.
This link takes you to past information for MS3s.