| Overview |
| UT College of Medicine has adopted Careers in Medicine as the formal career-advising program throughout the four years of medical school. This four-phase process developed by the AAMC, guides students through the elements of career planning, including self-understanding, exploring a variety of medical careers, and finally choosing a specialty to meet their career objectives. The Careers in Medicine web site, is the foundation for the development of our program at UT.
UT's program utilizes a combination of the AAMC Program with other resources such as: Iserson’s Getting into a Residency, AMA's FREIDA, and other WWW resources, as well as the resources available from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation Programs. In addition we utilize many internal resources such as CiM Advisors, Guide to Curriculum Vitae and Résumé Writing for Medical Students, Student Organizations and events, UT’s Summer Educational Opportunities Guide, and preparation programs for the USMLE. We incorporate a variety of didactic methods to ensure a successful career choice for our students some of which include: large- and small-group sessions, one-on-one advising, mentoring and individual research, along with a series of our existing workshops to educate and guide students toward making a good career decision. UT College of Medicine combines professional development as an integral component of the CiM curriculum and includes workshops on résumé building, personal statements and professionalism/humanism as qualifications for residency preparation. |
| 1st Year (Understanding Yourself) |
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During the first year phase you will ask yourself the important questions such as: "Who am I?" "What do I like to do?" "What's really important in my work and life?" The goal of this phase is to achieve a greater understanding of yourself and to address the question: "What do I want to do in my medical career?" Some of the following events led by CiM Advisors will assist you in answering these very important questions.
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| 2nd Year (Career Exploration) |
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Through the following experiences and exercises you will explore the variety of specialties as well as the other career options available to you in the field of medicine. As you meet and talk with physicians in various specialties, you'll begin to learn about what physicians do in these areas, and gain a real-world perspective on the career opportunities these specialties have to offer.
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| 3rd Year (Choosing a Specialty) |
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Once you've collected enough information on all of the possibilities, you will then compare what you have learned about yourself in the first phase with the information you've gathered about the specialties and other medical career options you're considering. CiM through the Office of Student Affairs, mentors and advisors, will then help you select a specialty you will pursue during residency.
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| 4th Year (Getting into a Residency) |
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After all the information you have gathered about yourself and your options, you should be well equipped to make a decision about your specialty choice. That doesn't mean that it will be easy to do; you will need to compile all that you have learned and do some serious analysis about where you best "fit." Which of your characteristics are most important to you - your values, using specific skills, how you interact with people, your interests? What are the things you most want out of your future career and how do the specialties you are considering meet those needs? Use of the following tools and resources will help you to compare what you learned about yourself through self-assessment to what you learned about specialties and finally workshops will prepare you for your residency selection.
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