Hi everyone,
Recently, I tried to retrospectively rank our residents to see if my selection metrics predicted performance. They didn’t. I shouldn’t have been surprised: when stellar grades and accomplishments are the norm, it’s hard to compare trainees. I did find a faint correlation between Step 2 and performance, but the signal was weak. Clearly, trainees who do well before residency keep thriving.
I’ve kept this principle in mind over the past three weeks while reviewing thousands of intern applications. Finally, this morning, I’ve whittled the list to 300+ candidates to invite this week. Another 90 or so physician-scientist aspirants will also be hearing from us soon.
Talent in internal medicine runs deep, and I wish we could interview more candidates. But in the age of signaling, we reject qualified applicants because they’ve conveyed a not so subtle wish to train elsewhere (“My partner is a graduate student at Harvard, and Boston has become my second home”). With many more candidates than precious interview slots available, we must choose invitations carefully, knowing the candidates we seek can map their own destiny.
Today, I’ll scan the list one last time before sharing the names with Brett. Then, we’ll be sending interview and wait-list invitations, as well as rejection letters, before shifting our focus to interviews, which start October 23.
Enjoy your Sunday, everyone. Heide and I are celebrating our 39th anniversary today on the Ile d’Orleans in Quebec with our daughter Gabrielle, soaking up the Canadian fall. Tomorrow, we’ll be driving home.
Mark
PS What I’m reading and listening to:
- Colleges need to teach last-mile knowledge By Hollis Robbins
- The Cornell Case Exposes What We Can’t Say By Christine Emba
- When Anesthesia Goes Wrong By Sarah Zhang
- The Bitter Rivalries Behind the Race to Build Superintelligence On Plain English with Derek Thompson (interviewing Kevin Roose)
- A.I. Is Lying to You. Here’s How to Fight Back. By Anthony Vinci
- The Best Protein Source Is Hiding in Plain Sight By Matteo Wong
- Woody Guthrie Was Right About Us By Jeff Tweedy
- ‘The Twilight Zone’ Was a Warning America Ignored By Alan Sepinwall
- We Implemented Canada’s Assisted Dying Law. We’re Concerned. By Gary Rodin and Madeline Li