By Joanne Snapp, EdD, Founder of My Honest Advisor Since so much of this process is honestly impression management, the writing in your personal statement, work & activities, impactful experience description and secondaries can really make or break a cycle. Everything, from the words you choose to use to your tone or the style of your essay, sends a message. The message can be, "I'm a really funny person." Or it can be "I'm very introspective about the world around me." Or it can be, "I don't...

I was prepping with a fourth-year medical student who is interviewing for family medicine residency programs. When we got to the behavioral interview questions, where stories are required, she admitted that she was having trouble remembering stories. She said she had met hundreds of patients, and she was certain she had encountered many of the situations I was asking about, but she had not documented anything. Now, she was struggling to remember and having to make stories up to answer...

Every year, I write a "How did we do?" post. My applicants know I love my spreadsheet, and I feel it's important to be transparent in the process, even when I don't hit the 100% goal I set for myself every year. Here are the outcomes from last cycle. Granted, the cycle is still active and some of these "Yellow" folks can still get in. But at the end of June, this is where we are. Overall, it's not bad. I tend to be pretty hard on myself, so I feel like it could be better, but it was also a...