Professionalism Violation Question:
Hi, I don’t want to give too many details, but I’m finishing up my last year at a top 25 med school w/ step 1>240, multiple pubs, and a mix of honors and high passes except family medicine which is a pass. I have a professionalism violation by my school that will appear on my MSPE – how do I deal with this and move forward in the best way? The breach was for missing out on several clinic days without approval from my dean. What are my realistic chances for matching DR?
I’m pretty crushed because it seems like my goals are no longer within reach, so I need some honest advice on how to proceed
Thank you in advance,
Crushed Radiology Dreams
Answer:
A professionalism violation can be more difficult to remedy than a lousy grade or mistake that you made with a patient. The only way to increase your chances of acceptance into radiology residency would be to own it. What do I mean by that? The professionalism violation will show up on your application. And, that is the first item that most residency directors look for on the ERAS forms. So, you need to be ready to explain the offense, whether in person or the personal statement.
Additionally, you should be able to show deep-seated remorse. But, most importantly, you need to be able to say why this was a “one-off” event. And, you must convince the faculty why it will not happen again.
Biggest Concerns For The Program Director:
What would be the most significant concerns for most residency directors (from my end)? First, this person will not show up for rotations. Or second, this resident will try to weasel out of his obligations because he doesn’t like them. Most residency directors have had residents like this, and that is the last type of resident that they would want to take. In truth, many residency directors would rather have a resident with some academic deficiencies than a resident with recurrent professionalism violations.
Potential Solutions:
Therefore, you need to reassure your interviewers that you follow through with all the activities that you accomplish. How can you do so? Well, some places in the application that may help would be: comments on your Dean’s letter from your rotations, or other letters of recommendation testifying that the event was atypical for your personality. Regardless, you need to make sure not to cast any further doubts on your application and your character. If the readers of your application sense that you have a recurrent pattern of professionalism violations, you will not receive any interviews or rankings.
Bottom line: you are not going to be able to make the issue magically go away. But, you can mitigate some of the damages. All is not necessarily lost.
Hope that gives you some insight,
Barry Julius, MD
