Survey Question: Who was your advisor? Recommended advisors?
13 comments:
Anonymous
said...
My advisor was Dr. Cain (peds uro). He is a great person with a good breadth of knowledge. I picked him because he seemed like someone I could talk with openly. He also has good exposure to other programs. I recommend him highly.
There may be some advantage to having Koch, Bihrle, or Foster as Advisors since they have a lot of influence on the residency app process. However, it may be hard to find time in their schedule to meet?
I don't think your official advisor has to be a urologist. My advisor was assigned as Dr Nelson in neurosurgery prior to my decision to go into urology.
I mostly met with Dr Koch to talk about urology match and residency programs, although all of the attendings and residents provided useful information. I would recommend collecting as many opinions as possible, and deciding for yourself what advice you find most useful based on your residency goals and needs.
Yes, they are all busy, and you may need to walk into the OR occasionally to talk to them.
Dr. Don Selzer of general surgery was my official advisor because I was thinking about doing gen surg at the time advisor selection was due. Anyone, really, can be your advisor since the official functions they perform are not specialty specific. However, it is very important that you have urology advisors at least unofficially. I received guidance from Dr. Koch and Dr. Gardner. Both are busy but will make time to meet with you.
Dr. Koch. Although busy, it was never difficult to schedule a meeting with him. Ultimately, it doesn't matter who your advisor is. Your advisor doesn't even need to be a member of the Urology Department. As others have mentioned, the entire Urology faculty is available to serve as an ad hoc advisor to discuss programs and career goals. Keep in mind, however, that at IU your advisor writes your Dean's letter. Since I had chosen Dr. Koch as my advisor I was able to add another letter of rec. from a well-known urologist to the other three letters in my file.
Dr. Tector, Chief of Transplantation. I think that you should choose someone you know personally, but not necessarily w/in urology. All they do is write your Dean's letter (low importance in entire scheme of things). Make sure you have an advocate w/in urology to shoot q's off of. This includes residents and one of the staff.
I had a non-uro advisor and don't think it hindered me one bit. You have to remember that your advisor's main job is writing the Dean's Letter (for uro...I doubt anyone even reads it). I don't recall if your advisor can write you a Letter of rec, and in that case, if you want a letter from them...don't make them your advisor. At the end of the day, you'll have to talk to Dr. Koch and others for advice whether they are your advisor or not.
My advisor was initially Dr. Sundaram. He always made time to meet to discuss any of my questions and went out of his way to ensure my success. However, having done some research with him I asked him to write a letter of recommendation. Turns out that you can't have a letter of recommendation from the person writing you Dean's Letter (your advisor). In the end, I switched to Dr. Beck (although we never met) so that Dr. Sundaram could write the letter.
I think that more important than an official advisor is the relationship developed between yourself and staff members. Find someone that can be a mentor and others who can provide further advice. All of them have important insights to offer regarding other programs and IU.
I had a very similar experience to the user above. My initial advisor was Dr. Sundaram, but changed it since I had developed (what I think) was a strong relationship with him and subsequently wanted to letter of recommendation from him. In my experience, the letter of recommendation is much more important that the Deans Letter, which is supposed to be an impersonal representation of your medical school performance, not your personality and strengths.
I switched to someone outside of the department that I knew would spend a good amount of time on it and do a good job with it. I cannot advise you if getting a Deans letter from someone in the department is more beneficial, but I read the Deans letter from my new advisor and was very impressed. I also have read the Deans letter from someone inside of the department and was not as impressed with it. Once again, these are just my observations so take them with a grain of salt. My point is, your 'advisor' does not need to be your advisor for residency match but rather someone that needs to only write your Deans letter.
No matter who your 'advisor' is, get advise from as many people in the urology department especially Dr. Koch and Dr. Sundaram.
My advisor was not in the urology department, since at the time I selected an advisor I hadn't decided on urology. My advisor knew Dr. Masterson and recommended that I meet with him and have Dr. Masterson act as an unofficial advisor. It worked out great, Dr. Masterson is busy but very available/willing to meet and has good perspective on a lot of programs and gave good advice. Since he was not officially my advisor he was still able to write a LOR for me.
I met met with Dr. Koch in the spring and talked with Dr. Sundaram on the phone to introduce myself/assess my competitiveness as an applicant. I felt that helped since when I started my sub-I, I already knew them.
My advisor was Dr. Cain. He is one of the nicest people I have ever had the opportunity to work with. Very helpful and has a good idea of strength/weakness of programs he recommended I apply to.
My advisor was Dr. Masterson. He was an excellent advisor and was one of the younger faculty that did not train at IU. He was always available to meet or answer questions by email. He finished my Dean's letter before the due date which was helpful and provided me an honest interpretation of my rank list. I would highly recommend him.
My advisor was Dr. Sundaram. I would highly recommend him because 1.) He's program director, 2.) He's very enthusiastic, nice, and helpful with regards to students, 3.) He's got ample opportunities to strengthen your list of urology related publications, 4.) He did a good job of recommending away rotations for me that were realistic (although I didn't match at any of the places I did aways at)
My "technical" advisor was not within urology. But for all intents and purposes, Dr. Sundaram was my advisor.
Your official advisor does not have to be urology - when writing the deans letter the name doesn't matter as much. Better to pick someone who likes you and has time to really spend time on it - I've heard people had a lot of good luck with non surgical "advisors" that they connected with on third year rotations.
In terms of getting advice, ask around, don't be afraid to set up meetings with multiple staff - the more opinions the better. Present the same information, the same personal statement, the same attitude you will at interviews, and ask for honest (and sometimes brutal) feedback. Each of the docs has a different spin on how to best approach the match, and sometimes they will conflict with one another. Its frustrating, but its also the reality you'll face when out on interviews. By surveying around you'll get a better gauge of how you come off to others and what assets to promote.
That being said, definitely try to form a strong relationship with at least one of the staff. Having someone in your court is absolutely essential. Ask the residents who they would recommend spending time with - some staff are more approachable than others, some are busier than others, and some are just more student focused than others. The residents know them all well and would probably have a good idea of who to recommend as a good personality match. Having an advisor/mentor is not a one-size-fits-all situation...
13 comments:
My advisor was Dr. Cain (peds uro). He is a great person with a good breadth of knowledge. I picked him because he seemed like someone I could talk with openly. He also has good exposure to other programs. I recommend him highly.
There may be some advantage to having Koch, Bihrle, or Foster as Advisors since they have a lot of influence on the residency app process. However, it may be hard to find time in their schedule to meet?
I don't think your official advisor has to be a urologist. My advisor was assigned as Dr Nelson in neurosurgery prior to my decision to go into urology.
I mostly met with Dr Koch to talk about urology match and residency programs, although all of the attendings and residents provided useful information. I would recommend collecting as many opinions as possible, and deciding for yourself what advice you find most useful based on your residency goals and needs.
Yes, they are all busy, and you may need to walk into the OR occasionally to talk to them.
Dr. Don Selzer of general surgery was my official advisor because I was thinking about doing gen surg at the time advisor selection was due. Anyone, really, can be your advisor since the official functions they perform are not specialty specific. However, it is very important that you have urology advisors at least unofficially. I received guidance from Dr. Koch and Dr. Gardner. Both are busy but will make time to meet with you.
Dr. Koch. Although busy, it was never difficult to schedule a meeting with him. Ultimately, it doesn't matter who your advisor is. Your advisor doesn't even need to be a member of the Urology Department. As others have mentioned, the entire Urology faculty is available to serve as an ad hoc advisor to discuss programs and career goals. Keep in mind, however, that at IU your advisor writes your Dean's letter. Since I had chosen Dr. Koch as my advisor I was able to add another letter of rec. from a well-known urologist to the other three letters in my file.
Dr. Tector, Chief of Transplantation. I think that you should choose someone you know personally, but not necessarily w/in urology. All they do is write your Dean's letter (low importance in entire scheme of things). Make sure you have an advocate w/in urology to shoot q's off of. This includes residents and one of the staff.
I had a non-uro advisor and don't think it hindered me one bit. You have to remember that your advisor's main job is writing the Dean's Letter (for uro...I doubt anyone even reads it). I don't recall if your advisor can write you a Letter of rec, and in that case, if you want a letter from them...don't make them your advisor. At the end of the day, you'll have to talk to Dr. Koch and others for advice whether they are your advisor or not.
My advisor was initially Dr. Sundaram. He always made time to meet to discuss any of my questions and went out of his way to ensure my success. However, having done some research with him I asked him to write a letter of recommendation. Turns out that you can't have a letter of recommendation from the person writing you Dean's Letter (your advisor). In the end, I switched to Dr. Beck (although we never met) so that Dr. Sundaram could write the letter.
I think that more important than an official advisor is the relationship developed between yourself and staff members. Find someone that can be a mentor and others who can provide further advice. All of them have important insights to offer regarding other programs and IU.
I had a very similar experience to the user above. My initial advisor was Dr. Sundaram, but changed it since I had developed (what I think) was a strong relationship with him and subsequently wanted to letter of recommendation from him. In my experience, the letter of recommendation is much more important that the Deans Letter, which is supposed to be an impersonal representation of your medical school performance, not your personality and strengths.
I switched to someone outside of the department that I knew would spend a good amount of time on it and do a good job with it. I cannot advise you if getting a Deans letter from someone in the department is more beneficial, but I read the Deans letter from my new advisor and was very impressed. I also have read the Deans letter from someone inside of the department and was not as impressed with it. Once again, these are just my observations so take them with a grain of salt. My point is, your 'advisor' does not need to be your advisor for residency match but rather someone that needs to only write your Deans letter.
No matter who your 'advisor' is, get advise from as many people in the urology department especially Dr. Koch and Dr. Sundaram.
1/8/14
My advisor was not in the urology department, since at the time I selected an advisor I hadn't decided on urology. My advisor knew Dr. Masterson and recommended that I meet with him and have Dr. Masterson act as an unofficial advisor. It worked out great, Dr. Masterson is busy but very available/willing to meet and has good perspective on a lot of programs and gave good advice. Since he was not officially my advisor he was still able to write a LOR for me.
I met met with Dr. Koch in the spring and talked with Dr. Sundaram on the phone to introduce myself/assess my competitiveness as an applicant. I felt that helped since when I started my sub-I, I already knew them.
My advisor was Dr. Cain. He is one of the nicest people I have ever had the opportunity to work with. Very helpful and has a good idea of strength/weakness of programs he recommended I apply to.
My advisor was Dr. Masterson. He was an excellent advisor and was one of the younger faculty that did not train at IU. He was always available to meet or answer questions by email. He finished my Dean's letter before the due date which was helpful and provided me an honest interpretation of my rank list. I would highly recommend him.
My advisor was Dr. Sundaram. I would highly recommend him because 1.) He's program director, 2.) He's very enthusiastic, nice, and helpful with regards to students, 3.) He's got ample opportunities to strengthen your list of urology related publications, 4.) He did a good job of recommending away rotations for me that were realistic (although I didn't match at any of the places I did aways at)
My "technical" advisor was not within urology. But for all intents and purposes, Dr. Sundaram was my advisor.
Your official advisor does not have to be urology - when writing the deans letter the name doesn't matter as much. Better to pick someone who likes you and has time to really spend time on it - I've heard people had a lot of good luck with non surgical "advisors" that they connected with on third year rotations.
In terms of getting advice, ask around, don't be afraid to set up meetings with multiple staff - the more opinions the better. Present the same information, the same personal statement, the same attitude you will at interviews, and ask for honest (and sometimes brutal) feedback. Each of the docs has a different spin on how to best approach the match, and sometimes they will conflict with one another. Its frustrating, but its also the reality you'll face when out on interviews. By surveying around you'll get a better gauge of how you come off to others and what assets to promote.
That being said, definitely try to form a strong relationship with at least one of the staff. Having someone in your court is absolutely essential. Ask the residents who they would recommend spending time with - some staff are more approachable than others, some are busier than others, and some are just more student focused than others. The residents know them all well and would probably have a good idea of who to recommend as a good personality match. Having an advisor/mentor is not a one-size-fits-all situation...
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