Thread by @gradydoctor

1/
Year 3 of my #PersonalStatement Speed Mentoring with @EmoryMedicine students! Zoom made it even better!

Pre-requisites:

1. Come prepared with a draft of your PS.
2. Be ready to share your screen and take notes.
3. Be ready to discuss what you've written.

Easy peasy!

2/
First, I read the PS. Then I gather more info.

Specific questions help:

"What did you want me to learn about you by telling this story?"

Concrete statements help, too:

"This part tells me more about your parents than you. How can we modify this to underscore who YOU are?"

3/
I started doing this with our @EmoryMedicine after feeling overwhelmed by multiple individual asks. Plus I kept dropping the ball.

Or worse, I gave unhelpful, nondescript feedback because I was too busy to really focus.

And so. I cleared out calendar time JUST for this.

4/
I know. You're like--WAIT. Personal statement help? In just 20 minutes? Can that even be done?

Answer: It SURELY can.

Here's how:

Small talk: 1-2 min. (gotta set a climate!)
Read PS: 2-3 min.
Q&A: 5 min.
LFF*: 10 min.

*LFF = laser-focused feedback

5/
You'd be surprised at how much help you can give someone with just 20 min of your UNDIVIDED time.

You know what else?

The MORE PSs that you read, the better you get at laser-focused feedback.

And.

There's NOTHING better than being in a zone of development with a student.

6/
For our OWN wellness, we have to find ways to #worksmarter. But as clinician-educators, we also have to remember that #supportisaverb.

2 pro-tips on how:

1. When time is UNDIVIDED? Folks don't need as much of it.
2. It's okay to set boundaries for your time & effort.

Yup.

7/
For PS input? My boundaries are based on my available time + the walls of my institution. Outside either of these? I suggest they ask someone else.

Why?

Because step 1 is ALWAYS to put the O2 on yourself.
And step 2 is knowing that TIME is oxygen.

Got that? Good.

#MedEd