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5 Golden Nuggets of Advice From a 3rd Year Dental Student

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 This article is reprinted with permission from the American Student Dental Association. It originally appeared on ASDA’s blog, Mouthing Off.
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School is back in session! You know what that means? Another year of late night studying, junk food binges, red-eye lab sessions and caffeine runs to Starbucks. Each year of dental school presents its own challenges, and it never gets easier. But that doesn’t mean you should be discouraged or stressed over it. Just starting my D3 year, I do not consider myself to be a seasoned dental student. However, I do feel there are a few nuggets of wisdom I’ve acquired over the past two years of dental school that are worth sharing. They have proven to be of benefit not only to me, but also to a majority of my classmates. Here are Jay’s keys to success in dental school:

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What Can You Learn From Reflecting on Your MCAT Test Day Experience?

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The MCAT is a significant hurdle that all students who wish to attend medical school must overcome. However, even after you have successfully completed the exam, you can continue to learn from your testing experience by reflecting on the test day itself.
Below are four areas of reflection that can provide you with additional insight about your future as a physician. Do not neglect to consider them!
1. How you learn best 
Many students experiment with a variety of study and test-taking strategies when preparing for the MCAT. After identifying which methods are most successful, they ultimately settle on a framework that works best for them. Throughout this process, you will likely discover how you study most efficiently and most effectively, which is an invaluable tool as you move forward to medical school.

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20 Questions: Deborah Elaine Linder, DVM, Veterinary Nutritionist

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Deborah Elaine Linder, DVM, is a board certified veterinary nutritionist and a research assistant professor at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. She received her bachelor’s degree in biological anthropology and anatomy from Duke University (2005), and her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) from Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine (2009). Dr. Linder completed a one-year veterinary medicine internship at VCA South Shore Animal Hospital in Weymouth, Mass., followed by a two-year veterinary clinical nutrition residency at Tufts.
Dr. Linder is a member of the Massachusetts Veterinary Medical Association, American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition, Boston Nutrition Obesity Research Center, American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians, and International Society for Anthrozoology, and she is a steering committee member of the Pet Therapy Group Tufts Paws for People. She has been published in the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, Veterinary Nursing, BMC Veterinary Research, American Journal of Veterinary Research, Journal of Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care, Veterinary Quarterly, Journal of the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, and Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
When did you first decide to become a veterinarian? Why?

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20 Questions: Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, Medical Oncologist

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Kornelia Polyak, MD, PhD, is a professor of medicine in the department of medical oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School, as well as a biomedical researcher focused on translational studies with potential clinical impact regarding human breast cancer. Dr. Polyak has been a member of the Harvard Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) graduate program since 1999, and as a BBS faculty member, she has participated in teaching several graduate courses and giving talks at departmental retreats and minisymposia. She has also participated in new student recruiting events by interviewing prospective students, attending dinners/receptions, and welcoming new students. Dr. Polyak received her MD summa cum laude from Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Medical University in Szeged, Hungary (1991), and her PhD in cell biology and genetics from Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences (1995). She was a research associate in cancer genetics at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1995-1998).

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Mistakes to Avoid During Your Medical School Admissions Interview

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Earning a medical school admissions interview is a significant accomplishment. Many programs adhere to rigorous academic, extracurricular, and research requirements when selecting candidates for in-person meetings. Though you should view this as an opportunity to communicate to admissions interviewers why you are a perfect candidate for the school’s incoming class, be aware that a poor showing can harm applicants. Below are several blunders to avoid during your medical school interview:
1. Failing to articulate your career plans

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The Fatal Failings of Evidence Based Medicine

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The medical system (and much of the culture) these days is focused on group outcomes, not individuals. Personally, I think that stinks.
In medicine, this failing comes from improper use of what was originally a good idea—evidenced based medicine (EBM). EBM was developed to help overcome anecdotal medicine, in which a seemingly successful therapy in one patient gets adopted by a physician as the “way to go” and then preached to his trainees as the management of choice, and over time becomes unexamined gospel. “Anecdote-based medicine” is a form of groupthink, and groupthink is bad in general and particularly bad for the patient sitting in front of us on an exam table.
There needed to be some way to help doctors realize that an individual patient response is not generalizable to others.
EBM evaluates groups of patients to determine statistical responses to interventions. It was created (initially) to help doctors determine whether an intervention is likely to work in an individual patient. In that way, it was originally kind of the obverse of anecdotal medicine.

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An Apology from a Resident

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Dear Third Year Medical Student,
Congratulations! Your two years of textbook learning are complete and you are ready to launch into your clinical training. It’s an exciting time and you’re likely super-eager to jump in, get involved and save a few lives (or at least stand by helpfully while other people save the lives; let’s not get ahead of ourselves). You have high hopes of becoming a key member of your team, taking care of your patients and learning as much as possible. What you will quickly discover is that your experience will be strongly colored by the residents with whom you will work closely. As a medical student, I had the opportunity to work with some truly great residents. Enthusiastic about their field, they worked to incorporate me into the care process and would take a moment, however brief, to draw attention to valuable teaching points that I might otherwise have overlooked.

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