Career Planning

Choosing a specialty and planning for your career are critical components of the development of our medical students on their path to becoming physicians. Career planning at VP&S begins at matriculation and continues throughout medical school.

Whether your know your specialty from day one, change your mind several times, or choose to pursue an alternate career path, the Office of Student Affairs is here to help, along with faculty and fellow students. 

Some of the highlights of our career planning program include:

  • Shadowing opportunities
  • Specialty/career exposure through the Advisory Dean program, Major Clinical Year/electives, faculty advising, peer mentoring, and alumni connections
  • Dual-degree programs
  • Research opportunities, fellowships, and scholarly projects
  • Class meetings and interactive workshops on residency applications and interviewing
  • Individual career advising with faculty and staff

Please see below for a breakdown of career opportunities open to students during each phase of medical school:

Preclinical Years/Fundamentals

  • Advisory dean lunches
  • VP&S House System 
  • Shadowing
  • First-year summer research, teaching, service, and global health opportunities
  • Access to VP&S Career Connect, our homebase for all career related resources and data (available all four years) 
  • Specialty interest groups through VP&S clubs (available all four years)

Major Clinical Year

  • Career meeting with your advisory dean
  • Class meeting on elective selection
  • Panel discussions with chairs of clinical departments and residency training directors at CUIMC
  • Individualized medical student performance evaluation and career counseling meeting with the dean of students
  • Peer career advising, by specialty, to discuss electives and residency applications

Differentiation and Integration

  • Class meetings on residency applications, CVs, personal statements, and interviewing
  • Small group meetings, by specialty, with CUIMC program directors
  • Selection of a specialty-specific residency advisor
  • Personal statment workshops
  • Professional headshots
  • Individual personal statement/CV review with faculty, advisory dean, and/or staff
  • Mock interview program
  • VP&S specific Match data for setting goals and assessing risk
  • Daily walk-in hours and email contact for career advising