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A Penn State Nittany Lion statue is seen in the courtyard of Penn State College of Medicine in Summer 2016. The statue is in focus toward the right side of the image. Out of focus in the background, green plants and trees are visible in the courtyard.

Faculty Advisors in Your Specialty

This program pairs third- and fourth-year medical students with faculty advisors in the students’ declared area of specialty interest. This is intended to supplement a student’s relationship with their primary society advisor.  Faculty members who volunteer to participate in the program can decide how many students they would like to advise in any given year.  A description of how the Program is set up is listed below.

  1. Toward the end of a student’s third year (Phase II), the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) will contact each student and ask them for a specialty area they are currently considering.
  2. Once a student replies, the OSA will forward the names and contact information of each student interested in a particular area to the faculty liaison in each clinical department. The faculty liaison will then either pair students with interested faculty, or set up an introductory group meeting with faculty and students. From there, if a student continues to be interested in that specialty, the students will be paired with individual specialty faculty advisors.
  3. The specialty advisors will be expected to be available during the students fourth year. Once an advisor is assigned to a student, the liaison should notify OSA with names of the students and their paired advisors.  The advisor should contact the student to schedule their first meeting.  The advisor will be expected to provide a realistic explanation of the specialty and answer the student’s questions.  In addition, the advisor should provide the student with information regarding residency training in the specialty area (i.e. competitiveness of residency, length of training, fellowship training if necessary, future salary expectations, job market).  Advisors can also discuss “Plan B” with the student if needed.
  4. The student should provide their advisor with a copy of their CV, personal statement draft, and USMLE scores so that they can get candid feedback regarding their specialty choice.
  5. The specialty advisor will be responsible for guiding the student through the residency application, interviewing, and ranking process.  This includes guiding the student toward residencies that match their interest and competitiveness, writing letters of recommendation if requested, providing guidance on interviewing, including conducting mock interviews, and assisting the student in the final ranking process.  The OSA currently provides some of these services to students and will continue to be available to students and advisors to provide support.
  6. If a student has not been paired with a specialty advisor by June of their fourth year, they must contact OSA immediately.