Wednesday, July 9, 2008

My ERAS, my tormentor

Dude. Just when you think that the Parade of Menial, Banal Tasks that No One Should Ever Have to Do that is medical school is tapering off, they drop the bomb.

ERAS, which stands for... um, hang on, I have to look this one up... Electronic Residency Application Service... wow. That basically explains it. Nice job with the naming, residency people! Anyway, it's nice that it's electronic and all, except that the interface is slowly driving me insane.

They have boxes for everything--and I mean EVERYTHING. Now, normally I am a big fan of having boxes to fill in. That's just the kind of person I am. I color inside the lines, and I like to fill in forms. (Caveat: they have to be well-designed forms. I hate when I have to write outside of existing boxes on a form.) I know--I sound like a load of fun at parties, huh?

Anyway, I have spent hours thus far copying my CV into this ridiculous form. It's totally out of control. It is rigid, very detailed, and wants to know everything about everything I've done since I graduated from high school, which for me is 15 years ago*. Actually, I'm not totally sure they don't want to know about stuff I did in high school.

Look, ERAS, I don't remember what month that abstract I was on in 1997 came out, and PubMed doesn't either. But ERAS doesn't care, and won't save it unless I lie. I am being forced to lie by a stupid web-based application.

In any case I am TOTALLY sick of myself right now. I'm sick of my publications, my research experience, my teaching experience, and basically every other experience I've had. I'm sick of estimating how many hours a week I spend doing ANYTHING.

I will end this with a piece of advice. This is for everyone, but especially for mudphuds:
ALWAYS KEEP A CONTINUALLY UPDATED CV.

My husband did not do this, and his ERAS experience was exponentially more painful than mine, meaning that it almost killed him.

So, go forth and update your CV. Put EVERYTHING on there. You'll thank me later.

*I know. I'm old. Tell me something I don't know.

2 comments:

Filipus D. said...

I'll start right away...thanks for the advice!! Good luck with yours!

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