Career Advising

At the CUNY School of Medicine, your growth will be supported by the Medical Student Advisors, who are eager to work with you at every step of your education. The Medical Student Advisors are dedicated to helping you succeed academically, develop professionally, and identify the right specialty based on your goals and interests. Through class sessions, peer workshops,  residency panels, individual meetings with your advisor, and much more, Career Advising at the CUNY School of Medicine will provide you with the tools needed to advance to the next stage of your career.

Medical Student Advisors (M1-M4)

Dr. Dani McBeth, dmcbeth@med.cuny.edu

Dr. Lily Lam, llam@med.cuny.edu

Dr. Mamoona Khokhar, mkhokhar@med.cuny.edu 

Career Advising Sessions Overview

M1 Year

In the M1 year, students begin meeting with their Medical Student Advisor and get introduced to specialty selection and professional development. You will be introduced to faculty, alumni, special interest groups, and general resources that will help you begin exploring your specialty interests. You will have opportunities to extend your learning and experience beyond the CUNY School of Medicine curriculum by engaging in extracurricular activities or summer fellowships.  At this stage, the Career Advising sessions below are designed to help provide  a foundation:

• Orientation to Career Advising Program and Process 
• Building & Addressing Gaps in Your CV 
• Understanding Yourself and Demonstration of AAMC Careers in Medicine Website 
• Introduction to the MSPE Letter 
• Applying for research and summer opportunities
• M2 panel tips for succeeding in your second year of medical school

M2 Year

In the M2 Year, you will continue to meet with your Medical Student Advisor to craft your individual plan to secure opportunities and experiences to complement your medical education. You will continue to be encouraged to become involved in leadership, extracurricular, volunteer, and research activities, that help support your professional development before starting the rigorous third-year clerkships when your time becomes limited. Career Advising sessions will continue to be foundational and will include:

• Utilizing the AAMC Careers in Medicine
• Addressing Gaps in Your CV 
• Review of the MSPE Letter 
• Overview of 3rd-year Career Advising Program and Residency Application Elements 
• Maximizing Your Clerkship Experience and Clerkship Success 
• M3 panel tips for succeeding in your third year of medical school

M3 Year

Welcome to the M3 year! At this point in your education, you will start to seriously consider your specialty and career interest as you utilize the knowledge gained during the preclinical years to participate in direct patient care during your clerkships. Though exciting, it can also be a challenging time for any medical student, so support from your Medical Student Advisor becomes even more important. We are committed to demystifying the residency application process so that you feel confident and prepared while focusing on excelling in your clinical clerkships. Some of the Career Advising sessions will include:

• Overview of Residency Application Elements and Introduction to 4th Year Electives
• 4th Year Schedule Planning and Selection of Core Rotations
• Choosing Electives & Utilizing the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities Service
• Preparing the Personal Statement and Noteworthy Characteristics 
• Residency Application Strategy and Utilization of Applications and Tools
• Utilizing ERAS and Introduction to the Match and Specialty Matches
• M4 panel: Maximizing your electives, Tips and Tricks for Residency Application Season

M4 Year

At this stage, you will finalize your specialty choice, engage in complementary elective experiences, identify extramural opportunities at residency programs that you are interested in, complete your residency applications and apply to residency! Career Advising at this stage is focused on helping your craft a polished application, select residency programs that are aligned with your goals, and ultimately match your desired specialty. In addition to virtual sessions where you can get tips and advice from program directors in different specialties, the Career Advising Sessions will include:

•    Residency Selection Strategy and Review of ERAS application
•    Residency Interview Preparation Video
•    Review of MSPE Letter
•    Mock Interviews and Feedback on Interview Performance
•    Ranking of programs and the match process
•    Navigating the SOAP Process and Q&A

Internal Core Career Advisors

In addition to The Medical Student Advisors, we’ve partnered with the Office of Student Affairs to provide students with longitudinal, comprehensive career advising. We utilize a team approach to ensure that medical students have accurate, timely, and complete information to make decisions and select a career path that is a good fit. Some of the resources available to students include the Careers in Medicine Program, Specialty Interest Groups, AAMC, national specialty organizations, residency programs, and career advisors.  Career advisors are physicians trained in various specialties who can help medical students learn more about that particular field. Many also have expertise and training outside of clinical medicine so they may be able to suggest alternative career pathways in medicine.

Here is a list of CUNY School of Medicine clinical faculty who have volunteered to serve as Internal Core Career Advisors. They are available to answer your questions about their clinical specialty, subspecialties in their field, and non-clinical experiences, and provide advice. If you would like more information about a specialty not listed below, please reach out to your Medical Student Advisor or the Office of Student Affairs.

M4 Preparation Materials

CV Preparation Materials

CUNY Medicine CV Preparation Presentation 

CUNY Medicine CV Annotated Template 

CUNY Medicine CV Template Download

CUNY Medicine CV Check List 

Residency Planning Resources

• AAMC Roadmap to Residency
• AAMC Careers in Medicine      
• ABMS guide to medical specialties  
• Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) specialties requiring a preliminary/transitional year 
• ACGME Residency Program Accreditation  
• American Urological Association Match (Urology) 
• Apply Smart: Data to Consider When Applying to Residency 
• Couples Match 
• Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)  
• FRIEDA AMA Residency Program Database 
• National Residency Matching Program (The MATCH)
• NRMP Match Data and Reporting
• Residency Explorer Tool
• SF Match (Ophthalmology & Plastic Surgery)
• What is the match?
• 2020 NRMP Program Director 

Residency Application Preparation Materials

• Letters of Recommendation Materials
  • Presentation – Letters of Recommendation for Residency Applications
  • Sample Letters of Recommendation
  • Tip Sheet for Letter Writers
  • Questions to Answer for a Letter of Recommendation
  • Guidelines for Writing Letters of Recommendation in Pediatrics
• Interview Preparation Materials
  • 6 Ways to Ace Scenario Based Questions
  • AAMC Frequent Interview Questions
  • Behavioral Interviewing for Residency
  • CUNY Med Virtual Residency Interviews Presentation
  • How to Approach Virtual Interviews
  • Interview Tips from CUNY Med Graduates
  • Three Challenging Interview Questions and How to Answer Them
  • Virtual Interview Applicant Preparation Guide
  • What to Ask During the Residency Interview
• Personal Statement Preparation Materials
  • Guide to Writing a Personal Statement
  • Personal Statement Sample #1
  • Personal Statement Sample #2
  • Personal Statement Sample #3
  • Personal Statement Tips
  • Presentation – Composing your Personal Statement
• Class of 2022 Career Advising and Residency Application Timeline
• Core Values List

M4 Elective Materials

• CUNY Medicine M4 Elective Instructions Reference Guide
• CUNY Medicine Independent/Research Elective Proposal Form
• CUNY Medicine Domestic Waiver & Emergency Contact Form
• CUNY Medicine VSLO Transcript Request Form
• VSLO Student Essentials
• VSLO Training
• VSLO Sample Application Photos
• AAMC Standardized Immunization Form  
• VSLO Application Checklist

CUNY Medicine List of Extramural Affiliation Agreements

List of Institutions with Affiliation Agreements

Away Electives (Extramural)

1. Albert Einstein College of Medicine
2. Albany Medical College
3. Allegheny Health Network
4. Baylor College of Medicine
5. Burke Rehabilitation Center
6. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
7. Central Michigan
8. Christiana Care
9. Cleveland Clinic – Akron
10. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
11. Creighton University
12. Donald & Barbara Zucker SOM Hofstra/Northwell
13. Emory University School of Medicine
14. George Washington University SOM
15. Georgetown University School of Medicine
16. Harvard Medical School
17. Hospital for Special Surgery
18. Icahn School of Medicine
19. Jersey City Medical Center/St. Barnabas Medical Center (affiliated with RWJ)
20. John Hopkins
21. Kaiser Permanente Northern Region
22. Keck SOM of U So California
23. Loma Linda University (requires renewal 6/30/2021)
24. Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans
25. Maimonides Medical Center
26. Mayo Clinic Alix SOM Minnesota
27. Medical College of Wisconsin
28. Medical University of South Carolina COM
29. Memorial Sloan Kettering
30. NCH – Healthcare
31. New York Medical College SOM
32. NYC Poison Control Center
33. New York University SOM & Winthrop Hospital
34. Northwestern University Feinberg SOM
35. Oregon Health & Science University
36. Pennsylvania State U COM
37. Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer at MSKCC
38. Renaissance School of Medicine (Stonybrook University)
39. Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health
40. Rowan University (Cooper)
41. Rush Medical College of Rush University Medical Center
42. Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
43. Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
44. Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson
45. Stanford
46. Stroger J. Hospital Cook County (John H.)
47. Swedish Hospital
48. SUNY Downstate Medical Center
49. SUNY Upstate Medical Center Syracuse & Binghamton
50. Texas Tech University HSC School of Medicine – Lubbock
51. Tulane University SOM
52. Tufts
53. UMass, Chan Medical School
54. University of Alabama
55. University at Buffalo, (Jacob School of Medicine)
56. University of California Davis
57. University of California Irvine School of Medicine
58. University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
59. University of California, San Francisco
60. University of Chicago/Pritzker
61. University of Colorado School of Medicine
62. University of Connecticut School of Medicine
63. University of Maryland School of Medicine
64. University of Michigan
65. University of Nebraska
66. University of Nevada Las Vegas, SOM
67. University of Pennsylvania (Perelman)
68. University of Texas HSC San Antonio – Long
69. University of Texas Southwestern
70. University of Virginia SOM
71. UT McGovern Medical School
72. Wake Forest
73. Warren Alpert Brown University
74. Wayne State University SOM
75. Weill Cornell Medicine
76. West Virginia University SOM
77. Yale University School of Medicine

*Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center (Catholic Health Services of Long Island)-CUNY Med will no longer enter into an affiliation agreement with this Institution. Students with offers from this institution and their affiliates will be denied.

1. Mercy Medical Center
2. St. Charles Hospital
3. St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center
4. St. Francis Hospital
5. St. Joseph Hospital

Medical Student Performance Evaluation (MSPE)

• Composing Noteworthy Characteristics Video
• Composing Noteworthy Characteristics PDF
• Medical Student Performance Evaluation 2020
• Core Values List

Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO)

The AAMC Visiting Student Learning Opportunities™ (VSLO™) program enables medical and public health students to pursue short-term learning opportunities in the United States and globally. The VSLO program supports students through the process of searching for electives, submitting applications, and completing their resulting educational experience(s). The VSLO program includes:

• Educational opportunities, including pre-clinical, community-based global health, research, and clinical opportunities.
• The application service allows you to search and apply for opportunities.
• A global and U.S. network of participating institutions.
• The VSLO team, a group of AAMC professionals dedicated to supporting students through the application process.

VSLO Application Process

Accessing VSLO

You will receive an email invitation to access VSLO in January. Although you may have access to VSLO, you might not have the ability to apply to a particular institution since many schools do not upload their new catalog of opportunities or start their application process until sometime in the Spring, with a lot of them starting in May, but you can certainly start with building your application. Applications will not be released until the M4 Core Schedule has been finalized.

You can access a tutorial of the website at this following link: VSLO Application Student Training

Browsing and Selecting Electives

Within VSLO, there are two student types which determine the kinds of electives you will have access to in the system:

A. Pre-clinical: medical students in the M1 and M2 years
B. Clinical: medical students in the M3 and M4 years

Please apply to electives appropriate for your year.

We encourage students to apply for electives at host institutions (under the “M4 Preparation Templates and Resources”) where we have an established affiliation agreement. Before releasing any VSLO applications we routinely review the Career Advising list of host institutions to determine if we have an affiliation agreement. If we do not, we attempt to establish one prior to the start of the elective. If we are unable to establish an agreement, the Elective Oversight Committee will provide additional guidance if an offer is received.

Host institution catalogs open at different times, therefore many electives for the summer and fall may not be visible to you yet. Many catalogs do not open until late Spring. It is institution dependent. In addition, the catalog may only reflect what is available for a certain period and the rest is released on a rolling basis. That means you will have to continue checking VSLO regularly to identify electives.

Please note that International electives are NOT allowed for the 2024-2025 school year.

Completing the Application

Elective applications cannot be released until after Core schedules have been finalized and the Office of Student Affairs has confirmed that the extramural elective does not conflict with any core rotations. We also recommend that you wait to apply to any opportunities until after the lottery to avoid paying fees for applications that may not be released.

You do not need to contact us upon completing your VSLO Application. The CUNY MED VSLO Administrators will receive a daily update from VSLO until your application has been completed, verified and released. Once we verify all required documents and steps have been completed, the turnaround time is approximately 3-5 business days. Incomplete applications may take 1-2 weeks longer to process.

You will receive an email from us when your application is released to the host institution.

Application Decision Release

How long it takes for an institution to review and approve/reject an application can vary by institution. Be sure to check your email frequently during this time.

Accepting Elective Offers

Please Note: As part of our LCME accreditation, CUNY Med is required to review every elective offer to determine if it meets the criteria for approval. If you receive an offer for an extramural elective, it is critical that you notify Lavasia Valentine immediately.

If you receive an offer, most host institutions will give you 1-2 weeks to accept or decline. When you receive a VSLO elective offer:

1. Immediately email your official offer/application decision AND the elective description displaying the block dates being offered to lvalentine@med.cuny.edu to obtain final approval from the Elective Oversight Committee. No elective can be confirmed/accepted without Elective Oversight Committee approval.
2. You will receive an email confirmation indicating whether your elective was approved/denied.
3. If approved, the VSLO elective will be added to your schedule for the desired block and the M4 coordinator Mbailey@med.cuny.edu will provide instructions for dropping the intramural elective for that block (if applicable).
4. Intramural electives must be dropped no less than 4 weeks before the VSLO elective start date.

If you receive multiple offers in the same block, you have no less than 4 weeks before the extramural elective start date to drop/cancel an away elective you have already accepted. Students are allowed to swap a maximum of 3 electives only during their M4 year.

Documents to Prepare

A more detailed list can be found here:

VSLO Application Checklist

There are 2 types of documentation:

1. Documentation that student must provide and
2. Documentation that the home institution (CUNY MED) must provide.

Common Examples: (VSLO will specify who should provide which)

• BLS certificate
• Infection Control certificate
• Proof of Malpractice
• Background Check
• Letter of good standing
• HIPAA certificate
• Mask fit testing results
• CV
• Letter(s) of Recommendation
• USMLE scores
• Official Transcript

The CUNY MED VSLO Administrator(s) can view each application and whether or not the requirements have been fulfilled and who should fulfill them. To prevent delays to your application, please make sure you fulfill all the requirements necessary from your end before submitting your application.

Frequently Asked Questions