Career Advising for M.D. Students
The career advising program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine connects M.D. students and M.D./Ph.D. students who are seeking career guidance and advice with faculty advisors and department chairs who practice in your area of interest. Our comprehensive program is designed to align with each phase of the M.D. curriculum—pre-clerkship, clerkship, and professional development—ensuring support at every key milestone of your professional journey.
Whether your goal is to be a generalist or specialist, pursue hospital or community-based practice, or focus on research or clinical care, our career advisors are available to help you make the most of your medical training. Through one-on-one mentorship, small group sessions, and developmentally tailored programs, events, and workshops, we provide the resources you need to achieve your career goals. During your time in medical school, you’re also supported by dedicated and approachable faculty advisors and your peers as part of the Einstein Learning Communities Program.
Career Exploration in the Pre-clerkship Phase
During career exploration, first- and second-year students in the pre-clerkship phase of Einstein’s M.D. curriculum take part in a series of events designed to help you explore your values and the types of career paths available to you.
Small-group lunches with Einstein student affairs deans offer students the opportunity to discuss approaches to career choices and extracurricular endeavors. Additionally, students meet with faculty advisors from the Einstein Learning Community Program throughout the pre-clerkship phase to explore career options and to ensure they are setting themselves up for success for their residency applications starting in Year 1.
Career advisement nights and career speed networking events introduce students to faculty advisors in specialties including anesthesiology, dermatology, emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, neurosurgery, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pathology, pediatrics, plastic surgery, psychiatry, radiation oncology, radiology, rehabilitation medicine, surgery, and urology.
Self-exploration workshops provide an introduction the Association of American Medical Colleges Careers in Medicine resource, an interactive online tool for career self-assessment. Throughout the pre-clerkship phase, you begin the careers curriculum modules (an AD username and password are required), a resource for up-to-date, complete career guidance.
You also learn about shadowing opportunities available to explore different specialties, nurture your interests, increase motivation, and build relationships with physicians who become mentors and future colleagues. To find a physician in your field of interest, you can search our database of shadowing opportunities (an AD username and password are required). You can also choose to take part in a research or scholarly project the summer between your first and second years of medical school as part of our Scholarly Impact and Research Program.
Career Support in the Clerkship Phase
As you transition into the clerkship phase of the M.D. curriculum, you begin to cultivate a deeper understanding of your chosen specialty and require comprehensive support to further immerse yourself in the field. During this time, you develop skills that strengthen your future residency applications. In individualized meetings with student affairs deans, you strategically plan your fourth year of medical school, which focuses on career development, while reviewing key extracurricular activities and research opportunities that align with your career goals. Throughout the clerkship phase, you continue to complete career curriculum modules.
To further enhance career preparation, you are encouraged to connect with specialized departmental advisors (an AD username and password are required) who provide tailored guidance based on your interests, peer mentors who are currently navigating the residency application process, and recent graduates and alumni who offer valuable insights from a range of perspectives. If you are considering a career in a highly competitive specialty, advisors from the Scholarly Impact and Research Program serves as a critical resource to explore mentored research fellowships, discover available opportunities, and gain support in navigating the research fellowship application process.
Town hall meetings address different steps and milestones of your medical education, including choosing electives, fourth-year scheduling, what to expect in your third and fourth year of medical school, applying to residencies, ranking your residency choices, and tips for residency interviews.
Career Preparation in the Professional Development Phase
During the clinical phase of our M.D. curriculum, you have many opportunities to participate in intramural and extramural electives. We offer specialty-specific guidance (an AD username and password are required) for selecting electives that will set you up for success in the Match and beyond. Student affairs deans are available for one-on-one advising meetings and to provide individualized support as you start the residency application process. You can attend a series of panels, where you hear from recent Einstein graduates about their experiences applying to residencies, as well as from Einstein-Montefiore residency program directors about what they look for in residency candidates. You also have opportunities to take part in mock interviews to prepare for residency interviews and receive feedback on your interviewing skills.
We recommend reviewing the Association of American Medical College’s Roadmap to Residency, which provides guidance on navigating the application process, making use of the AAMC’s Residency Explorer Tool to compare residency programs in 25 specialties, and exploring the American Medical Association’s FREIDA Residency and Fellowship Database, which allows you to search more than 12,000 programs that are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
As a student at Einstein, you also have access to Texas STAR, a nationwide survey of U.S. residency programs which provides data that you can use to determine residency programs where you are more likely to match.