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Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
Practice Perfect Editor
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Podiatric Medicine
Surgery & Biomechanics
College of Podiatric Medicine
Western University of
Health Sciences
St. Pomona, CA |
Tonight, I'm watching one of my son's dance classes. For those who don't follow this editorial regularly, my 8 year-old son has been taking dance classes for the last 3 or so years, and he's very serious about it. Tonight, I'm watching my son's contemporary dance class through a glass window. At the beginning of the class, the teacher gives the kids a short set of choreography. The students then repetitively practice the same short choreography around 20 times. He then breaks the class into groups, where each group separately performs the same choreography.
 It's at this point, while watching the class, that I recognized the metaphor of my son's class with the upcoming residency interviews, scheduled for early January. If you look at the class as a whole, some of the kids stand around waiting for their group to perform, while other kids stand on the side practicing the dance without fully going through the moves (this is called "marking" the dance).
Now, a few kids, and I'm proud to say my son is included in this subset, continue to dance full out, joining the other groups in whatever space is available. My son continues to dance, face getting redder by the moment, sweat running off of him, trying his best to dance with emotion and technique. I can see the intensity on his face. He's the youngest kid in the room, so he has to work extra hard to keep up with the other kids, but he's not intimidated. If anything, he works that much harder.
 The strong attitude my son and the other kids in his class demonstrate is what I, as a new residency director a couple of months shy of my first CRIP interview, am looking for in my next residents. I want a resident who is intense, hard-working, and aggressive, someone who wants something out of his or her residency. I want someone who not only wants it, but takes the initiative and finds a way to get it – whatever IT is for that person.
The kids in that dance room don't complain that something is difficult, that they're sweating and hot, that they're tired, that they don't want to repeat the same choreography for the hundredth time. NO, they keep working, knowing that they want to be better, that excuses don't matter. What matters is that they love what they're doing and want to be the best.
For those of you looking for a residency program, demonstrate the same intensity and aggression as this group of dancing children, and the residency is yours. Embrace your intensity. Own it. Good luck with your interviews.
Best wishes.
Jarrod Shapiro, DPM
PRESENT Practice Perfect Editor
[email protected]
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