This Email is mostly focused on secondaries plus a job listing at the end.
It assumes all medical school applicants have submitted their AMCAS application by this time. Dental school applicants are still fine if they have not submitted AADSAS but aim for mid-July. There is also still time for AACOMAS (more on that in a future email.)
*Will those of you who have submitted a TMDSAS please send an email to hprc@ase.tufts.edu to alert us to this?
AMCAS began transmitting completed, verified applications to medical schools today.
SECONDARIES
You can expect to get secondaries from the great majority, if not all, the medical schools to which you apply. There is no systematic way they are sent, nor predictability as to when you will receive them. Plan to set aside time each week to work on them. No need to rush or worry (DO NOT READ STUDENTDOCTOR.NET!) but make steady progress over the course of the summer.
Even before you receive them, there are answers you can begin to write:
1 – Almost all schools will want a short paragraph on why you are applying to their school. Do your homework and pick out some things that appeal to you about their curriculum, outreach programs, culture or mission, etc.
2 – Many schools will offer an open-ended question such as “Is there anything else you want to tell us?” Don’t use this as filler but if you have not had the chance to discuss what your piano playing has meant to you, or the special friendship you had with an elderly neighbor, or the challenge you faced the semester that your grades declined, etc., here is your place to discuss it.
3 – A fair number of schools will ask you how you will bring diversity to the class. Each of you has something to offer to your med school and your classmates. You will all be learning from each other. What will you offer? Diversity can sometimes refer to groups that are underrepresented in medicine and which are being encouraged to pursue this field. It can also have a much broader definition that includes religious beliefs, sexual orientation, remote rural upbringing, etc. You can write this essay and use it for any secondary that asks for it.
If you feel compelled to see the secondary questions of particular med schools in advance, many will post them somewhere on their websites. But if you get started on the questions above, you will make great headway and be in good shape when your secondaries begin arriving.
Massachusetts General Hospital – Center for Women’s Mental Health
Staff Assistant III
The Massachusetts General Hospital Ammon-Pinizzotto Center for Women’s Mental Health is dedicated to the evaluation and treatment of psychiatric disorders associated with female reproductive function. The Center provides consultation to women regarding the use of psychiatric medications during pregnancy and treatment for postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. The Center also treats women with premenstrual dysphoric disorder and menopause related mood and anxiety disorders. For more information about the clinical and research program, please visit our website at www.womensmentalhealth.org.
Reporting to and supporting the director, the staff assistant works with substantial independence to manage the logistics and administration of a continually expanding clinical and research program. The position requires tremendous attention to detail and organization, substantial flexibility to meet challenges as they arise, and the ability to conduct internal and external communications in a highly professional manner. The staff assistant is the first point of contact for the Center for Women’s Mental Health and the Director and must be professional, enthusiastic, accountable, and a team player within the Center. The position requires a great deal of discretion. This is a challenging and rewarding role that would especially suit a person who is self-starting and who enjoys multitasking.
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
A) Program Coordination
1. Performs diverse office functions requiring dependable, consistent, careful attention to detail and in-depth interaction with many individuals and departments.
2. Develops, implements and administers Center office systems and procedures; manages filing systems, office equipment, space allocation, etc.
3. Assists in the development of promotional materials and works broadly to promote the Program "brand” and maintain visibility
4. Serve as site coordinator for administrative issues that arise within the Department of Psychiatry
5. Serve as a resource for patients and staff: - Triage phone calls and handle all situations accordingly. Position requires sensitive handling of patient and clinician calls and other communication from senior administrators in the Department of Psychiatry
- Provide timely information/instructions to patients and/or staff regarding hospital procedures
6. Serve as a resource for new and departing faculty and staff - Support the center’s Director of Training with queries, interviews, on boarding, and training for research fellows and residents
- Support the hiring process for research staff, liaison with MGH Human Resources staff
7. Manage vendor agreements, submit purchase orders, and process check requests and faculty travel reimbursements. Keep current on Partners travel policies and compliance issues
8. Administrative management of the Center’s website, host, domain, and social media platforms; support dissemination of weekly blog to subscribers
9. Liaison to administrative leadership across Department and institution
10. Administrative assembly of supporting documents for internal and external grant submissions
11. Performs a variety of administrative tasks, including: making copies; sending faxes; performing daily and special mail and fax distributions; helps to organize and coordinate meetings; and maintains and orders office and lab supplies
B) Support to the Director
1. Serve as principal administrative contact and liaison for internal and external constituencies including Departmental leadership, major industry collaborators, donors, scientific collaborators and colleagues, faculty, patients, and medical students.
2. Support the ongoing activity of the Philanthropy Education Unit within the MGH Clinical Research Program for which the director of the Ammon-Pinizzotto Center for Women’s Mental Health serves a leadership role
3. Manage a complex calendar and coordinate all meetings and conference calls
4. Maintain CV, financial disclosures, NIH Biosketch, and NIH Other Support documents
5. Submit and track employee reimbursement requests and invoices for consulting agreements
6. Manage and negotiate sophisticated domestic and international travel arrangements including detailed agenda, complex expense reporting and reconciling travel with personal expenses for the Director
7. Perform comprehensive, routine administrative and clerical duties as needed
Skills/Abilities/Competencies Required: - Thrive in a busy work environment that requires coordination of multiple activities and the judgment and flexibility to reprioritize to accommodate emergency requests
- Function independently and work with only general direction from the director
- Make independent and effective decisions
- Excellent judgment and analytical skills to identify problems and develop solutions effectively
- Independently prioritize tasks and set deadlines
- Excellent organizational and time management skills
- Excellent interpersonal skills
- Ability to work well as a member of a team
- Handle sensitive and confidential issues
Currently, our group is made up of four research coordinators, a senior research coordinator, the staff assistant, a biostatistician, two full time psychiatrists who are the principal investigators, including the Director, and seven part time clinicians. The research coordinators work closely with the study principal investigators and meet twice weekly as a group to review study progress and once a week to review clinical cases.
This is a full-time salaried position with a 9:00-5:30 workday and a ½ hour unpaid lunch. Our Center is located in the Simches Research Building in a combined administrative and clinical space and all work is conducted on-site.
Qualifications
High School diploma required; Bachelor's degree preferred. Three or more previous years of administrative experience required.
