Online tools and assessments developed by the AAMC Careers in Medicine* program help identify your interests and assess your personality, skills, and values to guide you in choosing a specialty that aligns with these attributes. Discussions with your Societies mentor and House Advisory Dean about the results from your online assessments can further help you sort through your preferences.

*Access to the AAMC Careers in Medicine website is free to US MD medical students. All you need is your credentials to your AAMC account (the same login information you used to sign-up for the MCAT, AMCAS and other AAMC services). You can get help accessing your AAMC account here.

Required and optional one-on-one sessions meetings with your Societies mentor and House Advisory Dean (associate or assistant dean for student affairs) throughout your educational career will help you explore career options, and provide you with individualized career guidance, information and resources.

Every year there is great interest among year 4 students in serving as peer mentors to year 3 students (and potentially year 2 students) in their specialty of interest. Year 4 students eagerly share advice and lessons learned about choosing a medical specialty, coordinating away rotations, and navigating ERAS and the match. Year 4 students compile a list of peer mentors, and share the contact information for these volunteers with the year 3 class.

Individual peer mentors are often able to address specific circumstances including couples matching, applying to multiple specialties, military match, and questions from students' partners. In addition, before the Year 4 students graduate, year 4 students matched in a specialty contact year 3 students who have expressed an interest in that specialty.

The College of Medicine – Tucson holds multiple career fairs each year. At the semiannual Exploring Your Options Specialty Fair & Panel, you can explore specialties and learn about the residency application process. The fall event focuses on primary care specialties. The spring fair focuses on subspecialties, and features panel discussions with students, program residency directors and chief residents.

Throughout your training, you will attend mandatory career-focused sessions. The quarterly Conversations with the Deans meetings cover specialty information, electives scheduling, residency application information, and other topics related to career planning.

Workshops are a great way to get practice and coaching in critical real-world professional skills. Take a workshop to learn how to write a personal statement, prepare a curriculum vitae (CV), prepare for and succeed in interviews, and otherwise navigate the residency application process.

The many student-led specialty interest groups and clubs at the College of Medicine – Tucson are a great resource. Participating in these groups lets you explore multiple medical specialties.

Many helpful sources for information and resources are hosted on this site. Relevant resources are also available at meetings with career advisors, at specific events like those described above, and through the listserv and The Scoop! newsletter.