Applicant Email 4-15-09

Hello Everyone,

Here is my second of many emails to come. Today I am focusing on individual letters of recommendation. (plus see job listing below)

1)Letters are due May 1.  This is a universal deadline to avoid confusion and mixed messages to different letter writers. Please remind your letter writers about the deadline.

2) You must have a minimum of three individual letters in your file, one of which must be from a Tufts ASE faculty member, in order for us to do a composite, committee letter for you. We suggest four to five letters.

3) Letters that arrive after your HPRC interview will not be included in your composite letter or packet. All letters in your file at the time of your interview will be mailed to schools along with the composite committee letter. It will be sent as one packet.

4) Letters must be accompanied by the appropriate form. You can find the Individual Recommendation Form in the Dowling lobby, on the USS home page under forms, or as part of the HPRC Info packet at http://uss.tufts.edu/hpa/ApplicationProcess/

5) You can change the letters that you plan to submit – please notify hprc@ase.tufts.edu.

6) The contact person and/or author you should list for HPRC letters is Carol Baffi-Dugan (carol.baffi-dugan@tufts.edu). Do not list individual recommenders or your committee interviewer.


JOB OPPORTUNITY FOR GRADUATING SENIORS

The Research Associates (RA) Program in Bridgeport, CT has grown such in the past year that we now have two positions available for Chief Research Associates.  We are looking for graduating seniors or post-bacs who have solid gpas and test scores for whom a year of clinical research work will have a significant impact on their application to medical school.

Chief RAs
· work as the administrative assistants for the program
· are responsible for day-to-day supervision of the RAs serving in the emergency department as data collectors in our clinical research
    *  this includes significant patient contact in the emergency department
· have direct involvement in all aspects of the research from study initiation through publication
    * this includes work to associate authorship on a clinical paper.
· participate in all research meetings
    * this includes presenting our work to the Institutional Review Board and at regional and national meetings
· assist in recruiting new RAs and their orientation to the program
    * this includes formal lecturing and direct bedside teaching
These are
· one-year commitments of approximately twenty (20) hours per week starting in mid-May and ending when medical school starts..
· unfunded, except for grants
   * Chiefs will be a part of the grant-writing process, so they will "sing for their supper"
   * in the past, Chiefs have routinely held other paying positions

So far, all of our Chiefs have matriculated to medical school, except one, who went on to a PhD program in clinical research.

Details on the website:  www.RAProgram.org.