Sarah Johansen , M.D., did not think it was the context, but rather there are so many opportunities for students to learn more about different specialties. Many of these are advertised at Dartmouth Medical School from special interest groups. Also, it's hard to get students on a weekend, and maybe an evening event would be better attended. She also said that students need to know that there are alums out there who would love to meet with students-perhaps on a smaller scale. Marlene Sachs , M.D. added that the school and curriculum have changed enough so students already get lots of information about careers early on.
Many students already know what they want to specialize in before they even begin classes.
Perhaps Career Day should be stopped for now, or we need to design a new structured program geared more towards what the students want. Pat Edwards , M.D. agrees with Marlene and Sarah and suggested setting up a mentoring program instead. Robert Thurer , M.D. explained that he made an effort last year to find out what the students wanted by attending various committee meetings and attending a student government meeting. John Watt , M.D. said we should make it a point to tell the student government that we will not longer offer Career Day, and put it to them to come up with a program they would like to see the alums sponsor, if anything. After much discussion, many committee members decided that career day is no longer needed since there are ample opportunities on campus to learn about specialties and carreer tracks.