Let Me Catch You Up 🤍

A life + dermatology application update

If you’ve been following along here, you probably noticed things got a little quieter over the last few months. Not gone, just deeply, overwhelmingly full. So before we jump into what’s next, I wanted to take a moment to say: let me catch you up.

The last 4–5 months have been some of the most intense, transformative, and growth-heavy months of my medical training so far.

Audition Rotations: The Reality Behind the Highlight Reel

This fall was dominated by audition rotations, which, if you know, you really know.

Auditions are a strange mix of excitement and pressure. You’re rotating in places you admire, working with people who could become your future colleagues, while quietly carrying the weight of wanting to prove that you belong. Every day matters. Every interaction matters. You’re learning new systems, new expectations, new personalities, while still trying to be yourself.

There were days I felt confident and energized, and days I went home replaying everything I said. I learned how important kindness, curiosity, humility, and consistency are sometimes even more than being the smartest person in the room. I learned how much culture matters. And I learned that the programs that felt the most “right” weren’t always the ones I expected on paper.

Auditions taught me how I want to practice medicine, and just as importantly, who I want to become as a colleague and resident.

The Application Season: Quietly Carrying Big Dreams

Submitting dermatology applications is surreal. You spend years building toward something, condense it into PDFs and personal statements, and then… you wait.

Waiting is harder than people admit.

You keep showing up to rotations, studying, creating content, being a human, all while refreshing your email and trying not to read too deeply into silence. Interview invitations trickle in. You celebrate privately. You question yourself privately too.

I learned that comparison steals joy fast during this season. Someone else’s timeline is not a verdict on your worth. Someone else’s success does not take away from your own path.

Interviews: Seeing the Future Up Close

Interview season has been both grounding and affirming.

Each interview gave me a glimpse into different versions of my future: different cities, different patient populations, different ways of training. I met attendings who are deeply invested in education, residents who are kind and real, and programs that truly value mentorship.

What surprised me most was how often interviews felt less like being evaluated and more like mutual discovery. Do our values align? Will I grow here? Can I be supported here?

Some interviews felt immediately like home. Others taught me what I don’t want, which is just as important.

Behind the Scenes: Still Creating, Still Growing

Even when I wasn’t posting blogs as much, I was still creating.

DalyDerm has continued to grow, from educational content, to skin-of-color advocacy, to the ongoing work behind Bridging the Gap: Daly’s Diverse Dermatology Dictionary. This project, in particular, has been a constant reminder of why I chose dermatology in the first place.

Advocacy doesn’t pause for application cycles, and neither does purpose.

What This Season Has Taught Me

More than anything, the last few months have taught me this:

• You can work incredibly hard and still feel uncertain

• Confidence and humility can coexist

• Rest is not weakness, it’s a strategy

• You don’t have to share everything in real time to be doing meaningful work

What’s Next

As we move closer to Match season, I’ll be sharing more reflections, advice, lessons I wish I had known sooner, and honest conversations about the process. Not just the wins, but the growth in between.

If you’re in this season too, auditioning, applying, interviewing, or simply wondering if you’re doing “enough”, I hope this reminds you that you’re not alone.

Sometimes the quiet seasons are the ones building the strongest foundation.

Thanks for being here. Truly.

<3 Paige