How important do you think research is? As a husband and a father I don't much free time. My plan is to place all my eggs in one basket and concentrate my efforts on sufficiently preparing for the boards. I feel that getting involved in research and other EC's would eat away from time and energy that I could be dedicating for board prep. I'm not sure what specialty i want to pursue (originally had GS in mind but the older I'm getting the more I'm understanding the value of time). However, I want to that if one day I fall in love with, say, ophthalmology, I have nothing to restrict me from applying to it.
It depends on what you want to do. If its even mildly competitive, I would argue that it is extremely important. I have been very proactive in networking. I have spoken with many PDs and others involved in the residency process. In general, these appear to be the biggies:
Step 1 & possibly Step 2 - If step 1 is strong enough, you don't need Step 2. I used to think that the higher the better, but Im now realizing that this just isn't true. There is a cut off most programs want to see (in competitive specialties its usually somewhere around 240, maybe less) and really after you hit that number they don't care. They use that cut off to weed out the apps. PDs don't want to read 600 apps. Having the cut off helps trim this number a lot.
Letters - This is the most important part of your application by far. Ultimately all a program wants to know about you are 1) will you work hard 2) can I work with you. These letters will be your testament to that. Having a strong letter from a big time faculty member will set you apart. PDs will recognize names and thats important. A community physician LOR isn't terrible especially if its really strong, but when a PD sees that someone in academia (aka someone who KNOWS what a good resident looks like) is willing to vouch. That will go a long way
Research >>> ECs - Both of these are important too as they can help the PD understand what kind of person you are. Big time research (aka pubs, presentations) are huge and will really set you apart.
Personal Statement - If well written, this can be a difference maker as well.
Just for the record - I had zero research when I began my 3rd year - Im now in my fourth year and have 2 pubs, presented research at a big time conference, and have several other in progress manuscripts. You can get it done if you work hard.
