Any Veteran Preferences for Residency?

[mw18]

I tried to do a little searching and couldn't find a thread specifically on this topic, although I'm sure there are if one looks hard enough. But the thread title is my question. Some of the adcoms are pretty bullish on the bump it gives applicants to medical school, and I think an argument can be made that the military prepares someone more for the challenging non-medical aspects of residency more than anything else. Personal experiences or anecdotes are welcomed. Just wondering if someone has a step score that seems a little low for a specialty, would veteran status bring them back up to consideration (as it sometimes does in applications to medical school)? I am a veteran haven't taken step yet, so it's not to try to make me feel better about my situation or anything, just a curiosity really. Apologies again if this thread exists and search engines let me down.

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[xffan624]

I tried to do a little searching and couldn't find a thread specifically on this topic, although I'm sure there are if one looks hard enough. But the thread title is my question. Some of the adcoms are pretty bullish on the bump it gives applicants to medical school, and I think an argument can be made that the military prepares someone more for the challenging non-medical aspects of residency more than anything else. Personal experiences or anecdotes are welcomed. Just wondering if someone has a step score that seems a little low for a specialty, would veteran status bring them back up to consideration (as it sometimes does in applications to medical school)? I am a veteran haven't taken step yet, so it's not to try to make me feel better about my situation or anything, just a curiosity really. Apologies again if this thread exists and search engines let me down.

I'm not applying for a competitive specialty so my application will not give much perspective on any advantage, but I will say my military experiences were discussed extensively in the majority of my interviews. It certainly makes you stand out as an applicant, but how much it boosts your application, I'd say is more spurious and likely dependent on the PD.

 

[mw18]

I'm not applying for a competitive specialty so my application will not give much perspective on any advantage, but I will say my military experiences were discussed extensively in the majority of my interviews. It certainly makes you stand out as an applicant, but how much it boosts your application, I'd say is more spurious and likely dependent on the PD.

Thanks for your story, and that's kind of what I was expecting. Best of luck in the match!

 

[semperdave]

I'm very new to this site. As a matter of fact I am a brand new medical student here in Boston. I was told by my future instructors that my 11 years in various medical and biomedical specialties in the USMC leveraged my application, but that it would not help much in the future. That being said, my undergraduate degree is in History and Political Science. I really hope military experience doesn't influence the outcome too much, some of the people I worked with (who I still consider my brothers and sisters), were batsh*t crazy and I would not want them working along side me at all. Good luck to you, I can only hope to get where you are now, and have good scores to boot.

 

[mimelim]

Depends entirely on the program. Trauma heavy surgical program with a lot of active duty and vets? You bet it will give a leg up. Most other places, not so much.

 

[mw18]

Depends entirely on the program. Trauma heavy surgical program with a lot of active duty and vets? You bet it will give a leg up. Most other places, not so much.

Thanks a lot for your reply. So basically it resonates with people with that experience or mentality, but not as much of a systematic increase as the med school application process? Cool, thanks for the info. I wondered if having had a real job before, and one that oftentimes makes you work long hours when you're tired may be seen as a boost. Not arguing with you at all, that was just the motivation for the question. I really appreciate it.

 

[mimelim]

Thanks a lot for your reply. So basically it resonates with people with that experience or mentality, but not as much of a systematic increase as the med school application process? Cool, thanks for the info. I wondered if having had a real job before, and one that oftentimes makes you work long hours when you're tired may be seen as a boost. Not arguing with you at all, that was just the motivation for the question. I really appreciate it.

I'd say that it is a double edged sword. Yes, having work experience helps. How to deal with a boss, how to deal with colleagues and underlings, etc. How to navigate the hospital, how to be self reliant are things that experience makes a world of a difference in day to day dealings and yes, it is obvious as an upper level resident which of your junior residents have a little more life experience. Now, on the other hand, residency requires a certain amount of putting your head down and hammering through things. A lot of what happens in residency is not tolerated in other fields. It is typically not malicious, but it sure wouldn't fly with most other people. Thus, people with other job experiences will often balk at this and sometimes they will cause problems. I've seen some extreme examples that essentially made people incompatible with how residency is. But, it is very rare.