I know that having solid board scores as well as strong letters from Attendings are key to getting a "good" residency. However, I am curious to know how much attention is given to students' CV's. Hopefully some of you who have been through the match, or soon will, can lend some info. Thanks.
Your CV is a place to list your extra exp. and awards, and such. Usually the people that interview you use this to initially get to know you and they like to ask questions about things on it. ------------------ Rob http://views.vcu.edu/medimf/rob/greatpumpkin.shtml
Thanks for the reply, Rob. I will check out the site you posted. I guess I have been a little "freaked out" by all the talk I have been hearing about what residency directors are looking for. I REALLY don't want to do research but it seems that others think it is important. I am hoping that the community service I have done and am doing, along with club involvement, etc... in school will be enough. I hate to admit it but I find med school to be pretty tough and I have to work really hard to make good grades. It doesn't leave a lot of spare time for CV building activities....I am wondering if my best bet is to spend my summer studying my butt off for the boards.... Anyone else out there have an opinion on what residency directors look for on CV's?? By the way, I suppose I should clarify my statement in my last post about getting a "good" residency. I am looking for a university affiliated IM program. I am also entertaining the thought of doing a fellowship. Once again, thanks for any input!
The CV is very important. I found that most of my interviewers asked me questions directly relating to my CV and activites I had on there. These questions were easy to answer and made for good conversation during the interview. Also, you should seriously consider doing at least one research project during your first couple years of med school. It really doesn't have to be that big of a time committment. I did a summer research studentship after my first year. It was the slackest summer job I've ever had. I spent only about 5 hours a day on it and my time was quite flexible. I finished the bulk of the project by the end of the summer, eventually got it published, and got to travel to the west coast for a great conference (i didn't have to pay for the trip either). I also got a reference letter from my research supervisor. During my interviews I was asked about my research in detail (another easy topic to talk about). I am sure that this really helped me match to my first choice of residency programs.
Getting into a University based IM program shouldn't be all that hard. Unless your grades and USMLE scores are the pits. Even then you will match somewhere. Research would be a great thing for your CV, but then again most med students don't do research during med school. It will be more important to get good grades and high USMLE scores, and good grades during your IM clerkship and acting internship. So I say if you don't want to do it, don't take some free time and rest up for M3. You will need it.
Is there a place where I can find the format for this type of CV? I have a resum? but it's not the same, and not tailored specifically to medicine and/or getting into a residency. I'm only an MS2 --> 3, but I want to get a jump start on it, especially since I'm in a foreign school and probably need it to be a real eye-opener to compete with all of you!
As for the appropriate CV format, you should consider purchasing "First Aid for the Match" which has several suggestions, as well as other handy tidbits. However, consider that your CV will most likely simply be typed into the ERAS form and put into their format and downloaded in that form. Its always nice to have a hard copy (which you can download yourself) on some nice heavy bond paper, for your own files and should you need it for scholarships, etc. I agree with Great Pumpkin - unless your scores and gpa, etc. are pretty poor, getting into a university IM program is not difficult. However if you are considering a competitive fellowship, you do want to get into a more prestigious IM program and I would encourage the research if you can do it. As Tussy notes, some projects don't take much work or can be done over multiple vacation breaks. It doesn't have to break your back unless you're looking for some high powered residency and need to publish to get it. Concentrating on your USMLE scores and your clinical clerkships will get you further. Best of luck...
Thanks so much for all the great info! I think I will focus on doing things I enjoy like community service projects and so forth. Research really isn't for me and since I am not looking for a "high powered" residency I guess I won't feel so pressured to do it.
