Do any aspects of your med school app matter once you start med school?

[456432]

Just wondering, does your MCAT, GPA, research/publications, volunteering, or any other part of your med school app matter once you are accepted and start medical school? (e.g. for entrance into any programs once already in med school, for residency, etc.)

Or are you essentially starting on a clean slate with your med school classmates?

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[Morc]

Prior research publications/abstracts before med school will help you for residency apps, I believe

 

[DNAJB6]

Publications are forever... like herpes. This will help residency applications.

 

[Moko]

Just wondering, does your MCAT, GPA, research/publications, volunteering, or any other part of your med school app matter once you are accepted and start medical school? (e.g. for entrance into any programs once already in med school, for residency, etc.) Or are you essentially starting on a clean slate with your med school classmates?

For the most part, students enter medical school with a 'clean slate' in that no one will care about your GPA, MCAT, volunteering hours etc. This is not to say that medical students start off as equals though. Publications are one notable exception as they continue to matter at all stages of one's academic career (for residency, fellowship, and promotions as attendings).

Furthermore, MCAT scores remain correlated with Step I and II performance. Every student will also bring with them their own set of transferable skills. As an example, someone with a stronger research background can hit the ground running in the summer between M1 and M2, and/or during a research gap year; whereas someone who has experience leading teams, working under stressful conditions, and/or working with diverse people are more likely to have developed better interpersonal skills, presentation skills, and maturity that will be helpful throughout medical school and beyond. Other skillsets (e.g coding experience, entrepreneurship, etc) can be leveraged to pursue new opportunities, and so on.

The ladder analogy continues to apply (a new 'bottom' is founded by the 'worst of the best'), though it can be overcome with hard work and dedication. Just my thoughts.