do conferences or cme look good on an application

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Just curious if attending conferences or obtaining CME points look good on ERAS or CVs, and how much weight would they be given?

Thanks!

 

[hippiedoc13]

Honestly, it really doesn't carry much weight at all. At worst, listing conferences or CME on a CV can look rather silly or like you are padding it, since the CV really should be a reflection of your "body of work" and your professional accomplishments. Attending a conference is a passive activity and does not constitute an accomplishment.

However, for someone in your position (trying to get back into a residency program, and not currently in training or doing clinical work) it may be useful to find some other appropriate way to convey that you are still engaged in your own lifelong medical education, and that you are making an effort to stay up on the field despite not being clinically active. If I had to choose between 2 candidates in that sort of position, and one was actively making the effort to go to conferences in their intended field and do CME, and the other candidate couldn't demonstrate any meaningful effort to keep their medical education up-to-date, then I would look much more favorably on the former than the latter.

 

[JelloBrain]

IMO, not all conference attendances are passive. Some can be active where you either attend workshop sessions or act as an usher (Marshall at AANS, Sergeant-at-Arms at CNS, to name a few). The latter volunteer acts helps you to attend sessions and workshops for free, and all these events add to your CME. I don't know if something similar exists for medical specialties though. But it sure shows that you are continuing to pursue medical education and keeping abreast of your field.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Law2Doc]

Just curious if attending conferences or obtaining CME points look good on ERAS or CVs, and how much weight would they be given?

Thanks!

If you aren't presenting something at the conference, it probably looks like blatant resume padding more than "keeping abreast of your field". I wouldn't go this route.