Do residencies care about community service?

[bluesTank]

I just went to a two hour long dinner reception with information on how to get into some of the top residencies. They talked about AOA, great grades, high USMLE scores, letters of rec and interviews, as well as research and publications. But not once in this 2 hours talk did they mention anything about community service and extracurriculars. This kind of bummed me out because I love community service and it would be great if they did too

Anyone know what they think about it?

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[lord_jeebus]

In general, residency programs will be unlikely to even notice.

If you did something spectacular, it might raise some eyebrows, particularly in something like FM.

 

[Law2Doc]

In general, residency programs will be unlikely to even notice.

If you did something spectacular, it might raise some eyebrows, particularly in something like FM.

Agreed. In the more touchy feely areas of medicine, it might be something that comes across as positive in an interview. But in terms of competitiveness, no these really don't count. In med school (perhaps as compared to undergrad) you do them because you enjoy them not for what they can get you.

 

[staphaureus]

You should do something that you enjoy doing. If you're there solely with an ulteriorly motive, then it makes it less enjoyable and productive for your colleagues.. especially if you don't care enough to fulfill your responsibility.. this is not to say that you shouldn't benefit from the volunteer experience. There have been some people that volunteer along with me, who obviously doesn't want to be there. It's worse than having one less person because they don't want to be there, fall short on their parts, and end up compromising the experience for the people involved.

I enjoy doing volunteer work and try to make time for it during med school. While I don't think it it makes a difference in my competitiveness for anything, it shows a different dimension to just being a medical student that starts some pretty interesting conversation with residents and attendings... yes, even surgeons.

/rant

 

[Mobius1985]

Community service may not be important for the ERAS application, but I've heard they do ask about it on AOA applications, and it might make a difference in whether you are chosen (if your school is one of those with a chapter). So, indirectly, your community service may impact your selection into a competitive residency.

 

[yaah]

Residency programs would probably consider community service more if it was a big part of who you were and what you wanted to be as a physician. If it's standard med student/undergrad community service done for resume purposes and doesn't take up much time they will probably ignore it or not be very impressed. But if you dedicate a lot of time and effort and truly make a difference, it will probably impress them more.

 

[78222]

Residency programs would probably consider community service more if it was a big part of who you were and what you wanted to be as a physician. If it's standard med student/undergrad community service done for resume purposes and doesn't take up much time they will probably ignore it or not be very impressed. But if you dedicate a lot of time and effort and truly make a difference, it will probably impress them more.

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[Mr hawkings]

Isnt wanting to be a physician in the present health care system community service.