Wanted to add this also...since my opinion is being thrown out now haha....this is from LTC Lanier medical corps liaison to HSD and a former program director.
How to be Competitive for a Military Residency According to Dr. Lanier
Note: Unless official guidance is cited, these are my personal opinions only!!
There isn't anything formal for the FYGME match. Programs may use their own
internal scoring sheet but they have the latitude to score applicants
however they want, which is a good thing for the program. Here I lay out what
I looked at when I was reviewing packets as a GME faculty, including as Program Director.
--Performance on a face-to-face rotation. By far the most important thing
and the only thing that in my mind could trump a failed part of the boards.
Everyone (staff, residents, nurses) who interacted with you potentially can
have their voice heard in the decision-making process. So put your best foot
forward at all times.
Within this--likeability by the residents (they spend a lot of time
with you, don't underestimate the impact their impression has on how a
program ranks you), clinical knowledge, Officership (be on time, wear the
uniform properly, be professional with patients), and inquisitive nature are
the things I was looking at. If you read in advance, studied your patients
in advance, and worked to become efficient with your assessments so that you
didn't put me behind in clinic, those things stood out to me.
Likewise, if you perform poorly during your rotation,
that, in a bad way, outweighs anything good you have on paper.
Also, at least look like you can meet Ht/Wt and APFT
standards. Remember, failure to be in compliance puts you at risk for not
completing training. A program is not going to tape you or do a diagnostic
APFT during your rotation, but if you don't otherwise stand out for being
exceptional, I'm probably going to shy away from an applicant who 1) is at
risk of not completing their training and 2) is someone that I'm going to
have to invest a lot of extra time and effort on in Special Pops (time away
from training for the resident, time away from family for those running the
remedial PT around the schedule of the busy resident). Now, if you're a
clinical rock star, and look like you may need just a little work on APFT or
Ht/Wt, I'll probably take a chance on you, and work with you more closely
early on to help you pass. But I consider that a calculated risk. My advice,
don't make body composition even an issue.
People that rotate face-to-face usually go to the head of
the class if they do well. Reason for this--I know you only have 2 clinical
ADTs. If you spend one of those 2 in my facility, and I'm confident that
once you rotate in my facility you're going to want to rank my program
highly, then I know you have to be very interested in my program and likely
to rank it within your top 2 choices. So if I rank you highly as well, it
increases the chance of matching.
--If you don't rotate with me, then I next look at those who did an
interview either face-to-face or over the phone. I look at the same things as I mentioned above
although I'm not as confident that you'll rank my program highly else you
would have rotated in my facility. Plus I can't vouch for you clinically.
--Other criteria that I look at (and the only criteria for those who don't
rotate or interview):
Board scores--must pass both steps first attempt, else red flag and
I'm going to put your packet aside and rank at the bottom unless someone on my staff can
give me a compelling reason not to. Now, if you rotated with me and did
really well, I can still rank you more highly than others who didn't rotate,
but you'll fall behind other students that rotated with me, did well, and
passed.
Dean's letter/Medical School Performance Summary--really I look for
class ranking, however it's annotated. I'll also look at comments on
clinical rotations but after a while these all start to read together.
Letters of recommendation--more so who they're from, particularly ones
from military facilities (especially if you have one from a Program
Director). Again once you've read a bunch, you can only read "excellent
student, likely to do well" so many times before they run together and don't
really help anyone. But if you have a letter from a prior service military
doc or other senior leader in the specialty whose name we recognize, that
stands out. Also, mediocre letters stand out. It's like reading OERs and
NCOERs--most usually have inflated comments, so those that don't have those
stand out in a not-so-good way.
*** to me, a letter from a military Program Director in the specialty
you're applying also indicates 2 things--1) you intend to rank that program
very highly, if not #1, and 2) that program intends to rank you very highly.
Personal statement--take time to do a good one. These rarely help, but
a memorably bad one can definitely hurt you.
Picture--can say a thousand words. See rationale above about looking
the part. Your photo will be a civilian one that goes into ERAS. At the very
least, don't stand out for not looking professional. Look good, look like
you meet Ht/Wt standards. Advice is probably similar to that you'd give a
Soldier taking a DA Photo for a board.
This is official from OTSG GME announcement memo--this is used for
selections past the FYGME match (PGY-2, second residency, fellowship).
OTSG GME Announcement SUBJECT: Graduate Medical Education (GME) Residency
and Fellowship Training Opportunities (School Year 2016)
16 d) Scoring of applicants: Selection of trainees will be conducted using a
score sheet developed in collaboration with the Navy and Air Force GME
offices. Scoring will be done by program directors and/or consultants from
those programs that are selecting applicants. In the case where the Service
does not have a program in that specialty, the specialty consultant/leader
for that service will be a scoring member. The scoring method credits prior
service and utilization tours, if applicable, academic achievements in
medical school and residency training as well as potential for military
medical service in the desired specialty role. Thus, all elements deemed
relevant to an applicant's success as an Army Medical Corps officer, such as
military experience, contributions to the AMEDD through utilization tours,
academic achievements, and performance in training and clinical roles and
potential for continued service will be considered in the selection
decision. Each application will be scored by a single individual from each
Service. The three scores will be combined to give a composite score which
will be used to generate an order of merit list for selection in that
specialty. In most cases, two of the three scorers will have no personal
knowledge of the applicant, reinforcing the concept that the score will be
based only upon information in the application. Any information not
documented in the application packet cannot be used for the purposes of
scoring.
