ERAS 'Experience' - what do I include?

[uk_med_student]

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I have a few things on my CV during medical school but don't know where exactly they fit. Please let me know if you have any advice

• Editor of my med school's paper
• President of a few med school societies
• Treasurer of a few med school societies
• Peer reviewer at a student-run research journal
• Section editor of another newspaper
• Med school lead for student-run research group

 

[Amygdarya]

I have a few things on my CV during medical school but don't know where exactly they fit. Please let me know if you have any advice

• Editor of my med school's paper
• President of a few med school societies
• Treasurer of a few med school societies
• Peer reviewer at a student-run research journal
• Section editor of another newspaper
• Med school lead for student-run research group

The general rule about filling out ERAS experiences section is that everything is either reseach, job or volunteering. Research doesn't require an explanation. If you got paid for something, it's a job. Things that are neither research nor were paid for fall into volunteering (including unpaid tutoring and all kinds of med school activities). All of the activities your mentioned fall under volunteering. Unless you were involved in research by designing a study, collecting and analyzing data and writing/presenting results, none of the things you mention sound like research.

Now, I hate saying it but if you're filling out your ERAS application now you're very late.

 

[uk_med_student]

The general rule about filling out ERAS experiences section is that everything is either reseach, job or volunteering. Research doesn't require an explanation. If you got paid for something, it's a job. Things that are neither research nor were paid for fall into volunteering (including unpaid tutoring and all kinds of med school activities). All of the activities your mentioned fall under volunteering. Unless you were involved in research by designing a study, collecting and analyzing data and writing/presenting results, none of the things you mention sound like research.

Now, I hate saying it but if you're filling out your ERAS application now you're very late.

Ah no I'm a 2nd year from the UK, I'll be applying for 2021.

 

[uk_med_student]

The general rule about filling out ERAS experiences section is that everything is either reseach, job or volunteering. Research doesn't require an explanation. If you got paid for something, it's a job. Things that are neither research nor were paid for fall into volunteering (including unpaid tutoring and all kinds of med school activities). All of the activities your mentioned fall under volunteering. Unless you were involved in research by designing a study, collecting and analyzing data and writing/presenting results, none of the things you mention sound like research.

Now, I hate saying it but if you're filling out your ERAS application now you're very late.

Where would paid internships at places like Goldman Sachs etc go? Can I include them in work?

 

[Amygdarya]

Where would paid internships at places like Goldman Sachs etc go? Can I include them in work?

Yes, work.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Remember that you don't have to list everything. Sometimes it's better to prune the less important things off, so that we focus on the experiences that you think are more important.

 

[uk_med_student]

Remember that you don't have to list everything. Sometimes it's better to prune the less important things off, so that we focus on the experiences that you think are more important.

Thanks. This obviously makes sense but is proving to be hard. For you personally, what kinds of things look like padding? I’m planning on only putting very relevant & important experiences in work & research but is it then ok to put a lot of things in the volunteer section (all of these will be things I’ve committed substantial time to for several years during med school)?

What sorts of entries in the ‘work’ section usually impress you? I’m having trouble deciding whether or not I should include things such as army reserve, personal training, paid internships at big tech firms etc

 

[NotAProgDirector]

That's hard to say. Things that you invested time into, and things that are important to you.