How important are extracurriculars (i.e club positions) for competitive residencies or specialties?

[CuriousMDStudent]

Title sums it up. T20 student who is involved in a lot of research and is doing okay in med school (still adapting) but have recently noticed people talking about how we need top extracurriculars if we want to match into a top IM residency or competitive specialty. However, others argue that research is most important.

I'm pretty happy with my research experience and was just thinking about being an officer for one club, doing a lot of research, and studying hard for classes. However, do I now need to be thinking about becoming a club officer for a bunch of clubs or join student gov?

My instincts tell me no but I just want to be sure.

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[GoSpursGo]

Research is the most important EC for "top" programs, if for whatever reason that is a goal you have. Anyone can sign up for a club, but not everyone can do meaningful research.

These clubs are helpful because they let you interface with people in your field of interest and potentially identify a mentor. They are also helpful to get you experience in a few fields if you're undecided. Lastly, they give you *something* to talk about in a residency interview. So there is value in these clubs for sure, but they aren't necessary by any means if you already have mentors within the field, IMO.

To be clear--neither of these are as important as your academic performance, so certainly do study hard for your classes

 

[Keep2r]

Leading a club won’t show residencies how productive you will be as a resident. Now if you can lead a club and get objective data to show that your club affected patient care or medical education/student learning and publish that as a poster or presentation, then it may be a worthwhile effort. Everything is about the impact and not act.

 

[Iris42]

I was the president of 2 clubs, didn’t even put that on my CV or ERAS it was so insignificant! By the time you’re applying, you’ll have so many more impressive things to talk about than club leadership.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

I was the president of 2 clubs, didn’t even put that on my CV or ERAS it was so insignificant! By the time you’re applying, you’ll have so many more impressive things to talk about than club leadership.

What if you literally only have a club membership + your scores / letters? (i.e. no research / other ECs)

 

[Iris42]

What if you literally only have a club membership + your scores / letters? (i.e. no research / other ECs)

I'm sure you have something other than club membership, think before medschool if you have nothing in med school!
Like it's been said already, club leadership by itself is meaningless unless you did something with it...like organizing sim sessions/US sessions/ suturing sessions/ for med studnets, participating in skin cancer/prostate cancer screening in the community, etc. as part of the club.

 

[Captain_Falcon]

I'm sure you have something other than club membership, think before medschool if you have nothing in med school!
Like it's been said already, club leadership by itself is meaningless unless you did something with it...like organizing sim sessions/US sessions/ suturing sessions/ for med studnets, participating in skin cancer/prostate cancer screening in the community, etc. as part of the club.

Yeah there are things on my CV from before med school - but I have no volunteering since starting school and my CV has essentially nothing added to it besides being on the board of a club at school. I'm not aiming for anything competitive either (primary care), so I was wondering if I really need to do anything over the next 1.5 years before applying to residencies besides focusing on STEP / rotations?

 

[Iris42]

It could help, for example Peds likes to see some volunteering with kids, Ob Gyn likes to see commitment to woman's health. But you certainly do not "need" ECs to match.

 

[Dryad8212]

What Extracurricular activities would be beneficial for Rads?

 

[drducky.]

What Extracurricular activities would be beneficial for Rads?

Publishing papers in a radiology journal 😂

 

[Dryad8212]

Publishing papers in a radiology journal 😂

How difficult is this? I have no background in research and dont know where to start? Is there anything else?

 

[AzBasRad]

How difficult is this? I have no background in research and dont know where to start? Is there anything else?

Look into RSNA Case Collection and ACR Case in point. Educational abstracts/exhibits at large meetings like RSNA and ARRS are relatively easy to do as well.

 

[Kaputt]

What Extracurricular activities would be beneficial for Rads?

top programs would like to see you doing tons of research

otherwise, spend your free time doing things you like. on the plus side this makes you look like a normal human. those of us who work with residents far prefer having residents around with personalities and good senses of humor. the whole rads interview process is trying to sniff out the weirdos, so if you can showcase your normality or fun quirky hobbies you'll get a leg up

 

[Kaputt]

Look into RSNA Case Collection and ACR Case in point. Educational abstracts/exhibits at large meetings like RSNA and ARRS are relatively easy to do as well.

yeah these are the way to go for research. just latch yourself to a resident and tell them you'll write up a cool case and put their name on it too, and the resident will probably be like "cool" and they'll find an attending who will also be like "cool". I'm currently the attending in this scenario, my minions are pumping out those case in points all day long

 

[suzygroanberg]

Just want to chime in for OP that if you're just doing "okay" with your grades then you need to drop at least some (maybe even all) of your research and focus on bringing up your grades. There is no reason to be still figuring things out after your first term. Program directors have said repeatedly that nothing matters more than your grades/scores, and the only real value of research is showing that you can be both an excellent student AND manage your time well to excel in other things too. If you are devoting time to research without first getting a handle on your academics, you are doing neither of those things.