I would like to read about a comparison of med school apps and residency apps

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

oldman

Senior Citizen
20+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2002
Messages
4,696
Reaction score
75
As an applicant to medical school, I would say 3 things are looked at.

GPA
MCAT
Extra Curriculars (EC)

The ECs consist of

research
volunteering
medically related activities

How does this compare with getting a residency? for instance, should i try to get some research under my belt?

Members don't see this ad.
 
hey oldman,

There is a little more variability in what residencies look for than the med school apps. In general, however, the things that make a difference are:

USMLE Step 1 (some programs weigh Step 2 heavily as well, but not most)

Clinical Grades: This generally means third year and early fourth year grades, espcially the one in your specialty of chioce and the biggies Medicine and Surgery.

Dean's Letter: This is only important in that it usually gives personal evaluations of your clinical performance and gives a general ranking in you school.

Research: If you want to go to a university program, this will help. There are many great private hospital residecies that couldn't care less.

Interview: This can really make a difference. This is more like a job interview than med school. The interviewers want someone they and the rest of the staff and residents will enjoy working closely with for 3-7 years.

Personal Connections: MUCH more important than in med school. This is why some people in competitive specialties do rotations at places they want to go.

Pre-clinical (first 2 years) grades: As long as you do OK, not looked at much.

Extracurriculars like AMSA, AMA, outside interests etc play relatively little role except in letting them know that you have a life outside of the classroom.

The emphasis can greatly vary by specialty. Ortho people almost always do audition rotations at programs. Peds and psych seem to pay more attention to personality. Rads may look a little more at preclinical grades like anatomy. Etc, etc, etc.
 
I agree with WBC. To go along with his personal connections comment, letters of recommendations are very important (it seems like even more so than in applying to med school). Also getting to know well-known faculty who will make phone calls to put in a good word to programs for you can help a lot.

Extracurriculars can help a lot if you become very very involved in what you're doing. Something like serving as a student member of your school's admissions committee (typically very time-consuming, and relatively prestigious position compared to other med student activities) will carry much more weight than being a non-officer member of AMSA, for example. Overall, though, EC's are not nearly as important as they were in med school app process.
 
great! thanks for the info. seems some parts of the process are similar. i hope all the skills i've developed that got me into med school will help me get into a residency of my choice!
 
Top