Leadership roles in medical school

[munchkin112]

I read somewhere that if you want to obtain a competitive residency, one must obtain leadership roles while in medical school. Are there any suggestions as to what type of leadership roles that can be pursued?

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[Captain Fantastic]

I disagree that leadership is required for competitive residencies. Board scores, grades, and research are all much more important (and will get you further) than leadership.

Anyway, you can be involved in the class leadership, or be an officer of a club or interest group, or get involved running the student free-clinic, etc. Around here they practically have to beg people to hold an office in some of these groups.

Focus on the important stuff and if you want to be involved with something in a leadership role there will be opportunities.

 

[bodonid]

I disagree that leadership is required for competitive residencies. Board scores, grades, and research are all much more important (and will get you further) than leadership.

Anyway, you can be involved in the class leadership, or be an officer of a club or interest group, or get involved running the student free-clinic, etc. Around here they practically have to beg people to hold an office in some of these groups.

Focus on the important stuff and if you want to be involved with something in a leadership role there will be opportunities.

Below quota on your gunners, eh? Mind if I drop some off?

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I am the president of the EM interest group here at my school, and I've been told by EM attendings on several occasions that doing this was a very smart move on my part. Emory docs from where I volunteer, an MCG doc who is on faculty here, and docs back home in TX that I used to work with.

 

[Caboose]

I'm involved with my student government, but my resident whispered to me one day, "Don't waste your time." I got involved at a national level and that seems to be yielding much more in the way of relationships as well as the kudos for doing things outside of our mad schedule.

Don't feel like you have to fit into a cubicle either. You could always start something beneficial to the community or whatever and lead that way. I think it shows more creativity anyway.

Caboose.

 

[87138]

I've kind of wondered about this too, as far as the importance/relevance of becoming involved in "leadership" positions.

 

[deuist]

Leadership doesn't matter. During my interview---as well as my classmates---it never came up. Residency directors recognize it as resume-padding. Spend your time getting good grades and board scores and writing some publications and you'll be fine.

 

[Mr hawkings]

Leadership doesn't matter. During my interview---as well as my classmates---it never came up. Residency directors recognize it as resume-padding. Spend your time getting good grades and board scores and writing some publications and you'll be fine.

True, but you have to admit that if someone has been a member of a specialty interest group for the last 3 years and is the president of the group at interview time, it has to be noticed by an interviewer. They might not ask you about it, but they notice it.

I think the positions that wont help as much are probably the class president-type positions.

 

[coldweatherblue]

meh leadership is something that some people just wanna do; if you feel like it's your place, go for it.

personally I don't think "Secretary: IM interest group 2009-2011" is something I'd put on my CV anyway so I'd rather just spend that time hanging out...

 

[ChiDO]

meh leadership is something that some people just wanna do; if you feel like it's your place, go for it.

personally I don't think "Secretary: IM interest group 2009-2011" is something I'd put on my CV anyway so I'd rather just spend that time hanging out...

Reword it: Executive Board: IM interest group 😀

 

[DrJosephKim]

You can even start your own interest group. Or, you can also be a school representative for a larger organization and start a local chapter or group.

 

[bcat85]

It's not undergrad. Don't waste your time on things that you don't want to do because you think they'll have some sort of effect on your residency app. If you're interested in being the president of an interest group, by God do it. If serving the underserved makes your nipples stand at attention, serve away. But don't do it if you don't like it. That's a waste of time.

 

[GeraldMonroe]

I hate to inject too much gunnerol into this thread. However, there is a legitimate reason a hardcore gunner would want leadership experience.

Quoting from the AOA constitution :

Section 1
Individuals eligible to be elected include:
a. Medical students who have excelled academically and have shown promise of becoming leaders in the profession.

Sounds pretty cut and dried to me. To get AOA, you have to be top 25% and the obvious best way to show promise as a leader is to be a class leader. Unfortunately, politics are involved, such that in theory the valedictorian who is class president could be passed over for AOA membership at some schools.

I'm expecting a response to this post saying "you can get a competitive residency without AOA". Yes, that's true, but statistically AOA is correlated with a very large improvement in one's chances of matching a competitive residency. The odds roughly double.

It could be correlation : AOA members have good medical school grades and good socialization skills, both of which are likely to help someone match a competitive residency. Or it could strong causation if some residency directors put all the AOA applicants into a separate pile on their desk and pitch the rest. It is on the first page of the ERAS app, after all.

 

[Perrotfish]

First, I've been a club president, and nothing summed up medical school for me quite like going to a 'club presidents'' meeting and seeing virtually my entire class in the room with me. And everyone who wasn't in the room wasn't there because they were leading a service organization rather than a club.

hate to inject too much gunnerol into this thread. However, there is a legitimate reason a hardcore gunner would want leadership experience.

Quoting from the AOA constitution :

Section 1
Individuals eligible to be elected include:
a. Medical students who have excelled academically and have shown promise of becoming leaders in the profession.

Sounds pretty cut and dried to me. To get AOA, you have to be top 25% and the obvious best way to show promise as a leader is to be a class leader. Unfortunately, politics are involved, such that in theory the valedictorian who is class president could be passed over for AOA membership at some schools.

I'm expecting a response to this post saying "you can get a competitive residency without AOA". Yes, that's true, but statistically AOA is correlated with a very large improvement in one's chances of matching a competitive residency. The odds roughly double.

It could be correlation : AOA members have good medical school grades and good socialization skills, both of which are likely to help someone match a competitive residency. Or it could strong causation if some residency directors put all the AOA applicants into a separate pile on their desk and pitch the rest. It is on the first page of the ERAS app, after all.

AOA at most schools is a purely academic honor society. You get it by being in the top of your class in terms of grades, which is all they mean by 'showing promise of becoming a leader in the medical profession'. That's why it correlates so well with top residencies, because it's the students with the top grades and the students with the best grades generally also have the best board scores. At my school the initial AOA selection almost exactly correlates with the top (I forget exactly how many) number of students in terms of class rank. It has little to nothing to do with club leadership.

 

[titanjones]

leadership really only matters if u want to got into urology, ortho, derm...not really emphasized..research counts MUCH MUCH more

 

[turkeyjerky]

I am the president of the EM interest group here at my school, and I've been told by EM attendings on several occasions that doing this was a very smart move on my part. Emory docs from where I volunteer, an MCG doc who is on faculty here, and docs back home in TX that I used to work with.

They were probably just trying to make you feel better.

 

[sprinkibrio]

AOA is not supposed to be entirely based on grades and scores. They just phased that out at my school and seem to be doing it elsewhere. Here solid extracuriculars will move you up or down around 5 ranks. At a school of 220, you have to decide for yourself whether that's really worth focusing on.

 

[SB100]

Do you guys ever see journal clubs in your schools outside of what research facilities may conduct? Like student-led journal clubs? Is that kind of what these "interest groups" do?

 

[Mr hawkings]

Do you guys ever see journal clubs in your schools outside of what research facilities may conduct? Like student-led journal clubs? Is that kind of what these "interest groups" do?

A specialty interest group will give a forum for people with the same interests to come together to share experiences. Despite the name (interest), it typically has members who have already made up their mind about going into that specialty, not just interested or curious.They typically have guest speakers come in to talk to members about what to expect and how to make it in that specialty.

Oh and free pizza.

Journal clubs? not so much.

I've never heard of any interest groupd meeting to discuss research in that field. I could be wrong though.

 

[Doublecortin]

It's not undergrad. Don't waste your time on things that you don't want to do because you think they'll have some sort of effect on your residency app. If you're interested in being the president of an interest group, by God do it. If serving the underserved makes your nipples stand at attention, serve away. But don't do it if you don't like it. That's a waste of time.

👍

 

[Blesbok]

Every resident and attending I have ever talked to said don't get into a leadership role just because you think it will help your application, because it really won't. Only do it if you are interested. That being said, if it is a leadership role in an interest group in the field you are interested in, it could potentially lead to some good connections, which would be helpful.

 

[87138]

Every resident and attending I have ever talked to said don't get into a leadership role just because you think it will help your application, because it really won't. Only do it if you are interested. That being said, if it is a leadership role in an interest group in the field you are interested in, it could potentially lead to some good connections, which would be helpful.

That's kind of what I was wondering . . . I was considering trying to obtain a leadership position in the "interest group" associated with my main field of interest. And I really would be interested in doing it, but not at the expense of maintaining good grades/studying for boards (unless it somehow was a super-positive thing to have on an app, which it clearly really isn't).

So I'm assuming it's probably not worth taking on something like this in second year when my time could be better spent planning for Step I? FYI, my "field of interest" is a pretty competitive one (unfortunately).

 

[footcloud]

Sometimes I think the mentality of constantly wanting to be involved is hard to shake off. Sometimes I find myself signing up for too many things and not having enough time to study, and then kicking myself after for doing that. It's almost like an addiction--trying to get involved. But I am a bit less involved than I was in undergrad because of the WAY increased class hours and workload.

I don't know, sometimes I think I need an interlude or all this studying and being in this environment will drive me absolutely mad.

 

[Blondnuttyboy]

I've heard, from residents and some faculty, that people will make inferences about you based on your leadership positions. Thus it may look good or may not get you anywhere.

I wish I could be school president or whatever, sigh..I've heard that's money as student-selected leadership positions show that you're amiable and well-liked. Something important in residents selection.

 

[CorazonDoc]

a leadership role can be a positive thing to an application, but only if it is meaningful, or more importantly you can talk about it in an interesting way for 30 seconds. one program director told me it is very easy to see through a lot of the bs positions, but that a good leadership role that you were involved in with some consistency and made some kind of impact can be a very positive thing to an application. his example was "chair of a community outreach organization that mobilized student interest in and wrote a large grant to fund a community health fair or something"

i have to agree that these are difficult to come by, so it may be a better use of time to focus on grades, research, and board scores in the end. but don't discount leadership for the AOA reason stated about or that fact that a good role can have some value.