Med School 101: What do I do to stand out on residency apps once I start?

[FiletFrenzy]

Hi everyone!

As an upcoming M1, I'm anxious to get started and plan a rough timeline for my extracurricular involvement during medical school. I decided later on in my undergrad that medicine was what I wanted to pursue, so I was a bit behind my fellow pre-meds when it came to my extracurriculars. I want to try my best to prevent this from happening again, especially with how competitive residency is nowadays.
My current interest is in IM/Family Med, but I'm sure that will change once I get into rotations.

My main question: what are the best activities a medical student can do to stand out to residency programs?

I hope this doesn't come across as too neurotic, I just want to put my best foot forward! Any and all advice is welcome (even if its to tell me to chill out).

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[M&L]

Publications

 

[GoSpursGo]

Research.

 

[operaman]

1. Grades. Sure there’s lots of pf now, but eventually you’re going to get scores on something and stratified. Building that knowledge base starts on day one, so aim high. Many schools will also internally rank which leads to things like AOA.

2. Boards. Even with step one pf now, there’s still a scored s2 later on. The info covered is too broad to simply cram it at the end like you could do with s1. A strong performance all along will usually lead to a solid score. In the old days, the recommended prep for each step - s1, s2, s3 - was 2 months, 2 weeks, and #2 pencil. Essentially means that if you’re doing well along the way, you will keep doing well. Don’t let the early pf things fool you - that knowledge will come back at you eventually.

3. Pubs. Really the only EC that truly matters. Get yourself grounded academically first and once you’re able to start some research, do that. Typically this means clinical work rather than basic science simply because of the time to publication.

4. Letters. From faculty you work with who will vouch for you. This comes from both clinical experience on the wards and your work as a researcher. Yet another reason pubs are important - they typically translate into strong letters because those staff know you really well.

5. Other ECs. This isn’t like premed where sheer volume of ECs is important. Do things you care about and take a leadership role where you feel strongly you can do good work. Quality over quantity in this category. These show you’re a whole person, show what you care about, give you things to talk about in your interviews. You don’t need a ton of random ECs, but a complete lack of anything outside grades and pubs will look odd.

For me, I am a musician so I started a Med student chorale and conducted it, led a student choir and orchestra for a performance each year, did a few paid singing gigs outside school, was on the ethics committee, free student clinic work, increasing role in student ent group through school, and tutored struggling underclassmen from M2 on. I did these because I enjoyed them and they sort of just happened organically. That’s over 4 years too; the actual weekly time outlay was relatively small.

Honestly looks pretty close to my current ECs as an attending! Don’t stress about this stuff - it’s not that important compared to the other stuff above. But if you see something interesting going on, maybe jump in and see where it leads.

 

[FiletFrenzy]

1. Grades. Sure there’s lots of pf now, but eventually you’re going to get scores on something and stratified. Building that knowledge base starts on day one, so aim high. Many schools will also internally rank which leads to things like AOA.

2. Boards. Even with step one pf now, there’s still a scored s2 later on. The info covered is too broad to simply cram it at the end like you could do with s1. A strong performance all along will usually lead to a solid score. In the old days, the recommended prep for each step - s1, s2, s3 - was 2 months, 2 weeks, and #2 pencil. Essentially means that if you’re doing well along the way, you will keep doing well. Don’t let the early pf things fool you - that knowledge will come back at you eventually.

3. Pubs. Really the only EC that truly matters. Get yourself grounded academically first and once you’re able to start some research, do that. Typically this means clinical work rather than basic science simply because of the time to publication.

4. Letters. From faculty you work with who will vouch for you. This comes from both clinical experience on the wards and your work as a researcher. Yet another reason pubs are important - they typically translate into strong letters because those staff know you really well.

5. Other ECs. This isn’t like premed where sheer volume of ECs is important. Do things you care about and take a leadership role where you feel strongly you can do good work. Quality over quantity in this category. These show you’re a whole person, show what you care about, give you things to talk about in your interviews. You don’t need a ton of random ECs, but a complete lack of anything outside grades and pubs will look odd.

For me, I am a musician so I started a Med student chorale and conducted it, led a student choir and orchestra for a performance each year, did a few paid singing gigs outside school, was on the ethics committee, free student clinic work, increasing role in student ent group through school, and tutored struggling underclassmen from M2 on. I did these because I enjoyed them and they sort of just happened organically. That’s over 4 years too; the actual weekly time outlay was relatively small.

Honestly looks pretty close to my current ECs as an attending! Don’t stress about this stuff - it’s not that important compared to the other stuff above. But if you see something interesting going on, maybe jump in and see where it leads.

This was incredibly helpful, thank you!

Publications

Research.

And it's a good thing I have a knack for research haha. I appreciate it!

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Once again @operaman hits it out of the park. I'd only add that the residency match game is changing rapidly as the number of grads are rising quickly but residency slots aren't keeping up. I'd spend some time learning how the Residency Match game is played. Some specialties require some solid research, some not so much. I agree that starting in with some research early can't hurt you. FM currently doesn't require much if any, but you never know if you might change your specialty goals later to say Ortho where research is required. Get the grades, boards, and put together an app competitive for your specialty and you should be fine. Good luck and best wiahes!

 

[Esmolol]

Don’t be a gunner. Don’t be that person everyone hates at school…

 

[FiletFrenzy]

Once again @operaman hits it out of the park. I'd only add that the residency match game is changing rapidly as the number of grads are rising quickly but residency slots aren't keeping up. I'd spend some time learning how the Residency Match game is played. Some specialties require some solid research, some not so much. I agree that starting in with some research early can't hurt you. FM currently doesn't require much if any, but you never know if you might change your specialty goals later to say Ortho where research is required. Get the grades, boards, and put together an app competitive for your specialty and you should be fine. Good luck and best wiahes!

Thanks so much, I appreciate it!

 

[FiletFrenzy]

Don’t be a gunner. Don’t be that person everyone hates at school…

Not trying to be a gunner, just trying to figure out how to be a better applicant for residency than I was for medical school.

 

[matchpalmedical]

strong ms3 shelf and Step2CK scores. Specialty-specific research projects, activities/leadership roles, and letters of rec. Crush away rotations. Be kind to yourself and those around you.

 

[Esmolol]

Not trying to be a gunner, just trying to figure out how to be a better applicant for residency than I was for medical school.

I was not saying you are a gunner. That was my advice - when in med school “don’t be a gunner!”

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

There really isn't much to stand out aside from high step II scores, honoring your clerkship rotations, and having research in your field of interest. Other than that, it's all just fluff which doesn't carry any weight.

 

[MDMechEngr]

Be 1st quartile, Honor all rotaions, S2-265+, fair amount of quality research, quality pubs, and some presentations at national conferences in your field, LOR from leaders in the field, AOA, and most importantly, be charismatic. Be that guy that people are drawn to and want on their team. be calm,cool, and collective when the ****s hit the fan. Be like water.

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

Be 1st quartile, Honor all 6 rotaions, S2-265+, fair amount of quality research, quality pubs, and some presentations at national conferences in your field, LOR from leaders in the field, AOA, and most importantly, be charismatic. Be that guy that people are drawn to and want on their team. be calm,cool, and collective when the ****s hit the fan. Be like water.

Hardly. A lot of this depends on specialty choice.

General advice: study hard and do well in non-clinical years because it sets you up for the rest of med school. If you start strong in non-clinical, you're likely to do well in clinical rotations, score solidly on Step 2, and get strong LORs.

Research and publications are important for some specialties, much less so for others. Get going on some research in second half of M1 after you have settled in and are getting good grades.

As someone said up-thread, be kind to yourself and those around you. Med school can be a great time of life and you should take time to enjoy it with your fellow students, faculty, etc.

 

[operaman]

Hardly. A lot of this depends on specialty choice.

General advice: study hard and do well in non-clinical years because it sets you up for the rest of med school. If you start strong in non-clinical, you're likely to do well in clinical rotations, score solidly on Step 2, and get strong LORs.

Research and publications are important for some specialties, much less so for others. Get going on some research in second half of M1 after you have settled in and are getting good grades.

As someone said up-thread, be kind to yourself and those around you. Med school can be a great time of life and you should take time to enjoy it with your fellow students, faculty, etc.

Excellent points here. So much depends on your ultimate specialty choice.

Definitely have to make sure academics are solid above all else. Sadly, we see posters here from time to time who post about failing a class or a step exam and ask their chances for XY field and always mention they have some research already. Don’t be the person who flunks but still found time for ECs.

Make sure you’re really settled in and comfortable academically before sparing time for too much else. If you’re someone who needs every second of time just to barely pass, then you’re not going to be racking up the pubs and graduating on time. And that’s ok - can always do a research year later if you need to, but you can’t undo a step failure or repeating a year because you managed time poorly.

If you’re like most, you’ll need a lot of time yo study effectively, but you will be able to give a little time to other endeavors. It’s easier to figure this out from a place of strength where you studied too much at first and your grades were too high than it is to play catch up after failing an exam early on. Start strong, then titrate your efforts to the best balance you can manage.

 

[Rachapkis]

It's the same game--again (and it's not complicated): do well in school; develop relationships with your mentors and get good recommendations; do well on standardized tests (Step 1 and Step 2); demonstrate an intrest in your chosen speciality, research and publish (if that's what the specialty requires); write a compelling personal statement; and interview well. That said, as a first year, I would focus on getting acclimatized and making sure that you're doing well in your classes.

 

[Schwifty]

Research w/ publications

 

[Putkernerinthehall]

Research w/ publications

Not necessarily for family medicine. However, it's good to get going on some research in latter half of M1 (if your grades are solid) in the event one goes into a specialty that requires it. Solid grades and getting acclimated to medical school are key in M1.