Med school resume

[Cards21aceking]

To all my fellow first year's (or upperclassmen who would like to chime in), how have you approached your resume as you wind down this MS1 year? My question is particularly in regards to international volunteering opportunities and how many students (not I, unfortunately) will get to go abroad this summer as a part of some med school outreach program. When it comes down to filling out resumes in the future, if I have had a similar international volunteering experience in ugrad, do you still think that's fair game for the resume?

I've seen a couple of threads float around about how some stuff from ugrad obviously needs to be cleared out. Yes, I would be hard pressed to find a residency director that would care if you were floor rep to the dorm council freshman year, but do you think they'd care that an international opportunity was done as a senior in ugrad, as opposed to a MS-I? Just curious. Thanks!

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[soeagerun2or]

Be a big boy and call it a CV now.

List anything on it that is pertinent to your academic history (degrees, publications, honors, awards, and community / international volunteering).

P.S. Leave off the explanations ("I worked as a student hourly washing.."), no one cares.

 

[deuist]

My thoughts about the CV:

Start a new file in your word processor and after adding your contact information, use the following headers:

EDUCATION
RESEARCH
PUBLICATIONS
PRESENTATIONS
CLINICAL
VOLUNTEERING
LEADERSHIP
HONORS/AWARDS
SOCIETIES/ORGANIZATIONS
HOBBIES/MISC

Use only information since you've graduated college. For example, if you went to graduate school, you should list your publications and lab experience. For the most part, you should leave off your college work such as washing glassware in the lab and waiting tables. Also, leave off anything that is not related to medicine, unless you want to add a quick line under "hobbies" such as "Fluent in Spanish."

 

[PoorMD]

the majority of MSI's and MSII's simply passed their classes. That in itself is a rather huge chunk of your CV, unfortunately that isnt very impressive compared to the rest of your classmates..

Do research between MSI and MSII if you want to add some MEANINGFUL fluff to your CV.. There are endless opportunities for MSIs in good academic standing... I wasn't really 100% sure if the topic I worked in would be for me, but after that summer of work, I realized it was like the best thing ive done since getting into med school... and it really opened my eyes to what rotations i want to shine on, etc

volunteer during the year in whatever interests you.. enjoy the outdoors? do adopt-a-highway.. Like kids? do tutoring..

Hobbies, as long as you dont put something grotesque this really isnt that big a deal (avoid the skateboarder4life!! and the i.vdrugsRtheShlt!!)

awards... ::crickets::

presentations, see the part on research. you had better present your work at the end of the MSI summer...





i should end this, with a question? Why is an MSI even worried about the CV right now??

 

[deuist]

Working on the CV as a M1 is a good idea for two reasons: (1) If you want to apply for a scholarship or research opportunity, you'll have the CV ready. (2) By regularly updating your CV throughout medical school, you won't be left scratching your head as a 4th year to remember all of your accomplishments. Every time I go to a health fair or join another organization, I immediately update my CV. Even if I end up cutting a lot of that information when I apply for residency, removing material is going to be easier than adding it.

 

[RxnMan]

deuist has made some really good comments. As a MS1, I've kept my CV updated because I did a lot of research stuff during the year, and I needed a recent CV when I applied for a couple of grants.

Independent medical student fellowship programs (like ADA, OREF) need your CV to apply. A lot of schools will have end-of-year awards (leadership in med, for example) where you have to supply a CV and an essay.

I would recommend looking at the AAMC guidelines - they also suggest updating a few times a year.