Naive Family Medicine Question

[sawoobley]

How can I secure a good family practice residency? I need a good score on the comlex/usmle. What types of activities do I need to participate in while in medical school to be a competitive applicant? I have already decided to do research in the summer. Any suggestions?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[deleted87716]

Recommended reading: Iserson's Getting into a Residency.

Obviously, the better your grades are...the better.

I don't think research will matter much, unless you're planning to do academics.

Do a sub-internship at your first-choice program. That lets them get to know you, and you to know them.

Get excellent letters of recommendation from people who are well-respected by their peers and well-known to the residency program(s) you're applying to.

Good luck!

 

[sophiejane]

Get excellent letters of recommendation from people who are well-respected by their peers and well-known to the residency program(s) you're applying to.

Excellent advice...but that last one is a tall order. There are so many FM programs, and if you are interviewing in several regions, it can become impossible to find someone to write you a letter who will be well-known and well-respected by all of the programs you apply to.

At my school, we had 8 weeks of required FM and no electives in 3rd year...so unless you happen to be assigned to a high-profile preceptor for FM, or have established a good relationship with the FM chair at your school, you will need to do an audition rotation pretty early in 4th year at a program in a region you are interested in, in order to get the kind of letter Kent speaks of.

However.....letters are only part of the picture. If you can get one strong letter from FM, and two others from something like Medicine or OBGYN, that should be sufficient.

 

[elizabeth5863]

Hmm..
I'd focus on doing the best you can on your rotations during the 3rd and 4th years of med school and getting good narrative evaluations, since they go in your Dean's Letter.

As for letters of recommendations, I'd recommend getting one from an attending where you do your sub-I.

The sub-I is very important so I took it early on during my 4th year to demonstrate that I can do the same work as the PGY-1's, and then got a letter from an attending.

I guess it would help to do audition rotations but this may not always be possible if you have time and financial limitations (i.e. not enough elective time, moving across the country for audition rotations can be a hassle in terms of cost and stress).

I'd focus on your classes and rotations for now and getting the best grades you can get, as well as learning the most that you can to best serve your patients

 

[lowbudget]

I've always thought that if you have average grades, average board scores, average letters and no publications, but interview well, be able to carry a conversation, be well liked, you can land a spot. Obviously, if you are the best in everything, your position is better, but c'mon.

I don't think there are particular "activities" to be competitive. In ortho, ER, surgery, particular IM or Ped subspecialties, you need to do certain things but not FP (in my opinion). The field is too diverse and the people are too diverse/versatile to generalize.

I think FP's value being "well-rounded" in general. Yea why not, some research, some community service, some leadership, some traveling/foreign languages, some public health projects, some primary care stuff, some non-FP activities. I don't know. I think FPs focus on things you have accomplished versus things you haven't done.

 

[deleted87716]

I think FP's value being "well-rounded" in general. Yea why not, some research, some community service, some leadership, some traveling/foreign languages, some public health projects, some primary care stuff, some non-FP activities. I don't know. I think FPs focus on things you have accomplished versus things you haven't done.

I agree. We always preferred the candidates who were fun and/or interesting, in addition to looking good (or at least acceptable) on paper. The biggest factor was whether or not we thought we'd enjoy working with them. If it came down to grades vs. personality, personality usually won.

 

[Doc Oc]

I've always thought that if you have average grades, average board scores, average letters and no publications, but interview well, be able to carry a conversation, be well liked, you can land a spot. Obviously, if you are the best in everything, your position is better, but c'mon.

I think FPs focus on things you have accomplished versus things you haven't done.

I think these two quotes are money when it comes to landing a position. If you're fun and seem to have a good work ethic and click well with the people at your first choice, that'll be worth much more than many summers spent doing research.

At least I think so. Oh no. I think I'm getting a true case of SDNitis - I'm quoting as fact information that in reality, I'm no authority on and am not actually too sure about

Is there a cure??

 

[elizabeth5863]

Many people who apply for family medicine tend to be well-rounded and many of us are likeable and have good personalities. We tend to be "people" persons in general. On my interview trail, I've met many other friendly, cool, and interesting applicants who were fun to talk to. How are programs going to distinguish between these people? So, for the competitive family medicine residency programs, I think it's helpful to have strong grades and letters of recs. Just focus on doing your best and on learning as much as you can for now and the other stuff will fall into place easily.

 

[sophiejane]

Oh no. I think I'm getting a true case of SDNitis - I'm quoting as fact information that in reality, I'm no authority on and am not actually too sure about

Is there a cure??

No cure needed. It's the SDN Way.