Not having enough extracurriculars to put on CV?

[Davisite201491]

Hi all,
I am about to finish up my first year of med school. The one problem I've had all year is that I haven't done enough extracurricular activities like volunteering or shadowing, since I've been focusing on passing my classes. I was hoping to make up for it during the summer after OMS-I because it's our last "free" summer. The COVID threw a wrench into pretty much all my summer plans (like it has for everyone else). Originally this summer I was supposed to do a bunch of shadowing and research, but pretty much everywhere I made plans with has told me that they can't take me anymore because of the pandemic. Just to add insult to injury, I also got rejected for a second-year TA position that would've been a nice work experience to place on the CV. I'm afraid that I won't have as much time next year to do anything because of board studying and classes, and having nothing to put on the CV this summer will look really terrible for residency. How are other OMS-I's dealing with this?

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[Dr. Death]

You are grossly overestimating how much program directors care about the useless stuff on your CV. If you can do research, do research. Don't waste time shadowing and only do volunteering if you want to, because it will not help you get a residency position. Enjoy your summer, don't stress.

 

[TwistedTea]

Who is telling you to do extracurricular activities. 99.99% of them with a p value of .000000000000000001 are junk. I had none and no one asked my why I didn’t.
Research is only extracurricular that really matters.


unless your third vice secretary of the ortho club. That ones important

 

[Davisite201491]

I appreciate the feedback! Just to give more perspective, I plan to pursue primary care (family medicine or internal medicine), no super competitive residencies. I understand that these are less competitive specialties (compared to something like ortho) but nevertheless I want my application to be nice and well-rounded.

@Agahnim, several times this year we've had lectures from faculty about building our CV and they certainly put a lot of emphasis on filling up our CV with "meaningful activities". Of course, what our faculty and what residency directors deem as important may be different. And maybe my school faculty assumed that a large number of us want to go for very competitive specialties (which I don't think I am a part of that group) so that's why they were so hard-hitting on research, filling up my CV, etc. But doing something would be better than doing nothing, it seems.

@Dr. Death I genuinely wanted to shadow several family docs this summer (since it is what I would like to do in the future) and do a little bit of research with my old lab that I worked with in undergrad, because I'm still interested in their projects and thought it would be nice to contribute after being away from them for a while. I just want to make sure that if I had nothing to report this summer and I said that I just wanted some R&R that I won't get dinged too badly in my residency application/interview.

Again, I appreciate the feedback. I'm just hoping that I can make up for my lost plans at a future time (may be hard to do since this is our last free summer) and that having a summer completely off won't be a glaring red flag on my residency apps.

 

[TwistedTea]

I appreciate the feedback! Just to give more perspective, I plan to pursue primary care (family medicine or internal medicine), no super competitive residencies. I understand that these are less competitive specialties (compared to something like ortho) but nevertheless I want my application to be nice and well-rounded.

@Agahnim, several times this year we've had lectures from faculty about building our CV and they certainly put a lot of emphasis on filling up our CV with "meaningful activities". Of course, what our faculty and what residency directors deem as important may be different. And maybe my school faculty assumed that a large number of us want to go for very competitive specialties (which I don't think I am a part of that group) so that's why they were so hard-hitting on research, filling up my CV, etc. But doing something would be better than doing nothing, it seems.

@Dr. Death I genuinely wanted to shadow several family docs this summer (since it is what I would like to do in the future) and do a little bit of research with my old lab that I worked with in undergrad, because I'm still interested in their projects and thought it would be nice to contribute after being away from them for a while. I just want to make sure that if I had nothing to report this summer and I said that I just wanted some R&R that I won't get dinged too badly in my residency application/interview.

Again, I appreciate the feedback. I'm just hoping that I can make up for my lost plans at a future time (may be hard to do since this is our last free summer) and that having a summer completely off won't be a glaring red flag on my residency apps.

Read the NRMP PD survey. Don’t listen to your faculty.

boards
Letters
Clinical grades
Performance on aways (if you do them)
Research
Not failing stuff
= what matters

Clubs
Volunteering
Being popular
Selling t shirts
Giving out free food and hosting rando speakers to talk to your club
Brown nosing faculty
= doesn’t matter.

 

[Billroth_III]

I really don't blame OP for thinking this way, students at my school are literally fighting for "president of this" or "student government officer of that" thinking it's going to get them places. Oh and their pre-clinical grades, can't forget about those too.

 

[jurassicpark]

I really don't blame OP for thinking this way, students at my school are literally fighting for "president of this" or "student government officer of that" thinking it's going to get them places. Oh and their pre-clinical grades, can't forget about those too.

Remember, the first two years of medical school are a heck of a lot like high school, clubs included. Very few of them have any meaning beyond those walls, and really just another venue to pad the CV for the next application cycle.

Now, if students would wise up and form USEFUL clubs. Like baking, cooking, bartending and applied said knowledge and skills for the enjoyment of your clinical rounding teams (and specifically the Attending), I guarantee you will make huuuuge connections.

In regards to "doing something" as the OP mentioned, this is true to an extent. I honestly don't give two flying twigs about what club someone was in, president of, or Assistant to the Regional Manager position. But you're right, because a large number of people have their resumes padded with them, it looks odd NOT to have it. Same thing with research, unless it was ground breaking or you have two pages of research on your CV, for the part it's just casually there and expected to be there. Not having or at least experience can raise a question or two, or give an edge to someone else.

That being said, this was ONLY your first year. You don't have to run for a position, but maybe just sign up for underwater suturing next year. In your third year, try to get involved with research with your residents/attendings. You have plenty of time.

 

[DameJulie]

I really don't blame OP for thinking this way, students at my school are literally fighting for "president of this" or "student government officer of that" thinking it's going to get them places. Oh and their pre-clinical grades, can't forget about those too.

Same. My school also has a pretty competitive culture to fight for club leaders from what I heard.

 

[Lanhaines Elsetion]

IMO if you're pursuing primary care, then spend some of your free time on things that you enjoy and don't overload yourself with random "filler" activities. Whether that is volunteering for something that matters to you or pursuing hobbies, etc. If you enjoy research and need to bolster your CV then give it a shot but you probably don't need a ton of it. Just make sure you do well on boards and rotations.

 

[JSReed]

Honestly no one even cares what it is, they just want to see that you care about something other than medicine. If you like playing guitar, just go play some open mics. If you like cooking, host potluck dinners. Do something you enjoy and try to share it with the world, regardless of how that looks/doesn't look on your CV.

If you don't have any free time between boards studying and class studying, you have a time management issue. No one is studying 17 hours a day every single day.

 

[bioarchaeologist]

I think the only thing worth stressing about is research if you are interested in specialties that like it. Otherwise, spend your time trying out new hobbies or prepping for boards if you really, really, really wanna study. Personally, I'm chilling the entire 8 weeks.

 

[samac]

I had very little stuff on my CV. A little bit of volunteering, the student clubs everyone was in and a random officer position In the radiology club (I applied psych). Nobody cared.

 

[DameJulie]

I had very little stuff on my CV. A little bit of volunteering, the student clubs everyone was in and a random officer position In the radiology club (I applied psych). Nobody cared.

What would PD care the most on the CV? Is there a section they immediately jump to once they open up the CV?

Also, what resources/websites did you use to edit and write your CV? I am working on it soon so hope to get some pointers.

 

[Dr. Death]

What would PD care the most on the CV? Is there a section they immediately jump to once they open up the CV?

Also, what resources/websites did you use to edit and write your CV? I am working on it soon so hope to get some pointers.

Research.
Don't waste a lot of time or money making a beautiful cv bc ERAS makes it for you

 

[samac]

What would PD care the most on the CV? Is there a section they immediately jump to once they open up the CV?

Also, what resources/websites did you use to edit and write your CV? I am working on it soon so hope to get some pointers.

You just plug things into boxes on eras. If you want a competitive specialty/location research is always good. Otherwise I don’t think stuff mattered much. I did put a couple large things on from college (published research, state President of a national Organization) but literally nothing was ever brought up

 

[Billroth_III]

These aren't medical school admissions counselors, these are physicians. Also you are sort of interviewing for a "job", not college/graduate school per se. ECs in med school minus the research is fluff that no one cares about except you and the rest of your neurotic classmates.

 

[Arodgeisfire]

Dude

No once cares

Not only that, but when I see a lot of fluff on residency apps for my program I immediately toss that crap out. In my experience, the med students who do the most fluff are BY FAR the most insufferable. HARD pass homie

 

[TwistedTea]

Dude

No once cares

Not only that, but when I see a lot of fluff on residency apps for my program I immediately toss that crap out. In my experience, the med students who do the most fluff are BY FAR the most insufferable. HARD pass homie

Same experience