Residency Rank Lists

[californiahope]

I know these have been beaten to death but I just wanted to see if these still hold true...

Is the general importance of things on a residency app still 1.) step 1 2.) 3rd year clerkship grades 3.) LOR's 4.) research? or something to that extent?

I ask because an academic rep at our school recently sent out a list of things that residency directors look at and some of the things near the top of the list were leadership activities and pre-clinical grades/class rank. While these things can be important, I didn't think they were ranked that high.

Personally, I'm just an average student and struggle to even stay average. I'm not very involved in school activities and have pretty much been focusing on school and step studying (i'm an OMSII). Should I be trying to get more involved in things like research and clubs?

Any advice would be great. And I'm shooting for an allopathic IM program if that makes a difference!

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[mimelim]

Is the general importance of things on a residency app still 1.) step 1 2.) 3rd year clerkship grades 3.) LOR's 4.) research? or something to that extent?

This is correct. Your step 1 score and clinical clerkships are far and away the most important, followed by LOR, research etc.

I ask because an academic rep at our school recently sent out a list of things that residency directors look at and some of the things near the top of the list were leadership activities and pre-clinical grades. While these things can be important, I didn't think they were ranked that high.

I certainly can not speak for every program in the country, but this person does not share the same reality that I do. They honestly sound like they have no clue what they are talking about. Nobody pays attention to pre-clinical grades or 'clubs'. That is completely and total bull****.

 

[Textbookversion]

I ask because an academic rep at our school recently sent out a list of things that residency directors look at and some of the things near the top of the list were leadership activities and pre-clinical grades/class rank. While these things can be important, I didn't think they were ranked that high.

It's important to look at the motivations and biases of those who are telling you things.

For example, who is going to think it's a great idea to take a research year between 3rd and 4th year? Whoever you will be working for!

Who is going to try and push that clubs and activities are super important yay? Those involved in those efforts.

Part of the problem is that you are at a DO school so you are going to get bad advice for applying to MD residencies. It may not actually be bad advice for the AOA who knows.

The best resource is always going to be the hard data. You can look at the surveys of program directors, or even just the data the NRMP puts out on matches to get an idea of what applicants who successfully match look like. The previous poster identified those pretty clearly.

 

[K31]

2012 NRMP Program Director survey--what PDs consider important, by specialty.