Student council

[berrypie]

Does anyone know if really helps to be on your student council during med school in terms of obtaining residency positions?

Does it really advance your residency app to be, say, president of the student council at your med school? Do residency directors even care about this kind of stuff?

Just wondering...I really love being involved in student council, and having it strengthen my resume would be a bonus

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[WellWornLad]

Just wondering...I really love being involved in student council, and having it strengthen my resume would be a bonus

What more do you need?

 

[avantdesign]

i'm sure it strengthens it, but only as a wisp on top of your med school grades, step 1, and recs. so make sure you put your priorities straight

 

[LadyWolverine]

Just a word of warning - being on student council can be a very time-consuming extracurricular, especially if you are looking to be president. At least at my institution, there is a rather large budget to balance and distribute, activities to plan, elections to run, meetings to be had with both the med school council and the University student gov't organization, lists to organize, people emailing you constantly for money/advice/complaints/who-do-I-go-to-for-this/can I advertise my cause at your next meeting, etc. Just making sure each organization got their check took several acts of congress, mostly because some people don't understand/don't want to follow directions, and it is up to you to make sure that they do. You will be stressed and annoyed and overwhelmed a lot of the time, especially if your other officers are people that you don't trust or work well with, or if they go behind your back and talk to other student organizations about your business. I experienced a bit of the latter, and it was pretty obnoxioius. The president is also the one who acts as a point-of-contact, so that person will receive all of the emails and will have to go to all of the meetings, while the other officers don't have as much responsibility.

I have no idea how much it would "help" on a residency app. I took the position because nobody else really wanted to step up and do it, I like being a leader, and because it was an opportunity to work with people I liked and respected. Had I known just how much work was involved, how many meetings and planning sessions I had to go to, and how difficult it was to get every medical group to play ball, I probably would have thought twice about signing up. There were parts of the year where it definitely cut into my study time and probably affected my performance. By the end of the year, I felt like we had accomplished what we needed to do, but very little else. All that headache for a little 1-liner on my residency application? I guess we'll see. I don't think it's going to matter very much.

I'm not saying don't get involved. Just think long and hard about what kind of committment is expected of you.

 

[njbmd]

Does anyone know if really helps to be on your student council during med school in terms of obtaining residency positions?

Does it really advance your residency app to be, say, president of the student council at your med school? Do residency directors even care about this kind of stuff?

Just wondering...I really love being involved in student council, and having it strengthen my resume would be a bonus

i'm sure it strengthens it, but only as a wisp on top of your med school grades, step 1, and recs. so make sure you put your priorities straight

It may make you more interesting but it's very minor in terms of residency application. Application for residency is very different from application for medical school.

The only place I see it might be of benefit is if you school has Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) selection criteria that includes serving in a "leadership" position. In this case, then being on student council could fill this need for you but you have to have the very strong academics to even be considered for AOA which is what program directors will look at in the first place.

Does being on the student council offset an otherwise non-distinguished medical school performance (average academics/board scores)? No, you are better doing an AI/audition rotation or some meaningful research(publications)

The social aspects of medical school, while they might be wonderful for the sanity of the individual involved, don't actually mean very much for residency. Program directors look primarily at whether or not you can perform in the clinical situation (third year grades and evals), medical knowledge (Step I and Step II) and how you interview (if you are a socially inept individual you are going to have some difficulties here).

 

[VMSmith]

Just a word of warning - being on student council can be a very time-consuming extracurricular, especially if you are looking to be president.

The president of my class was pretty close to being dismissed due to poor academic performance due to spending a ton of time on presidential duties. And most people in my class didn't know or care about the things she was doing on their behalf.

If you do student council, be aware that you'll be doing a lot of work and getting very little appreciation from either students or faculty. Remember that your own academics is ultimately more important, and that if they start to suffer you need to step back from student council stuff and focus on your studying.

As far as whether it helps for residency, I haven't been asked any questions about being on student council during any of my interviews so far. So if it does help it does so in a pretty minimal way.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

I'm president of my medical school class. It is a lot of work but it's also been a great experience. Don't do it for a resume pad, that's for sure. You'd be much better served spending time in research if that's what you're after. Set boundaries on how much you'll let it interfere with your personal life and delegate where possible. The boat pretty much sails itself, as they say.

 

[lacrossefiend73]

Aw, CF... I didn't know you were president! By the way, we'll need to chat soon... I want to hear all about your semester!

Agreed with all the above posters who say its a lot of work. I'm on council at my school... a lot of the time you get stuck with things you never intended on doing when you signed up. But, I enjoy what my role is, so its okay. If you like being a part of it, then do it. If not, then don't. Easy as that.

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I had a guy interview me who said "I like to see when students are elected to positions by their classmates. It tells me that your class has confidence in you and probably likes you."

Now, this is like one dude out of a ton who've interviewed me who made mention of en elected position I held, but take it for what it's worth.

(P.S. I didn't tell him I ran unopposed)

 

[nogolfinsnow]

The president of my class was pretty close to being dismissed due to poor academic performance due to spending a ton of time on presidential duties. And most people in my class didn't know or care about the things she was doing on their behalf.

If you do student council, be aware that you'll be doing a lot of work and getting very little appreciation from either students or faculty. Remember that your own academics is ultimately more important, and that if they start to suffer you need to step back from student council stuff and focus on your studying.

As far as whether it helps for residency, I haven't been asked any questions about being on student council during any of my interviews so far. So if it does help it does so in a pretty minimal way.

VP of my first year class is now taking a 2nd shot at first year. I was talking to my adviser yesterday and she said some ECs are important, but they absolutely don't have to be anything like student council, club president, etc. She just wants to make sure to have something to write about when she does that part of our dean's letter. Our current SC members seem to really enjoy it and they're pretty good at it too. So if you like it, do it.

 

[Habeed]

What if you are a serious gunner, and you are absolutely sure you can make top 10%? Then, if you have the time, student council makes a ton of sense, because it sounds like the "gold standard" for a leadership position. Meaning, if you were top 10% and a student council member, the AOA selection committee would have almost no leeway in selecting you.

 

[fireflygirl]

I am actually interested in running for our student govt body myself next year but have some of the same concerns as the OP. I am doing well right now and am not concerned about failing out with the position but I am concerned about not doing as well with all the responsibilities I could potentially have. But after speaking with the current prez, it just seems like an amazing opp. I don't know how things are at other schools but I would forge great relationships and serve as the student rep on the board of directors of our school. I think opps like that, and maintaining a strong academic standing, if not top 10%, are priceless. I haven't totally decided yet, but if anything, I will make strong contacts and get a chance to do something I have always wanted to do and never had the chance.

 

[themudphud]

I agree with everyone else but also think that if you can handle it, it would be a great way of demonstrating leadership and would also give you some experiences to talk about when you are interviewing for residency.

 

[jackbauer]

On being student council president:

huge amount of work = definitely
valuable experience = absolutely
effect on residency = so hard to say at this point... as a 2nd year, you don't even know (probably) what field you are going into! and they have such different requirements. some previous officers at my school felt it was negligible (the fields they went into looked at board scores, board scores, and board scores) but a different past president said that it had opened doors all over the place.

the point is... don't do student council (or any other organization) based on residency. do it if you like it. it's a lot of work, and that's why you will force yourself to learn the true meaning of the word delegate. best of luck

 

[Bauer24]

On being student council president:

huge amount of work = definitely
valuable experience = absolutely
effect on residency = so hard to say at this point... as a 2nd year, you don't even know (probably) what field you are going into! and they have such different requirements. some previous officers at my school felt it was negligible (the fields they went into looked at board scores, board scores, and board scores) but a different past president said that it had opened doors all over the place.

the point is... don't do student council (or any other organization) based on residency. do it if you like it. it's a lot of work, and that's why you will force yourself to learn the true meaning of the word delegate. best of luck

This forum isn't big enough for the two of us. Give up the name.

 

[LadyWolverine]

This forum isn't big enough for the two of us. Give up the name.

Looks like jackbauer has an almost 3-year lead on you. You should give it up.

 

[Rzarecta]

This forum isn't big enough for the two of us. Give up the name.

Hahaha holler!