Things you can do MS1-2.

[Dirt]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So I imagine that I am only one of many who have this issue. There are many different specialties I am interested in, including, but not limited to:

Anesthesia
Emergency Med
Internal Med
Cards
Heme/Onc
Pulm/critical care
Optho
Oto
Rads


Now, obviously I know that I need to dominate step 1 and get good grades all around, but essentailly what I want to know is how else can I improve my chances of matching into any number of competitive specialties without knowing what exactly I want to do before MS3-4?

i.e.
Do things like volunteering in clinics and participating in student gov't or other organizations help at all? Also, what type of general research can I get into, and do people do research at times other than your summer break? I don't want to go and do all sorts of Oto research only to decide I want to to EM come MS4.

Simply put, aside from clinical grades and step 1, what else can I do now (ms1)?

 

[Blesbok]

Residencies in general don't care about volunteering or leadership positions unless you are equal in every other aspect to another applicant.

Research is the only thing other than grades that you are going to do as an M1 that is going to make a difference. Your school probably offers an NIH program where you can get a stipend to do research. Just do that next summer and do well in school. It doesn't much matter what you do research in, just that you do it. If you are leaning towards something though, it never hurts to do research in that field.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

The varieties in your list (Heme/Onc vs. EM, Internal Med vs. Oto) should suggest the inherant pitfalls in being "interested" in various things as a first year.

If you want to do research do research, and do somethng that maximizes your chance of publication.

Ultimately residencies are looking for good people who satisfy some baseline requirements. For some specialties this may include specific Step1 scores/grades but for most it just means decent people with a decent application.

The best thing you can do as a starting med student is to focus on doing well enough in your courses that you can maximize sucess on Step1.

 

[alEXatosu]

Just make sure that the research you do is worthwhile (publications, conferences etc). Personally, I had previous research so I spent my summer traveling across Europe, mainly sticking to beaches, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. It was amazing meeting people and having utter relaxation getting as far away from anything school related.

So many people above me (residents, attendings) tell me that I made a great decision, given this will be the last full summer you have off. Just something to think about..

 

[njbmd]

So I imagine that I am only one of many who have this issue. There are many different specialties I am interested in, including, but not limited to:

Anesthesia
Emergency Med
Internal Med
Cards
Heme/Onc
Pulm/critical care
Optho
Oto
Rads


Now, obviously I know that I need to dominate step 1 and get good grades all around, but essentially what I want to know is how else can I improve my chances of matching into any number of competitive specialties without knowing what exactly I want to do before MS3-4?

i.e.
Do things like volunteering in clinics and participating in student gov't or other organizations help at all? Also, what type of general research can I get into, and do people do research at times other than your summer break? I don't want to go and do all sorts of Oto research only to decide I want to to EM come MS4.

Simply put, aside from clinical grades and step 1, what else can I do now (ms1)?

Join a couple of medical student specialty interest groups. You can interact with residents/attendings in some of these specialties and find out more about the day-to-day patient populations, good residency programs and locations. Even better, by joining these groups, you can meet and interact with the department chairs - good for getting quality letters later on. These specialty interest groups are also a good resource for getting into the research pipeline too.

Residency selection is very different from getting into medical school. Residency program directors don't care much about your extracurriculars but care much about your board scores and academics coupled with your LORs/research. You can greatly increase your chances of making sure that you are on the right path for your specialty (ies) of interest by making contact early and getting good mentors.

 

[MSHell]

Because your interests are so varied, you could benefit from shadowing or some clinical expericence in these specialties. I've found, to my dismay, that there is often a world of difference between what one thinks a specialty is like, and what it's truly like.

The only things you can control at this point are marks and step scores.

 

[Dirt]

Join a couple of medical student specialty interest groups. You can interact with residents/attendings in some of these specialties and find out more about the day-to-day patient populations, good residency programs and locations. Even better, by joining these groups, you can meet and interact with the department chairs - good for getting quality letters later on. These specialty interest groups are also a good resource for getting into the research pipeline too.

Residency selection is very different from getting into medical school. Residency program directors don't care much about your extracurriculars but care much about your board scores and academics coupled with your LORs/research. You can greatly increase your chances of making sure that you are on the right path for your specialty (ies) of interest by making contact early and getting good mentors.

Thank you and yes I joined every interest group that I mentioned (although there isn't one for pulm/cc)

Because your interests are so varied, you could benefit from shadowing or some clinical expericence in these specialties. I've found, to my dismay, that there is often a world of difference between what one thinks a specialty is like, and what it's truly like.

The only things you can control at this point are marks and step scores.

I have experience with most all of those specialties aside from Oto Optho (they just sound interesting).

All of this is good to know. I am just a non-trad who kind of screwed the pooch at the beginning of undergrad. I had to jump through many hoops to get where I am today and now I want to be able to do anything I can to avoid having the choice essentially taken out of my hands. I certainly know the importance of grades and step 1, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't missing something else.

 

[edmadison]

It's true that activities and student leadership may not help your application. However, if you have decent grades, this may be a factor in selection for AOA which will definitely have a positive impact on your application.

 

[DCDAWG]

Just make sure that the research you do is worthwhile (publications, conferences etc). Personally, I had previous research so I spent my summer traveling across Europe, mainly sticking to beaches, and I couldn't be happier with my decision. It was amazing meeting people and having utter relaxation getting as far away from anything school related.

So many people above me (residents, attendings) tell me that I made a great decision, given this will be the last full summer you have off. Just something to think about..

I, also, have previous research from working a few years before med school. I had assumed this will look just as good as doing research during med school. However, I was recently advised that programs are much more interested in research done while in med school, it shows a more recent interest and doesnt look like something that may have been used to help you get into med school but was stopped after you matriculated.
Any thoughts on that? Preferably from a current resident....

 

[njbmd]

So I imagine that I am only one of many who have this issue. There are many different specialties I am interested in, including, but not limited to:

Anesthesia
Emergency Med
Internal Med
Cards
Heme/Onc
Pulm/critical care
Optho
Oto
Rads


Now, obviously I know that I need to dominate step 1 and get good grades all around, but essentailly what I want to know is how else can I improve my chances of matching into any number of competitive specialties without knowing what exactly I want to do before MS3-4?

i.e.
Do things like volunteering in clinics and participating in student gov't or other organizations help at all? Also, what type of general research can I get into, and do people do research at times other than your summer break? I don't want to go and do all sorts of Oto research only to decide I want to to EM come MS4.

Simply put, aside from clinical grades and step 1, what else can I do now (ms1)?

The single thing that you can do as an MS-1 is master your coursework. Other than that, you need to wait until your third year in order to start entertaining specialties. The better you do, the more options you have to rule in or rule out specialties. At this point, any thing that you say you are "interested in" is pure speculation on your part.

If you do well in your coursework, you stand the best chance of doing well on Step I and thus you will have options. You also won't NEED research. So chill out and do well, what you are supposed to be doing i.e. your coursework. Residency programs do not care about your volunteer work. They care about your scholarship so get the job done and chill out. In short, dump the "pre-med syndrome" and get your work done.

 

[indo]

just join all the "interest groups".

 

[turkeyjerky]

just join all the "interest groups".

Yes!!

I joined them all, just so my inbox would be full every morning--if not, I feel lonely ;(

It's good to know that it'll give me a boost during residency applications.