What makes a solid residency application?

[yungin]

Will be starting med school soon and curious about what exactly would make a residency applicant competitive. I understand it differs by specialty and it's too early to worry about it and I should just enjoy my time before med school etc. Just looking for very general what can I do early to maximize my chances type of advice.

I know that Step 1 score, relevant productive research (presentations, posters, maybe some pubs), high grades on clinical rotations, good performance in away rotations, and strong LORs from faculty in the specialty are important.

So my specific questions are:
Do you need other ECs like volunteering, having a leadership position in some sort of club, or non-medical activities. It's not like I won't engage in these but how much importance do residency admissions people assign to them.
What other things aside from the above are important to being competitive? Is this different between surgical and non-surgical specialties?
How is your performance in away rotations graded? Do you get some sort of write-up about how you did or just a grade like H/HP/P?
Does going to a state school (say, top 60 per USNWR) make you less competitive for strong academic residencies? I know this is re-hashed a lot and from what I've read the answer is yes but not that much as long as you have an otherwise competitive app.

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[HooliganSnail]

Will be starting med school soon and curious about what exactly would make a residency applicant competitive. I understand it differs by specialty and it's too early to worry about it and I should just enjoy my time before med school etc. Just looking for very general what can I do early to maximize my chances type of advice.

I know that Step 1 score, relevant productive research (presentations, posters, maybe some pubs), high grades on clinical rotations, good performance in away rotations, and strong LORs from faculty in the specialty are important.

So my specific questions are:
Do you need other ECs like volunteering, having a leadership position in some sort of club, or non-medical activities. It's not like I won't engage in these but how much importance do residency admissions people assign to them.
What other things aside from the above are important to being competitive? Is this different between surgical and non-surgical specialties?
How is your performance in away rotations graded? Do you get some sort of write-up about how you did or just a grade like H/HP/P?
Does going to a state school (say, top 60 per USNWR) make you less competitive for strong academic residencies? I know this is re-hashed a lot and from what I've read the answer is yes but not that much as long as you have an otherwise competitive app.[ /QUOTE]


Honestly, everything you named as important is pretty much the bulk of the matter.

Extra EC's are just fluff. Unless you built a clinic for poor leper children in Uganda or something, no one really cares if you were in the Surgery Interest Group. If you are really interested in them, then go nuts, but seriously only do them if you are actually getting something out of them. They really don't impact an application too much.

 

[thatsmate]

Keep in mind that interviewers will never ask about your grades, your AOA status, or your LORs. That's because those topics are kind of boring. You need them to get you in the door, but it won't be what they talk about on interviews.

They will always ask about your research. They may throw a hardball question or something to watch you think (a greatest weakness question, or something like that). After that, they'll look through your other activities. I actually found myself getting ask about interest groups I led. I was kind of shocked cause I thought they were kinda lame, but I guess it gives some idea what you're interested in and PDs or other interviewers can talk to you about it. They'll also ask about hobbies, instruments you've played, non-medical stuff that helps carry a conversation.

Basically, you don't NEED to have any particular activity, but you need to have some things you can put down that you like to talk about.

 

[mimelim]

Will be starting med school soon and curious about what exactly would make a residency applicant competitive. I understand it differs by specialty and it's too early to worry about it and I should just enjoy my time before med school etc. Just looking for very general what can I do early to maximize my chances type of advice.

I know that Step 1 score, relevant productive research (presentations, posters, maybe some pubs), high grades on clinical rotations, good performance in away rotations, and strong LORs from faculty in the specialty are important.

So my specific questions are:
Do you need other ECs like volunteering, having a leadership position in some sort of club, or non-medical activities. It's not like I won't engage in these but how much importance do residency admissions people assign to them.
What other things aside from the above are important to being competitive? Is this different between surgical and non-surgical specialties?
How is your performance in away rotations graded? Do you get some sort of write-up about how you did or just a grade like H/HP/P?
Does going to a state school (say, top 60 per USNWR) make you less competitive for strong academic residencies? I know this is re-hashed a lot and from what I've read the answer is yes but not that much as long as you have an otherwise competitive app.

#1 It depends on the specialty and the types of programs you are looking to apply to.
#2 While there may be informal "rankings" of programs within a given specialty, they don't mean a ton. This is because the best program for YOU is not going to be the best program for someone else. While some programs will objectively have more to offer than others, they can also be an incredibly poor fit for some people.

That having been said, there are some universal things that will get you more looks. You highlight them in your post (Step 1, research, grades, LOR etc)

Your questions.
ECs are largely irrelevant from a getting an interview perspective. By the same token, programs look for residents who will fit their program. I can tell you that we consider these things as a part of our process. But, it is more that we want normal people that have other interests than we want people who were a leader of a club.

In addition to your grades, you get an MSPE: http://msa.medicine.iu.edu/studentrecords/faculty-advisors/faculty-advising/smpe-sample/ some programs don't use it at all (ie send out interviews before it even gets released. Others go through it line by line.

What school you go to matters, but only a little. No committee sits down looks at the school someone went to first and starts making decisions. It is an adjunct to everything else. This may not be true at a handful of programs across the country in super competitive programs, but for 99%+ of applicants it is almost negligible.

 

[mvenus929]

You job in medical school is to learn medicine. Your goal in your application for residency is to explain why you want to go into the field you are applying to, and why you would be a good resident. Those extra things may help firm up your beliefs or prove that you want to work with a certain population.

There is no obligation to be involved at all in your med school. Many people will be, but it is more out of interest than obligation. I have a number of friends who are honestly interested in serving underserved populations, so they did things in med school to start on that path. I have other friends that wanted to go into super competitive fields, so spent their time instead on getting involved in that department and doing research and getting to know the faculty for good letters. I know people who are passionate about medical education, so got involved from that perspective. Others were involved in particular populations: LGBTQ, HIV, oncology, peds, geriatrics, etc.

 

[Voodoo Chile]

To keep your options open, shoot for these 3 goals:

1) High Step 1/2s
2) Not being a tool (important for being a human in general, 3rd year grades, learning, LOR's, and most importantly interviewing)
3)Research/volunteering (specialty dependent: some value research, some volunteering)

Goals 1) and 2) will get you very far. Also, try to enjoy the experience and have some fun in the preclinical years.

 

[pd1112]

Keep in mind that interviewers will never ask about your grades, your AOA status, or your LORs. That's because those topics are kind of boring. You need them to get you in the door, but it won't be what they talk about on interviews.

This is entirely specialty and/or program specific as I've heard numerous anecdotes from peers/faculty IRL & online in which applicants were asked specifically about certain grades as well as relationship with LOR authors.

 

[yungin]

#1 It depends on the specialty and the types of programs you are looking to apply to.
#2 While there may be informal "rankings" of programs within a given specialty, they don't mean a ton. This is because the best program for YOU is not going to be the best program for someone else. While some programs will objectively have more to offer than others, they can also be an incredibly poor fit for some people.

That having been said, there are some universal things that will get you more looks. You highlight them in your post (Step 1, research, grades, LOR etc)

Your questions.
ECs are largely irrelevant from a getting an interview perspective. By the same token, programs look for residents who will fit their program. I can tell you that we consider these things as a part of our process. But, it is more that we want normal people that have other interests than we want people who were a leader of a club.

In addition to your grades, you get an MSPE: http://msa.medicine.iu.edu/studentrecords/faculty-advisors/faculty-advising/smpe-sample/ some programs don't use it at all (ie send out interviews before it even gets released. Others go through it line by line.

What school you go to matters, but only a little. No committee sits down looks at the school someone went to first and starts making decisions. It is an adjunct to everything else. This may not be true at a handful of programs across the country in super competitive programs, but for 99%+ of applicants it is almost negligible.

Thank you!

 

[Apoplexy__]

As someone who just finished the residency app process:

1. Research >>>> any other EC. Drop every EC you're doing right now and pick up research if you have a choice. Also, getting 2nd-3rd author on a paper because you spent 2 hours proofreading it is infinitely superior to spending 30 hours on something that didn't result in a publication.
2. Do NOT neglect the hobby section of your app. Probably 10-20% of the conversation of any given interview at every program was about my hobbies.

 

[fasteddie911]

Your med school ranking doesn't really matter, it MIGHT give you the edge in matching into the very top programs or for super competitive specialties, but if you do your part (good step scores, research, honoring rotations), then you can match into any specialty from any school. I would suggest for most people to attend the school that gives them the least debt. As for away rotations, depending on the specialty, it's not really necessary to do unless you're trying to get a personal feel for a program as opposed to trying to get your foot in the door of a certain program.