How important is it to be involved in executive/leadership positions in medical school?

[marta12345]

Does it help with CaRMS applications? Is the CaRMS application process as competitive as getting into medical school? Do you need to have tons of ECs and Research work in the area that you are interested in?

 

[Bambi]

It is not imports nor particularly relevant.

[marta12345]

14 minutes ago, Bambi said:

It is not imports nor particularly relevant.

How are applicants getting compared?  Are they not getting compared based mainly on their research and EC activity ( since grades are just pass or fail)?

[rmorelan]

1 hour ago, marta12345 said:

Does it help with CaRMS applications? Is the CaRMS application process as competitive as getting into medical school? Do you need to have tons of ECs and Research work in the area that you are interested in?

 

I mean it all helps but I hate the term "need" here. I was probably one of the most ECed up person in medical school (ha!) but I don't think it was some key helpful feature of my overall application. 

Also this is all a bit of a black box which each program doing its own thing. You probably can find some program that is really focused on ECs or more likely actually research. I know for instance at TO my research was clearly a factor in my residency interview there for radiology. 

Ecs and research also do help with networking and that can help you learn about the field, do better observerships and get a foundation you need to help you moving forward. 

 

[rmorelan]

7 minutes ago, marta12345 said:

How are applicants getting compared?  Are they not getting compared based mainly on their research and EC activity ( since grades are just pass or fail)?

Letters of reference and elective performance are extremely important. The interview of course when it happens can also help out a lot. 

[Edict]

I don't believe it matters so much. The people who have leadership positions are often people who are also ambitious and hardworking and have good communication skills. Which means they often do well in the match, but in terms of the position alone getting you into residency? Unlikely, unless you are the class president or something. 

[LostLamb]

On ‎9‎/‎18‎/‎2018 at 11:05 AM, marta12345 said:

Does it help with CaRMS applications?

Not really. It might if it's impressive.

Is the CaRMS application process as competitive as getting into medical school?

It's a different kind of competitive and of course depends on specialty/specialties you choose to pursue.

Do you need to have tons of ECs and Research work in the area that you are interested in?

Generally, no.....maybe in the super-competitive specialties only.

All of the bolded italic responses are mine and just my humble opinion. Don't get caught up in this, particularly if it impacts your ability to success on exams or clinically. All the research and ECs and committee positions in the world won't make up for poor academic and clinical performance.

[NLengr]

ECs count very very little. Research might help a bit but is generally not cared about in non competative settings or just a check box in most competative programs. Elective performance trumps everything. 

In my experience what mattered was:

1. Work ethic

2. Likeability or how well the person fit into the program

3. Knowledge 

[Edict]

Residencies generally want hardworking people, but truthfully, they want it all. They want someone who demonstrates productivity both in and outside of work, so while not high yield, proper ECs that require time commitment do demonstrate time management skills, productivity and special skills like leadership and likability for those executive positions. 

You'll find a reasonably high number of people have strong elective performances, but sometimes if things get ultra-competitive, what takes the cake will be that resume with research + ECs. 

[NLengr]

18 hours ago, Edict said:

You'll find a reasonably high number of people have strong elective performances, but sometimes if things get ultra-competitive, what takes the cake will be that resume with research + ECs. 

Probably very program dependent. I can honestly say in the 5 years I spent selecting residents for the most popular program in the country for a highly competetive surgical specialty, I can't recall once discussing research or EC's that were done during med school.

We always managed to sort people out based on the three things I listed above. 

Again, my experience only.

[Edict]

2 hours ago, NLengr said:

Probably very program dependent. I can honestly say in the 5 years I spent selecting residents for the most popular program in the country for a highly competetive surgical specialty, I can't recall once discussing research or EC's that were done during med school.

We always managed to sort people out based on the three things I listed above. 

Again, my experience only.

Yes, probably specialty dependent as well as location dependent.