How important are extra-curriculars for CaRMS?

[Luna Lovegood]

As a first year med student, should I be focusing on school? Should I be focusing on trying new activities? Should I keep up my old activities from undergrad? Does it matter at all in the end? So many questions...

[QuestionsAbound]

Focus on school. Do fun things to stay sane. If you have time left over, do extra curricular stuff. 

 

 

[X Æ A-12]

Don't completely stop all ECs but you don't need as many as in premed

[bearded frog]

Do ECs that you will enjoy and help you network. Drop activities from undergrad unless you do it solely for your enjoyment and don't cut into school/sleep. In terms of CaRMS, ECs are technically looked at but are less important than school performance, elective performance, recommendations, and research.

[Bambi]

ECs per se are not relevant. Focus on school as your priority. In med school, I no longer had time for my ECs, I spent my time studying. I relaxed during my summers. Be adaptable in terms of your future career interests. Don't try to lock in a particular field too early in the game. 

[1D7]

1. ECs that matter: Research

2. ECs that somewhat matter: Leadership positions, impressive interesting/unique experiences that can be brought up during a professional interview

3. ECs that don't matter much: Fluff that is interesting/meaningful to you (only because it could possibly be useful during an interview)

4. ECs that don't matter at all: Fluff that is more or less pointless (generic experiences that people skip over if they were to see it on your CV)

Overall ECs don't matter much except for research in more competitive fields. And even for research it is often just a checkbox unless you're able to publish something truly impressive (which comes down to winning the lottery basically). Aside from research, you only need enough of 2. and 3. to fill up a page or two on your CV.

For matching it comes down to not having red flags (most important) > elective performance/networking > LORs >> Research >>> Other ECs.

[hiyayosup]

On 9/23/2019 at 6:48 PM, 1D7 said:

1. ECs that matter: Research

2. ECs that somewhat matter: Leadership positions, impressive interesting/unique experiences that can be brought up during a professional interview

3. ECs that don't matter much: Fluff that is interesting/meaningful to you (only because it could possibly be useful during an interview)

4. ECs that don't matter at all: Fluff that is more or less pointless (generic experiences that people skip over if they were to see it on your CV)

Overall ECs don't matter much except for research in more competitive fields. And even for research it is often just a checkbox unless you're able to publish something truly impressive (which comes down to winning the lottery basically). Aside from research, you only need enough of 2. and 3. to fill up a page or two on your CV.

For matching it comes down to not having red flags (most important) > elective performance/networking > LORs >> Research >>> Other ECs.

I'm really happy to read this...It seems people in my class are taking on 4-6 EC's a month into med school. I'm trying to just keep up with the material so this is making me feel less behind