Research/lor For Residency

[hamlet]

Hi, 

 

I was wondering if anyone could comment on how important research is in terms of research. Does everyone get involved with research?

 

Also, how long would you have to know someone to get a letter of reference for CaRMS? Do you usually get reference letters from those who saw you during clerkship? I have seen that for Mac, you would only have around 36 weeks of clerkship and no summers as opposed to a full year of clerkship and 2 summers at a traditional 4 year program. How hard is it to find someone to write letters for you during the shorter time frame? 

 

Thank you and I apologize if these questions have been previously answered. 

 

[ellorie]

My letters were mainly from preceptors with whom I did 2 week electives in my 4th year.  I had some from 2 week clerkship core rotations but I didn't think they were as strong.  I think 2 weeks was enough time.  I also had a research supervisor that I'd worked with on and off for a couple years.

[shikimate]

I suppose it would depend on which program you are applying to, for competitive specialties research certainly would be needed to show your interest and dedication to the field, whereas for less competitive specialties perhaps research serves more as something to talk about in interviews or just a checkmark for some scholarly work.

 

As for LOR I think you just have to collect as many as you can along the way; remember you don't need to use all the ones you have, so by the time CaRMS comes around you should have a pretty good idea which ones to use.

[JessieMed]

Do we have to do research in the specialty we want?

 

Also, for CaRMS, are the reference letters sent "in confidence" or do you actually know the content of the letters? Can adcoms contact your LOR supervisor?

[sleeping_sickness]

research in the specialty you want certainly helps. it would be hard to convince someone that you wanted to be an ophthalmologist if you completed extensive research in say, pediatric bleeding disorders. but honestly, any research is helpful. you just need to know how to spin the overall research experience when someone asks you why it wasn't related. 

 

in regards to your second question, you should NOT have access to your LORs. 

[ploughboy]

I was wondering if anyone could comment on how important research is in terms of research.

 

Research is unarguably important in research.    It is also one of many factors considered in residency applications.  It's a "nice-to-have" but not a "must have", depending on the other elements of your application.

 

 

Do we have to do research in the specialty we want?

 

Also, for CaRMS, are the reference letters sent "in confidence" or do you actually know the content of the letters? Can adcoms contact your LOR supervisor?

 

Research in the specialty helps, but as others have mentioned you can spin things many ways.

 

CaRMS reference letters are sent in confidence, and will say so right in the letter ("JessieMed has asked me to write this letter for his/her CaRMS application.  (S)he does not know the contents of this letter")

 

Adcoms can absolutely contact your references.  ("Please feel free to contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx if you have any questions about JessieMed's suitability for this position.").  They are your references, after all.  It's kind of the point... 

 

The likelihood of this happening increases the narrower the field you're applying to because usually everybody knows everybody else in smaller fields.  It's certainly within the realm of possibility for an interview panel to finish interviewing you and shoot a quick text or phone call to one of your referees to confirm the panel's impression of you ("We just interviewed JessieMed, it went well, (s)he seems good, is there anything else we should know about him/her?  PS - it's been too long since we've seen each other, are you free for lunch next week?")

 

Not meant to scare you, just telling it like it is.  This is not specific to medicine, either.  Probably happens even more in the private sector.  Often it's not your resume that gets you the position, it's what people say about you either in a reference letter or off-the-record in a phone call, that decides your fate.