Urology CARMS app

[bekaa 0]

I know plenty of these questions are asked - and typically the answers are the same but neurotic me couldn’t resist. 

I’m currently a 3rd year student who recently discovered an interest in surgery, specifically Urology. I enjoyed my core rotation much more than I thought I would and now want to pursue it. The ?issue is I have no surgical research, but a couple publications in more medicine related fields. 

 

My question lies in how can I make myself a more competitive applicant at this stage (1 year out from carms)? Contacting staff to work on URO related research? What ECs can help? Are clerkship performance/elective performance and soft skills what trump and I shouldn’t worry about much else?

Thanks in advance for any responses. I appreciate it. 

[NLengr 782]

On October 18, 2017 at 8:24 PM, bekaa said:

I know plenty of these questions are asked - and typically the answers are the same but neurotic me couldn’t resist. 

I’m currently a 3rd year student who recently discovered an interest in surgery, specifically Urology. I enjoyed my core rotation much more than I thought I would and now want to pursue it. The ?issue is I have no surgical research, but a couple publications in more medicine related fields. 

 

My question lies in how can I make myself a more competitive applicant at this stage (1 year out from carms)? Contacting staff to work on URO related research? What ECs can help? Are clerkship performance/elective performance and soft skills what trump and I shouldn’t worry about much else?

Thanks in advance for any responses. I appreciate it. 

Clerkship performance trumps all in small surgical fields. Research won't hurt but it's also not going to make or break you getting a spot. I'd contact someone in Urology at your school to get involved with a project so you can say that you are but if you don't have a published paper or anything don't sweat it. Won't matter. If you do want to try to publish something, try to bang out a case report. They are pretty easy and can be done relatively quickly.

 

What matter for matching is elective performance. The three things that will make 99% of the decisions are:

1. Work Ethic

2. Suitability for the program/likeable

3. Knowledge 

 

 

[Bambi 1,687]

NLengr speaks truth!