"Student Excellence" Awards

[dyspareunia]

Do awards earned for pre-clin performance matter at all for residency applications?

Obviously I'll put it on my CV, but is anyone going to actually care?

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[alpinism]

You mean like getting the top score in anatomy class or being in the top 10% of your class?

It matters, but if you look at the most recent residency director survey its way down the list in terms of importance after the usual suspects
(step 1, M3 core rotation grades, M4 audition rotation grades, LORs, interview performance, research...)

It will help you for class rank and AOA though which does matter for the more competitive residencies.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Honestly most applicants CVs are so loaded with crap like this that it is very hard for someone reading the application to sort the meaningless BS from a truly prestigious award. Especially when we are reviewing applications from a hundred different schools, all of which have their own awards with different names and degrees of prestige.

 

[dyspareunia]

You mean like getting the top score in anatomy class or being in the top 10% of your class?

It matters, but if you look at the most recent residency director survey its way down the list in terms of importance after the usual suspects
(step 1, M3 core rotation grades, M4 audition rotation grades, LORs, interview performance, research...)

It will help you for class rank and AOA though which does matter for the more competitive residencies.

Not sure of the details, but it's based on "academic excellence, leadership, and philanthropy". I know that being considered for something like this likely means that I am in position (at least currently) to be AOA eventually, but I'm not sure if these types of awards are common across the country and therefore not that spectacular.

Honestly most applicants CVs are so loaded with crap like this that it is very hard for someone reading the application to sort the meaningless BS from a truly prestigious award. Especially when we are reviewing applications from a hundred different schools, all of which have their own awards with different names and degrees of prestige.

Will I get brownie points for not loading my CV with fluff? Or will it just look "empty" at first glance and end up hurting me in the end?

Realistically I know this type of award won't make or break my application, but I'm more curious about if it could possibly be a talking point during interviews.

 

[AlmostAnMD]

Protip: don't talk about an award you got for preclinical grades during your interview

I'm not a program director or anything but I just feel like that's solid advice. Sure, throw it on your CV though. I don't see any reason not to include something you won.

 

[e30ftw]

if it's an award given to like 1 person a year and you got it, sure put it on your CV in the section "academic honors/awards/ blah blah" somewhere near the end.

it may look positive to PDs screening apps for interview invites.

this is definitely not something you want to talk about on interview day.

The most important part about a residency interview is that they like you. No one gives a **** about anything in your app on i/v day (even step 1/honors/blah) if you come across like a dbag and they don't think they could work with you.

most interviewers will not even have read anything in your ERAS app prior to 5 min before your interview.

 

[dyspareunia]

Thanks guys. I didn't plan on talking about it, but it is something that might draw attention on paper (the foundation/organization has a rather unique name) and I thought convo might be started by the interviewer on that basis.