For medical students applying to residency programs, standing out from the crowd is a priority. But you don’t want to do it for the wrong reasons.
As applicants assemble their application packet in advance of residency selection season, faculty members who have been on the graduate medical education side of the Match process shed some light on red flags to avoid.
For those still finalizing the list of programs to which they plan to apply, FREIDA™—the AMA’s comprehensive residency and fellowship database—captures more than 13,000 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited residency and fellowship programs.
An unexplained misstep
Disappointing results are a part of life and medical training. One of the most commonly flagged missteps on a residency application is a failing score on either Step 1 or Step 2 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).
One program director said that if you have an unfavorable mark anywhere on your application, it can be overcome—if you can offer an explanation and show improvement.
“If someone failed a Step score, I expect to see an explanation somewhere in the application,” said AMA member David Marzano, MD, director of the ob-gyn residency at Michigan Medicine. “That should be part of the story you are going to tell. It might be in your personal statement.”
Dr. Marzano spoke of an instance in which an applicant had taken and failed the exam days after losing a parent. That explanation offered insight into the result.
“In terms of a personal disappointment, when you meet your advisers, you should talk about how you want to discuss it and explain what you learned from the process,” he said.
The AMA helps medical students master the residency-application process so you can make the right decisions about your career, prepare for a knockout interview, explore residency opportunities—all so you can successfully match.
Dive deeper:
- How to navigate the residency match in six steps
- “Meet your Match”: Perfecting your application packet
- Key advice for writing a standout personal statement
- 4 tips for residency applicants to wisely use program signals
- When it comes to submitting residency applications, cast a wide net
- The top questions to ask before you submit your residency application
Unprofessional social media
An unprofessional social media presence, which often can be retrieved with a simple Google search, can prevent you from reaching the interview stage. Dr. Marzano runs his program’s social media accounts and checks in on who is following.
“We see who follows us,” he said. “We look to see what people are posting on their social media accounts and professionalism is important.”
“If you have a social media account you wouldn’t want your mom, dad, husband or wife to see, you should keep that private.”
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A templated letter of recommendation
Your letters of recommendation should speak about your unique qualifications and personal experiences. If they read like anyone could have written it—not a faculty member with whom you had a close relationship—that will make program directors question why it was so generic.
“I have seen so many letters that are templates,” said AMA member Ricardo Correa, MD, the director for the endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic. “That is something that doesn’t say anything about the person. We are looking for something that says you are outstanding or highly recommended.”
Dive deeper:
- “Meet Your Match”: Highlight your passions during GME interviews
- What programs are looking for in letters of recommendation
- How medical students can be effective advocates on social media
- Top questions to help master life as a fourth-year medical student
A box-checker
There are certain things that residency program directors look upon favorably, such as research experience. But simply saying you did something, and not saying how it influenced your career path or what it tells about your interests, makes it seem like you did it to simply check the box as an applicant.
Superficial experiences don’t carry much weight, according to AMA member Chadd Kraus, DO, DrPH, a former emergency medicine program director.
“It’s about not just saying what you have done, but how you have done it, how you will integrate it into your career, and what it says about who you are,” said Dr. Kraus, vice chair of research in the department of emergency and hospital medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“When I was a medical student, I did a lot of research to improve my residency application, but it turned into something else. I’m now a research director. I found a passion doing something I never realized would be a passion.”
