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CV: Class of 2023

Introduction

Being a medical student is not just about studying medicine. While your medical school transcript and MSPE/Dean's letter reflect your academic accomplishments, your co-curricular activities (student organizations, volunteer experiences) can set you apart from other applicants in a way that grades and scores cannot. Involvement in co-curricular activities rounds out your application and depicts qualities such as leadership, dedication and teamwork. It is one thing to state that you want to be a physician, but supporting that decision through dedication of your time and energy shows your true commitment to the profession.

Co-curricular activities refer to any activity outside of the classroom, such as clinical experiences (shadowing a physician), research projects, volunteering, or joining a student organization. They enable you to develop interpersonal skills (public speaking, communication and empathy), which are learned from interacting with real people in real situations. Co-curricular activities provide opportunities to take leadership and organizational roles that will become important in a clinical context—whether it is organizing hospital staff or overseeing a practice. While it is important for you to enjoy yourself and take your mind off studying, these activities are ultimately important in your "personal development." Medicine is a career in which it is critical to interact well with others, which is not achieved by constantly studying the lecture notes. Ultimately, there must be an important balance between working and having a life.

So please think about how you can enhance your application (and CV) by participating in co-curricular activities. THERE IS AN ENTIRE SECTION IN THE RESIDENCY APPLICATION FOR "EXPERIENCE" (work, volunteer, research). This is where you describe your responsibilities (organization, position, dates, supervisor, etc.) which will hopefully set you apart from other candidates. This is more important than ever as your class will be first class participating in a single match!

Curriculum Vitae

One of the best ways to document/organize your experiences is by developing a Curriculum Vitae (CV) which you will eventually need for applications and interviews.

A CV is a detailed, yet concise, summary of your professional background—education, honors and awards, honorary and professional organizations, work experience, research experience, internship experience, clinical shadowing, co-curricular activities (student organizations; community service), computer skills, language skills, and interests. Unlike a traditional "resume," a CV can be longer than one page.

All students must have an up-to-date CV by the end of the 1st year (March 6, 2020), which you will continue to update as you progress through medical school.

You will need a CV over the course of the next several years to complete applications for:

  • Summer research opportunities
  • NYITCOM's Academic Scholars Program
  • Scholarships
  • Honor societies
  • Third-year "regional" hospital rotations (submitted during second year)
  • Fourth-year "away" hospital rotations (submitted during third year)
  • Background information for "Letter of Recommendation" writers
  • Residency interviews

Materials

All files are PDFs unless otherwise noted.