Source
r/medicalschool•
predepression

Blatantly Farming Leadership Positions in Student Organizations

❗️Serious

How many of y'all have clubs/organizations at your schools that have leadership teams literally consisting of one or more of the following:

  1. not one, not two, but SEVEN "pReSiDeNtS" (yes I'm serious this is an actual leadership team at one of my school's clubs--they're all "presidents") OR
  2. one president and five "cO-PrEsIdEnTs" OR
  3. BS leadership positions like "eXeCuTiVe pReSiDeNt oF iNteRnaL AcAdEmIc aFfAiRs" (<--seriously, what the FUCK does that even mean? in which universe does ultimate frisbee have anything to do with academic affairs?)

Just curious if this is exclusive to my school. Granted, I go to a pretty huge school (>200 people per class and a ludicrous amount of student organizations), so everyone's gotta find something to put on their ERAS for leadership positions, right?

Idk. I understand that there's a game to play (inb4 hate the game not the player yadda yadda) and even more so now that Step is P/F, but really? The worst part is that PDs won't even be able to tell the difference between actual leadership and BS leadership when it comes to reading apps unless they actually look at the school's organization pages (which, conveniently enough, you need to be signed in with your school ID and password to even access the information for leadership titles) and will likely take the positions at face value. If you don't have the connections that likely engender this type of egregious tomfoolery and thus don't have 10 "leadership positions" on your app, you're objectively screwed when it comes to screening applicants based on the quantity of positions, which I'm assuming some programs do.

What are your thoughts? Are you one of the seven cO-PrEsIdEnTs from above? (no ill-will is meant by this post, just venting/curious) Is there some hope for those of us who don't actively seek out/have this kind of padding on our apps?

Posted Sep 21, 2021, 7:28 AM UTC

3215
ToniUnboxedM-3•

An advice I received was to pick an organization you are interested in and work your way up, the leadership will look good on a CV but the most important thing about leadership positions is learning how to work with a team, doing cool stuff with the organization and making friends.

no point being a leader of ten different groups (just makes you look like a jack of all trades) or having tons of 'leadership experience' that you can't talk about (because you didn't actually do or learn anything) or that just distracts you from studying or hobbies that make you happy.

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donktorMDM-4•

So many groups have a treasurer even though the budget is $0

9
2-0_still_a_D-OM-3•

It sucks dude, but It’s just the rat race that medical school is. Ultimately these leadership positions truly only matter if you have something to talk about said position. I don’t care if you were the president of internal affairs, what did you DO with that position ?

Nonetheless, Don’t pay attention to the leadership padders. It’s much better if you pick something you like and stick to it for the next two years. Step score > letters of rec >grade in desired clerkships > class rank >>> pseudo leadership positions

5
Hurricane-WhiteNameM-1•

I felt the greeting at the start of med school, went something like this: welcome……… to gunner park…….

4
nackbaxster14•

this is why you go into EM, they see through all the BS mankind can muster, chief of which are useless CV-fillers.

4
paradisetanagerMD/PhD-M4•

My class GroupMe is asking each other how to list "certificates" and "presentations" that were essentially just required assignments during M1-M3. I now realize why the medical school requires these assignments.

4
DizzyKnichtM-1•

Wayne state? 👀👀

4
F3mi•

Its not your fault that ERAS and PDs decided to make it a numbers game. I'll gladly stack BS positions like fuckin Jenga. *Co-chair of curriculum coordination for the internal medicine interest group*

3
Puzzleheaded-Bar-517•

Yeah dude the ENT group at my school has like a bunch presidents and co presidents… it’s like bro… I get it we all tryna get somewhere but at least make it look like you’re not resume packing Everyone needs to cheeel

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1
JustthreethingsM-2•

I think it’ll be pretty useless if those 7 presidents don’t have a “presidential experience” to convincingly discuss. That goes for legitimate presidencies too.

1
Dr_PhilosoPhizerM-1•

This is a good thing and how the world works, as well as the hierarchy of academia and medicine itself. Get used to it.

1
predepressionOPM-2•

I get the whole it's how the world works deal but to say it's a good thing is a bit of a stretch, isn't it? What makes you say it's a good thing to actively seek out meaningless leadership positions just to pad one's résumé and con PDs into thinking you're someone you aren't?

1
Dr_PhilosoPhizerM-1•

For the sole reason:

Medical school requires so much pointless bullshit while wanting you to do research, volunteer, leadership, network, step scores, LOR’s, blablabla. It’s literally ridiculous that they expect people to sacrifice their lives and well-being to be competitive and match after paying so much for tuition and passing.

The simple truth is this, those positions are med students advocating for med students and providing something of substance for very little in return. The people that hold those titles will continue to return the favor, and are more likely to actually get involved or take on some form of leadership later.

We shouldn’t get mad at these organizations providing a small way for reduction of workload in terms of building a resume so people can focus on becoming capable clinicians.

This, IMO, is classic in-fighting while the real problem goes unnoticed.

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Dr_PhilosoPhizerM-1•

Just my devils advocacy

1