Residency provides on-the-job training following medical school for students who wish to become a practicing physician. In other words, it’s a major step in your medical education. But first, you need to match into a program, and if your residency application has a major red flag, it will be noticed by admissions committees—squashing or delaying your dreams of being a doctor.
The following mistakes are commonly made by residency applicants. Programs are on the lookout for these common oversights because they make the decision process easier. Do not give a residency admissions committee any reason to doubt your abilities as a resident and future physician.
Here are 10 residency application red flags you must avoid!
1 | Speaking Negatively of Others
Speaking negatively of others is point number one for a reason. Badmouthing schools, programs, mentors, professors, or students at any point during the application process is a major red flag for admissions committees.
It’s critical to understand that adcoms talk to each other. You could easily shoot yourself in the foot. Even if the person agrees with you, it’s a red flag because you might do the same to your fellow residents, the attendings, hospital staff, and so on.
Essentially, it communicates to an admissions committee that they can’t trust you. Even if you do everything else perfectly, badmouthing programs or people is an automatic reg flag and a simple way for adcoms to narrow down their options.
2 | Lack of Program Alignment
If your values or interests don’t align with a program and yet you apply anyway, this is also a red flag for adcoms. It shows that you didn’t take enough time to research the program, which either demonstrates apathy or a lack of foresight and preparation—neither of which are good signs.
For example, there’s a big difference between community programs and academic programs. If you apply to a community program and say your passion is research, adcoms will wonder why you chose their program.
This means you can’t recycle your personal statement or secondary essays as easily. You have to make sure the values and interests you speak about are geared toward the specific type of program you’re applying to.
If adcoms see that you are drawn to something that they don’t have, they won’t bother interviewing you because you clearly are not a good fit and are likely only applying as a backup option.
3 | Downward Trending Performance
While pass/fail is becoming more and more common, a downward trending performance is another red flag. Keep in mind that during your clerkship years, instead of a GPA, your grade is more of a composite of your professionalism, patient care skills, test performance, and the comments you receive from your attendings.
If you start strong in third year with your clerkships but start to get lower scores and not as many comments as you get closer to your MSPE (Medical Student Performance Evaluation), it will often be communicated in your Dean’s Letter and will definitely be noticed by residency admissions committees.
While it’s okay if your grades slip slightly once you have your Dean’s Letter, if you’re completely absent after the letter is sent, your program will let adcoms know. If you stop showing up to clerkships once your Dean’s Letter is in, it shows a tremendous lack of dedication.
Not projecting an even or upward trend as you become more mature and approach the end of medical school makes you a much riskier investment to admissions committees. For this reason, it’s imperative that you either show consistency or improve as you move within your training.
4 | Poor Performance on Non-Preferred Specialties
It’s okay if you enjoy some specialties more than others—every medical student does. However, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to check out and not apply yourself when you’re not as interested in the content.
If you love dermatology but don’t prefer OB/GYN, you still have to show up every day and give it your all as if OB/GYN was your primary passion. Sticking with the dermatology example, dermatology residency adcoms love to see internal medicine performance metrics because they feel dermatology grows out of IM.
If you’re not invested, it will show in your scores and comments. Treat each clerkship, whether there’s a connection to your preferred specialty or not, as if it were your absolute favorite. This demonstrates to adcoms that you’re not only a well-rounded student but also a dedicated young professional.
5 | A Bland Letter of Recommendation
Most students don’t realize the impact a bland letter of recommendation can have on their chances of matching into residency.
Just like when you were applying to medical school, while it may seem like a good idea to ask a well-known or Nobel Prize winning physician to write you a letter of recommendation, if they don’t know you well, the letter will be generic. They won’t have anything of substance to say about you, leaving adcoms wondering who you are and why you were’nt able to make strong connections throughout your time in medical school.
This is why it’s imperative to stick with your mentor for a year and a half to two years at the very least. While it’s okay to switch between mentors for research and clinical experience, at the end of medical school, you want to have a couple of mentors who you’ve been working with for years.
This will prevent bland letters of recommendation as your mentors clearly know you well and think highly of you if they’ve stuck with you for that long. They should be able to tangibly speak about your strengths in detail and back them up with anecdotes.
When considering possible mentors, keep in mind that young physicians still trying to make their name in medicine will have more time to get to know you and will likely be more invested in writing you a strong letter of recommendation. Seek out mentors who you truly have a connection with, not just the biggest name.
Learn more with our ERAS Residency Letters of Recommendation Guide.
6 | Impersonal Personal Statements
The residency personal statement is more professional and less creative than the medical school personal statement, depending on the specialty, so you have to walk the line a bit more when it comes to creativity.
However, you still need to use this essay to help you stand out. Stay professional while showing a spark of personality. Speaking about your accomplishments but not about who you are as a person and young professional can be a pitfall.
Your residency personal statement should be focused on your professional development and how your experiences in medical school have crystalized your passion for your chosen specialty.
Why is this specialty the one for you? What unique skills, qualities, and experiences can you contribute to enrich the program? Be humble yet confident about all you have achieved, and speak passionately about what you hope to accomplish during residency and beyond.
If you have gaps that are non-traditional, outside of a research year, try to explain it in your personal statement or the section in ERAS or both. Adcoms want to ensure that the person they invite into their program won’t flake out and leave them high and dry.
Learn more with our Residency Application Personal Statement Guide.
7 | A Checkbox Mentality
While it’s true that there are a number of boxes to check, doing something just for the sake of your application and not developing a longitudinal relationship with your mentors and the activity itself is another red flag. While you won’t have as much time during your third and fourth year clerkships, including short-lived experiences is not what adcoms want to see.
Adcoms want to see passion and dedication, and this is best demonstrated through longitudinal involvement. This means finding an activity that you love. The more passionate you are, the more likely you are to stick with it and potentially become a leader within the activity—and leadership skills are definitely something you want to show an admissions committee.
And that doesn’t just mean taking on a presidential title. How can you illustrate leadership skills through your actions and how you collaborate with others? While a title may look good, it doesn’t mean much if you can’t back it up with clear examples of your commitment and dedication to that experience.
8 | Failing Step 1
Failing Step 1 is a major red flag. While the test has become pass/fail, this does not diminish its importance, so it’s vital that you take it seriously. More and more students are failing Step 1 because they know they don’t need to aim for a high mark.
While it’s true that this change means you don’t have to study quite as hard, you still need to study a great deal. There is a tremendous amount of content covered on the exam, and even just passing still requires substantial effort.
Failing Step 1 is very hard to recover from. Keep in mind that residency adcoms see each student they accept as an investment. If you’ve failed a Step exam, you become a much riskier investment. You need to find a balance in studying to ensure you definitely pass without burning yourself out.
Learn How to Study for Step 1 and What Happens If You Fail USMLE Step 1.
9 | A Poor Step 2 CK Score
This goes hand in hand with the above point. Step 2 CK holds a great deal of weight, even more than it used to now that Step 1 is pass/fail.
Step 2 evaluates your ability to apply your medical knowledge and understanding of clinical science to patient care. For residency programs, Step 2 is considered a benchmark of your progress in medical school, which means it’s absolutely critical that your score be as strong as possible—especially if you’re hoping to match into a competitive specialty like dermatology or plastic surgery.
If you barely passed Step 1 and use the same study methods, it could carry forward into Step 2, and a poor score or a fail is a very bad look and a massive red flag to adcoms. It communicates that you don’t have the knowledge or skills to succeed in residency—essentially the absolute last thing you want to show admissions committees.
Utilize our USMLE Step 2 CK Guide.
10 | Lacking Research
A lack of research is another red flag. That said, this does depend somewhat on your medical school. Depending on where you are, there may not be many opportunities for research—but you still need to do something. As traditional hard metrics become less heavily weighted, soft components like research are now front and center in determining a candidate’s competitiveness.
You may be deeply involved in the community and do community research, but that’s not quite enough. It’s to your benefit to have some research experience, even if they’re case studies. A complete lack of research is not a good look.
Fortunately, Med School Insiders has your back. If you find yourself wondering where to begin or not making much headway on your current research projects, our research course is for you.
We’ve distilled how to become a research superstar into a stepwise and repeatable process. The team behind the research course has more than 60+ publications, abstracts, and presentations, which has consistently wowed admissions committees. Learn more about The Ultimate Premed & Medical Student Research Course.
Create a Stand Out Residency Application with Med School Insiders
Med School Insiders will ensure your application meets every requirement, avoids red flags, and demonstrates passion, dedication, skill, and personality. In other words, we’ll make sure your medical school application stands out for all the right reasons.
Med School Insiders can help you prepare a stand out residency application. We offer a number of Residency Admissions Consulting Services tailored to your needs, including ERAS application editing, residency personal statement editing, one-on-one advising, and interview prep. No matter the specialty you’re interested in, we’ll help you hone your narrative to get the attention of your top choice residency programs.
