Blog Post Focus: Conferences and Medical Students
This blog post will discuss the benefits of conferences for medical students and some considerations med students should keep in mind. They can be great opportunities for networking, resume building, and can be a lot of fun! Potentially they can be funded by medical school or professional society, but you may have to pay your own trip.
Benefits of Conferences for Medical Students
Conferences can be helpful for medical students in several ways. They can be a way to learn about specific topics and to meet certain people. They can also be good for building your resume. If you present at these meetings, those presentations can be put on your CV. If you are doing national level club stuff at these conferences these can be put on your CV. Additionally, these meetings can be a good way to have a vacation-like experience.
How to Gain Acceptance to a Conference as a Medical Student
Conferences as a medical student are limited by your medical school and also may be limited by the societies that host the events. In general, check websites for any of these society meetings you may be interested in going and see if medical students are able to be a part. Some meetings will have very limited roles for medical students while others may have more robust opportunities.
Scholarly Work and Clubs
Gaining acceptance to conferences generally require having scholarly work to present or a high-level position in a club. If you present a case you likely will need a resident or an attending to be part of your case report or listed as an author of the presentation, but you may be able to be the presenting author. If you are part of a club, you may have the opportunity to go to a conference. For example, depending on the club you may have the chance to participate at the national level to swear in new members.
Partner with Attendings for Scholarly Works
For scholarly work like research and case reports, partner with an attending who regularly completes research. Find projects to be a part, offer to write and present case reports or the research of the group. If you make yourself useful you likely can be a part of these projects. Offering a means of increasing the attending’s exposure can go a long way.
Clubs and Conferences
Clubs can be national level themselves for certain societies or may have the opportunity to participate in club activities at conferences. For example, some societies like SAAO have national level representatives, so representatives at medical schools can go to the conferences to vote in the new members. Some positions are national themselves, such as medical student component delegates for the ASA.
Final Thoughts—Conferences Can Be a Great Experience for Medical Students
Conferences can be a great experience for medical students. Go to websites for professional societies and find out when they have their annual meetings and if medical students are able to attend. Discern requirements for attendance at conferences and for scholarly works to present at conferences. Find research or scholarly work to present or a way to attend through a medical school club.
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