How much weight does Gold Humanism Society carry?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
MedScat

MedScat

Full Member
5+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2017
Messages
542
Reaction score
785
I saw someone posted this a while ago but the thread got locked because they double posted so, I'm still wondering...

Many people see it as a CV booster but anyone who got it or any attendings, do you ask/did you get asked about it on interviews? It's such a small little question on ERAS i feel like program directors could easily miss it. It feels like it's a nice honor to get since it shows you are good at providing empathetic patient care but, since it peer nominated, I wasn't sure if that makes it less meaningful to programs. Interested in SDN insight on this
Members don't see this ad.
 
MedScat said:
I saw someone posted this a while ago but the thread got locked because they double posted so, I'm still wondering...

Many people see it as a CV booster but anyone who got it or any attendings, do you ask/did you get asked about it on interviews? It's such a small little question on ERAS i feel like program directors could easily miss it. It feels like it's a nice honor to get since it shows you are good at providing empathetic patient care but, since it peer nominated, I wasn't sure if that makes it less meaningful to programs. Interested in SDN insight on this
Click to expand...
In my personal opinion there is minimal to no weight at most programs. It's just another line on the CV, and anecdotally at my school the people in GHHS matched overall very similarly to those not in GHHS. There wasn't the same variability that I've seen between AOA and non-AOA matches from the same school. So while it's nice to have, I don't think many programs are basing interview invites or rank list positions based on GHHS. There are way more important factors for what makes a good resident and many programs probably understand the fluffy and biased selection process at most schools.
 
It doesn't hurt. Does it help? Probably depends on the program. I think one place made verbal note of it when I interviewed for residency. Those who care will make note of it, those who don't will think it's a nice line on your CV. I still have it on mine.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I am GHHS so I may be biased, although I do think my opinion is reasonable. Irrespective of whether it is based on peer nomination or actual service (it was a mix at my school), I think it shows that you are an amicable person that others can get along with. If you are a top stat person and are competing against other stat-heavy people, I think having GHHS sets you apart in that it demonstrates you aren't only really intelligent but also have social prowess and will be able to navigate the politics of academic medicine. For those who have not worked in an office outside of medical school, being able to play politics is almost as important as your actual ability in terms of advancing your career and promotions. In other words, I feel it may be used as a proxy for EQ, as opposed to IQ, which could become more valuable as interviews continue to be virtual and programs have a harder time getting a feel for applicants personalities.
 
  • Like
  • Okay...
  • Haha
Reactions: 5 users
It is an award. The award itself probably doesn’t matter, other than you are decent. My CV has my previous jobs of being a truck driver for job experience and i put somewhere on there “Driver of the Year” which I got at 2 different companies a total of 4 times. The award in medicine means absolutely nothing but may get them to say “hm, he is probably a hard worker and someone who works well.” That’s all.

I got the gold humanism award and nobody asked me about it ever. But it probably comes across as “he doesn’t suck with patients” which is important enough.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
hiiiiiiiiiii said:
I am GHHS so I may be biased, although I do think my opinion is reasonable. Irrespective of whether it is based on peer nomination or actual service (it was a mix at my school), I think it shows that you are an amicable person that others can get along with. If you are a top stat person and are competing against other stat-heavy people, I think having GHHS sets you apart in that it demonstrates you aren't only really intelligent but also have social prowess and will be able to navigate the politics of academic medicine. For those who have not worked in an office outside of medical school, being able to play politics is almost as important as your actual ability in terms of advancing your career and promotions. In other words, I feel it may be used as a proxy for EQ, as opposed to IQ, which could become more valuable as interviews continue to be virtual and programs have a harder time getting a feel for applicants personalities.
Click to expand...
GHHS is the attending equivalent of being on the “Top Doctor” list in your local magazine. No correlation of how good or competent you are as a doctor, but more how nice you are to other doctors…..or how aggressive you are sending emails asking others to vote/nominate you for the recognition.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
GHHS = popularity contest. in my class, the biggest douches got the award because they brown nosed the right people
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
aafisahar said:
GHHS = popularity contest. in my class, the biggest douches got the award because they brown nosed the right people
Click to expand...
I think everyone always misses the point with these conversations. Regardless of the unfairness how people are nominated, it's still a easy screening tool to narrow down interview invites and rank lists. No one cares about your 2000 hrs of bench research if you have nothing to show for it. Part of succeeding in med school and medicine is learning how to navigate the system. If you can get it, it's definitely a plus.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
aafisahar said:
GHHS = popularity contest. in my class, the biggest douches got the award because they brown nosed the right people
Click to expand...
Well I'm not popular at all nor did I brown nose and somehow I got it. I was surprised and was hoping it carried some weight lol
 
  • Care
Reactions: 1 user
MedScat said:
Well I'm not popular at all nor did I brown nose and somehow I got it. I was surprised and was hoping it carried some weight lol
Click to expand...
It depends on the school. Some schools it’s literally just the student body voting, and it ends up just being whomever has the most friends.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Members don't see this ad :)
It matters about as much as that one time you volunteered to do blood pressure screenings at the county fair. It's a thing you did. Everyone knows that the criteria are so subjective and inconsistent as to be next to worthless. It's a thing that you did and it's a line on your CV. At least at my program in my specialty. YMMV.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
I hope not much since I won't be getting one.
 
treebeardette said:
It matters about as much as that one time you volunteered to do blood pressure screenings at the county fair. It's a thing you did. Everyone knows that the criteria are so subjective and inconsistent as to be next to worthless. It's a thing that you did and it's a line on your CV. At least at my program in my specialty. YMMV.
Click to expand...
It's hard to feel reassured about this when there are many programs and many specialties combined with the actual data showing GHHS is important
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Lol, a survey with an 18% response rate where it was rated as a 3.7/5 means it’s important? It’s rated as slightly more important than speaking a foreign language lol.
Click to expand...
In that case, why is AOA widely viewed to be important on SDN (even by attendings and PDs here) but not GHHS if the survey itself is not reliable?
 
Lawpy said:
In that case, why is AOA widely viewed to be important on SDN (even by attendings and PDs here) but not GHHS if the survey itself is not reliable?
Click to expand...

The impression I always got from SDN was that aoa is helpful but not necessary and mostly becomes more important in the competitive fields. Even in charting the outcomes, for most fields, most matched applicants don’t have AOA. Of all applicants, only 16% of matched applicants had AOA. That’s more than double the percentage of unmatched, but it’s still less than 1 in 5.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I'm sure that GHHS is viewed differently by different specialties. I can tell you that my surgical subspecialty doesn't do more than glance at it. It is possible that some of the more humanities-focused (edit: trying to figure out the polite way to say this) specialties care more, but I have no direct knowledge of that. AOA, as has been beaten to death on this forum, is a marker of overall success. It is not so much important in and of itself as it is a marker that you have overall excelled academically. Hence, it receives a somewhat more interested glance than GHHS. It again is not necessary to get an interview at even the most competitive programs in the most competitive specialties. But, the things that lead to getting AOA also tend to lead to being a very competitive applicant, so the two go hand in hand. But AOA is also not brought up at interviews, because we don't really care about that specifically and most of the super fancy medical schools don't have AOA anyways.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Neopolymath said:
No. Trust me, GHHS isn't even brought up in interviews many times.
Click to expand...
But does it play a role in rank lists? Interviewers may not bring it up sure but that could positively influence how they rank you

Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
The impression I always got from SDN was that aoa is helpful but not necessary and mostly becomes more important in the competitive fields. Even in charting the outcomes, for most fields, most matched applicants don’t have AOA. Of all applicants, only 16% of matched applicants had AOA. That’s more than double the percentage of unmatched, but it’s still less than 1 in 5.
Click to expand...

Why is AOA helpful but not necessary while GHHS is apparently not helpful? That's my question. AOA is notorious for being a popularity contest in some schools too.
 
treebeardette said:
I'm sure that GHHS is viewed differently by different specialties. I can tell you that my surgical subspecialty doesn't do more than glance at it. It is possible that some of the more humanities-focused (edit: trying to figure out the polite way to say this) specialties care more, but I have no direct knowledge of that. AOA, as has been beaten to death on this forum, is a marker of overall success. It is not so much important in and of itself as it is a marker that you have overall excelled academically. Hence, it receives a somewhat more interested glance than GHHS. It again is not necessary to get an interview at even the most competitive programs in the most competitive specialties. But, the things that lead to getting AOA also tend to lead to being a very competitive applicant, so the two go hand in hand. But AOA is also not brought up at interviews, because we don't really care about that specifically and most of the super fancy medical schools don't have AOA anyways.
Click to expand...
This is interesting. Well in that case, the PD survey is probably misleading for giving AOA and GHHS equal weight, esp given their poor response rate. But this is good to know, thanks
 
Lawpy said:
But does it play a role in rank lists? Interviewers may not bring it up sure but that could positively influence how they rank you
Click to expand...
If anything it MIGHT (emphasis on might) play a role in getting the interview. Once you're past that, absolutely 0% chance that it affects your ranking. Not a single person's GHHS status was mentioned or even known at our department's rank list meeting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
To me, it doesn't mean ****.

One of my friends from medical school got into the Gold Humanism Society, and while he wasn't a bad person at all, he wasn't what I'd call the exemplary model for humanism either. Matter of fact, he was known for his ego and lack of humility, and he used that fact to poke fun at the reality that someone thought he was "humanism" material.

But it's a line on the CV, so why not. Doesn't hurt. Be humanistic regardless of awards and titles and whatever.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
The people are my school who won it are popular resume builders. Some I know to be 'fake', others I know to be fine. Need social skills to win (aka probably good bedside manner), but at my school it was essentially a popularity contest. I think that's a common impression of it, not sure how adcoms feel. Probably ranging from neutral to slightly positive.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
As others have mentioned nice to have on your CV, but doesnt carry nearly the same weight as AOA.
[Unfortunately] AOA is viewed as a symbol of academic excellence (despite the fact that requirements for admission can vary widely from school to school - not to mention that some schools dont have it).
 
Some people's responses are funny on here. I think there could be some salt in the water lol
 
hiiiiiiiiiii said:
Some people's responses are funny on here. I think there could be some salt in the water lol
Click to expand...
Meh. Pointing out the superficial nature of it at many schools and that the PD survey isn’t exactly a good source of data isn’t salty. They haven’t even selected the people for my class yet, but I’m still glad something so subjective isn’t a big deal in ranking.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Meh. Pointing out the superficial nature of it at many schools and that the PD survey isn’t exactly a good source of data isn’t salty. They haven’t even selected the people for my class yet, but I’m still glad something so subjective isn’t a big deal in ranking.
Click to expand...
Totally agree! I wasn't referring to those posts really. I understand people's feeling towards it though. At my school GHHS does a lot and basically drives service and diversity discussions (real ones. Not the white=bad ones). Some times I sort of regret being in it because of the extra work. But then again, we are a strongly service oriented school. You most definitely would not be getting in for volunteering at a health fair once. You would actually fail the curriculum if that is all you did
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

Mr.Smile12
Gold Humanism essay contest announcement
Replies
9
Views
990
Chromium Surfer
Chromium Surfer
D
How much does the interview really influence the actual ranking?
Replies
23
Views
3K
NotAProgDirector
NotAProgDirector
D
Do LORs carry extra weight for the residency program that the writer graduated from, especially if it's a younger attending?
Replies
4
Views
640
mrbreakfast
M
I
Does being on leadership committee of interest groups hold significant weight in residency apps? I have 2 significant DEI leadership roles now.
Replies
9
Views
891
coconutlover
C
B
Does having a niche/theme in residency applications matter as much as it did back in premed?
Replies
6
Views
1K
operaman
O
Top