Medical School

blackngoldengrl · #1 09-13-2007, 11:15 PM

bump! It's a new school year, any 1st years out there?! I'm happily enjoying the joy of rotations that is 3rd year. Anyone else?

SoEnchanting · #2 09-18-2007, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackngoldengrl

bump! It's a new school year, any 1st years out there?! I'm happily enjoying the joy of rotations that is 3rd year. Anyone else?

MSIII here... just finished Surgery and am now on Psych. 3rd year is truly a breath of fresh air after the Step 1...

Have you decided on a specialty yet?

BigRedBeta · #3 09-22-2007, 11:14 PM

Agree, being an M3 is soooo much better than any of part of the first two years. Actually doing things has made me hate the first two years that much more so.

I started on Surgery - really loved the two weeks I spent on Pedi Ortho. Have spent the last 4 weeks on Peds. Have 4 weeks left, 2 at the University Outpatient clinic, then 2 weeks on inpatient.

I'm pretty sure I want to do Peds, then either a cardio or GI fellowship (maybe neonatology), but my time on Pedi ortho had me considering an ortho residency, though my Step 1 score isn't fantastic. Not sure I could handle an Ortho residency anyways.

AOII Angel - I've been thinking about the Med/Peds route as well, then doing the peds fellowship. How did your husband like it? Does he think it was worth it? I've had a lot of people tell me that it's a dying residency path (even though it's pretty new), as well as describing the residents as red-head step children, and a bunch of other negative things. Did it help him in his search for a fellowship position? Does he plan on focusing just on peds patients, or is he expecting to spend time on following kids as they become adults too? Any sort of info you could give me would be great!

minDyG · #4 03-23-2008, 05:00 PM

I didn't want to start a new thread, so sorry if this seems like a hijack...

Recently I've met a huge group of fourth year med students at Medical College of Georgia (they just started frequenting my place of employment). Last week, they all found out where they matched for next year for their internship and residency. The process reminded me a LOT of recruitment and bids matching, so of course I was fascinated by the whole thing!

Does anyone know more about how the process works, if it is in fact similar to bid matching? Just curious!

AOII Angel · #5 03-23-2008, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by minDyG

I didn't want to start a new thread, so sorry if this seems like a hijack...

Recently I've met a huge group of fourth year med students at Medical College of Georgia (they just started frequenting my place of employment). Last week, they all found out where they matched for next year for their internship and residency. The process reminded me a LOT of recruitment and bids matching, so of course I was fascinated by the whole thing!

Does anyone know more about how the process works, if it is in fact similar to bid matching? Just curious!

Yes...it is very similar to bid matching. The difference is that you apply for the residency programs that you would consider going to. I applied to 11 general surgery programs when I went through the match, but some people apply to over 90 programs for the more competitive programs (ie Dermatology, Orthopaedics, ENT.) The programs invite you to interview based on whether or not your meet their criteria. At the end, you make a list of the programs in order of how you liked them and the programs do the same with the applicants. The two are secretly matched in the same way.

AKA_Monet · #6 03-23-2008, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Yes...it is very similar to bid matching. The difference is that you apply for the residency programs that you would consider going to. I applied to 11 general surgery programs when I went through the match, but some people apply to over 90 programs for the more competitive programs (ie Dermatology, Orthopaedics, ENT.) The programs invite you to interview based on whether or not your meet their criteria. At the end, you make a list of the programs in order of how you liked them and the programs do the same with the applicants. The two are secretly matched in the same way.

I didn't know dermatology is that competitive! How come? Just asking? Because it can lead to Plastic Surgery?

Did you get your general surgery program of your choice? Congrats if you did!

AOII Angel · #7 03-23-2008, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKA_Monet

I didn't know dermatology is that competitive! How come? Just asking? Because it can lead to Plastic Surgery?

Did you get your general surgery program of your choice? Congrats if you did!

The most competitive programs are those that have high pay, low work hours and the fewest spots in the country. Dermatology is a very small residency with less than 1000 spots open per year in the country. You have to be top of your class to do dermatology...not because it is that difficult! People like that there are no dermatology emergencies to get you out of bed at night. Plastic Surgery is also a small residency program (smaller than dermatology) but you can also become a plastic surgeon after completing general surgery or ENT or Oral Surgery (DDS-MDs.) Dermatologists cannot do plastic surgery, but can perform injections and biopsies.

I did get my top general surgery choice, though, I dropped out of surgery for a much more competitive field, Radiology, after two years of back breaking work. General surgery, even after the 80 hr work week limit started, requires residents to work extremely long hours (up to 120hrs some weeks of my residency) and does not guarantee as high a salary as fields that demand much less time.