Medical School

[BigRedBeta]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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.

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

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.

I heard that Radiology is a competitive field. Don't residents have to go through extra training couses, like rotating through other subspecialties in order to comply with the American Board of Radiology?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

I heard that Radiology is a competitive field. Don't residents have to go through extra training couses, like rotating through other subspecialties in order to comply with the American Board of Radiology?

Yes...radiology is a competitive program, but I didn't go through the match for my spot. I got a spot after a resident decided not to come back after doing his internship in family medicine. Radiology is a 5 year program. The first year you do a rotating internship or general internship in medicine or family medicine. You can also do surgery for your internship (therefore, my two years of surgery counted for my internship.) The remaining four years are spent learning just radiology including all of the radiological subspecialties. The only extra courses we take are to study for our boards which are very intense. Unlike other specialties, we have a three part board examination which includes a Physics exam, Written exam and Oral exam. Many people take courses to study for Physics and oral exams. AFIP is a radiology/pathology course at Walter Reed in DC that most residents in the country attend (now a 4 week course, but was 6 weeks when I went) to prepare for the written boards.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

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.

Radiology is a excellent field. Many radiologists are retiring and there will be a need for more with more technology that comes on line--i.e. MRI/MRA and ultrasound with bubble contrasts, etc.

Thanks for you all taking the time out to explain the dermatology resident process...

Surgery is a sorely needed area, too the Cardiothoracic at my institution is BEGGING for fellows and are having trouble finding ones. But you already need to have your general surgery boards for that million hours per week and a super high malpractice insurance. But you do get paid a lot of money...

[GeekyPenguin]

Thanks for the longer explanations, GC doctors! My best friend from HS is a M3 right now and is considering surgery pretty heavily, so I like to know all about this stuff.