Preclinical Years and Ortho Interest

[ekmf27050]

Hi All-

I wanted to get some general advice on using M1/M2 to my advantage when I'm interested in ortho. I recognize that doing well in classes, board prep, and rotations is my priority. However. When looking online for advice about maximizing preclinical years to match ortho, the spectrum runs from:

"Do some ortho research and shadow some orthos at your institution"
to
"Publish 25 ortho articles, attend every ortho department meeting, shadow on overnight ortho call every night, and find the most prestigious member of the ortho department and convince them to adopt you"

What's the happy/reasonable medium here? I would like to get a leg up if I can, but good god, some of the advice out there seems insane. Thanks for any input!

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[TheOther]

Publish 12.5 ortho articles, attend every other ortho department meeting, shadow on overnight ortho call every other night, and find the second most prestigious member of the ortho department and convince them to foster you.

Also, Google Charting Outcomes and PD surveys.

 

[ekmf27050]

Publish 12.5 ortho articles, attend every other ortho department meeting, shadow on overnight ortho call every other night, and find the second most prestigious member of the ortho department and convince them to foster you.

Also, Google Charting Outcomes and PD surveys.

Thanks! I found some interesting, if slightly conflicting info from studies circa 2006- looks like some PDs emphasize numbers (USMLE, rank) while others emphasize rec letters. The 2016 PD survey seemed to have basically equivalent importance ratings for scores and rec letters. I suppose then the question becomes how to best secure the rec letters. I'm not confident that being fostered would cut it. Maybe ancestry DNA to show long-lost heritage to orthopedic legends?