Starting first year in August...

cleavagefurrow said:

Hi, I am starting my first year in medical school this August. I am thinking about becoming an obgyn and possibly becoming a fetal and maternal medicine doc. I guess what I am asking is, how does one obtain top residencies (beyond GPA and boards)? Where do you get good letters of rec? What types of summer programs, scholarships, organizations... should I be looking at? Anything else I need to think about? I know that I may be thinking about this a little prematurely but I really would like to be as prepared as possible. TIA

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You need to think about doing well in school and doing well on your boards. Period. If you're still this gung-ho about OB at the end of the year, you may want to ask around (especially residents) for research opportunities in OB. On the other hand, you may wish to sit at the pool all summer and drink appletinis (my vote). Other than that, you're going to change your mind a hundred times between now and the end of 3rd year (when you actually have to start being serious about picking a specialty), so all you need to focus on are boards and grades.

Letters of rec? Who are you going to get them from? Your biochem prof? Your third grade teacher? Slow down, tiger. You get letters of rec from people you work with in clinical rotations, which would be more than TWO YEARS from now. I suppose if you end up being really heavily involved in a research project next summer, you may end up asking them for a letter, but probably not-- residencies read your letters to find out about your attitude and clinical skills.

There is no need to triple-post this in Allo, Osteo, and here, especially since you already got excellent responses from Osteo.