Advice for matching into competitive speciality from low tier med school

[nadiasp980]

Hey y'all I'm looking for some advice here. I recently got an A, which I'm super grateful for, but it's not a so-called "top tier" school. I've heard that as a result of Step 1 going P/F, matching into competitive specialties in desirable locations will be much more difficult if you don't go to a top school. While I'm open to other specialties, I'm mostly interested in ENT, dermatology, and ophthalmology, which I know are very competitive haha. I know it's super early, but I really want to make the most of med school while I'm there and would like to start researching and getting prepared. I was wondering what I can do to make myself stand out to have a better chance of matching into a program and location I want, other than the obvious like doing well in classes and Step 2? And could someone shed light on what is important in a residency application? Thanks so much everyone!!

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[housestaffhustle]

ENT, dermatology, and ophthalmology and certainly very competitive, whether or not you come from a "top tier" medical school (I've had friends at well known med schools that went unmatched in these specialties and had to apply a year later). Honestly I think if you're a top student at your med school (honors on most rotations, AOA honor society, research publications, good letters of recommendation), that should make you competitive regardless of your program's perceived reputation. And really that's all you can do is work hard to do the best that you can with the resources you're given.

A few things to focus on though:

• Scoring well on your rotations, passing Step 1, and doing well on Step 2 is a given
• Start doing research in your desired specialty early. The more publications you have the better. For better or worse, this is the currency that residencies favor.
• Most importantly, find a good mentor. Pumping out a lot of research without a mentor who will go to bat for you and make calls on your behalf won't be as helpful. Keep in mind you can also have more than one mentor (one for research, one for life/career advice).
• Consider reaching out to your home institution's program director (never too early) for your desired specialty and make your interest known. Meet with them regularly to seek advice/give them updates on your progress. If you're aiming for one of these specialties, matching should be your primary goal and location should come second. Regardless of whether or not you want to stay at your home institution, this PD will have connections that you can utilize when the time comes to apply if you're really interested in other locations.
• Start planning for away rotations early and make sure to impress. These rotations are basically interviews and some will hold a formal/informal interview at the end of the rotation.
• For your personal statement, make sure to craft a story for why you're interested in that specialty. It'll be helpful if the research you're working on fits that story.
• And of course, reach out to your seniors who have just finished applying. They will have the most up to date gossip about the interview trail. Your medical school dean will also have data on where students tend to match. This can give you some sense of how competitive you might be in certain geographic regions, at least historically.

Hope that helps. Best of luck!

 

[gomernation]

Great job being proactive. It's possible to match to a competitive specialty from a low-tier school but it will require a lot of effort on your part especially if you are selective about location.

First of all, understand the current state of the match. There are new medical schools opening every year, which means there is an oversupply of medical school graduates without a proportional increase in residency positions. This also means the match is becoming more competitive. I would suggest exploring the specialties you are interested in as quickly as possible and committing to 1 specialty. It will be almost impossible to be a competitive applicant for ENT, derm, and ophtho at the same time. The residencies and style of practice for the 3 specialties are very different so figure out what you like early on.

After deciding the specialty you want to pursue hit the ground running on specialty-specific research and networking at your home program during your first year. Introduce yourself to faculty and build relationships with people in positions of power (i.e. program director or division chief or chair). This will inform LORs when residency application comes. At the same time do not neglect your medical education. Research opportunities will always be there but you cannot redo medical school. Learning clinical medicine and doing well on the wards are the best things you can do to stand out.

Away rotations are crucial if you care about location. If you are serious about doing residency in a particular location you need to show face at your desired program. You will be at a disadvantage compared to students from the school that program is affiliated with. During your away rotation you will need to excel and be a competent and proactive student. Enthusiasm and active participation mindset will help.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

I’ve heard AOA from lower schools can help for top IM (apparently as difficult as most surgical specialties) not sure if it’s the same for surgical sub specialties

Looking at Match lists, it actually seems as if there is a similar specialty distribution for most schools outside of the top 20. The main differences aren’t necessarily in specialty type but program tier.

Depending on how low the school is, you need to be okay with going to Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky etc. if you want to do something competitive

 

[nadiasp980]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! It seems like the consensus is that I should find research opportunities and start publishing quickly. A few questions stemming off of this:

- How early should I be looking for research opportunities? A concern I have is that while I have ideas of what I want to get into, I don't have any "dream" specialty yet and I'm not sure how I can decide that quickly enough for me to get into research early. Any advice for this?
- Would either basic science or clinical research work in this case? Or is one seen as more desirable? I've also worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how a medical student would get involved in clinical research. Does anyone have any insight?
- Should I be spending my M1/M2 summers also conducting research in my desired specialty? And would it be better to be in institutions/areas that I would like to potentially match into?

Thank you so much again!

 

[nadiasp980]

I’ve heard AOA from lower schools can help for top IM (apparently as difficult as most surgical specialties) not sure if it’s the same for surgical sub specialties

Looking at Match lists, it actually seems as if there is a similar specialty distribution for most schools outside of the top 20. The main differences aren’t necessarily in specialty type but program tier.

Depending on how low the school is, you need to be okay with going to Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky etc. if you want to do something competitive

Hi! How low would be too low? It is an MD school, if that makes a difference.

 

[mudfud26]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! It seems like the consensus is that I should find research opportunities and start publishing quickly. A few questions stemming off of this:

- How early should I be looking for research opportunities? A concern I have is that while I have ideas of what I want to get into, I don't have any "dream" specialty yet and I'm not sure how I can decide that quickly enough for me to get into research early. Any advice for this?
- Would either basic science or clinical research work in this case? Or is one seen as more desirable? I've also worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how a medical student would get involved in clinical research. Does anyone have any insight?
- Should I be spending my M1/M2 summers also conducting research in my desired specialty? And would it be better to be in institutions/areas that I would like to potentially match into?

Thank you so much again!

Focus on your studies during the year, and don’t work in a lab until summer. M1 is hard enough. I’m enrolling as an MD-PhD and they have research strictly sectioned off so that we focus on one or the other. There will probably also be time for a research elective during clerkships. Wait until you start M1 (and probably wait until March-April) to look for summer research. Your school will likely have a program to help you match with researchers or you can contact guest lecturers (assuming you find their research interesting and have read about what they do) about working over the summer.

Read about what each PI does before you email to check compatibility. Do not cold call with a generic email. Generic emails will go unanswered.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Hi! How low would be too low? It is an MD school, if that makes a difference.

Too low for what? I think that students can competitive specialties from any MD school but it’s the residency tier that differs.

For example, I will be going to a low tier school that usually sends 5 to ortho, 3 ENT, 1-2 optho, 1 neurosurgery, 1 plastics, 1 or 2 derm, 1 urology etc. So clearly it’s not impossible to match these specialties from a low tier MD school, but I have noticed that these matches aren’t usually at MGH, Hopkins, UCSF etc. Rather they tend to be mid to low tier residencies within the specialty

 

[gyngyn]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! It seems like the consensus is that I should find research opportunities and start publishing quickly. A few questions stemming off of this:

- How early should I be looking for research opportunities? A concern I have is that while I have ideas of what I want to get into, I don't have any "dream" specialty yet and I'm not sure how I can decide that quickly enough for me to get into research early. Any advice for this?
- Would either basic science or clinical research work in this case? Or is one seen as more desirable? I've also worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator and enjoyed it, but I'm not sure how a medical student would get involved in clinical research. Does anyone have any insight?
- Should I be spending my M1/M2 summers also conducting research in my desired specialty? And would it be better to be in institutions/areas that I would like to potentially match into?

Thank you so much again!

Successful applicants (from any "tier") to the three specialties you mentioned are likely to have done an additional year of research during medical school (a fifth year).
Ophthalmology is an early match so include (or exclude) it first.

 

[aldol16]

Research and finding mentors. Network.