What should a student in their clinical rotations that is interested in surg onc do now to get ready for that? Do more research, get into certain gen surg programs etc? Just trying to see what the 5 year plan is for now.
Thanks!!
You've probably seen this before, but it's true:
1. Kill Step 1
2. Aim for AOA
3. Work really hard on your third year rotations, especially surgery
4. Get great letters
5. Rotate at programs that train great residents (talk to your advisor) and when you're there, kick *** and take names. Work really hard, stay late, get there early, always have a smile on your face.
To match into surgical oncology typically requires two years of research, so you'll want to look at residencies who allow/encourage their residents to do dedicated lab time. Having faculty that are well-connected helps too. So you're probably looking more at university programs that publish/have labs. This is certainly not exclusively the only way to match into surg onc, as there are people who do so from community programs, but that's my $0.02.
Also, don't just go somewhere that churns out surg onc/HPB fellows. Go to a program that will afford you
excellent general surgery training. There are lots of fields in general surgery and you never know what may catch your eye, just like specialty selection in med school.
Good luck.
