I apologize if this has been asked a hundred times before, but does anyone have some advice concerning what MS-1s should be doing at this point if they're thinking orthopaedic surgery?
Advice for MS-1s
- Thread starter DRS0203
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2005
- Messages
- 1,728
- Reaction score
- 11
keep an open mind. ortho is like marine biology was in undergrad. tons of people wanted to do it initially, but most figured out it wasn't for them one way or another.
real advice:
do as best as you can and keep your options open. most important decision of your life (you will be doing this for your entire professional career), so look at other fields and make sure ortho is right for you.
good luck.
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2007
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 0
stay hungry and work. Make your contacts early. Get research and publications. Learn gross well and biochem and the rest of your freshmen classes so that when you are a second year you blow step 1 out. Dont become a prick as a 3rd and 4th year. Learn how to treat and manage patients. Make sure you get your strong letters of rec. (note this is as far as I have gone.) blow step 2 out and eventually pass step 2 CS. Then pray to God that you did enough and one program falls inlove with you. Then get drunk on match day 
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2006
- Messages
- 245
- Reaction score
- 3
Practice building cabinets and bookshelves. Lift weights.
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2006
- Messages
- 1,264
- Reaction score
- 37
Yeah most ortho residencies will request bench press and squat 1 rep maximums.
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2007
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 0
Damn, that'll tear my pecs off.
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2000
- Messages
- 5,910
- Reaction score
- 41
Tip #1: Pick something non surgical
Tip #2: Pick something that ends in -ology (Cardiology, Dermatology, Anesthesiology)
===
In all seriousness, I think that most surgical programs (speaking from a general surgery standpoint but it probably applies to Ortho) are looking for people who are hardworking and willing to put in the effort & make the sacrifice.
Grades and board scores are important but what seems to really matter is how you function as part of the team. Do you show up early? Stay late? Are you confident and have a desire to push harder to learn more?
You need to be aggressive without being overbearing. Upper year residents want to know that they can trust you...trust your assessment of a patient in the ER, trust your post-op check late at night, trust that in the middle of the night they have enough confidence in you that they know when they need to get out of bed or when something can wait until morning.
Work hard, do well in school, do well on the boards and get to know people early. Establish connections starting in first year.
But more importantly, KEEP AN OPEN MIND. You never know what you will find in medical school that will change your mind or turn you on to a totally different field. My residency director says that some of his best residents have been people who would make great internists first.
At least with Gen Surg you need to know your medicine first...I am sure with Ortho as well you make a far better surgeon if you are a well rounded physician, not just a "technician" as some people view cutters.
Good luck.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2006
- Messages
- 3,884
- Reaction score
- 3,661
Like "General Surgerology"?
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2002
- Messages
- 6,792
- Reaction score
- 7
The sea was angry that day, my friends ... like an old man trying to return soup at a deli...
- Joined
- Mar 4, 2007
- Messages
- 353
- Reaction score
- 0
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2005
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 1
Ortho residency admission:
If you think you want to specialize in ortho try to decide early.
The key parts to your application are the usual:
1. USMLE I score (the most important to get an interview)
2. Clinical grades (basic science grades are important, but you can do well on step I and bluff your way out of a few bad M1/2 grades)
3. LORs
4. Rotation at the specific program (can help you get an interview)
5. your interview
6. Research (very imprortant in ortho). Try to do it ASAP. Get on a paper or 2.
If you think you want to specialize in ortho try to decide early.
The key parts to your application are the usual:
1. USMLE I score (the most important to get an interview)
2. Clinical grades (basic science grades are important, but you can do well on step I and bluff your way out of a few bad M1/2 grades)
3. LORs
4. Rotation at the specific program (can help you get an interview)
5. your interview
6. Research (very imprortant in ortho). Try to do it ASAP. Get on a paper or 2.
- Joined
- May 13, 2008
- Messages
- 6
- Reaction score
- 0
From what I've seen on this forum:
1) Blow Step 1 out of the sky. Only maybe possibly remotely then can you get an interview at places you dont rotate at.
2) Get involved in some kind of research (do this as soon as possible). Preferably ortho-related. It does NOT have to turn out to be a paper, but you need something to talk about @ the interviews.
3) Learn as much as you can and try and have fun during your first 2 years. Speak to people in the years ahead of you. Maybe even show up to the Ortho rounds @ your affiliated hospital.
Here's something I did when I was a lowly MS-2...i went to the Ortho program director @ my university and asked HIM what was necessary to explore my interest. Seriously, the best advice you can get is from the SOURCE ITSELF. Furthermore, when you do get around to an ortho rotation @ your home school, he'll already know who you are and know that your interested!
1) Blow Step 1 out of the sky. Only maybe possibly remotely then can you get an interview at places you dont rotate at.
2) Get involved in some kind of research (do this as soon as possible). Preferably ortho-related. It does NOT have to turn out to be a paper, but you need something to talk about @ the interviews.
3) Learn as much as you can and try and have fun during your first 2 years. Speak to people in the years ahead of you. Maybe even show up to the Ortho rounds @ your affiliated hospital.
Here's something I did when I was a lowly MS-2...i went to the Ortho program director @ my university and asked HIM what was necessary to explore my interest. Seriously, the best advice you can get is from the SOURCE ITSELF. Furthermore, when you do get around to an ortho rotation @ your home school, he'll already know who you are and know that your interested!
