Am I in a good position to potentially match Anesthesia/General Surgery assuming step 2 is good

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Hi everybody,

I am wondering what my chances of matching anaesthesia or general surgery from a low tier MD school. I know that both have become more competitive recently. The school does not have a home program for either.

Stats:

Top 10% of class (eligible for AOA so far but not sure if I’ll be nominated

2 publications (one first author, one mid). No Anesthesia publications. unlikely to be able to get anesthesia specific research. 8 presentations/abstracts

What else can I do to maximise my chances from a low tier school

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[Billiam95]

For gen surg: more research, step2 > 250, good LORs, and away rotations at programs where you will be competitive

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

For gyn surg: more research, step2 > 250, good LORs, and away rotations at programs where you will be competitive

How many more papers would you aim for? Research is relatively hard to come by at the school

 

[Med Ed]

With a first author publication and 9 additional entries you're probably past the point or diminishing returns. More won't hurt, but if it's going to be a big time sink to finish some low-impact project then why bother?

The first thing you really need to do is figure out which of these fields you want to pursue. Have you rotated on one or both of them?

After that you'll really need to network. Find an approachable faculty member in the field and attach yourself to them. Look at recent match lists and see where your school's grads go. Reach out them and see if they'll offer any advice. Obviously plan on doing some away rotations.

 

[MDMechEngr]

If you are top 10% you should be invited to apply for AOA. Make sure your personal statement stands out and you should get it. I believe you had a pretty high MCAT, which means you stand a very good chance of scoring a 265+ on S2 if you dedicate the time. 1st quartile, Honor all or as many clinical rotations as you can, decent research and leadership, rotate to where you want to match, do well and net work with residents, attending, PD, and get good LOR at your aways. Regardless of school tier, matching will be on you for the most part. I think you will be fine with GS and Anesthesiology. GL.

 

[aldol16]

Step 2 score. Do well.

 

[m1redsox]

No more research needed. Avg step 2 for gen surg in 2022 was 250 and 248 for anesthesia. 245+ (even 240+) should be fine to match. Sure, everyone thinks the sky is falling with p/f step 1, and everyone thinks their specialty’s avg step 2 is going to jump 5+ points, but speaking from experience this cycle, this is not the case