An interesting eval

[tbhdying]

Just wanted to come on here and get everyone’s thoughts on what my eval for IM said.

story: my first core was IM. And the intern and the attending knew very well that I am interested in pursuing Gen surg/surg. They’d let me go down with our medicine patients and see their surgeries and scrub in, whenever that was the case. I made myself pretty clear that I’m surg or nothing. And they knew very well. Then- I got my final eval and it said, “ready to proceed to sub internship, knowledgeable” and a bunch of other adjectives afterwards. Didn’t say what subI or anything. I was a bit taken back by this comment. Because 1. It was my first core 2. Im not sure how it looks coming from my IM core?

if anyone could share their thoughts on this and how it would be taken by surg programs, I’d love to hear? I don’t have much experience with evals yet. I just found that to be an odd comment.
Thank you so much for your help!

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[chaim123]

Just wanted to come on here and get everyone’s thoughts on what my eval for IM said.

story: my first core was IM. And the intern and the attending knew very well that I am interested in pursuing Gen surg/surg. They’d let me go down with our medicine patients and see their surgeries and scrub in, whenever that was the case. I made myself pretty clear that I’m surg or nothing. And they knew very well. Then- I got my final eval and it said, “ready to proceed to sub internship, knowledgeable” and a bunch of other adjectives afterwards. Didn’t say what subI or anything. I was a bit taken back by this comment. Because 1. It was my first core 2. Im not sure how it looks coming from my IM core?

if anyone could share their thoughts on this and how it would be taken by surg programs, I’d love to hear? I don’t have much experience with evals yet. I just found that to be an odd comment.
Thank you so much for your help!

I'm not sure what you think is odd. Would you mind elaborating further? They said you are at the level where you are ready to proceed to your sub-I, the next level of training after a core, and then listed some positive attributes.

 

[operaman]

Just wanted to come on here and get everyone’s thoughts on what my eval for IM said.

story: my first core was IM. And the intern and the attending knew very well that I am interested in pursuing Gen surg/surg. They’d let me go down with our medicine patients and see their surgeries and scrub in, whenever that was the case. I made myself pretty clear that I’m surg or nothing. And they knew very well. Then- I got my final eval and it said, “ready to proceed to sub internship, knowledgeable” and a bunch of other adjectives afterwards. Didn’t say what subI or anything. I was a bit taken back by this comment. Because 1. It was my first core 2. Im not sure how it looks coming from my IM core?

if anyone could share their thoughts on this and how it would be taken by surg programs, I’d love to hear? I don’t have much experience with evals yet. I just found that to be an odd comment.
Thank you so much for your help!

Did you get your grade? That will ultimately be what matters.

To me that comment sounds like you were a great student, well prepared, team player, and ready for the next step. The fact you got that on your first rotation and a tougher one like IM looks even better.

 

[tbhdying]

I'm not sure what you think is odd. Would you mind elaborating further? They said you are at the level where you are ready to proceed to your sub-I, the next level of training after a core, and then listed some positive

I'm not sure what you think is odd. Would you mind elaborating further? They said you are at the level where you are ready to proceed to your sub-I, the next level of training after a core, and then listed some positive attributes.

I’ll clarify what I thought was odd. The comment was not odd in itself. I thought it was odd because I didn’t know how it would be perceived by someone who is a surgery PD, seeing that come from an IM doc. Which is why I wanted to know if that comment sounds like a general level of preparedness— or that I wanna do a SubI in IM, as if I am or was interested in IM?

 

[tbhdying]

Did you get your grade? That will ultimately be what matters.

To me that comment sounds like you were a great student, well prepared, team player, and ready for the next step. The fact you got that on your first rotation and a tougher one like IM looks even better.

Actually taking my shelf this week! You’re absolutely right, the grade will matter a lot. I just hope the comment isn’t taken in a way that says I might have wanted to do IM to a PD for surgery :/. Maybe over thinking it lol

 

[7331poas]

I’ll clarify what I thought was odd. The comment was not odd in itself. I thought it was odd because I didn’t know how it would be perceived by someone who is a surgery PD, seeing that come from an IM doc. Which is why I wanted to know if that comment sounds like a general level of preparedness— or that I wanna do a SubI in IM, as if I am or was interested in IM?

You think a surgery PD would be so offended that an IM doc thinks you would be successful on an IM sub-I?

 

[operaman]

Actually taking my shelf this week! You’re absolutely right, the grade will matter a lot. I just hope the comment isn’t taken in a way that says I might have wanted to do IM to a PD for surgery :/. Maybe over thinking it lol

Yeah definitely won’t be taken that way. Even if it were, it still makes you look good assuming your surgery comments are solid. There’s a lot of medicine in surgery but not much time to teach it in residency so programs like applicants who have a solid foundation.

 

[tbhdying]

You think a surgery PD would be so offended that an IM doc thinks you would be successful on an IM sub-I?

No one said offended. I asked if it would be taken in a way that I was wavering and/or considering doing IM.

 

[tbhdying]

Yeah definitely won’t be taken that way. Even if it were, it still makes you look good assuming your surgery comments are solid. There’s a lot of medicine in surgery but not much time to teach it in residency so programs like applicants who have a solid foundation.

Thank you so much. This was so helpful! I actually heard those exact words about medicine and surgery from the surgery program director herself when I scrubbed in. Thank you once again! I will stop overthinking the meaning now haha

 

[Ho0v-man]

I think that attending actually did you a solid. It’s perfectly fine comments for ANY field. So that way if you do randomly change your mind you don’t have comments that say. “Will make a fantastic general surgeon!” When you’re applying to something else.

 

[tbhdying]

I think that attending actually did you a solid. It’s perfectly fine comments for ANY field. So that way if you do randomly change your mind you don’t have comments that say. “Will make a fantastic general surgeon!” When you’re applying to something else.

You’re absolutely right about that. I never thought of it like that and I should have. Anything can happen and so many people end up with a specialty they never considered. Better to have general words. Thanks for the awesome input... first core and I have a lot to learn about everything

 

[Redpancreas]

Unless there's something you're not including that it seems as if your IM attending gave you a great evaluation and I don't see how it can be construed in any other way. Not sure where the confusion is. Do you honestly think a surgery program will look at the comment “ready to proceed to sub internship, knowledgeable” on your narrative IM comments and make anything negative out of it?

 

[tbhdying]

Unless there's something you're not including that it seems as if your IM attending gave you a great evaluation and I don't see how it can be construed in any other way. Not sure where the confusion is. Do you honestly think a surgery program will look at the comment “ready to proceed to sub internship, knowledgeable” on your narrative IM comments and make anything negative out of it?
@BacktotheBasics Lol why do people like you find it so necessary to attack people on this forum, because they interpret the post in their own way? Do you honestly think if I knew exactly how this comment would be interpreted I’d bother asking a random group of strangers on the internet about what they think? It’s great that you have it all figured out being here for 10 years but some of us are just starting out and don’t know how things will be looked at. Especially when I think a SubI is done only for a specialty you wanna match in.
And in regards to that humble brag comment you deleted about my post... Do you honestly think I’d be wasting time bragging about myself anonymously to an anonymous group of strangers who can’t do anything for me? Clearly we both don’t know very obvious things.

 

[sunshine859]

Nothing but positive for you! And super common for faculty/residents to make comments about how they would envision your future in the particular field you rotated in. For instance, my peds comments included something like "would make an excellent pediatrician" although I won't be applying into peds.

 

[NonTrad16]

I think an important lesson is: don’t stress too much. PDs have hundreds of apps and you’d MSPE is pages long with themes likely being the most important. If everyone says you’re great — great! If they say you’re mediocre... less so.

Excelling in your preferred speciality is greatly advantageous.

That said, you can drive yourself mad if you hang onto every word of these evals. You’re reading them 100x closer than anyone else as it is (since you’re reading 1, they read hundreds!). It’ll be ok...

 

[Animalcules]

If an IM attending thinks you are ready to do a sub-I, no surgery PD will ever touch you again with a 10 foot pole. I’m so sorry. Maybe consider family medicine now? You can still do minor procedures like toe nail clipping and wart removal.

 

[tbhdying]

Nothing but positive for you! And super common for faculty/residents to make comments about how they would envision your future in the particular field you rotated in. For instance, my peds comments included something like "would make an excellent pediatrician" although I won't be applying into peds.

Thank you so much for commenting. I honestly had no idea that these things are said commonly and that people don’t just jump to false conclusions because it came from another specialty. Definitely overthought it and so thankful you all shared your input.

 

[tbhdying]

I think an important lesson is: don’t stress too much. PDs have hundreds of apps and you’d MSPE is pages long with themes likely being the most important. If everyone says you’re great — great! If they say you’re mediocre... less so.

Excelling in your preferred speciality is greatly advantageous.

That said, you can drive yourself mad if you hang onto every word of these evals. You’re reading them 100x closer than anyone else as it is (since you’re reading 1, they read hundreds!). It’ll be ok...

So well said. You’re absolutely right. Thank you so much for your meaningful input. Totally overthought it and nit picked at it. They read so many and I’m just reading my own. will be less of a micromanager for future evals😆!! 🙏🏼

 

[tbhdying]

If an IM attending thinks you are ready to do a sub-I, no surgery PD will ever touch you again with a 10 foot pole. I’m so sorry. Maybe consider family medicine now? You can still do minor procedures like toe nail clipping and wart removal.

Ugh I’d do fam medicine but now that the IM eval said I’m ready for a SubI, I guess I’ll have to pursue IM😣. Thanks for your $0.02 tho 😩🙏🏼🙌🏼

 

[Redpancreas]

Unless there's something you're not including that it seems as if your IM attending gave you a great evaluation and I don't see how it can be construed in any other way. Not sure where the confusion is. Do you honestly think a surgery program will look at the comment “ready to proceed to sub internship, knowledgeable” on your narrative IM comments and make anything negative out of it?
@BacktotheBasics Lol why do people like you find it so necessary to attack people on this forum, because they interpret the post in their own way? Do you honestly think if I knew exactly how this comment would be interpreted I’d bother asking a random group of strangers on the internet about what they think? It’s great that you have it all figured out being here for 10 years but some of us are just starting out and don’t know how things will be looked at. Especially when I think a SubI is done only for a specialty you wanna match in.
And in regards to that humble brag comment you deleted about my post... Do you honestly think I’d be wasting time bragging about myself anonymously to an anonymous group of strangers who can’t do anything for me? Clearly we both don’t know very obvious things.

It sure sounded like it but I decided that after a couple posts I figured maybe you weren't trolling so I toned it down. Still quite bufuddled you felt confused about that eval, good job you made a good impression.

 

[tbhdying]

It sure sounded like it but I decided that after a couple posts I figured maybe you weren't trolling so I toned it down. Still quite bufuddled you felt confused about that eval, good job you made a good impression.

I’m so confused where you saw that I said I’m confused? Or did you assume I’m confused? I literally have said over and over that my concern was if that comment is open to different interpretations lol. You clearly seem confused about what I asked. I got my answer lol I don’t need to explain myself further. Thanks!!

 

[Redpancreas]

I’m so confused where you saw that I said I’m confused? Or did you assume I’m confused? I literally have said over and over that my concern was if that comment is open to different interpretations lol. You clearly seem confused about what I asked. I got my answer lol I don’t need to explain myself further. Thanks!!

Look. If you want I can apologize for my initial post if it offended you as it was a bit rough and I'll ignore the thread because I still don't see what you're really asking here.

That said, of course I assumed you were confused! You say in your initial post "I got my final eval and it said, “ready to proceed to sub internship, knowledgeable” and then you proceed with two questions and a comment of uncertainty 1) "Im not sure how it looks coming from my IM core?" 2) "If anyone could share their thoughts on this and how it would be taken by surg programs, I’d love to hear?" 3.) "I don’t have much experience with evals yet". If you were not confused, I'm not sure why you would make a thread asking about this...unless you were looking for validation which was my initial inclination (but I suppose that is presumptious on my part hence why I deleted my comment very first comment and apologized for it).

Good luck regardless. If you did well on IM, that's a great step as it's a broad field and a lot of surgical management carries over!

 

[candbgirl]

I’ll clarify what I thought was odd. The comment was not odd in itself. I thought it was odd because I didn’t know how it would be perceived by someone who is a surgery PD, seeing that come from an IM doc. Which is why I wanted to know if that comment sounds like a general level of preparedness— or that I wanna do a SubI in IM, as if I am or was interested in IM?

You are over thinking/reacting. What was stated is perfectly normal for an IM doc to say after an IM rotation. The IM doc couldn’t say you are ready for a surgical sub I. I think you are disappointed he didn’t say you’d be a great surgeon. But he couldn’t / wouldn’t say that. After your surgery rotation hopefully that doc will.

 

[tbhdying]

You are over thinking/reacting. What was stated is perfectly normal for an IM doc to say after an IM rotation. The IM doc couldn’t say you are ready for a surgical sub I. I think you are disappointed he didn’t say you’d be a great surgeon. But he couldn’t / wouldn’t say that. After your surgery rotation hopefully that doc will.

Yeah I actually just didn’t expect something about a SubI at all from an IM doc since I told her I wanna do surgery because prior to this I always thought writing about being ready for a SubI was only for a specialty you were considering. But I’ve come to find out that it just means you’re ready for the next level of work. I hope I do well on my surgery rotation, it’s up next. Thanks for your help🙏🏼