Applying to Prelim surgery without surgery LORs

[Gilbert Syndrome]

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I'm sorry if this has been answered before but I just can't seem to find a past thread about this on here. I am a DO student from a brand new school applying for Gas this upcoming cycle. Step 1: 241, Level 1: 650, a couple of poster presentations, and some ECs. I want to maximize my chances of matching so I plan to apply to TY and Prelim medicine and surgery spots. However, I do not have a letter from a surgeon. Is this something that could potentially prevent me from applying to prelim surgery spots or can I just use the LORs that I currently have ( 2 IM, 1 Peds, 1 Gas). Thank you.

 

[Beeftenderloin]

I don’t really have any experience with what you’re asking about.

But what I can tell you is you’ll be a lot more likely to get a meaningful response from folks on this forum if you don’t call it GAS. Spring for the extra characters.

 

[repititionition]

plenty of surgical prelim spots go unfilled every year. if a surgical prelim is your backup, don't worry about it. also, as poster above mentions, the specialty you're applying to -- and ultimately responsible for the future of -- is anesthesiology.

 

[Gilbert Syndrome]

plenty of surgical prelim spots go unfilled every year. if a surgical prelim is your backup, don't worry about it. also, as poster above mentions, the specialty you're applying to -- and ultimately responsible for the future of -- is anesthesiology.

Can I apply to those unfilled spots without a surgery LOR though?

 

[AdmiralChz]

Can I apply to those unfilled spots without a surgery LOR though?

The short answer is yes. Surgery prelim positions are NOT competitive and would be happy to get US grads who aren’t SOAPing.

That being said, the few programs that are more relaxed in terms of hours and educational will be difficult to break into, especially without a surgery letter. Your life may be easier with a letter, but it’s not an absolute requirement.

Side note - do everything you can to not do one of these years. Most are total scut with minimal educational value. Your stats are strong enough that you should be able to land a categorical spot without too much trouble, and that should be your focus.

 

[AnesRunner]

Agree with AdmiralChz. Avoid if possible. I did 5 years of Gen Sure before switching into anesthesiology. My categorical PGY1 surgery year made me a worse clinician. And the prelim surgery residents were forced to do the even less educational rotations. My later general surgery years were very valuable, but intern year was mindless scutwork and doing lipoma excisions. I would say my time management skills improved, but that's about it.

 

[Twiggidy]

You can scramble into just about every Prelim Surg (maybe even Medicine) spot in the country. It's not competitive at all. Most programs just need a workforce for that PGY1 year and there are plenty of spots. I'd wait until I matched a program and assuming you don't match TY then just scramble into a PGY 1 year at the institution you matched or another one nearby.

And I would argue pretty much all PGY 1 years are the same. It's all scutwork and you won't obtain an inch of anesthesia knowledge that year. It really comes down to how long you want to round *cough medicine *cough. Even a surgical PGY 1 isn't THAT hard so long as you're not late and do your assigned tasks....that pretty much sums up intern year.

Disclosure: I did PGY 1 surgery and, outside of a few yelling sessions, enjoyed it. I did it in the same city as my residency so I didn't have to move twice. Plus when I match categorical years were just becoming a thing and I think like only two programs I interviewed with offered these positions, and even then it was only like 1 or 2 of the residents they would match. Every one else had to do a TY or Prelim year.

I would possibly recommend doing a PGY1 if you're not categorical at a institution that isn't where you matched but in the same city, this way if you happen to be a "bad intern" it doesn't get around to your program. Less likely if you're IM PGY but if you're PGY 1 surgery and you're doing bad the senior surgical residents will probably complain about you in the OR to attendings you'll work with in the future and then you're starting "the game" down a few scores.

 

[hununuh]

You can apply to surgery prelim without surgery letter. They just want a body they can tolerate for a year. There are tons of open spots after the match.

Now, TY or Medicine prelim year is a different story. They work you less, teach you more, not too many spots, and you are competing against USMDs going into derm, ophtho, etc.. They are competitive to get. Unless it's a program in BFE, your chance of matching into Anesthesia is going to be higher than the chance of matching into TY or Med prelim. I wouldn't really consider them your "back up" options for this reason.