Ask me anything: MS4, matched Plastics

[majestic red]

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I am for real frustrated.

I don't want to go into DO and be treated like a second class citizen when it comes for residency. UGH!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, integrated Plastics is extremely competitive, and 50-60% of applicants (most of whom are MD US seniors) fail to match. However, if Plastics is really what you want and you're a DO student, it's probably feasible through the independent route (i.e., doing Gen Surg first).

 

[603pharmacy]

Did you ever smoke weed during your undergrad years? If so, how many times a week? I'm trying to see if weed has an impact on getting into Med school or not.

 

[majestic red]

Did you ever smoke weed during your undergrad years? If so, how many times a week? I'm trying to see if weed has an impact on getting into Med school or not.

I'm pretty much a straight edge-- never tried weed, very rare alcohol, no tobacco, no illicits.

 

[Ruskithin]

Hi!
First of all, congratulations on your match!
Do you have any insight on how program directors look at research done 1) prior to medical school and 2) in a non-plastics related field? I have 3 pubs (jbc, ajp, pnas; 1 first author, 1 poster) prior to starting med school. I'm currently doing research in an unrelated (to plastics) field but am wondering if I should switch?

Thanks so much in advance!

 

[pDeluxe]

Hi thanks for the thread!

Most of my pre-med exposure to medicine is all ortho related (ugrad research in biomechanics, gap year ortho research, scribing full-time for ortho doc) and I'm leaning towards doing something that combines my aptitude for engineering with medicine (heavily considering an engineering masters). However, I also did a stint of research in tissue engineering that really intrigued me. I'm wondering: Is there ample opportunity for research and/or development in tissue engineering that is within the scope of a plastic surgeon?

 

[majestic red]

Hi!
First of all, congratulations on your match!
Do you have any insight on how program directors look at research done 1) prior to medical school and 2) in a non-plastics related field? I have 3 pubs (jbc, ajp, pnas; 1 first author, 1 poster) prior to starting med school. I'm currently doing research in an unrelated (to plastics) field but am wondering if I should switch?

Thanks so much in advance!

I would say that research in any field looks good, and you should definitely try to finish what you've started. However, if you're pretty sure that you want to do Plastics, I would recommend switching as soon you get an opportunity (i.e. when you finish your current project). Doing research in Plastics is a great way to network with faculty members, and having I can't emphasize enough how important having the support of well-known academic Plastic Surgeons is to a successful application. Also, your home institution is oftentimes your best chance of matching Plastics, so knowing the faculty helps.

 

[majestic red]

Hi thanks for the thread!

Most of my pre-med exposure to medicine is all ortho related (ugrad research in biomechanics, gap year ortho research, scribing full-time for ortho doc) and I'm leaning towards doing something that combines my aptitude for engineering with medicine (heavily considering an engineering masters). However, I also did a stint of research in tissue engineering that really intrigued me. I'm wondering: Is there ample opportunity for research and/or development in tissue engineering that is within the scope of a plastic surgeon?

First of all, I think that bench research is harder for surgeon (in any surgical subspecialty) than in other specialties. That being said, tissue engineering is one of the major areas in which Plastic Surgeons are doing wet lab research. Off the top of my head, I know that UPMC has an active tissue engineering lab, Michigan is doing a lot of work around neural interfacing/prosthetics, and WashU is doing work on nerve regeneration.

 

[MalachiteGreen]

Any tips for getting involved with clinical research once in school? Thanks!

 

[Xenoblade]

Unfortunately, integrated Plastics is extremely competitive, and 50-60% of applicants (most of whom are MD US seniors) fail to match. However, if Plastics is really what you want and you're a DO student, it's probably feasible through the independent route (i.e., doing Gen Surg first).

I know plastics isn't within reach. I am very interested in derm (long long story), but I know that derm isn't within reach either.

I am just merely frustrated that so many opportunities are walled off to me because of the do brand.

 

[majestic red]

Any tips for getting involved with clinical research once in school? Thanks!

At least at my school, faculty are by and large very responsive if you just shoot them an email and let them know that you're interested. Even if they themselves don't have something for you to work on, they will often direct you to someone else in their department or division who does. Once you're given a project, though, make sure you do the work and turn it around quickly. This will make you seem organized and reliable. Definitely don't commit to anything you don't have time to do.

 

[MalachiteGreen]

At least at my school, faculty are by and large very responsive if you just shoot them an email and let them know that you're interested. Even if they themselves don't have something for you to work on, they will often direct you to someone else in their department or division who does. Once you're given a project, though, make sure you do the work and turn it around quickly. This will make you seem organized and reliable. Definitely don't commit to anything you don't have time to do.

Thanks for the good advice. I will be applying this cycle and am excited to start on some projects during school, but have no research I will be including on my apps (research team in undergrad fell apart and wasn't able to complete the project). Any tips for any way I could be involved while applying this year? (Could be any kind, not sure what I want to do).

 

[majestic red]

I know plastics isn't within reach. I am very interested in derm (long long story), but I know that derm isn't within reach either.

I am just merely frustrated that so many opportunities are walled off to me because of the do brand.

I don't much about Derm, since it was never really on my radar of potential specialties. However, if Derm isn't in reach, you should think hard about what aspects of Derm you like and try to find other specialties that have the same characteristics. If you're interested in Dermatopathology, for example, you can do Surg Path and a Derm Path fellowship. If you like the mix of procedures/medical management, you can think about Ophtho or ENT. If you like the pace of seeing patients in clinic for mostly non-emergent problems, there are a number of IM subspecialties you can consider.

I don't know... I think a lot of people feel like there's only one "right" specialty and that if you don't go into your "right" specialty, that you'll be forever doomed to be miserable for the rest of your life. I think that's a huge exaggeration and that most people can be happy in multiple specialties.

 

[itsthat1guy]

I have 3 pubs (jbc, ajp, pnas; 1 first author, 1 poster)

You have first authors in all those journals? I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty jelly. Did you churn those out in undergrad or what?

 

[majestic red]

Thanks for the good advice. I will be applying this cycle and am excited to start on some projects during school, but have no research I will be including on my apps (research team in undergrad fell apart and wasn't able to complete the project). Any tips for any way I could be involved while applying this year? (Could be any kind, not sure what I want to do).

My advice would be to look through the faculty bio pages for your institution and try to identify a few potential people whose research interests seem interesting to you, and then just cold emailing them to see if they have anything you could help with. Be very clear about what kind of project you're looking for (clinical vs. bench research), how much time you can commit, and what you hope to get out of the experience.

 

[Str8Baller]

how much money are you going to make?

 

[majestic red]

how much money are you going to make?

This will vary widely depending on practice environment (academic vs. private practice), subspecialty/area of focus (mostly reconstructive vs. mostly cosmetic, hand, craniofacial, etc.). Most surveys I've seen put the median Plastic Surgeon annual salary somewhere around $300,000.

 

[Willy38]

What is your opinion on going to a 'top research school' with debt versus a state school in light of getting accepted to a competitive specialty like plastics? Also, is it feasible to get married during MS1 ? Did you know he was the one and wait for a good time or were you still trying to figure it out? Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it.

 

[majestic red]

What is your opinion on going to a 'top research school' with debt versus a state school in light of getting accepted to a competitive specialty like plastics? Also, is it feasible to get married during MS1 ? Did you know he was the one and wait for a good time or were you still trying to figure it out? Thanks for doing this, I really appreciate it.

I was lucky enough to be accepted to a "top research school" with a scholarship, so I didn't have to make that choice. I certainly saw plenty of applicants from "lower tier" and state schools on the interview trail, and some of these applicants even matched at top Plastics programs. If you have a specialty in mind, I think it's important to make sure that the school you're going to has a med student rotation in that specialty and that your institution has a residency program in that specialty. This is not to say that students who don't have home Plastics programs, for example, can't match in Plastics, but I do think they're at somewhat of a disadvantage. Beyond that, I think it would be reasonable to go with the cheaper option.

MS1 and the end of MS4 (and of course any research years) are probably the best times to get married during medical school. I went straight from high school to undergrad to med school, so I was only 22 during MS1 and I think neither of us felt ready to get married at the time-- I was just starting med school, and my then-boyfriend was frantically searching for a job after graduating college. I think we were both pretty sure about each other, but we were pretty young and had a lot of other things to worry about at the time.

 

[Willy38]

In your opinion what are the best plastics residency programs?

 

[majestic red]

In your opinion what are the best plastics residency programs?

In my opinion, there isn't any "bad" integrated Plastics program. All of the applicants are so competitive, and training requirements are so strict, that you will receive good training no matter where you go. As a general rule of thumb, the "top" medical institutions will also have "top" Plastics programs. Plastics programs that I would consider to have great reputations out of porportion with that of their affiliated institutions include University of Washington, NYU, UPMC, University of Michigan, and UTSW.