Black male med student interested in OB/GYN

[Clutch24]

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I Recently posted this in the resident forum, but i think it might be more appropriate here. Sorry, new member.

Hey guys,
As the title says, am a first year black male med student at a mid-tier school i think (one of the SUNYs) and I've always been (ever since I shadowed a gyn onc guy sophomore year of undergrad) really interested in ob/gyn.

So far, i haven't really expressed to anybody how much i really like OB/GYN. But, more specifically I hope to have the opportunity to do a Gyn Onc fellowship. I know its tough to get and that ill have to hustle hard to be one of the top students, but am prepared to do that.

Can you guys give me some insight on the obstacles that lay ahead of me, as not only a minority by race but also gender?

also, some info on how competitive ob/gyn residencies are, preferably university programs??

like what step score ranges, research, away rotations etc. are required/recommended?

 

[Chrissisissi]

I follow an ob/gyn and the doc said sometimes they don't like male med students to be in the room but some women don't care if their on/gyn is a guy. I'm black and so far no one has yelled "Get that black girl out of here" so I think you'll be okay 🙂

 

[KnuxNole]

I don't see how being black has anything to do with getting into any specialty 😕

 

[ulikedaggers]

I Recently posted this in the resident forum, but i think it might be more appropriate here. Sorry, new member.

Hey guys,
As the title says, am a first year black male med student at a mid-tier school i think (one of the SUNYs) and I've always been (ever since I shadowed a gyn onc guy sophomore year of undergrad) really interested in ob/gyn.

So far, i haven't really expressed to anybody how much i really like OB/GYN. But, more specifically I hope to have the opportunity to do a Gyn Onc fellowship. I know its tough to get and that ill have to hustle hard to be one of the top students, but am prepared to do that.

Can you guys give me some insight on the obstacles that lay ahead of me, as not only a minority by race but also gender?

also, some info on how competitive ob/gyn residencies are, preferably university programs??

like what step score ranges, research, away rotations etc. are required/recommended?

Race isn't an issue if you don't make it one. Neither is gender. Grow up.

http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/

 

[Clutch24]

I don't see how being black has anything to do with getting into any specialty 😕

Your right, am not so worried about my race, more so my gender.

 

[J ROD]

I think being a male will make it a more difficult road. But not impossible. I also think with some white women you may have a problem. I know in the South you would. Not sure about other parts of the country. Just go for it if you like it that much. More power to you. That would be my LAST choice.

 

[NontradCA]

I follow an ob/gyn and the doc said sometimes they don't like male med students to be in the room but some women don't care if their on/gyn is a guy. I'm black and so far no one has yelled "Get that black girl out of here" so I think you'll be okay 🙂

I can see potential complications.

I don't see how being black has anything to do with getting into any specialty 😕

"Can I have another physician? I don't want my baby seeing Clayton seeing blackface as his first image of this world"

 

[Clutch24]

I think being a male will make it a more difficult road. But not impossible. I also think with some white women you may have a problem. I know in the South you would. Not sure about other parts of the country. Just go for it if you like it that much. More power to you. That would be my LAST choice.

Thanks.

Hopefully I can make it to Gyn Onc. Then I'll have every southern white women with cancer down there knocking down my door when I set up shop in rural mississippi.

haha, just dreaming...

 

[J ROD]

Thanks.

Hopefully I can make it to Gyn Onc. Then I'll have every southern white women with cancer down there knocking down my door when I set up shop in rural mississippi.

haha, just dreaming...

Yeah, if that is the subspecialty you are going after then. Do well in residency and go to a good place. Each step builds on the next. And always do well on Steps.

 

[Rendar5]

don't worry about your gender or your race when it comes to ob/gyn. worry about finding a program that has a mix of genders and is not malignant. One of my favorite ob/gyn's as a med student was a black man. (though my favorite one by far was gyn-onc. Only surgeries I could sit through without falling asleep and feeling like I wanted to stab myself in the eyeballs constantly out of boredom and tedium were hers, and that includes my surgery rotation)

 

[Winged Scapula]

There is a thread in the OB/GYN forum about being a male in practice in that field. If you haven't read it already it would be worth a look. Lots of good advice in that thread.

 

[notbobtrustme]

I believe OB/Gyn is middle of the road for competitiveness, but the field is malignant as ****. When you get to your third year, rotate at a place with residents in it to get a feel for their work/life balance. It is a female dominated field at the moment, but that shouldn't deter you at all. If you are qualified, no PD will turn you down for an interview or a spot on their house staff.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I'm going to throw this out there...

one of my buddies was applying to ortho and was AA. He had a meeting with his advisor who was also black and he said, "look, this is one of those times in life when you get to ask yourself - 'What can brown do for you?'"

Minority, male applicants to OB are few and far between. This can work to your advantage at a lot of programs.

That doesn't change the fact that there definitely are unique challenges to being a male OB, so I would make sure you have a good sense of what the career looks like (as WS said above).

 

[NurWollen]

Thanks.

Hopefully I can make it to Gyn Onc. Then I'll have every southern white women with cancer down there knocking down my door when I set up shop in rural mississippi.

haha, just dreaming...

Do this! Please. Awesomeness.

 

[deleted500612]

Race isn't an issue if you don't make it one. Neither is gender. Grow up.

http://www.nrmp.org/match-data/main-residency-match-data/

This is like saying "sexism and racism are not issues in America unless you make them one" this is simply ignorant and does not help anyone, especially those who have become victim of stereotypes. Whereas these issues may have been much more relevant in the past, there are still absolutely some circumstances where they are an issue. A black male trying to do ob/gyn may very well have sexual and racial stereotypes to overcome, perhaps not from an employer stand point but at the very least from a patient stand point. To flat out deny that racial and sexual issues exist in the workplace is flagrantly ignorant and to be quite frank, you should take your own advice and "grow up" because the fantasy world you're living in does not reflect reality.

 

[Clutch24]

Do this! Please. Awesomeness.

Hah, that would be pretty cool huh?

Break all types of racial barriers in that part of the country

 

[Clutch24]

I'm going to throw this out there...

one of my buddies was applying to ortho and was AA. He had a meeting with his advisor who was also black and he said, "look, this is one of those times in life when you get to ask yourself - 'What can brown do for you?'"

Minority, male applicants to OB are few and far between. This can work to your advantage at a lot of programs.

That doesn't change the fact that there definitely are unique challenges to being a male OB, so I would make sure you have a good sense of what the career looks like (as WS said above).

Haha "what can brown do for you?" that's hilarious

 

[Clutch24]

This is like saying "sexism and racism are not issues in America unless you make them one" this is simply ignorant and does not help anyone, especially those who have become victim of stereotypes. Whereas these issues may have been much more relevant in the past, there are still absolutely some circumstances where they are an issue. A black male trying to do ob/gyn may very well have sexual and racial stereotypes to overcome, perhaps not from an employer stand point but at the very least from a patient stand point. To flat out deny that racial and sexual issues exist in the workplace is flagrantly ignorant and to be quite frank, you should take your own advice and "grow up" because the fantasy world you're living in does not reflect reality.

Thanks for that response. I didn't feel like countering that argument, its useless.

 

[Clutch24]

There is a thread in the OB/GYN forum about being a male in practice in that field. If you haven't read it already it would be worth a look. Lots of good advice in that thread.

Thanks, I've read through some of those threads. They were kind of old. I feel like the situation has gotten much worse in terms of proportion man going into the field.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks, I've read through some of those threads. They were kind of old. I feel like the situation has gotten much worse in terms of proportion man going into the field.

Hmmm...there are some old ones, but there are also several from October 2013, September 2013, May 2013, etc. This is a perennial topic.

In addition, the number of males going into Ob-Gyn has not changed significantly over the last several years, so the information provided above in those threads would be relevant.

Lastly, since you have cross-posted this in Ob-Gyn and received some responses there I will close this thread in accordance with the TOS.