- Joined
- Nov 3, 2016
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 2
I'm currently a med student at the Charité in Berlin which is one of the biggest university hospitals in Europe. I'm only at the beginning of my studies and will graduate in about 6 years (that's how long med school goes in Germany) but I'm very curious about my future prospects in America as I want to do my residency there. I'll do my best to graduate at the top of my class and write my doctoral thesis in America (doctoral degree that almost every med student in Germany does, not comparable to a PhD). Then I want to gain experience in neurosurgery and/ or pediatric surgery by doing internships during med school and by doing maybe two years of a neurosurgery residency in Germany? I'd have to start from the beginning in the US but would a few years of practical experience in neurosurgery enhance my chances for matching? Another thing I'm interested in before starting my residency is pursuing a degree in biomedical engineering (probably at Columbia). Would that in- or decrease my chances? Another possibility would be doing a few years of postdoctoral research in neurosurgery, maybe I could gain some connections and a letter of recommendation from an influential physician scientist. I know it's very hard to match in neurosurgery but granted that I have good scores, what are my chances if I do all those things? How is the situation for pediatric surgery?
