Community Programs

[Fixxe]

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I'm finishing my third year of medical school and will soon be applying to General Surgery residencies. My grades and board scores should be good enough to get me into just about any of the most competitive programs (As with one B+, 260, not AOA). I know that many of the top academic programs require their residents to spend time in the lab but I have done 2 years of research and don't want to do any more. I"m unsure about whether I will want to do a fellowship in the future but would like to keep my options open and get the best training possible. Could someone please name some top academic programs that don't necessarily require research from their residents or give me your opinion of the best community programs to apply to.

 

[Flatus?]

Actually the vast majority of academic surgery programs do not require the research and in fact you may have difficulty getting a spot in the lab because the department might need more bodies working on the different services (especially with the 80 hour work week. This situation will get even worse if the 4+2 system gets widely adopted. It used to be more common for programs to require all their residents to do research-everyone went into the lab when the class two years above them were getting out. In the past getting into gen surg was more competitive and you knew you were signing on for the research years from the start. Plus, the only way to land a top fellowship (CT surg at the time) was to have done research. Much has changed. You don?t need research to land a fellowship-you might not get the spot you want but even Peds Surg is obtainable without having done research.

In fact I can only think of a few that require all their students to do research.
UCLA
Wash U (they say they don?t but in practice it?s a rare event-there is some degree of self selection for this though)

Any others?

 

[Foxxy Cleopatra]

Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC- awesome people, great fellowship placement, strong laparoscopics, interesting rotation in Costa Rica during PGY-4 year. Plus, it's in a progressive, fun city.

 

[Castro Viejo]

Someone here mentioned Fairfax-Inova in VA as a "great" program, but it's relatively new. I don't know anything about it.

 

[droliver]

Originally posted by Flatus?
In fact I can only think of a few that require all their students to do research.
UCLA
Wash U (they say they don?t but in practice it?s a rare event-there is some degree of self selection for this though)

Any others?

Virginia, Hopkins, Penn, S. Carolina & Memphis (I think they still do, in the past they all had mandatory stints)

Duke
Vanderbilt
Cincinnatti
Harvard/MGH
LSU-Shreeport
Minnesota
Indiana

A number of programs in the past had "semi-voluntary" lab years for a certain # of people/year to keep spots open for people to come out of the lab

 

[Flatus?]

I know the lab years at Vandy and Minnesota are optional now.

At vandy the PD told me that you might even have a problem getting a spot in a lab if you decide to do this too late.

Minnesota's old system of going into the lab and getting out when you finish your PhD is also a thing of the past-it contributed to their not filling two years ago.

 

[LaCirujana]

Michigan's "lab years" are more or less required, although one doesn't necessarily have to do research during that time. Other options, such as the MBA program, are available.