Competition for Ortho Residency

[funkless]

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Hypothetical situation:

A student (33Q, 3.74, good memory and general cognitive skills) is accepted to medical schools from opp ends of the spectrum: say, Univ of TN Memphis and Yale.

If this student is dead set on an ortho residency (or at least keeping the option open), would he be better served by attending Yale or Memphis?

In other words, when it comes to ultra-competitive residencies, does it behoove the student to attend a state school where he can be at the head of the class, or to attend a more prestigious school where the competition will be considerably tougher?


Thanks,

--Funkless

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

Moving to surgery and surgical subspecialties forum....

 

[Cassidy61]

go where you feel comfortable and feel like you will be able to get the most of your education. either place will allow you to successfully match into ortho if you are a good candidate. if you are asking which is a better place for an ortho residency, u of tn (campbell clinic) is hands down better than yale. translation...either place will get you where you want to go. one will do it for significantly less money.

 

[GobindSingh]

I would go to Yale. The better the rep of the school, the easier it is to match into competitive residency programs.

But you can verify this:

Look at the last 4 match results for each school and calculate the percentage of each graduating class that match ortho.

 

[richierich]

I agree with cassidy, as a 4th year who is trying to match into ortho from a school without an ortho program. It is nearly impossible to match coming from a program where the program is non-existant or not well respected. Campbell Clinic is highly reguarded and you will make many connections which will be invaluable.



good luck,
Richard

 

[ortho2003]

You can match into ortho from anywhere, go where you will be happiest. Also, know that rep of school and rep of ortho dept are often two different things.

 

[funkless]

Thank you all for the great feedback.

Keep it coming!


--Funkless

 

[bustbones26]

Okay, I know that what I am about to say is probably going to make me the most hated person on this forum. I also know that its going to probably prompt somebody to start saying rude things about me they don't even know, but here goes.

Oh No! God forbid you'd go to Yale and not be top of your class!!

Why all the competition? EVERYBODY that goes to medical school was a good student in undergrad! Many people that go to medical school had over a 3.5 QPA!

I suppose the point that I am trying to make is that ortho is a very competitive residency. Yale or not, think of how many people are going to apply to the same residency spots you will be interested in? And they are all going to have awesome grades, awesome board scores, and be at the top of their class. Don't think that a Yale degree will give you preference over others. Others will bring research, experience with being officers of prominent student medical associations, international medicine experience, military experience, and even experience already being a physician in another specialty to the table.

If you can go to Yale and get an ivy league MD degree, then good for you. Go for it! That would certainly be something to be proud of! But don't just go to med school and sit around studying to get good grades and board scores trying to be top in your class. Get involved! With med school comes many opportunities to do community service style activities in your free time. Do them, even if you hate it, do them, and put it down on your resume. If you can become an officer in one of the clubs at your school, do it, put in on your resume! If you can go do something international, especially something where you go to a third world country, do it! If you can do some student research or even find a way to get in on a research project, then do it!

If you're too busy in your first two years of med school, because lets face it, pre-clinical education isn't easy not matter where you go, then do these things throughout your third year and early fourth year before you apply for residency.

These things are more likely to get you an ortho residency than would being at the top of your class and having good board scores.

 

[ortho2003]

great response bustbones26...that is exactly what I would have said had I not been too lazy to type that much. Follow his advice funkless, go where you will be happy, work hard, and get involved. That was my secret to matching in ortho.

 

[maxheadroom]

In general, the big name diploma is nice to have. You have to decide if it's worth the extra money (could double or triple your debt load is you're paying for this yourself), living in New Haven (not so nice) instead of Memphis (pretty decent town), and dealing with what is probably a more competitive group of people.

When I mention the competition, I'm not worried so much about grades as I am about quality of life. If you're in a school where the majority of people stress about class/rotations and don't seem to enjoy life, then you're getting short changed. I had a friend from undergrad who went to a top 5 med school, while I stayed at my well-respected, but unremarkable state school. He did not enjoy med school. I was very happy. He has about 2.5 times the debt that I have (which is quite a lot). He matched into a very strong ortho program. One of my classmates (strong student, but no Halsted) matched into a similar, very strong ortho program. Did the big diploma help? Probably did. I'm not sure that he'd make the same decison if he had the chance to do it again.

Of course, I'd dump all this ortho junk and go plastics, but that's just my two cents. 😀

 

[carddr]

In rearching Ortho including a rotation at the Harvard Combined Program, your board scores especially Step II are ccrucial, which is 220+. While graduating top in your class may provide you with a slight edge, as in two identical candidates, it is relatively insignficant. Unfair, you bet, gonna change, probably not until it becomes less competitive. As for being joyful at medical school, perhaps a factor to some, but to most, medical school is a means to an end and cuts heavily into "party time", vacation time, and sleep...on the bright side, time goes quickly, you are experiencing an extremely unique experience only available to those who are willing to make the utmost sacrifices. The worst part, you have 5/6 years of training ahead of you, salary around 40k+ and working about the same hours as someone holding down 3 jobs, and you are in debt up to your eyeballs. Best part you are loving it. And don't forget that almighty title, MD, scrubs, white coat, and you're a sliver above the nurses(who at times appear to know more than you do!!!), and generally you can expect a level of respect from the general public lacking in most professions. Gotta go. 🙂 🙂 🙂

 

[Mirror Form]

From what I've been hearing, a big help in getting into competitive residencies is having a good LOR from a well known person in that particular field. A Yale diploma is just one factor; having a LOR from a famous orthopaedic surgeon is probably more important. You may find it easier to get those impressive letters by going to a prestigious school with more well known faculty members to suck up to. Also, private schools are in general more geared toward getting their students into competitive residencies. I'm not sure about TN, but my state school (U of MD) is definitely geared toward getting us all to do primary care and could care less if we don't get into whatever specialty we want. And one more thing, don't count at being at the top of your class in a state school! There's a lot of smart people in medicine, and many people in state schools went there to save cash even though they got into better ones.