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dude, that match guide is worth its weight in gold, thank you for taking time to do that.
Dermmatch is the man/woman!
- Thread starter Ignite hardcore
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Word, your guide is some good stuff. I'll sticky it after you put some more meat on it, hey why don't you throw in a FAQ in your guide too.
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Long Dong, you probably have some good experience and knowledge too. You should put some of your insight into the guide/faq also, the more the better!
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i personally loved the old derm ezboard - people were so vituperative and uninhibited that any 1/2way decent observer of human nature could sift plenty of truth about programs and the app process. i blew off plenty of steam there when i applied. i also don't think val was making bank on that site - probably some decent spare change (google keeps the real cash for themselves, folks).
the whole business is most informative in that if you have a community, the price for ignoring it is serious. just takes a few voluble, articulate derm residents to reset a community, like they did this year onto sdn.
pretty interesting to watch.
by the way all, a word to the decent number of you that won't match - derm is great, but it's just a nice subspecialty that finishes a year or two early. there are a ton of interesting things to do in medicine. i didn't think so when i applied, but the lack of a gleam you see in senior residents eyes when you apply, is something to hold on to.
the whole business is most informative in that if you have a community, the price for ignoring it is serious. just takes a few voluble, articulate derm residents to reset a community, like they did this year onto sdn.
pretty interesting to watch.
by the way all, a word to the decent number of you that won't match - derm is great, but it's just a nice subspecialty that finishes a year or two early. there are a ton of interesting things to do in medicine. i didn't think so when i applied, but the lack of a gleam you see in senior residents eyes when you apply, is something to hold on to.
That's scary
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238950
Would you mind elaborating? At some point, I realize, people get jaded with their careers/professions, but are you saying that dermatology is not everything that you thought it would be?
A lot of other specialties perceive derm as a cake residency. Many derm residents do in fact find that it's not everything they thought it would be. Yes, you will get to sleep in your own bed most nights... but you will also be in one of the most academically challenging residencies that exists.
That's not to say that general medicine can't be more complicated. It's much more complicated, but the expectations are much less. In most medicine programs you're too busy to read text books.
In derm, your program will have very high expectations of you. You'll be expected to read and memorize crazy amounts of information, much of which is clinically useless. I think that's what takes that gleam away from their eyes. Or, you might be seeing fear about the boards.
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yeah, the amount of useless info for the boards is numbing. but that's not really what i meant.
if we're honest most of us know we initially chose derm b/c some complex mix of paying well enough that you can do other things if you want (have kids, cook crystal meth in the early afternoon) + derm being the hot girl that everyone wants but only you godly medical student can have + nice variety in outpt/surg/path etc, etc.
no matter what we wrote in our essays, it WASN'T because we thought neutrophilic dermatosis of the dorsal hands was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. we know this because of the overwhelming % of residents that flee any setting where they might encouter such a diagnosis ever again.
and this is all fine. i just meant to say, remember it's NOT true that you could never be happy in another specialty. don't kid yourself. strip away the vanity and a bit of the blind ambition, and medicine is mostly medicine. it's a fun job. it's not nirvana.
if we're honest most of us know we initially chose derm b/c some complex mix of paying well enough that you can do other things if you want (have kids, cook crystal meth in the early afternoon) + derm being the hot girl that everyone wants but only you godly medical student can have + nice variety in outpt/surg/path etc, etc.
no matter what we wrote in our essays, it WASN'T because we thought neutrophilic dermatosis of the dorsal hands was the coolest thing we'd ever seen. we know this because of the overwhelming % of residents that flee any setting where they might encouter such a diagnosis ever again.
and this is all fine. i just meant to say, remember it's NOT true that you could never be happy in another specialty. don't kid yourself. strip away the vanity and a bit of the blind ambition, and medicine is mostly medicine. it's a fun job. it's not nirvana.
I
InertQuail
amen brother!
2
238950
Very well-said! Thank you for clarifying!
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I matched derm last cycle, currently in my medicine prelim year.
I haven't done my derm residency yet, but I can tell you that anything other than what I am doing in medicine now - will be nirvana. I don't care how many hours I have to read, or silly things I have to memorize. I like expectations and working hard.
I agree that expectations for derm to be 'the greatest thing ever' are absurd, but relatively speaking, I think it will be fabulous!! Never having a nurse page you again in the middle of the night to clarify whether or not you intended a patient to have the nicorette gum or the nicotine patch will be priceless.
I haven't done my derm residency yet, but I can tell you that anything other than what I am doing in medicine now - will be nirvana. I don't care how many hours I have to read, or silly things I have to memorize. I like expectations and working hard.
I agree that expectations for derm to be 'the greatest thing ever' are absurd, but relatively speaking, I think it will be fabulous!! Never having a nurse page you again in the middle of the night to clarify whether or not you intended a patient to have the nicorette gum or the nicotine patch will be priceless.
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Word, after my TY doing medicine and surgery, the worst day in derm is still much better then your best day on medicine or surgery. And my program has an inpatient derm service where on the weekend I've carried 12 patients by myself and the worst derm inpatient day still beats my best day on medicine when I only had 3 patients.
As for dermmatch's guide I've been reading it and it is the bomb dizzle if I had only known some the shizznats in it things would have been a lot smoother and less stress free. So all you lurkers and soon to be applicants, read it. It is a must read.
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Wow, that *is* a great guide, kinda wish it existed 2 years ago! He's spilling the beans about a lot of stuff you'd normally have to learn the hard way. Too bad I already learned a lot of it the hard way 
Also lots of stuff that I'm learning just in the nick of time so it's super appreciated here.
Also, it answers pretty much every post from premeds here, although apparently that doesn't actually stop people from posting the same threads anyway.
Also lots of stuff that I'm learning just in the nick of time so it's super appreciated here.Also, it answers pretty much every post from premeds here, although apparently that doesn't actually stop people from posting the same threads anyway.
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