DO at community program. Any chance?

[ortholegoo]

As the title says. I’m a DO PGY1 at a community IM program with no fellowships. I had originally though radiology was the route I wanted to go but ended up not matching and SOAPing. Had my heme/onc rotation early this year and honesty think not matching radiology may be the best thing that happened to me, I love this field. My stats are Step 1 254 and Step 2 257. I can get on some heme/onc research projects at a university program in same city my program is in. My question is if there is really any shot I could match. Obviously I get being DO and at a community program is a double negative.

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[Moose A Moose]

Impressive Step I/II. Did you have red flags? I’m surprised you didn’t match into rads.

 

[ortholegoo]

Impressive Step I/II. Did you have red flags? I’m surprised you didn’t match into rads.

Not that I know of. I think my biggest downfall was not having LOR from program director of a radiology program. Other than that I had research and good clinical a. I was blindsided in Match day.

 

[lulu09]

As the title says. I’m a DO PGY1 at a community IM program with no fellowships. I had originally though radiology was the route I wanted to go but ended up not matching and SOAPing. Had my heme/onc rotation early this year and honesty think not matching radiology may be the best thing that happened to me, I love this field. My stats are Step 1 254 and Step 2 257. I can get on some heme/onc research projects at a university program in same city my program is in. My question is if there is really any shot I could match. Obviously I get being DO and at a community program is a double negative.

I'm not a DO so I am not the best person to comment but I can say there were plenty of DOs who are fellows at many programs I interviewed at. Honestly connections matter much more than I expected in this field especially for people with suboptimal applications. To bolster your app really try to see if you can do research and get to know the heme/onc faculty at the programs in your city. Also see what connections you can work with the heme/onc docs that you did the rotation with - at least make sure you can get a good clinical letter from them when application season comes (may need to do something else with them later because this is quite early during PGY-1 year). Ask them if they can introduce you to heme/onc docs at the academic centers in the city so you can do research. If you build good connections, you'll basically be like an internal candidate when recruitment season comes. You must do this because otherwise the only highlight of your app would be your step scores.

 

[gutonc]

As the title says. I’m a DO PGY1 at a community IM program with no fellowships. I had originally though radiology was the route I wanted to go but ended up not matching and SOAPing. Had my heme/onc rotation early this year and honesty think not matching radiology may be the best thing that happened to me, I love this field. My stats are Step 1 254 and Step 2 257. I can get on some heme/onc research projects at a university program in same city my program is in. My question is if there is really any shot I could match. Obviously I get being DO and at a community program is a double negative.

Of course there's a chance. You've already identified one thing you can do...research. The other is away rotations. Do one ASAP at the University program. Then do another one (something sub-specialized like BMT or Phase I) somewhere else where you can also attach yourself to a research project. And of course, be a great resident at your program.

 

[Square[]]

Yes. Most foreign grads with high scores end up at community programs. Many of them match into oncology.
Based on the 2018 NRMP hem/onc data:
69% of DOs matched
60% of IMGs matched
42% of Caribbean grads matched
84% of AMGs matched.