Do I need gas letters?

[Fiend]

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I'm getting out of the military after 4 years of being a general medical officer. I intend to apply for Anesthesia but won't have any gas letters. I've heard that it is all right. I'll have strong letters from my internship director and from senior physicians who have supervised my work in clinics practicing solo. Will that be all right?

 

[dbiddy808]

The answer to your questions depends on several factors. Where did you go to med school? USMLE scores? If you are a US grad with decent board scores you should be able to get some good interviews. If you are a non-US grad and/or have borderline scores, I'd try to get to know some gaspassers who might be able to hook you up with an LOR.

Bottom line.....anesthesia is not super competetive and if you are smart about where you apply it is not that hard to get into.

 

[Fiend]

U.S. grad, Step 1/2/3 of 232/242/230, average record from an average medical school. My strength is my maturity and teamwork experience having been in the military. I'm looking for the Southeast at the most prestigious program possible.

 

[Pinky]

i too applied to anesthesia without any anesthesia letters. i applied with 3 internal medicine letters from my internship and one neurology letter from my current residency. i received interviews at every single program that i applied to (i only applied to programs in houston and chicago) and eventually accepted a position at my first choice.

 

[dbiddy808]

You should be cool then. You might not get interviews at places like UCSF, Stanford, BID, but you should be able to get interviews at pretty much all of the southeast programs. Good luck.

 

[Molly Maquire]

Pinky,

Why did you leave Neuro? And what made you pick gas?

 

[BassDominator]

I don't think you'll have any problem in the Southeast at all.

 

[gaseous]

You should be cool then. You might not get interviews at places like UCSF, Stanford, BID, but you should be able to get interviews at pretty much all of the southeast programs. Good luck.

The Southeast gets a bad rap. I chose to go to Alabama over UCSF, Stanford, JH, MGH etc...

Check out Bama if you are looking for a great program with great people. But there are other great programs in the southeast. Unfortunately on this forum, there is a huge coastal bias.

Good luck with your applications, interviews, etc. If you have any questions about UAB, PM me and I will try to answer them.

 

[dbiddy808]

I didn't say that the southern programs are not good. I'm going to U.Miami which is in the south (kind of). I'm just pointing out that overall most medical students programs such as the ones I mentioned more desirable, and because of this more of them apply to these select programs making them more competetive.

 

[pmichaelmd]

With your boards you should get interviews at most places and there are plenty of programs that look favorably on your prior service. I was in the exact same boat as you but did get a LOR from an anesthesiologist. I would strongly recommend getting such a letter as most places will require at least one letter from an anesthesiologist. I just had one from the hospital where I did my internship write one and most would be more than happy too. I then had my internship PD write one (FP) and other senior docs from my FS days. You shouldn't have any problems unless you have some major personality defect 😀

As for Southeast programs, Emory, Duke, UAB, U of F, and Mayo are pretty strong. Of course, I may be biased as I'm at Mayo, and we are a new residency program. Our program is pretty military-friendly as many of the consultants have prior military service. Our PD, Dr. Michael Murray (one of the editors of the Lange textbook) is a Reserve USA Col. We also have Cucchiara, Dorsch and a few others that will add some extra power to your certificate once you graduate.

Anyhow, you should be fine.

Good luck!
PMMD

 

[hawkslo]

The Southeast gets a bad rap. I chose to go to Alabama over UCSF, Stanford, JH, MGH etc...

Check out Bama if you are looking for a great program with great people. But there are other great programs in the southeast. Unfortunately on this forum, there is a huge coastal bias.

Good luck with your applications, interviews, etc. If you have any questions about UAB, PM me and I will try to answer them.

Just curious Gaseous. What do you mean by "coastal bias?"

Thanks.