For our 2010 graduates--what are your plans?

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Treg

Treg

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I thought I would change things up and start a thread for those of us near the end of the tunnel. Perhaps we can post what our plans are (i.e. what specialty applying in, or bypassing residency for research, etc) so we can cheer each other on this year :)

Treg (MD/PhD University of Alberta): applying general surgery, US programs
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Pathology, with possible hematopathology fellowship
 
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I put off graduating until 2011 to do a research year too. Probably going into anesthesiology. Hope to end up south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Neuro, we'll have to resurrect this thread next summer for you and me. :)
 
Doctor&Geek said:
Can I join ya'll? :D
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Did you just start third year? Kudos to you if you did, Doctor&Geek, PhD. :cool:

I'm sure Neuro would agree that we'd love to have the company. Since we're already taking over this thread, anyone else planning to apply next year for residency starting July 2011?
 
QofQuimica said:
I'm sure Neuro would agree that we'd love to have the company. Since we're already taking over this thread, anyone else planning to apply next year for residency starting July 2011?
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I guess I am, although it seems so far off. I won't even start my first third year rotation until August! I think I'm going to have to start applying for away rotations in February though. Craziness.
 
Neuronix said:
I was told by our MD/PhD CV Radiology fellow to start applying for away rotations about a year before I planned to do them. Err, that means I should be applying now! :eek:
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Hi all! I think this thread is good in that it lets all the folks who are currently applying see that some people actually get through! ;)

Some places won't accept applications for away rotations more than 6 months ahead of time. The whole process is really irritating. I applied to Harvard back in February for an August rotation, and I didn't receive scheduling confirmation until early July. Most of these places, as well, threaten to send nasty letters to your med school if you apply, get scheduled, and then back out, so it is not easy to 'back up' with an app somewhere else. Thankfully I got scheduled, although not at my top choice site.

Anyways, it's great to see where you are applying (or will be applying next year). Although, it doesn't look like we will be crossing paths on the interview trail...

Treg
 
Regarding aways, it's looking like more and more programs are only taking apps via VSAS. Did you use that service, Treg? Any advice about navigating it?

My plan is to apply this winter for an away to be done next summer, probably in June or July so that I can hopefully beat the rush. It appears to be insanely difficult to get an away rotation in September, especially since a lot of schools give their own students first dibs. :annoyed:
 
Treg said:
Most of these places, as well, threaten to send nasty letters to your med school if you apply, get scheduled, and then back out, so it is not easy to 'back up' with an app somewhere else.
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I assume that if you apply to multiple places, they get back to you to confirm first, so that you won't have to offend anyone if there are conflicts?

This VSAS service sounds like another scam to get more of our money.
 
pseudoknot said:
I assume that if you apply to multiple places, they get back to you to confirm first, so that you won't have to offend anyone if there are conflicts?

This VSAS service sounds like another scam to get more of our money.
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I didn't use that VSAS service, since I was only applying to Harvard. They have a program which provides housing, transportation $, and waives the application fee for URM elective students. It is quite the application though, with all the usual BS + transcripts, CV, statement of purpose, and LOR. They can accept you into the program but it still depends on whether or not you get scheduled. I was getting pretty nervous since I would only have 4 weeks or less to schedule something in a big, important block of elective time at the beginning of fourth year. I don't know of that VSAS helps you with that, in that you can apply to multiple places for the same month and they match you automatically. I doubt that though, since it seems like every school's elective office is always waiting, waiting, waiting to schedule their own students first.
 
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I am graduating this year! Woo hoo, class of 2010! When I created my username on SDN like a million years ago, 2010 was me being optimistic, so I'm excited that its happening.

I am applying to Internal Medicine.

As far as away rotations and VSAS. Everyone kept telling me I had to apply MONTHS in advance. But in reality, a lot of the VSAS schools have a deadline of May 1 or May 15. I applied to both my aways in May and got both of them scheduled (one for July, one for Sept). I think the most important thing to do early on (at least 6 months before you want to apply for the aways) is get your immunizations and titers up to date. My hep B titer was negative despite just finishing the series 3 years ago and it took 2 boosters for my to get a positive titer. You also need MMR, varicella titers and at least on Tdap.
 
drdr2010 said:
I am graduating this year! Woo hoo, class of 2010! When I created my username on SDN like a million years ago, 2010 was me being optimistic, so I'm excited that its happening.

I am applying to Internal Medicine.

As far as away rotations and VSAS. Everyone kept telling me I had to apply MONTHS in advance. But in reality, a lot of the VSAS schools have a deadline of May 1 or May 15. I applied to both my aways in May and got both of them scheduled (one for July, one for Sept). I think the most important thing to do early on (at least 6 months before you want to apply for the aways) is get your immunizations and titers up to date. My hep B titer was negative despite just finishing the series 3 years ago and it took 2 boosters for my to get a positive titer. You also need MMR, varicella titers and at least on Tdap.
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Thanks for the advice. I figured out where I want to do my away, so hopefully I'll get it when I apply next semester. I'm going to apply in Feb; applying in May is for people far braver than I am. :p
 
Just thought I would resurrect my thread to wish everyone good luck with the application cycle! I got my first interview invite today, to U Michigan for general surgery.

I read through Neuronix's long thread re: is it all worth it. For the surgical world, I get the impression that they love the PhD background. At the HMS hospital I just did my sub-I at, the PD told me they want more residents interested in basic science. Most of the surgical programs require 1-2 years of research, so I think that they like to know that you can produce. We will see how things pan out this interview season though...

GOOD luck everyone! Here's to almost being done with being a professional student!

Treg
 
Treg said:
Just thought I would resurrect my thread to wish everyone good luck with the application cycle! I got my first interview invite today, to U Michigan for general surgery.

I read through Neuronix's long thread re: is it all worth it. For the surgical world, I get the impression that they love the PhD background. At the HMS hospital I just did my sub-I at, the PD told me they want more residents interested in basic science. Most of the surgical programs require 1-2 years of research, so I think that they like to know that you can produce. We will see how things pan out this interview season though...

GOOD luck everyone! Here's to almost being done with being a professional student!

Treg
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Good luck to you! UMich is awesome. Please keep us posted this year. :thumbup:

Maybe we can all update. I'm doing a research year and still looking at aways for next summer. All of my friends are applying, and it's kind of lonely to be the only one who isn't, but I still think it was the right decision for me. I'm debating whether to do a research residency or a regular residency at a research-oriented institution, and kind of leaning toward the latter since I'll almost certainly be doing a fellowship anyway. Oh, and I'm getting ready to take Step 2. So far it seems to be true that it's easier than Step 1 based on the practice tests I've taken. :xf:
 
I applied to around 20 internal medicine programs and have already gotten a few interview invites! Thank goodness I have my blackberry so I can compulsively check my email :) Eeek, I can't wait for March 18th 2010.
 
I am an MD/PhD student at the Medical College of Wisconsin, applying to anesthesiology residencies for 2010. I think it is a great specialty for doing a research-track/oriented residency.
 
2010 - Anesthesia also (didn't know it was becoming so trendy...).

Submitted my application to 13 places last Friday.

Anyone else feel like it went from being May/June "I have plenty of time..." to Sept 2nd in about a minute? Of course, July was my sub-I so I didn't do squat on my app during that time and I was lazy before that.
 
Brunette1981 said:
2010 - Anesthesia also (didn't know it was becoming so trendy...).

Submitted my application to 13 places last Friday.

Anyone else feel like it went from being May/June "I have plenty of time..." to Sept 2nd in about a minute? Of course, July was my sub-I so I didn't do squat on my app during that time and I was lazy before that.
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It is just like applying to med school all over again, waiting for interviews, etc. I try to be rationale and not login to ERAS every day, as all messages get pushed to my gmail anyway. But I can't help it.

It is great to see everyone applying! This is a nice healthy thread for the current applicants (and MD-PHD students) to see us all come out on the other side :D
 
Treg said:
It is just like applying to med school all over again, waiting for interviews, etc.
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With one not-so-insignificant advantage: no secondaries, no secondary essays, no secondary fees, and no secondary screenings. Applying to 25 residency programs costs less than $250 and requires writing one PS. Of course, for those who just blew up to $1500 to travel for and take CS, it probably all evens out in the long run. :hungover:

(I know so many of the hoops we have to jump through are pointless. But lord, that test takes pointlessness to a whole new level, and it costs enough money to pay my living expenses for an entire month.)
 
QofQuimica said:
no secondaries, no secondary essays, no secondary fees, and no secondary screenings
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Exactly, med school secondary application = "please send more money."

Some schools just flat out ask you for more money and don't even request additional essays (or they did back in my day).
 
Hi guys,

nice thread.

i'm graduating 2011 and am wondering what specialities really want to take on PhDs, and which speciality has loads of research opportunities.

I kinda thought anesthesiology but my PI said "there's not much more research to be done in that field".

My PhD was in vascular biology.
 
QofQuimica said:
Did you just start third year? Kudos to you if you did, Doctor&Geek, PhD. :cool:

I'm sure Neuro would agree that we'd love to have the company. Since we're already taking over this thread, anyone else planning to apply next year for residency starting July 2011?
Click to expand...

Defense date set for December. We only have to do 1.5 years of clinics to graduate.

IM or Peds Hem/Onc (?) for me HERE COMES THE PAIN
 
Starting to get interview invites from Path programs. This is all really exciting, especially after a 7+ year wait after matriculating med school. It's about time!:D

On another note, I just finished taking the Step 2 CS about 90 minutes ago. Thank goodness that is over. I will be really upset if I have to do that all over again.
 
On another note, I am wondering if my one year leave of absence as a postdoc (between MS2-MS3) will count as as a PGY year for salary purposes. It would be great to start residency with a bit more $$ :D

Treg
(impatiently waiting for more interviews...)
 
Brunette1981 said:
Exactly, med school secondary application = "please send more money."

Some schools just flat out ask you for more money and don't even request additional essays (or they did back in my day).
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They did in my day, too. Guilty parties shall remain nameless, but they know who they are. :smuggrin:

miscalculated said:
I kinda thought anesthesiology but my PI said "there's not much more research to be done in that field".
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Is your PI an anesthesiologist or familiar with anesthesiology literature? Because this isn't true at all, certainly not for clinical research, and not even for basic research either. We don't have a much better of understanding about the basic science of anesthestics, pain, etc. now than we did when the field began. Those are some broad areas! I'm not sure how to specifically integrate vascular biology into anesthesiology, but if I were you, I would hunt down some MD/PhD anesthesiologists to talk to. There are a surprisingly larger number of them than you probably expect.

Doctor&Geek said:
Defense date set for December. We only have to do 1.5 years of clinics to graduate.

IM or Peds Hem/Onc (?) for me HERE COMES THE PAIN
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Congrats! :prof:

I really liked peds heme/onc. It can be kind of heavy, but the whole field is basically research when you think about it. If I thought I could endure a full peds residency, I would be very interested in a heme/onc fellowship.

Sulfinator said:
Starting to get interview invites from Path programs. This is all really exciting, especially after a 7+ year wait after matriculating med school. It's about time!:D

On another note, I just finished taking the Step 2 CS about 90 minutes ago. Thank goodness that is over. I will be really upset if I have to do that all over again.
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Congrats on the interviews, and also on finishing CS. I'm greatly looking forward to the day when I can say the same.
 
miscalculated said:
Hi guys,

nice thread.

i'm graduating 2011 and am wondering what specialities really want to take on PhDs, and which speciality has loads of research opportunities.

I kinda thought anesthesiology but my PI said "there's not much more research to be done in that field".

My PhD was in vascular biology.
Click to expand...

Not true. There is a lot of perioperative medicine that has research to be done. Infections is one of them. Not to mention better resuscitation.

And the mechanism of action of the inhaled anesthetics is the greatest unsolved mystery within the field of pharmacology.
 
I thought I would bump our thread. So far I have three interviews--it has been enormously helpful to have my mentor send out a few emails making sure my app gets a full review. Like, when he sent an email to his former fellowship attending, who is now a chairman, the guy wrote back in <5 min and said he would interview me personally, and they called me on my cell to book the interview within 15 min! This process is truly crazy.

I am shocked by Neuronix's post that 4 MSTP grads from Penn when unmatched last year. That is just insane.

Treg
 
Treg said:
I thought I would bump our thread. So far I have three interviews--it has been enormously helpful to have my mentor send out a few emails making sure my app gets a full review. Like, when he sent an email to his former fellowship attending, who is now a chairman, the guy wrote back in <5 min and said he would interview me personally, and they called me on my cell to book the interview within 15 min! This process is truly crazy.
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Nice! Congrats, and keep us posted. :luck:
 
Hey, I was just wondering if any of you 4th years are seeking some of the research focused residencies - PSTPs and the like. It seems like in the past few years there has been increasing email circulation from some of these programs (UChicago and WashU come to mind).

What do you think about them? I've wondered if these are a good way to go because they are integrated and include programmatic support/funding, a feature that I've really valued in my MSTP program. On the other hand, I might be hesitant to commit to a particular institution for a post-doc considering that research interests may evolve over the clinical years which could make one more inclined towards labs at other institutions.

Basically, I'm asking who wants to do a 'special' research residency and who would rather take the standard clinical program and look into post-doc later?
 
Ty Row said:
Basically, I'm asking who wants to do a 'special' research residency and who would rather take the standard clinical program and look into post-doc later?
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Personally, I'm a fan of taking the bird in the hand, so I'd go with the research residency. Obviously, you would need to research each program thoroughly before ranking them, but hopefully you would be doing that anyway.
 
QofQuimica said:
Personally, I'm a fan of taking the bird in the hand, so I'd go with the research residency. Obviously, you would need to research each program thoroughly before ranking them, but hopefully you would be doing that anyway.
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As someone applying in gen surg, I am going to be asking about required research years (1-2) built in to some programs (no specific 'special' research track in general surgery that I am aware of). I have a PhD and post-doc, so I don't know how these requirements fit for people like us. I will find out as I do my interviews and report back :)

On a different note, I have interviews at 10/23 programs I have applied to, no rejections so far. These are at 7 of my top 10 programs, so I am happy. I think that another string of invites will hopefully come along after the MSPE gets downloaded Nov 1.

Good luck everyone! :luck:

Treg
 
MD/PhD graduating in 2010, applying in psychiatry.

In terms of research-specific tracks in psychiatry, there aren't many dedicated tracks (i.e., those with a different match number). But the major academic programs are all happy to have someone apply and express an interest in continuing to do research. It's a field that has many, many unanswered molecular questions. So far, the response to my application has been pretty positive (6 interviews out of 11 applications); given that I don't have spectacular grades or Step I scores, I think the PhD is helping me a lot.

Good luck to all.
 
I'm finally finishing up the MD/PhD and applying to physician-scientist IM tracks and categorical at each institution. What makes me nervous is getting enough IM training. It's hard to really get a measure of how competent you'll be after only 2 years of residency, I don't want to be the attending who starts fires that the residents have to put out every time you're on service (which is pretty much what one of our directors does, go figure). I'm 12/30 on getting interviews, with 4 of my top 10. It'll be interesting to see what happens after dean's letters come out; right now I'm just playing the scheduling game.
 
nomogram3 said:
I'm finally finishing up the MD/PhD and applying to physician-scientist IM tracks and categorical at each institution. What makes me nervous is getting enough IM training. It's hard to really get a measure of how competent you'll be after only 2 years of residency, I don't want to be the attending who starts fires that the residents have to put out every time you're on service (which is pretty much what one of our directors does, go figure). I'm 12/30 on getting interviews, with 4 of my top 10. It'll be interesting to see what happens after dean's letters come out; right now I'm just playing the scheduling game.
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Heyyo - halp me! That's exactly what I'd like to do next year! :D
 
Treg said:
As someone applying in gen surg, I am going to be asking about required research years (1-2) built in to some programs (no specific 'special' research track in general surgery that I am aware of). I have a PhD and post-doc, so I don't know how these requirements fit for people like us. I will find out as I do my interviews and report back :)

On a different note, I have interviews at 10/23 programs I have applied to, no rejections so far. These are at 7 of my top 10 programs, so I am happy. I think that another string of invites will hopefully come along after the MSPE gets downloaded Nov 1.

Good luck everyone! :luck:

Treg
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I don't know if you applied to Northwestern, but they have a PSTP that spans several specialties, including general surgery. Here's a link: http://www.nucats.northwestern.edu/education/PSTP/index.html

Either way, good luck with the process. Please keep us posted on what you learn along the interview trail and if you gain any specific insights that apply to MD/PhD applicants.
 
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