Gen surg/I6 Programs with unrelated research

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Greenberg702

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2014
Messages
397
Reaction score
301
Hi everyone,

I'm a current third year frantically trying to figure out my life as everyone is starting to think about aways and the match next cycle. I recently finished my surgery rotation where I got cardiac as my selective and I absolutely loved it, easily the best month I've had in med school. The trouble is that I thought I was going to apply for neurosurgery this coming cycle. I've been working in one of the labs since the summer before M1 and my 2 mentors are a neurosurgeon and neurologist. I got lucky with some productivity the first 2 years and managed to put out 14 papers, but almost all cranial stuff/maybe a couple spine.

With that being said, what are my next steps if I want to go the I6 or maybe 4+3 route? Does one's research need to be specific for CT? Do general surgery PDs care if your research was in other fields/letters are from surgical subspecialists? Is there any way I could get away without taking a year off (my home program has I6). 259 boards and 3 honors with 1 high pass (in gen surg ugh), so far. I didn't do a ton of leadership or ECs the first 2 years so I likely won't get AOA.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Hi everyone,

I'm a current third year frantically trying to figure out my life as everyone is starting to think about aways and the match next cycle. I recently finished my surgery rotation where I got cardiac as my selective and I absolutely loved it, easily the best month I've had in med school. The trouble is that I thought I was going to apply for neurosurgery this coming cycle. I've been working in one of the labs since the summer before M1 and my 2 mentors are a neurosurgeon and neurologist. I got lucky with some productivity the first 2 years and managed to put out 14 papers, but almost all cranial stuff/maybe a couple spine.

Well, nothing you can do about what field you published in now.

Separately, being productive is always better than not being productive, and 14 papers is a lot.

Just expect a few questions about why the change of heart.

With that being said, what are my next steps if I want to go the I6 or maybe 4+3 route? Does one's research need to be specific for CT? Do general surgery PDs care if your research was in other fields/letters are from surgical subspecialists? Is there any way I could get away without taking a year off (my home program has I6). 259 boards and 3 honors with 1 high pass (in gen surg ugh), so far. I didn't do a ton of leadership or ECs the first 2 years so I likely won't get AOA.

You have a couple choices, and speaking with the I6 program director at your home institution may be the first step in figuring out where to go from here. You could either:
1) take a year of research and work exclusively with the cardiothoracic guys
or...
2) do several away rotations and work your butt off

Good luck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
The area of research isn't going to be an issue, especially considering the productivity. At this point, I would not consider your research to be the rate limiting factor.

The issue, as mentioned, is going to be having a convincing and sincere explanation of your interest. As for letters, you can have the neurosurgeon/neurologist write a joint letter as your "4th letter" from the perspective of your research mentor. Your other letters, however, need to be from CT surgeons (or GS specialties if applying to a GS residency). So if you can get in a few sub-Is that result in solid letters you could probably avoid taking a year off.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Thanks for everyone's help. I met with the PD and he recommended I go for the 4 + 3 route, both because gen surg programs would be less likely to look for very specific research and to give me more time to be 100% sure about my decision.

Regarding neurosurgery, after spending more time on the actual service and talking to residents I ended up changing my mind. I realized that I wasn't a huge fan of spine. In addition, I realized that it would be very hard to establish the kind of practice that I was envisioning (tumor) without doing pure academics and a lot of basic science research. A lot of the guys, even the ones with big name fellowships and research had a lot of trouble getting tumor/skull base volume after graduation and ended up doing tons of spine on the side. Open vascular is awesome but is unfortunately dying out, and I didn't love endovascular stuff. CT surgery was exactly the kind of awesome open surgery with acute pathology that I wanted.
 
Thanks for everyone's help. I met with the PD and he recommended I go for the 4 + 3 route, both because gen surg programs would be less likely to look for very specific research and to give me more time to be 100% sure about my decision.

Regarding neurosurgery, after spending more time on the actual service and talking to residents I ended up changing my mind. I realized that I wasn't a huge fan of spine. In addition, I realized that it would be very hard to establish the kind of practice that I was envisioning (tumor) without doing pure academics and a lot of basic science research. A lot of the guys, even the ones with big name fellowships and research had a lot of trouble getting tumor/skull base volume after graduation and ended up doing tons of spine on the side. Open vascular is awesome but is unfortunately dying out, and I didn't love endovascular stuff. CT surgery was exactly the kind of awesome open surgery with acute pathology that I wanted.

I think it's a good idea to do the 4+3 route. I have heard from some CT surgeons that the i6 guys aren't as prepared to handle some of the complications if they extend too far outside of their comfort zone. Those that did general surgery first have no problems in extending their reach to fix a complication.
Also, it seems you have a lot of interests surgically and might not have experienced a good bit of surgery/subspecialties which is why a 4+3 program is also good because you could potentially fall in love with something else like trauma, vascular etc. Good luck in the upcoming cycle.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top