getting in without sub-I in anesthesiology

[MedicinePowder]

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due to scheduling problems and a relatively recent interest in anesthesiology, i can't schedule an away sub-I in anesthesiology or for that matter an away sub-I in general. i however will do an elective in anesthesiology and another in critical care at my own school.

will this pose a problem? anyone not do away sub-Is and still get a residency spot?

thanks in advance

 

[UTSouthwestern]

due to scheduling problems and a relatively recent interest in anesthesiology, i can't schedule a sub-I. will this pose a problem? anyone not do one and still get a residency spot? i'll be doing two electives at my own school.

thanks in advance

Doubt it unless your grades/boards are suspect.

 

[jetproppilot]

Doubt it unless your grades/boards are suspect.

I concur with UT, just like the intern on Catch Me If You Can should've concurred.

 

[GasEmDee]

due to scheduling problems and a relatively recent interest in anesthesiology, i can't schedule a sub-I. will this pose a problem? anyone not do one and still get a residency spot? i'll be doing two electives at my own school.

thanks in advance

Does this mean your school doesnt require a sub-i as a graduation requirement?

 

[MedicinePowder]

Does this mean your school doesnt require a sub-i as a graduation requirement?

thanks for the replies. about my grades/board scores they are above average. and yes, my school does not require an away sub-I for graduation.

anyone know from personal experience or from friends that matched?

 

[GasEmDee]

thanks for the replies. about my grades/board scores they are above average. and yes, my school does not require an away sub-I for graduation.

anyone know from personal experience or from friends that matched?

I am not quite sure I understand if you are asking about an sub-i in anesthesia or in something else. I did a medicine sub-i, and I matched just fine. I dont know what it means to be an anesthesia sub-i per se, because there's only so much you can do in the OR as a medical student. A sub-i in the ICU would look cool though.

If you are asking whether it is possible to match in anesthesia without a sub-i at all, I dont have personal or anectodal experience to answer your question. Seems like the posters above feel that its critical, but if I were to guess myself, I'd guess that its not an absolute deal-breaker not to have done one. As recently as a few years ago, plenty of people who failed to matched into the ultra-competitive specialties like derm and rads were subsequently able to secure spots in top tier anesthesia residencies...so there appears to be some leeway. The field is getting a bit more competitive to enter though.

Good luck!

 

[MedicinePowder]

sorry for being unclear, i was referring to an away anesthesiology rotation including critical care but for that matter an away sub-I in general.

I will do an elective in anesthesiology and another in critical care at my school however and plan to get LOR there.

maybe I misunderstood the first two posters, but I thought they meant they doubt that it would pose a problem as opposed to that they doubted someone can get in without an away sub-I.

 

[GasEmDee]

sorry for being unclear, i was referring to an away anesthesiology rotation including critical care but for that matter an away sub-I in general.

I will do an elective in anesthesiology and another in critical care at my school however and plan to get LOR there.

maybe I misunderstood the first two posters, but I thought they meant they doubt that it would pose a problem as opposed to that they doubted someone can get in without an away sub-I.

I did no away rotations. It was never an issue for me in terms of getting interviews and matching where I wanted to.

I did an OR anesthesia rotation and a critical care rotation, and i got LOR from both. That approach sufficed.

That being said, an away rotation is a great way of showing that you are serious about a particular program. For example, if you've lived and trained in the west coast and want to attend an east coast program, an away rotation is a great way of showing your willingness to come out east. As another example, if you have a research-oriented resume but end up deciding you want to train at a more community program, an away rotation can show your seriousness about the community program (else they could possibly view your application there as a non-serious backup plan).

 

[UTSouthwestern]

Slightly different scenario for me since I transferred from internal medicine. Still, no letters from anesthesiologists, no rotations on anesthesiology at all, but great letters from cardiologists, pulmonologists, and medicine critical care doc.

 

[ThinkFast007]

Slightly different scenario for me since I transferred from internal medicine. Still, no letters from anesthesiologists, no rotations on anesthesiology at all, but great letters from cardiologists, pulmonologists, and medicine critical care doc.

So i'm a third year....

I wont be doing a ICU rotation in Medicine until the later portion of my fourth year. However, the chief of Trauma and Critical Care is writing me a rec since I worked in the SICU.

My q is this. Would his letter carry as much weight as a MEDICINE critical care doc (pulmonologists,etc)?

 

[UTSouthwestern]

So i'm a third year....

I wont be doing a ICU rotation in Medicine until the later portion of my fourth year. However, the chief of Trauma and Critical Care is writing me a rec since I worked in the SICU.

My q is this. Would his letter carry as much weight as a MEDICINE critical care doc (pulmonologists,etc)?

Definitely. Number one, having a chief of anything write you a letter of rec is a feather in your cap. Number two, the SICU is where anesthesiologists are trained in for the most part so having a staff critical care doc, be they anesthesiologist or surgeon, write a letter for you is a VERY good thing.

 

[PassinGas]

ThinkFast007:

When you say "chief," you aren't talking about a resident, right? I just want to be clear...

As for which letter will carry more weight, I would get letters from people who KNOW you the best and can write YOU the best letters. Those types of personal letters from attendings may carry the most "weight," because they'll be top shelf "real" letters from people who will likely put that extra effort into writing how great you are, what a pleasure you have been to get to know, what a great addition you would make to any department including their own, and how dissapointed they are that they couldn't convince you to go into their field (if it's not anesthesia). I would, however, add in your anesthesia chairmen's letter. Personally, I'm not really into the whole "weight" thing for LORs, but it is funny how chairmen know each other. Anesthesia is a small world. Trust me...you will find out just how small when you're on the interview trail.

As has already been mentioned by previous posters, Keep in mind that all your letters don't have to be anesthesia/SICU/critical care related. I ended up using a total of three letters from three different fields, and only my anesthesia chairmen's letter was directly related to the field of anesthesia.

MedicinePowder:

To answer your other question, I didn't do any ICU/critical care rotations or away rotations. I did all my rotations at my home school, and I only did one anesthesiology elective. I had fun, enjoyed myself, and got into an excellent anesthesia residency.

 

[ThinkFast007]

ThinkFast007:

When you say "chief," you aren't talking about a resident, right? I just want to be clear...

As for which letter will carry more weight, I would get letters from people who KNOW you the best and can write YOU the best letters. Those types of personal letters from attendings may carry the most "weight," because they'll be top shelf "real" letters from people who will likely put that extra effort into writing how great you are, what a pleasure you have been to get to know, what a great addition you would make to any department including their own, and how dissapointed they are that they couldn't convince you to go into their field (if it's not anesthesia). I would, however, add in your anesthesia chairmen's letter. Personally, I'm not really into the whole "weight" thing for LORs, but it is funny how chairmen know each other. Anesthesia is a small world. Trust me...you will find out just how small when you're on the interview trail.

As has already been mentioned by previous posters, Keep in mind that all your letters don't have to be anesthesia/SICU/critical care related. I ended up using a total of three letters from three different fields, and only my anesthesia chairmen's letter was directly related to the field of anesthesia.

MedicinePowder:

To answer your other question, I didn't do any ICU/critical care rotations or away rotations. I did all my rotations at my home school, and I only did one anesthesiology elective. I had fun, enjoyed myself, and got into an excellent anesthesia residency.

Hey there ....

Actually I DID NOT mean chief res. I dont know if this is how its done everywhere, but at my school this is the pecking order. Let's tk surgery. So there's the chairman. Then each specialty has its division chief (ie for CT surg, urology, ortho, trauma/CC). Thats what i meant, i suppose I should have clarified.

👍

And yes, the Gas community is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO small. The only thing is that Gas chairmen (i guess women too ) are soo busy and so hard to come by, most just do administrative work 🙁 but surprisingly they all know each other because most went to school at IVY league schools together (atleast that's been my observation). 😎

 

[KungPOWChicken]

Student at my school matched at Stanford with no rotation in anesthesiology.