I have a few questions, what is the path you have to take during med school to match into a good residency(dermatology). What are types of tests you have to take, what do you have to do well at during med school, also what are home/away rotations? Also lets say I don't get into a derm residency should I do pgy-1 at a different place and then re apply for the remaining 3 years of a derm residency?
Getting into residency
- Thread starter hs2013
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it's really not that complicated. just work hard and do well. there's not many branch points or different paths to take.
most important are good grades during ms3 (which takes enthusiasm, studying, working well with the residents) and getting a good step I score (which takes lots of studying). it looks good to have grades the first two years, but it's more important not to have bad grades. and you want to get honors in your "audition" rotation for the specialty you go into.
sooo... get decent (not bad) grades during first two years, study hard and score very well on step I, get mainly "honors" marks during 3rd year, and make sure to prepare and do well in your audition rotation. you may or may not take step II before applying to residency. most letters of rec are obtained during your audition rotations but can be from any attending you worked well with.
sounds like you're not yet in med school... it's tough to fully understand until you're there, but the first two years are kind of like college on steroids. you study way more than your hardest semester at college but still usually feel like you're doing much worse (which is often true compared to the rest of your class... med school is like all A and B students but half of them have to be below the average). the 3rd year is actual clinical rotations and working as part of the patient care team. it's often intimidating and can be very long hours... then 4th year is easier and is mostly about matching into a residency.
most important are good grades during ms3 (which takes enthusiasm, studying, working well with the residents) and getting a good step I score (which takes lots of studying). it looks good to have grades the first two years, but it's more important not to have bad grades. and you want to get honors in your "audition" rotation for the specialty you go into.
sooo... get decent (not bad) grades during first two years, study hard and score very well on step I, get mainly "honors" marks during 3rd year, and make sure to prepare and do well in your audition rotation. you may or may not take step II before applying to residency. most letters of rec are obtained during your audition rotations but can be from any attending you worked well with.
sounds like you're not yet in med school... it's tough to fully understand until you're there, but the first two years are kind of like college on steroids. you study way more than your hardest semester at college but still usually feel like you're doing much worse (which is often true compared to the rest of your class... med school is like all A and B students but half of them have to be below the average). the 3rd year is actual clinical rotations and working as part of the patient care team. it's often intimidating and can be very long hours... then 4th year is easier and is mostly about matching into a residency.
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From what I understand, having talked to some residency directors, the #1 thing you can do is rock Step 1. Other stuff is definitely important, but a killer Step 1 score is very important. That being said, you can still do derm without a killer board score, but the path is much more difficult.
Do great on Step 1, start Derm research early and make some contacts, get involved in other derm activities, and do well in med school with grades and get good 3rd year evaluations (try to work with nationally well known people (ask around) that can write you letters of recommendation when the time comes).
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Agree with the others. It's conceptually simple, but very hard to accomplish. You need to do very well on Step 1. You need to be in the top chunk of your class. You need good evals and LORs. And ideally you should squeeze in some research (preferably derm related but not necessarily), ideally leading to a publication, somewhere along the way. Do an away rotation or two at other programs with derm. Make friends with your local faculty and have them help you network. Apply to a lot of places. And interview well. If you can manage to do all this, you have a nice shot. Again, the concept is easy. Actually pulling it off is beyond most med school grads.
