Hindsight - applying for two specialties at same hospital

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GuP

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Now that the match is all done I would like to know what kind of experiences people had with applying to two different specialties at the same place. Did anyone go about this and if so, how did it work out? Did the PD have a clue, no clue or whatvea? Thanks.

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I applied for ortho and general surgery (as a backup after not matching ortho last year). I only applied to ten g surg programs so there wasn't a lot of overlap. My home program and one in Florida were the only places I applied to both specialties. At Florida neither had any idea (except that some residents saw me on my ortho tour the day after gsurg interviews). I had told my home program g surg PD about applying for ortho the year before, and I think I told him I was dual applying (don't remember). I pretty much had to come clean in my g surg interviews because I had done only ortho sub I's, and my research year was in ortho (and the letter my supervisor wrote was filled with how great an orthopedic surgeon I would make-oops). None of the ortho programs I intervied with knew. It didn't seem to affect anything since I matched at my first choice g surg program (would have been better if it was ortho, but I'm really glad not to have been unmatched again).
 
I'm conflicted as to to whether or not this is a good idea, because I was recently told that applying to two specialties at the same hospital can get your app sent to the bottom of the pile.....
 
I applied for ortho and general surgery (as a backup after not matching ortho last year). I only applied to ten g surg programs so there wasn't a lot of overlap. My home program and one in Florida were the only places I applied to both specialties. At Florida neither had any idea (except that some residents saw me on my ortho tour the day after gsurg interviews). I had told my home program g surg PD about applying for ortho the year before, and I think I told him I was dual applying (don't remember). I pretty much had to come clean in my g surg interviews because I had done only ortho sub I's, and my research year was in ortho (and the letter my supervisor wrote was filled with how great an orthopedic surgeon I would make-oops). None of the ortho programs I intervied with knew. It didn't seem to affect anything since I matched at my first choice g surg program (would have been better if it was ortho, but I'm really glad not to have been unmatched again).

I will assume (correct me if my assumption is wrong), since you stated that gen surg was a back up and your application screamed ortho, you still ranked all of your ortho programs over your gen surg programs. There may be other reasons why you didn't match at this Florida ortho program, but one distinct possibility is that the Florida gen surg residents saw you on the ortho tour, notified their PD or the ortho residents, who in turn notified the ortho PD. So yeah, they probably knew. You also didn't match at your home ortho program, where you told your home gen surg PD that you were dual applying. Same possible scenario. Now granted, all of this is purely speculation, because unless you directly contact the PDs, we have no way of knowing why you didn't match at these ortho programs.

People apply to multiple specialties every year. This should not affect your ability to land interviews. The problem comes on the day of the interview, and again when it comes time to submit rank order lists. Some specialties/programs might be more understanding than others. It's easier to hide if you apply to non-overlapping institutions. It should be obvious that there is an increased risk of being caught if you apply to multiple specialties within the same institution. But, as is with everything in life, if you don't get caught – no problem.
 
sorry if this is a stupid question, but how do people typically handle submitting the rank list in this situation? what is the general strategy?
 
This is going to sound really ****ty and perhaps I shouldn't even say it, but given the reputation of your GS program dpmd, I'd venture that if you'd applied and interviewed at some higher caliber programs that it WOULD have made a difference (the heavily skewed Ortho application).

I don't take offense. I know my program is considered a no name program in a ****splat town by people who don't know anything about it. I also know where some of my predecessors have gone to fellowship training and currently are employed.

Of course some big name programs are going to get bent out of shape if you aren't falling all over yourself in awe of the awesomeness of their department. But really if you are applying to two specialties you are probably in one of two situations.

1. You are not as competitive as you would like for your chosen specialty. In that case, limiting yourself to only one specialty leaves you at risk of not matching. Going for a backup decreases that, and if you really love a particular institution (for whatever reason) it is hard to say not to do it when really we are just speculating on what the consequences might be. Plus no one in this category is expecting the fancy places to really give them a chance anyway

2. You are geographically limited. In that case you are either going to have to overlap or not apply to as many programs. Fewer applications may mean fewer interviews which can mean less chance of matching. If your reasons for limiting the geography are that important to you I think you might take the risk.
 
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sorry if this is a stupid question, but how do people typically handle submitting the rank list in this situation? what is the general strategy?

There is no gaming the system with rank lists. Put the place you like best as number one, then go down from there. Stop when you are out of places, or when you reach a place you would rather pluck your eyeballs out and set yourself on fire to avoid having to go there (anything less than that degree of dislike you should consider leaving on your list unless you are willing to go unmatched rather than go there).
 
I applied to categorical peds and combined-pediatrics anesthesia. At half of the combined programs I also applied to peds. Honestly, there are only 7 combined programs with 1-2 spots per year, so everyone knew that every applicant was also applying to peds or anesthesia. Some of the programs even encouraged applying to both the combined program and one (or both) categorical programs at their institution. I matched to my first choice, a combined program where I had also interviewed for categorical peds. I guess this is kind of a weird situation, though.
 
I applied for ortho and general surgery (as a backup after not matching ortho last year). I only applied to ten g surg programs so there wasn't a lot of overlap. My home program and one in Florida were the only places I applied to both specialties. At Florida neither had any idea (except that some residents saw me on my ortho tour the day after gsurg interviews). I had told my home program g surg PD about applying for ortho the year before, and I think I told him I was dual applying (don't remember). I pretty much had to come clean in my g surg interviews because I had done only ortho sub I's, and my research year was in ortho (and the letter my supervisor wrote was filled with how great an orthopedic surgeon I would make-oops). None of the ortho programs I intervied with knew. It didn't seem to affect anything since I matched at my first choice g surg program (would have been better if it was ortho, but I'm really glad not to have been unmatched again).
I am pretty much in the same situation as you. Did you have seperate LOR's for Gen surg? When you say you came clean in your GS interviews did you profess a new found interest in Gen Surg or fessed up that it was a back up option?
 
I am pretty much in the same situation as you. Did you have seperate LOR's for Gen surg? When you say you came clean in your GS interviews did you profess a new found interest in Gen Surg or fessed up that it was a back up option?
Told them about failing to match ortho and evaluating what else would be a good fit. I had decided to go for categorical surgery because my plan was to give up my dreams of ortho and commit fully to general surgery if I that is what I matched into. I had some separate LOR's because I had made an impression during my third year core rotations and despite it being a while later they were happy to write really good letters (so I was told) because they thought I was better suited to gen surg all along (the old "you are too smart to go into ortho" thing). But I also had that letter from my research supervisor that was glowing in its recommendation of me for ortho (there was supposed to be two versions of that later but something got screwed up evidently).
 
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