How difficult will it be to match into surgery from this school?

[paveldatsyuk]

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Hello. So far I've gotten one II and was accepted at that school. That school is CHSUCOM, the new osteopathic medical school in California's central valley. I really enjoyed talking to my interviewers and the campus seems really nice/state-of-the-art. I'm just a little worried about the "new-ness" of the school. I would be in the second graduating class.

My question is: Will I be at a huge disadvantage when it comes to matching into a competitive specialty such as general or orthopedic surgery?

From what I've seen, it seems like people are implying its nearly impossible to match into surgery from D.O. schools, especially a new D.O. school. I'm not worried about having to work hard. I've had to work slightly harder than most of my classmates throughout undergrad - I was a non-trad student with a very low GPA initially and no background in science, but I managed to graduate magna cum laude in biology from a T20 public uni.

I really like CHSUCOM, and I would be close to my family and my girlfriend. Hoping to also get into TouroCA (honestly though, CHSUCOM facilities seem significantly nicer), and my longshot is UCSF.

But anyway, if I work my butt off, will it be possible to match into a surgical specialty from CHSUCOM? What kind of things would I have to do in order to do so?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Rogue42]

Your class probably won't have a scored board, which will be the biggest hold back.

Gen Surg is doable for a DO from any school so long as you do what is necessary to be successful - harder from a newer school? Sure, less connections.

Ortho is extremely hard, extremely competitive, no matter which DO school you attend.

 

[Rogue42]

I'll add @AnatomyGrey12 to this.

He's a pretty busy guy these days, but he knows his stuff.

 

[Goro]

Hello. So far I've gotten one II and was accepted at that school. That school is CHSUCOM, the new osteopathic medical school in California's central valley. I really enjoyed talking to my interviewers and the campus seems really nice/state-of-the-art. I'm just a little worried about the "new-ness" of the school. I would be in the second graduating class.

My question is: Will I be at a huge disadvantage when it comes to matching into a competitive specialty such as general or orthopedic surgery?

From what I've seen, it seems like people are implying its nearly impossible to match into surgery from D.O. schools, especially a new D.O. school. I'm not worried about having to work hard. I've had to work slightly harder than most of my classmates throughout undergrad - I was a non-trad student with a very low GPA initially and no background in science, but I managed to graduate magna cum laude in biology from a T20 public uni.

I really like CHSUCOM, and I would be close to my family and my girlfriend. Hoping to also get into TouroCA (honestly though, CHSUCOM facilities seem significantly nicer), and my longshot is UCSF.

But anyway, if I work my butt off, will it be possible to match into a surgical specialty from CHSUCOM? What kind of things would I have to do in order to do so?

Thanks in advance!

I have my qualms about CHSU.

Being a brand new school is a problem because PDs aren't familiar with its graduates. Secondly, its rotations might be limited as well. Touro, Western, AZCOM etc all have more extensive networks of rotations sites. Lastly, being new, their Clinical Education deans many not know how to train and oversee rotations, meaning you are at risk for not getting a good clinical education. This type of thing tars the entire profession, BTW.

You will need to network and do audition rotations, and get LORs from people in the field.

 

[paveldatsyuk]

I have my qualms about CHSU.

Being a brand new school is a problem because PDs aren't familiar with its graduates. Secondly, its rotations might be limited as well. Touro, Western, AZCOM etc all have more extensive networks of rotations sites. Lastly, being new, their Clinical Education deans many not know how to train and oversee rotations, meaning you are at risk for not getting a good clinical education. This type of thing tars the entire profession, BTW.

You will need to network and do audition rotations, and get LORs from people in the field.

I see. What are PDs?

Well, they do have a partnership with Case Western and some other established D.O. school that I can't remember at the moment. Apparently they have ~10 Case students that are in their clinical years doing the rest of their training at CHSUCOM rotation sites starting this year.
During our interview session they kept telling us that they had already established partnerships with lots of places in the Central Valley. What do you think of the excerpt that I've included below? Is it possible that they are exaggerating or does it sound somewhat promising from your perspective? And thank you for your response btw.

From their COM website:

To accomplish the COM’s mission, strong and valued partnerships have been established with highly regarded physicians, clinics and hospital systems in the Central Valley of California.

Students must be enrolled in clinical activities throughout the entire academic years of the third and fourth years. A clinical education curriculum has been established which students will follow, that ensures that students complete the entirety of their clinical education prior to graduation.

CHSU has partnership agreements in place to assure all the core third and fourth year rotations along with selective clinical education clerkships will be completed in the California Central Valley, with a focus on clinical experiences serving diverse populations.

Third and fourth year clinical education experiences will have opportunities for education in community health centers in a team-based, interprofessional care model.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

New schools take a few yeara to get the bugs out of their curriculum and rotation sites established . You will be the end product of their learning curve. It will take years for them to develop a reputation amongst Program Directors at residencies. Competetive residencies require a student to network, do research, go on away audition rotations, and have good board scores. Your chances go up for doing well on boards and doing away audition rotations when you attend an established school. Not that it cant be done at a new school, it's just a harder road.

 

[Goro]

PD =Program Director

It's easy for CHSU to talk about relationships two years before they actually need them. They can be ephemeral.

 

[Kardio]

I see. What are PDs?

Just elaborating on what Goro said - Program Directors are the people in charge of a residency program. They’re the ones who decided how badly a residency wants you. Because this school hasn’t graduated students yet, PDs lack reference experiences to assess the quality of graduates produced by the school.