How hard is it to become an orthopedic surgeon?

[Tennis Guy]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering how hard it is to get into the competitive/lucrative specialty of orthopedics? My dream is to become an orthopedist and work in sports medicine (with athletes/sports injuries). Also, I'm possibly looking into doing spine surgery as well. I know that it is extremely difficult to get into this profession but just how hard are we talking? Do you have to be a genius/ super intelligent? I'm intelligent but have to work real hard... anything I can do to make my path to this specialty a reality? Any advice/comments will be great appreciated... thank you all for your time and patience! 🙂

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[giantswing]

Get into med school first.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering how hard it is to get into the lucrative specialty of orthopedics? My dream is to become an orthopedist and work in sports medicine (with athletes/sports injuries). Also, I'm possibly looking into doing spine surgery as well. I know that it is extremely difficult to get into this profession but just how hard are we talking? Do you have to be a genius/ super intelligent? I'm intelligent but have to work real hard... anything I can do to make my path to this specialty a reality? Any advice/comments will be great appreciated... thank you all for your time and patience! 🙂

First, I think the fact that you focused in on the word lucrative is troubling. You don't pick a specialty this way. Second, I hope you realize that spine surgery got hit hardest in the last set of changes to billing code/reimbursement changes and the salaries you see on various headhunter sites are no longer the case, and many spine surgeons were sent scrambling to learn other ortho procedures. But if you are sincere, you need to do well in college and med school, do well on Step 1, and in med school some ortho related research wouldn't be a bad thing either. And be prepared to work hard, orthopedist early on in their training work some of the most brutal schedules. There are no short cuts. And you probably will never work on professional athletes, you probably will end up working on a host of weekend warriors whose lack of conditioning sets them up for joint injuries.

 

[mishaS]

Getting into a more prestigious med school will give you more options, but you pretty much have to be great in every regard. Obviously you need very high board scores, honoring actually matters in preclinicals from what I've heard, definitely need to rock your clinicals, research, leadership, and off course fitting in well with other orthopedic surgeons, because if you're awesome in every way, but aren't sociable enough, you probably don't have much of a chance. Think about it this way, it's the process of getting into medical school, except instead of undergrads, you're competing with medical students. There are tons of people who have wet dreams about being orthopedic surgeons, so there is no shortage of information as to what is required of you.

 

[Hemorrage]

get into med school first.

+1

 

[IMSingular]

Othopedic Surgery is demanding. One of my acquaintence, in California, quit orthopedic and became a plastic surgeon. Now he makes more moeny with less effort.

 

[LifeTake2]

No worries, it is not hard at all. Just arm wrestle 3 drunk Romanians and they will give you your board certification and your first $1,000,000.

🙂

 

[equinsu ocha]

No worries, it is not hard at all. Just arm wrestle 3 drunk Romanians and they will give you your board certification and your first $1,000,000.

🙂

****, I heard they're twice as strong when drunk....beer muscles

 

[massmocha]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering how hard it is to get into the competitive/lucrative specialty of orthopedics? My dream is to become an orthopedist and work in sports medicine (with athletes/sports injuries). Also, I'm possibly looking into doing spine surgery as well. I know that it is extremely difficult to get into this profession but just how hard are we talking? Do you have to be a genius/ super intelligent? I'm intelligent but have to work real hard... anything I can do to make my path to this specialty a reality? Any advice/comments will be great appreciated... thank you all for your time and patience! 🙂

I realize this is an old thread, but I'm an MS4 with nothing better to do while I wait for Match Day. So, I'll take a crack at it:
- It is very hard to get into orthopedics, probably one of the more competitive specialties, along with plastic surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, and radiation oncology. To repeat what was stated above, you need to do exceptionally well in college (as close to 4.0 GPA as possible, good extracurricular leadership/volunteer activities), have something that sets you apart from all the other great applicants (research, sports, language, arts, business, etc.), and do well on MCAT (i.e., >90th percentile).

Then, you must do well in med school. If you realize that the most competitive applicants are applying for orthopedics, and most programs only interview 10% of applicants, you need to be among the top 10% of the most competitive medical students (realize that this subset has already been whittled down from all the pre-medical students that did not succeed in getting into med school). The most important thing is to score highly on the Step 1 Medical Board Exam (>90 percentile). Then you want to honors all your clerkship rotations (usually top 10-25% of students in each rotation depending on the medical school). Then you need to impress people on your home and visiting orthopedics rotations as a fourth year med student. You should also continue leadership extracurriculars and research throughout medical school.

If you do all this, you will set yourself up for a good number of interviews for residency programs, and you will have a good chance of matching in orthopedic surgery.

You really don't have to be a super genius, as I have done well in the process and am quite sure no one would describe me as a genius. However, you should have a strong history of scoring very highly on standardized exams (these will be the key to success in the medical school and residency applications processes), you should be a hard worker and love working hard and learning new things, and you should be a good team player and easy to get along with. If you are a loner and have trouble making friends, this is not the field for you. The residents are mostly cool people (some of the coolest I have met in medicine), and you won't fit in if you're not a friendly, motivated, laid back kind of person.

That's my take on the whole process... I'll know in 7 weeks if it all paid off! Good luck 🙂

 

[WingedOx]

How hard can you hammer, Bro?

/was told: "slam that sh-t! you hammer like a p-ssy" on my ortho rotation... still was a lot of fun and the only surgical rotation I did that didn't suck.

 

[doc-oc!]

@massmocha is the good grades in undergrad required to be a surgeon or is that just to get into medical school? i plan to enter an SMP program with like a 3.2 or something and then do really well from that point on. i know its easier said than done but can i be a surgeon with great grades in medical school but not undergrad?

 

[JustintheDoctor]

@massmocha is the good grades in undergrad required to be a surgeon or is that just to get into medical school? i plan to enter an SMP program with like a 3.2 or something and then do really well from that point on. i know its easier said than done but can i be a surgeon with great grades in medical school but not undergrad?

yes

 

[Strudel19]

"How hard is it" questions are poisonous mental blocks. I would take care of that before it takes care of you. I've been there!

 

[Law2Doc]

"How hard is it" questions are poisonous mental blocks. I would take care of that before it takes care of you. I've been there!

Yeah, I think whenever someone asks how hard is it they are telegraphing an unwillingness to go flat out and just do their best and live with whatever pans out. I mean if we said impossible, would you quit? If so, then you might as well.

 

[afk94]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering how hard it is to get into the competitive/lucrative specialty of orthopedics? My dream is to become an orthopedist and work in sports medicine (with athletes/sports injuries). Also, I'm possibly looking into doing spine surgery as well. I know that it is extremely difficult to get into this profession but just how hard are we talking? Do you have to be a genius/ super intelligent? I'm intelligent but have to work real hard... anything I can do to make my path to this specialty a reality? Any advice/comments will be great appreciated... thank you all for your time and patience! 🙂

Becoming an type of surgeon is extremely difficult as well as competitive. I'm actually trying to become an orthopedic surgeon as well. Here's my advice for you.

I guess the first step would be to get into an M.D. program. D.O.'s have come a long way, but even at this point there is a slight bias towards M.D. candidates.
Secondly, maintain a high GPA in medical school (3.75+) as well as high step 1 and 2 exam scores. These are the main determining factors for getting into a residency program. Step 3 is taken as a resident so it doesn't really matter too much unless you completely fail.
Third, obtain research experience in an orthopedic surgery lab. I worked in one this summer and it was a great experience. Not only do you get experience in the field, but you also have the opportunity to make some strong connections, especially if you do research at a medical school.
Fourth, shadow an orthopedic surgeon to see if its really what you want to do. Keep in mind that there are many subspecialties within orthopedics (Hand, sports, spine, etc) so if possible you should try to shadow all of these types of ortho surgeons.

I listed these in order of importance (imo), hope this helps.

 

[md-2020]

Becoming an type of surgeon is extremely difficult as well as competitive. I'm actually trying to become an orthopedic surgeon as well. Here's my advice for you.

I guess the first step would be to get into an M.D. program. D.O.'s have come a long way, but even at this point there is a slight bias towards M.D. candidates.
Secondly, maintain a high GPA in medical school (3.75+) as well as high step 1 and 2 exam scores. These are the main determining factors for getting into a residency program. Step 3 is taken as a resident so it doesn't really matter too much unless you completely fail.
Third, obtain research experience in an orthopedic surgery lab. I worked in one this summer and it was a great experience. Not only do you get experience in the field, but you also have the opportunity to make some strong connections, especially if you do research at a medical school.
Fourth, shadow an orthopedic surgeon to see if its really what you want to do. Keep in mind that there are many subspecialties within orthopedics (Hand, sports, spine, etc) so if possible you should try to shadow all of these types of ortho surgeons.

I listed these in order of importance (imo), hope this helps.

Lol

When the Match becomes combined (which it will by the time the OP applies. Post history suggests he has a long way to go before being competitive for med school) it will be more or less equal for everyone. 😉 "3.75 GPA in medical school."

There is no reason to shadow every subspecialty or even multiple subspecialties in ortho.

 

[allantois]

Lol

When the Match becomes combined (which it will by the time the OP applies. Post history suggests he has a long way to go before being competitive for med school) it will be more or less equal for everyone. 😉 "3.75 GPA in medical school."

There is no reason to shadow every subspecialty or even multiple subspecialties in ortho.

Meh, DOs are doing okay matching in their AOA ortho spots now. LECOM-B put 7 people in ortho this past year, all AOA places. I wouldn't count on being so lucky in the near future as there is no reason to believe that DOs will all of the sudden become sought after by ACGME residencies.

 

[IlyaR]

Do you even lift?

 

[ROSC]

You've got to drink a Gallon of milk a day !!

 

[md-2020]

You've got to drink a Gallon of milk a day !!

Uh, not unless you're cool w/ being soft and fat.


Protein shakes, healthy eating, and muscle builders all day.

 

[Holmwood]

If you have a broad interest in sports medicine, then consider other routes to get there like PM&R and Emergency Medicine along with ortho.
It's a bit too early to pigeonhole yourself into a specialty as you might enjoy something you haven't considered during rotations as well.

It's too early to decide upon those things now, although it's not too early to shadow/read up on different options. As others have said, your first step is medical school so focus on that. 😛