Increasing the odds of getting into the specialty of your choice

[kundun]

anyone have any intelligent input?

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[Future DOc]

Very high grades, excellent board scores, great connections, & willing to go anywhere!!! I think that covers the major points...

Rob
WesternU/COMP MS III

 

[spunkydoc]

networking--it is all about networking..get on the road, visit the programs you want to get into, show them your stuff, let them into your world, sucess will be yours and you may even learn a thing or two.

good luck

 

[zilberman]

what do u mean by show your stuff?

 

[spunkydoc]

acutally work someplace you want to go..

i.e. if i want to go to an emed program in oh, i am going to take myself to oh and go work in the ED at that program for a rotation

 

[RBorhani]

One thing you should be aware of, though, is that doing a rotation in the same discipline over and over again does not look good on your application and it is a waste of your education. (i.e. do not do more than 2-3 rotations in emergency medicine if EM is what you want).

I matched into an EM program (Univ of IL) and I had not done any rotations in IL.

Do research if you can and get good letters of recs. Make sure your Deans letter has comments from your clinical preceptors.

We will be putting some of this info on our web site www.oneida.org

good luck
RB

 

[spunkydoc]

RB is right--to an extent i think..

You do not necessarily need to do a month of EM at a place in order to turn heads.. For example, I finished this month's rotation a week ahead of time and so am roadtripping to the next program in which i am interested in just to check them out shake hands, and see what is up there..

sometimes it only takes a few days to assess each other..if you don't click, it ain't a match anyway.

the benefit of visiting program is 2 fold--
they get to see you, you get so see them, the town/city, the interactions of residents and interns with faculty.

the interview day can be sterile-everybody smiles..it is always helpful to see the real deal and make an informed decision..

just my 2 cents.

as for doing the same rotation over and over--not a good idea--true..be well rounded..so do radiology--equally important for ER , and visit the ED a few times to meet the program directors..simple as that.

good luck