Let the competition begin...

[TwoSteveSquared]

If I were interested in say Neurosurgury, Orthepedics, or plastics, would I have to be set on that path from day 1 of med school. Is there little room for error? Looking at match lists it seems more impossible than getting into med school. Some lower tier schools don't have any matches in neurosurgury. Kinda scary.

Do some people go all four years wanting one of these hot specialties and come out in something they didn't want in the first place just cause they couldn't match?

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[Hope88]

Yeah, it happens. I posted before about my friend doing FP...she was gung-ho ortho for a long time before the match. I'm not entirely sure what her grades/board scores were, but she seemed to think she wasn't so competitive because she did the accelerated BS/MD thing.

 

[Hopkins2010]

I was always hoping that residency programs would exert some kind of preference for state residents, but alas they do not.

For example, the neurosurgery program at the University of Oklahoma has exactly ZERO Oklahoma state residents on staff.

All of them are from places like Harvard or Stanford or Johns Hopkins.

I guess the state med school mentality is that they expect a significant number of people who graduate from school to go away to other areas for residency, but then to come back to that state post residency?

Seems kind of odd to me.

 

[Navy Corpsman]

"It's not who you are, it's who you know." I am afraid that this statement applies here as well: you can have all the qualifications in the world, but with so few spots to fill it is no surprise that connections outweigh all other considerations.

 

[tussy]

Originally posted by TwoSteveSquared:
•

Do some people go all four years wanting one of these hot specialties and come out in something they didn't want in the first place just cause they couldn't match?•

Yup, it happens. But, it also happens that someone decided at the last minute and still gets in. Showing an interest early on is nice, but it doesn't beat board scores and the rest of the application. Don't let the competativeness of it deter you from your goal. Just have a back-up plan just in case.

 

[Hopkins2010]

Originally posted by tussy:
•
Yup, it happens. But, it also happens that someone decided at the last minute and still gets in. Showing an interest early on is nice, but it doesn't beat board scores and the rest of the application. Don't let the competativeness of it deter you from your goal. Just have a back-up plan just in case.•

Are board scores really that much of a distinguishing factor for the top residencies?

I would almost see that as a prerequisite, not something that really gets you in.

For example, at the top 10 med schools, the MCAT scores of the vast majority of applicants are all very high so its really not the MCAT that seals the deal.

Do residency programs distinguish between someone who scores in the top 1% of board scores vs the top 5%? That is, would the top 1% have a significantly higher chance of getting into the residency vs. the 5% guy?

From the way I've seen it described on these boards, residency programs are pretty narrow in their focus on qualifications, whereas medical schools consider the broad range of personality, aptitude, etc of the applicant. How true is this perception?