Matched into General Surgery - DO AMA

[BeanBag2]

Hey everyone,

I have used these forums a lot when it came to getting my application ready, studying for MCAT/BOARDS, and just general knowledge within the medical field. I am sitting in a position where I can finally give back plus I have a ton of free time on my hands before starting residency. If anyone has any questions feel free to shoot I will be happy to answer them.

Cheers!

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[chemdoctor]

What was the range of your board scores? Naturally you took both the USMLE and the COMLEX right? Also what kind of research did you have?

 

[Goro]

Hey everyone,

I have used these forums a lot when it came to getting my application ready, studying for MCAT/BOARDS, and just general knowledge within the medical field. I am sitting in a position where I can finally give back plus I have a ton of free time on my hands before starting residency. If anyone has any questions feel free to shoot I will be happy to answer them.

Cheers!

Did you match into a position at a community hospital or a university medical center. AOA or ACGME (or former AOA, now ACGME)?

What was your hook for this program?

 

[drducky.]

Can you talk about the research opportunities at your DO school? How did you find them and when did you do it?

 

[BeanBag2]

What was the range of your board scores? Naturally you took both the USMLE and the COMLEX right? Also what kind of research did you have?

step 1/ Comlex 1: I took the usmle a week before my comlex. Studied for about 6 months strictly focusing on first aid/pathoma/ and uworld. Did uworld 1.5x and pathoma/first aid twice through. Cant remember my exact nbme scores for practice exams but I can dig them up somewhere if you are interested. I ended up getting a score between 242-246 on usmle and 500-550 on my comlex. I was frustrated about how poorly I did on comlex, I think waiting a week was too long for me as all I did was go over in my head all the questions I missed during step. I took OMM lightly and it def hurt my score.

Just a little tidbit I found while interviewing, I only applied to ACGME residency and not once did my Comlex score get brought up. In fact most poeple were impressed with my board scores; guess they only care about USMLE.

Step 2/Comlex 2: Studied for about 3 months, felt that this exam was much more straight forward. Did uworld 2x. Scored again between 242-246; Level 2: 600-650

Research: Three poster Presentations for 3 separate research projects, 0 publications.

 

[BeanBag2]

Did you match into a position at a community hospital or a university medical center. AOA or ACGME (or former AOA, now ACGME)?

What was your hook for this program?

Applied only ACGME, think it was a total of 84 applications I sent out. I went through doximity/forums thoroughly and looked at what places have accepted DO's before and added hospital that I rotated at even if they haven't.

I did not apply to any AOA programs because I felt like my USMLE scores were a strong part of my application. Plus I felt that there needs to be a reason why the program is still AOA and has not merged yet.

I matched into a Community hospital that has not taken a DO before as a categorical. Think my hook for this program was that I did my core rotations there and throughout the year built a good relationship with the surgical residents/PD/ Chairmen. My surgical rotation was my last one of my cores so I took it as an audition. I tried to scrub in as many times as I could with the PD and It paid off because he/she actually ended up writing me an awesome LOR.

This is not for goro ( hes a legend and knows this by now) but for anyone else who might be reading this
It is important that you maintain a chill attitude during auditions. Be present but don't be overly present, show interest but do not be annoying. It's a balance that you will need to figure out, people can tell when you are just kissing ass.

 

[BeanBag2]

Can you talk about the research opportunities at your DO school? How did you find them and when did you do it?

I started doing research half way through my first year. I was comfortable with getting involved because I was doing well in my courses and anatomy just finished. I sent out emails to the professors doing research that I was interested in. I made sure to read about their previous project and include something about them within the email. Eventually one got back to me. It seemed that all students at my school who wanted to do research had the opportunity to do so. There were plenty of professors who had multiple projects. I did about a year of research at my school (stopped once I started studying for my boards).

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

1. Class rank? Did you feel like this mattered at all?
2. Right now I have 4 publications, with 2 of them being in big name journals but the only issue is they both happen to be ENT. Just kind worked out that those projects got published faster. Currently working on a first author GS paper that I'm hopeful will land somewhere big too but I'm worried that if it doesn't happen that programs won't like that most of my research is in a surgical sub.
3. How many interviews did you go on?
4. Did you do aways? If so where and how many?
5. What were your general thoughts on different programs as you went on interviews, aways etc?

 

[BeanBag2]

1. Class rank? Did you feel like this mattered at all?
2. Right now I have 4 publications, with 2 of them being in big name journals but the only issue is they both happen to be ENT. Just kind worked out that those projects got published faster. Currently working on a first author GS paper that I'm hopeful will land somewhere big too but I'm worried that if it doesn't happen that programs won't like that most of my research is in a surgical sub.
3. How many interviews did you go on?
4. Did you do aways? If so where and how many?
5. What were your general thoughts on different programs as you went on interviews, aways etc?

1. Class rank was broken up into thirds in my school. I was in the middle of the pack and never honored anything. No it didnt matter and never got brought up when interviewing.
2. They won't care that it is in a surgical subspecialty. Just explain yourself how you fell into doing it and that you just wanted to get involved anyway you can. My research was in cardiology. Most people interviewing me just wanted to know if I participated in some kind of research before other than that they didn't seem too interested. I am sure its different at big academic centers though.
3. Got 18 interviews and went on 12.
4. I did 3 aways, I will not say where cause I want to remain somewhat anonymous. Make sure you choose aways in places that have accepted DO's before. My other classmates who got into surgery all got into places they auditioned.
5. Interviewing is sort of a weird time and was a bit stressful. A lot of programs only have a few days available and they tend to overlap with one another. It's important to always do the social that most programs offer. It gives you a chance to see what the residents are like and it says a lot when majority of them show up and are in good mood. I went to a program where two residents showed up to the social and I immediately knew that the program wasn't for me. After going on a bunch of interviews (this is at least for me, everyone is different) that they are all more similar than different. They all will say they have no problem with case #'s, they all say that you will be operating as an intern ASAP, they all give you access to SCORE/ Money for conferences and so on. When I sat down to make my rank list I prioritized the following:
a.) Did I get along with the residents/staff that I will be working with for the next five years?
b.) Location (I wanted to be in a place where when I was off I can enjoy myself)
c.) The opportunity for a research year if I choose to go into a competitive specialty.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I would love to know where you got interviews if you are willing to share. You could also use PM if you don't want that public.

 

[BarrelRoll]

Was General Surgery something you were interested in before you went into medical school?

(I’ll probably think of more questions and post later, sorry)

 

[BeanBag2]

Was General Surgery something you were interested in before you went into medical school?

(I’ll probably think of more questions and post later, sorry)

No need to apologize, it's a good question. Yes I was definitely interested in general surgery heading into medical school. During my undergrad I went with a friend's father on a missionary trip, he was a surgeon and allowed me to first assist in a lot of his cases (or attempt to first assist). I switched a few times while in medical school and wasn't even fully sure when applying. I had some interest in anesthesia and EM but ultimately I could not give up operating. My favorite spot to be in the hospital is the operating room. During rotations as a medial student sometimes your pushed to the edge of the table and cant do anything but watch. This was a bit frustrating for me cause I felt like I was in peoples way. However when I did have the opportunity to participate in cases it was very rewarding.

 

[BarrelRoll]

Also,

Assuming everything else is in line (240+ Step 1, research), do you think it would be even more difficult matching GS without doing an audition at the desired hospital? So let's say you do surgical auditions at hospitals A, B, C, and get a strong LOR. Would you still be competitive at GS residencies that are not A, B, or C? Or are your options still only limited to the hospitals you auditioned at?

 

[BeanBag2]

Also,

Assuming everything else is in line (240+ Step 1, research), do you think it would be even more difficult matching GS without doing an audition at the desired hospital? So let's say you do surgical auditions at hospitals A, B, C, and get a strong LOR. Would you still be competitive at GS residencies that are not A, B, or C? Or are your options still only limited to the hospitals you auditioned at?

Yes, you will definitely be competitive especially if you go back for a 2nd look. However it is important to remember that these programs are also rolling the dice when it comes to ranking. They want to make sure if they rank you high that you will too and nothing says that more than an audition. It shows you are highly interested in their program.