.

[edgydoc]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Med Ed]

Routes to plastics:
1. Apply to integrated programs as one of the top performers in your school, rely on away rotations for letters (longest odds)
2. Commit to a fifth year doing research at an outside program (quite common), use that experience for letters and publications
3. Match general surgery first and then do plastics fellowship (the non-integrated path)

IR:
Does the state school have a radiology program?

 

[edgydoc]

.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Yes! The state school has a radiology program.

The 1st route for plastics would obviously be the shortest and my preferred, so, how would I be able to distinguish myself as a top performer if the school is P/F and Step 1 is P/F? Also, can you explain what away rotations are? I've never quite understand what that was when people mentioned it.

Does the school have AOA or internal rankings?

Also there are only 71 integrated plastics residencies so it shouldn’t be too hard for you to form a comprehensive picture of where residents come from in general.

 

[gyngyn]

You can be perfect and not match plastics (or IR). The schools you described will not be a significant factor here.
An otherwise good applicant from any US MD school can usually get into a decent medicine residency and do critical care, though.

 

[edgydoc]

.

 

[gyngyn]

I'm not sure what to take from this comment? Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but are you saying I have slim to no chances with matching competitive specialties attending either school?

Applicants from such schools do match every year. I'm saying that even perfect candidates from "top" schools can fail to match plastics and IR. There is no appreciable difference between the schools you have described here.

 

[candbgirl]

This may have been posted before, so my apologies if that's the case.

After spending a lot of time scribing and working in hospital settings, I've been able to narrow down a lot what specialities I'm interested in vs the specialities I'm absolutely not interested in. Currently, my top 3 are plastics, IR, and critical care. From my understanding, IR and plastics are both very competitive. I have been blessed with a handful of acceptances this cycle and, of those acceptances, I'm trying to decide between my state school (which is unranked) and a T40-ish OOS school.

I'm leaning more towards my state school because of cost and was wondering how I would go about matching into plastics or IR from this school? Also, my state school has no home program for plastics.

EDIT: I found out today that my state school "concludes" in 3 years and allows for M4s to go straight into residency, do research, obtain a masters, or complete further rotations

This is the first you heard of them closing in 3 years? Are you the last class to be accepted? Will you graduate in 3 years? This is a state school?

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

This is the first you heard of them closing in 3 years? Are you the last class to be accepted? Will you graduate in 3 years? This is a state school?

Sounds like an accelerated residency option program

 

[edgydoc]

.

 

[Browns99]

Integrated plastics is probably the most competitive residency along with neurosurgery, so as one poster mentioned, even top applicants from top schools does not guarantee a match. With that being said, integrated plastics as well as neurosurgery match applicants every year from all type of schools, top-tier, middle-tier and low-tier. Your scores, strong letters, research, interviews, etc. will dictate your match.

So, attending a "top" ranked school will probably always be a plus when programs consider an applicant for an interview, data shows that a top quality applicant, regardless of their school will continue to match in every completive field.

In you case, a T40 v unranked is not likely to make much of a difference and you should pick the school that you feel you will likely succeed the most at.

If you do plan on going for a uber-competitive field early on, plan accordingly and gain contact with people well-known in the field in hopes of securing LOR, which can be paramount when programs consider applicants.

And remember, only pick a field because you are passionate about it, don't choose one because of prestige.

 

[Med Ed]

The 1st route for plastics would obviously be the shortest and my preferred, so, how would I be able to distinguish myself as a top performer if the school is P/F and Step 1 is P/F? Also, can you explain what away rotations are? I've never quite understand what that was when people mentioned it.

Medical school is packed with assessments and opportunities to distinguish yourself. If you have the requisite combination of raw intelligence and motivation then you will stand out.

Away rotations are fourth year electives taken at outside institutions. They are often used as "audition" rotations, where a student will explore a prospective environment for residency training while attempting to impress the faculty and program director. If your school does not have a home program then away rotations are your only real opportunity to get that experience.

There are 86 active integrated plastics programs, which means only about half of schools have one. In 2021 the US MD match rate for plastics was 70%. This doesn't reflect all the people who thought about plastics but opted not to pursue it.

 

[butidontwantto]

Hey OP, current M2 here. About those 3 year programs - don't do it. Preclinical already goes so fast. You can do your best to economize your time, but at the end of the day your brain needs time to learn things. We have a 3 year track at my school, and historically those students have struggled more on boards and in class ranking. They also have less time to fit in research, shadowing, additional rotations, extracurriculars, basically all the other fluff that fills out an application. They're going directly into primary care fields though, so it matters less if their overall application is less competitive. If you're trying to go into a super competitive field, you're making it a lot harder to build a competitive application all for the sake of saving yourself a year of time and maybe tuition. The only caveat I can think of is if you already have a reeeeaaaalllllyyy strong background on a big portion of the material, like you're a currently a pharmacist or already have a doctorate in a biomedical field. (Which honestly still might come back to bite you - had several people like this in my class too, and they definitely miss exam questions because the questions were written for a lower level of knowledge and the students read too much into it based on their expertise.)
Pick the school that felt the most supportive to their students. Are they going to punish you for asking for help, do nothing, or actually help you? Do they respond to student concerns? Do they try to micromanage students? etc.