Matching into derm out of Einstein

[Long Dong]

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smq123, good post.

I think some people see a med school's Match list, extrapolate and equate "lots of students matched into Derm" to "this must be an excellent med school."

I agree UCLA is an excellent school.

Then go to UCLA med school - there is your "meaningful comment"...

I agree with this too very meaningful

At ucla one of our first blocks invovled the skin, so yes you get exposure to skin within the first few weeks of med school. Maybe that's why so many from my class with the new curriculum went into derm.

 

[smq123]

Only 50% of derm applicants are AOA. It's on the NRMP website. However, an extremely high number of them have done research while in med school (i think maybe 80-90%). I post the PDF link later.

I think you misread what I wrote - 90% of applicants are top students/AOA/rising stars, etc. Obviously not all top students will be AOA (since many schools have non-academic criteria for picking who will be AOA). But I would say that over 90% of derm applicants were at least nominated for AOA or in the top quarter of their class.

 

[45408]

Maybe I have a distorted view of reality, but from what I've heard and seen, it's not all doom and gloom, and if you truly want something, you'll eventually get

When it comes to something like matching derm....no. You heard wrong. Not everyone is capable of matching into the most competitive specialty. Sorry. It may seem feasible now when you're at the top of your undergrad classes, but just wait until the really big guns come out in med school, and you realize that you're no longer going to easily skate to the top of your class (which is what you'd need to do for something like derm or plastics).

 

[postbacker]

When it comes to something like matching derm....no. You heard wrong. Not everyone is capable of matching into the most competitive specialty. Sorry. It may seem feasible now when you're at the top of your undergrad classes, but just wait until the really big guns come out in med school, and you realize that you're no longer going to easily skate to the top of your class (which is what you'd need to do for something like derm or plastics).

And if derm is really what you want to do, many FP docs have a thriving practice that includes at least the most basic derm stuff...

 

[Doublecortin]

bump

 

[maestro1625]

you bumped this thread where you got made a fool of... why?

 

[jad2121]

bump

whats bump?

 

[smq123]

whats bump?

Just posting anything, so that you "bump" the thread's place up in the list of open threads.

 

[chitowndermie]

I know a graduate from Albert Einstein who was #1 in his class, great board scores, honored every clinical rotation in 3rd and 4th years, had extensive research, and did not match on his first try several years back. Spent a year in research and matched. Why, you might ask? It was not because he doesn't have a good personality.

The thing with dermatology is, a big key to success is who you know and who your letters are from, plain and simple. I didn't realize how huge this is until after I matched with relatively no connections and started residency.

The dermatology department at Einstein is not the strongest in the country. Furthermore, I have been told that the chairman of the department is more or less a hermit, and doesn't have many connections with other dermatology academic attendings elsewhere. With this said, it's hard to get interviews when your biggest supporter is not well known in the small derm community.

If dermatology is truly your passion, and really all you see yourself doing, then I would think long and hard before going to Einstein. HTH.

 

[maestro1625]

Just posting anything, so that you "bump" the thread's place up in the list of open threads.

Bring Up My Post

 

[Doublecortin]

I know a graduate from Albert Einstein who was #1 in his class, great board scores, honored every clinical rotation in 3rd and 4th years, had extensive research, and did not match on his first try several years back. Spent a year in research and matched. Why, you might ask? It was not because he doesn't have a good personality.

The thing with dermatology is, a big key to success is who you know and who your letters are from, plain and simple. I didn't realize how huge this is until after I matched with relatively no connections and started residency.

The dermatology department at Einstein is not the strongest in the country. Furthermore, I have been told that the chairman of the department is more or less a hermit, and doesn't have many connections with other dermatology academic attendings elsewhere. With this said, it's hard to get interviews when your biggest supporter is not well known in the small derm community.

If dermatology is truly your passion, and really all you see yourself doing, then I would think long and hard before going to Einstein. HTH.

great post, thanks a latte 👍

 

[Long Dong]

The thing with dermatology is, a big key to success is who you know and who your letters are from, plain and simple. I didn't realize how huge this is until after I matched with relatively no connections and started residency.

Word, like most things in life who you know is more important than what you know. Now if you know alot and know alot of peeps, even better.

 

[smq123]

I know a graduate from Albert Einstein who was #1 in his class, great board scores, honored every clinical rotation in 3rd and 4th years, had extensive research, and did not match on his first try several years back. Spent a year in research and matched. Why, you might ask? It was not because he doesn't have a good personality.

The thing with dermatology is, a big key to success is who you know and who your letters are from, plain and simple. I didn't realize how huge this is until after I matched with relatively no connections and started residency.

The dermatology department at Einstein is not the strongest in the country. Furthermore, I have been told that the chairman of the department is more or less a hermit, and doesn't have many connections with other dermatology academic attendings elsewhere. With this said, it's hard to get interviews when your biggest supporter is not well known in the small derm community.

If dermatology is truly your passion, and really all you see yourself doing, then I would think long and hard before going to Einstein. HTH.

He didn't take the time or make the effort to do away rotations? He didn't join derm interest groups and try to go to national conferences, in an effort to make connections?

Just because Einstein doesn't have a strong derm department shouldn't necessarily have kept him from matching, should it have?

 

[lord_jeebus]

He didn't take the time or make the effort to do away rotations? He didn't join derm interest groups and try to go to national conferences, in an effort to make connections?

Just because Einstein doesn't have a strong derm department shouldn't necessarily have kept him from matching, should it have?

You need to make connections of the kind of quality that someone would really go out of their way to help you. You don't get this by going to a conference and certainly not by joining an interest group (how many people at this school are interested anyway? I thought that was the whole concern here). It's much easier if you've been doing research with someone for a few years (because you're at the same institution) than if you're counting on rocking a 4 week away rotation (which may be competitive just to land) where everyone's busting their ass to look good and your time may be divided among a bunch of attendings.

Again, if you strategize very well (and work very hard and have baseline smarts) you should be able to match derm somewhere, but at some places the same amount of effort will produce better results. If you have a good reason to go to Einstein, you shouldn't let this stop you.