MS3 at a TX School- AMA!

[TexasSurgeon]

Hello fellow SDNers!

I'm currently an MS3 in the clinical years at a school in Texas, as you might have guessed. I figured I would give back to the SDN community & hopefully make it slightly less neurotic with an AMA session. It will take me a very long time to respond, so I am sorry in advance; but I promise I will try my best to respond to each and every one of you.

I had a c/sGPA of ~3.8
I had an MCAT score of ~510-514, & I took it 3 times
I was a science major
I took a gap year & it was the best year of my life
I made a C in organic chemistry
I was a research-heavy applicant

& contrary to my SDN username, I will 99% not be going into surgery LOL

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[Lucca]

Whats your order at Whataburger?

What turned you away from Surgery?

 

[Isoval]

Whats your order at Whataburger?

What turned you away from Surgery?

Avacado Bacon Burger 10/10.

 

[Lucca]

Avacado Bacon Burger 10/10.

All about that cheddar chophouse personally. I don’t even know if they still serve that.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Whats your order at Whataburger?

What turned you away from Surgery?

Hi Lucca!! Been a while

I actually don't go to Whataburger that much!! I'm more of the breakfast tacos/Torchy's tacos person

I wanted to do surgery for the longest time because I've always been good with my hands. I have yet to do the surgery rotation so this can still change, but from the shadowing I've done as a medical student and from anatomy, I find surgery to be just too mechanical for me. I would rather personally spend 8 hours with the patient instead of in the OR. Or 8 hours working in the ER floor treating different patients. I think that's what did it for me- meeting people constantly and figuring out how to take care of their issues is what drove me apart from surgery. That being said, I am very interested in seeing how the rotation goes for me...

 

[907914]

I find surgery to be just too mechanical for me.

Through your clinicals/shadowing, have you found many specialties outside of surgery that allow a lot of work with your hands? IR comes to mind...but anything else?

 

[Detailfanatic]

Or GI/cards

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Through your clinicals/shadowing, have you found many specialties outside of surgery that allow a lot of work with your hands? IR comes to mind...but anything else?

You know, I think that there's a lot of specialities which do have procedural work involved. Interventional cardiology is another one. GI is pretty big on endoscopies/colonoscopies, for the most part.

Internal Medicine has a fair share of lumbar punctures/centeses involved, as well.

I think the most procedural speciality after surgery would be emergency medicine: there's stitching, trachs, LPs, thoracentesis, intubation, etc. etc. So I think I'm leaning towards that right now because there's a decent amount of patient interaction involved, even though the length of care is limited

 

[MyOdyssey]

OP

Thanks for this AMA.

Is there any truth to the view that TX state schools will hold it against TX applicants who don’t apply to all TX medical schools? I’ve read on SDN that UTH McGovern does this?

 

[Detailfanatic]

You know, I think that there's a lot of specialities which do have procedural work involved. Interventional cardiology is another one. GI is pretty big on endoscopies/colonoscopies, for the most part.

Internal Medicine has a fair share of lumbar punctures/centeses involved, as well.

I think the most procedural speciality after surgery would be emergency medicine: there's stitching, trachs, LPs, thoracentesis, intubation, etc. etc. So I think I'm leaning towards that right now because there's a decent amount of patient interaction involved, even though the length of care is limited

Also you can consider advanced endoscopy fellowship as a GI

 

[akimhaneul]

Where did you interview when you applied? Is it true that Texas schools particularly like research?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

OP

Thanks for this AMA.

Is there any truth to the view that TX state schools will hold it against TX applicants who don’t apply to all TX medical schools? I’ve read on SDN that UTH McGovern does this?

Glad to help.
I am in the opinion that you should apply to all the TX schools, DO included. I didn't apply to any of the DO schools when I applied because it was already getting late into the app cycle and I literally submitted AMCAS & TMDSAS 20 minutes before my international flight took off, and it might have affected the outcome slightly. I don't know of specific to UTH, but I have heard this about them even when I applied 3 years ago. I know it can suck to apply to them all especially when you have no interest in DO schools or certain schools. But you should definitely check all the schools in the TMDSAS app since it's the same price, regardless. Just try to play it safe.

Where did you interview when you applied? Is it true that Texas schools particularly like research?

I interviewed all across TX, essentially. I was surprised I got an interview at some of the schools, to be honest. And I was slightly surprised I didn't get an interview at other schools where I thought I had it in the bag, application wise. It's a really fun year and as much as the schools interviews, you, you are also interviewing the school. Some TX schools do like research, but others could care less. Southwestern has a huge hard on for research. Other schools like Long SOM, Techs, etc., are fairly relaxed in this one area.

 

[akimhaneul]

Thanks!!

When during the app season did you do your interviews? When were you complete?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Thanks!!

When during the app season did you do your interviews? When were you complete?

I was complete & verified I think in the first 1-2 weeks of August. I went on 5-6 interviews after that, and I started getting them in early September. This is kind of late for TX because TMDSAS is literally open in May 1 for submission & processing is as early as June 1. My last interview was in the first week of December. So I found myself getting about 2 interviews a month