Need HELP!

[instigata]

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Hi all,

I am writing my UCLA secondary, which asks where I see myself in 10 years and I want to talk about possibly a surgical residency. So I tried searching for a thread that showed a timeline through medical school but came out empty.

Does it go like this:

Years 1-4 MSI - MS4
Years 5-7 Residency (what does it depend on that it is not difinitively 2 or 3 years?)
Years 8-? Surgical Residency.

Could somebody tell me if this is accurate and maybe describe what goes on during those 8+ years in residency? Thanks!

 

[StritchMD2011]

General Surgery is a 5 year residency after you graduate medical school. You can then go on to do fellowships in things like CT surgery, transplant, peds surgery, etc. These all vary in length.

That being said, perhaps you should understand a bit more about what you're getting into before you set your sights on surgery. Chances are, if you don't even know the length of a surgical residency, you don't know alot of other important aspects of surgery as a career.

 

[stiffany]

General Surgery is a 5 year residency after you graduate medical school. You can then go on to do fellowships in things like CT surgery, transplant, peds surgery, etc. These all vary in length.

That being said, perhaps you should understand a bit more about what you're getting into before you set your sights on surgery. Chances are, if you don't even know the length of a surgical residency, you don't know alot of other important aspects of surgery as a career.

So back when I thought I was going to graduate from college, immediately go into medical school, and become a pediatric surgeon I was looking at 4 years of med school, 5 years of general surgery residency, and then 2 years of fellowship (sub-specialty pediatrics). Now, some general surgery programs have changed to be longer (6 or 7 years) in order to allow for a research component. I think if asked the 10 year question myself, I would discuss my desire for x specialty, my reasons for wanting to pursue such a field (shadowing experience, personal experience, whatever), and then say that I'm still open to the new possibilities that x medical school will introduce me to through their amazing opportunities in a,b, c. I would also discuss what I was planning on doing after said residency (knowing of course that this might be more than 10 years away). Do you want to work in an academic medical center all day? Private practice? Urban area with pro bono/Medicaid cases in California or elsewhere? etcetera. I think it's important to show that you've thought about your possibilities and your ultimate goals thanks to neat experiences (like seeing a surgery for instance), but that you're also open to new things along the way since you may change your mind half a dozen times when it comes time to pick a residency path and med schools know that.

 

[instigata]

Thanks for your responses! Stiffany that really helped!

I have job shadowed a few surgeons and I am pretty set on going into surgery, but of course I haven't even started medical school so I can't make a decision. I love the work surgeons perform, especially since it involves a much more dynamic environment, but I'm not really familiar with everything else related to the field (ie salary, etc).