need some advice

[doforanesthesia]

Hello,

I a 4th year DO student and have decided to do anesthesia. My USMLE scores are 210, 209. My GPA is 3.8 and graduating with honors at top 10% of class. I want to know if I have a chance at any program or should I do something to make my application stronger. Someone suggested research. Can you please advice me on this? I also have a Master's degree in the biological sciences.

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[timtye78]

If you want to do anesthesia, you will just need to apply. I think if you are worried and possibly have the funds (even if you need to get a residency loan) just apply to as many places as you can afford. It is fairly competitive, but anesthesiology is DO friendly in comparison to some of the other specialties which never had the plunges in popularity henceforth never had to 'resort' to DOs.

I think you could match, assuming everything you said is true and you interview well, etc, etc.

Good luck and feel free to pm me with further questions!

 

[aredoubleyou]

Defenitely give it a go - but as a general point - not to you specifically, but just to share what I have learned...

So what I learned from this year's match -it was a rough year for Anesthesiology. A lot of people didn't match. If you think you will have a tough time matching, I guess you should do all those things people say you should do (away rotations, work hard for letters, research, etc) - but plan for things not working out. I saw some people having to scramble into bad situations. If you think there's more than a 20% chance of not matching, I'd do a couple back up categorical positions in a different specialty (IM, peds, or whatever you thing is). Just a coule. At places you wouldn't mind going - you can always reapply during intern year, or after you complete the 3 years - not all that different than going for IM specialty training. Its better than ending up in a second choice specialty in some town you hate in a program no one wants to be in.

 

[jetproppilot]

Hello,

I a 4th year DO student and have decided to do anesthesia. My USMLE scores are 210, 209. My GPA is 3.8 and graduating with honors at top 10% of class. I want to know if I have a chance at any program or should I do something to make my application stronger. Someone suggested research. Can you please advice me on this? I also have a Master's degree in the biological sciences.

Geez, Dude,

youre a shoe-in.

Congrats.

Apply widely and you'll get a spot.

 

[SleepIsGood]

Hello,

I a 4th year DO student and have decided to do anesthesia. My USMLE scores are 210, 209. My GPA is 3.8 and graduating with honors at top 10% of class. I want to know if I have a chance at any program or should I do something to make my application stronger. Someone suggested research. Can you please advice me on this? I also have a Master's degree in the biological sciences.

Congrats on picking the best specialty that exists!

agreed with above posts.

Single best thing to do in my opinion....do really well on your away rotation, at the place you want to go to.

Bottom line. Do the residents like you? Can you get along with ppl?

Scores are scores and yes anesthesiology has become very competitive.
as long as you passed on the first attempt, and can interview well, just go with above posts' advice..

 

[jetproppilot]

Bottom line. Do the residents like you? Can you get along with ppl?

The intriguing part of my job (chief of anesthesia at my gig) is how much the "where did you train?" part of an applicant's CV is overplayed.

Sleep hits on very important points if you are trying to land a coveted gig.

Lets say I'm senior partner in a group in a small city. Partners are making 600K plus a hefty benefits package.

I'm looking for another doctor.....

guess what....

WHERE DID YOU TRAIN is at the bottom of my list of priorities.

If you wanna make partner in a group described above, youve gotta be able to do your job (well) and have PEOPLE SKILLS.

I'll take an FMG who can do the job well with superior people skills over an MGH grad who lacks people skills anyday of the week.

I'm tellin' you folks.

Private practice dudes care about only ONE THING:

and that is:

KEEPIN' THE PRACTICE ROLLIN' WITHOUT PROBLEMS.

We don't wanna hear about a battle between our coveted ortho dude and our new MGH employee.

We'd rather have a graduate from Ross who knows anesthesia, does the procedures well, and only battles when its really important.

So ya know what?

What am I telling you dudes?

Here it is. In a nutshell.

The Dude who has completed an allopathic residency who has the best people skills WINS.

Period.

So, you lacking-people-skills-dudes out there,

THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR PRESENTATION TO A PRIVATE PRACTICE GROUP.

I'm gonna digress and tell you a little personal history to emphasize my point.

I moved to podunck Louisiana for cash reasons right outta residency.

Starting salary (1996) 200k. 18 months to partner. Partners were making BIG cash. Couldnt spend what they were making.

Ran into some conflicts with the senior partner. Silly stuff, but stuff they were calling me on.

So I made a personal decision.

They asked me some questions in a formal meeting.

Know what my answers were?

They were along the line of..."Hey, if I'm doing X wrong, I'll fix it."

"Man, I didnt fill in the top of the chart? Sorry, bro. Won't happen again."

Partners had a friend in the insurance business. Since I was a pilot, he quoted me some hefty premiums. I called around and beat him by several thousand K.

BIG mistake.

"Uhhhhh, sorry, Robi. Thought since I was turning partner next month you'd want me to shop around. My bad."

So I sucked up some when the chips were down.

Are you ready to do that if necessary?

I respect you if you arent.

Because of my pro-group actions/attitude, I was granted partnership.

And enjoyed 5 years of partnership salary & bennies which allowed me to pay off my 200K student loan debt with ease, and put a buncha money in the bank (uhhhhh, dudes, seven figure stuff.)

Guess my point of this post is,

if you are granted a golden opportunity, take it. Even if, in the beginning you have to show humility.

Private practice groups are looking for dudes that'll blend in.

Regardless of where you trained.

 

[cfdavid]

Great post. Thanks Jet.

 

[doforanesthesia]

thank you everone for your help.

Because, I would like to stay in California for residency and seeing the level of competition, I have decided to do a year of research in Stanford. I think it will be a big help. I might lose a year, but, in the long run, I think it works out better for me.

 

[SleepIsGood]

....
They asked me some questions in a formal meeting.

Know what my answers were?

They were along the line of..."Hey, if I'm doing X wrong, I'll fix it."

"Man, I didnt fill in the top of the chart? Sorry, bro. Won't happen again."

Partners had a friend in the insurance business. Since I was a pilot, he quoted me some hefty premiums. I called around and beat him by several thousand K.

BIG mistake.....

Dude, that's a very funny story. Actually, I was talking with this attending friend of mine that does consulting. Anyways, he was telling me about how a good friend of his had one of these 'formal meetings'. Instead, the meeting was intended to try to kick the guy out of the practice (he hadnt made partner).

What did the dude do? He did exactly what you said, 'sucked it up', put dots over his i's and crossed his T's, he eventually made partner.

Scary...but true.

 

[VentdependenT]

Apply BROADLY. If you have a rank list of ten places then your almost damn certain to match. That doesn't mean you'll go to number ten per se. It just means you were able to garner enough interest in your app to be a good candidate.