Not matching ortho

[GenSurgorOrtho]

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Hello all! I am an a medical student interested in Ortho, but am realistic and accept the fact that I might not match. If I do not match what are my options and which is the best path to take to eventually match. Thank you, any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Tired]

What do you mean by "eventually match"? There's no do-overs here. You either match or you don't.

 

[discontinuebed]

Research year, try again.

 

[Tired]

Research year, try again.

Sure path to failure.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Sure path to failure.

Anectodotal sure, but I know a handful of guys who got into ortho after completing a research year.

Basically the two paths to take if you don't match are doing a year of research or doing a year in general surgery. It's a personal decision based on what your application looks like and what pain you tolerate the least. Both have their pros and cons, and they both have a similar success rate (I'm too lazy to look it up, but in general those who go unmatched have a poor prognosis.)

Prelim year pros:

-Show your institution your clinical accumen
-Get letters
-Find yourself a PGY-2 spot (VERY RARE)

Cons:

-No free time
-Doesn't really improve your application too much
-No one gives a f#@$ about your education ie you're a space on the call schedule.

Research year Pros
-More free time
-Can get a good number of pubs out if you're at the right place and you work hard
-Get letters

Cons
-Can't get a PGY-2 spot since you won't meet RRC's ortho intern requirements

No way is a guarantee; it just comes down to how hard you work and how personable you are.

 

[Tired]

Yeah, we've discussed this before.

I still think that what you describe is a pretty uncommon pathway that usually doesn't work out. I suspect (though obviously have no data) that people like you who did this were strong applicants to begin with.

But yes, I ackowledge that it does happen.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Yeah, we've discussed this before.

I still think that what you describe is a pretty uncommon pathway that usually doesn't work out. I suspect (though obviously have no data) that people like you who did this were strong applicants to begin with.

But yes, I ackowledge that it does happen.

I just had to throw out my own personal experience, as it is an area that (unfortunately) I have quite a bit ofexperience in.

The people I refer to, myself included, would fall squarely into the "how the f!#$ did YOU not match??" category.

 

[Tired]

The people I refer to, myself included, would fall squarely into the "how the f!#$ did YOU not match??" category.

As I suspected. Glad you (finally) got what you wanted.

 

[GenSurgorOrtho]

so basically if u don't match ortho, and u still want to atleast do somekind of surgery, u gotta reenter the match the next year and go for general surgery? Thank you.

 

[Rzarecta]

so basically if u don't match ortho, and u still want to atleast do somekind of surgery, u gotta reenter the match the next year and go for general surgery? Thank you.

You can apply to both gen surg and ortho at the same time, but this is not recommended at all. If you want to do ortho, do well on step 1 (or make up for it on step 2), do well on your rotations, and consider doing research.

I don't know where you currently are in med school, but I have a feeling you are in the first two years. Dude, if you want ortho go meet the department right now, and don't sweat "not matching" until you have completed third year. Planning "backups" like gen surg just dooms you to failure.