First priority is navigating medical school before worrying about how to match into a competitive field. BTW. ENT is very competitive. When you feel comfortable with school and are still interested in ENT, reach out to your home program and after your first year, start trying to secure a mentor and some research.
It’s ridiculously competitive right now. Nationally there was about a 60% match rate last year, so quite a few strong applicants were unable to match. That said, it has gone in waves so a few years ago we actually had 2 spots go unfilled and our journals were full of op Eds about why aren’t students interested in ent anymore!
isn’t this a bit late though. What is the turn around time on most papers. If you reach out second year only have two years to get like 5+ publications or whatever number is required now.
It’s mostly based on luck..
Yes but isn’t it true that the longer one has to get lucky, the better off he or she may be
the key is not how early you get involved, but it's who you get involved with.
This is true. You want to find someone who is productive. That or you do like I did and find someone who loves what you love and then just make it happen yourself.
Absouletly not too late. There's some that switch their decision on competitive fields later then that and hustle to get quality papers, 1st authors etc. Also, many take a year of research, depends on a lot of variables.
While luck may play a small part, you create your own opportunities in life to be honest. Key is to get attached with a person that is well known in the speciality field and hope to publish papers.
Thank you for this answer. Should I look for research/projects/mentors specifically in ENT or in any field? My school is super primary care focused and is pretty small so there’s not a ton of specialized docs (ENT, etc).
