Question about applying to anesthesia

[anbuitachi]

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Hi, a few questions regarding applying to residency. I hope someone can help me answer them. I'm located in NYC and would like to match in a near by hospital. Thanks

1) How crucial is it to do an away elective? [my schedule is really tight, and I dont know if I can fit one in, but if I need to i can maybe fight the school to let me postpone some other classes...]

2) For letter of recommendation, is it usually 2 letters from Anesthesiologists, and 1 from something else?

3) What about transitional year in medicine? Do most ppl use the same recommendations, or get a new set of recs?

4) I don't have time to take step 2 until about November. Do they really care about Step 2? I know some specialties really want to see that Step 2 even if you did fine on step 1... Is anesthesia one of them?

 

[Stellar Clouds]

Here are my thoughts, others may disagree.

Hi, a few questions regarding applying to residency. I hope someone can help me answer them. I'm located in NYC and would like to match in a near by hospital. Thanks

1) How crucial is it to do an away elective? [my schedule is really tight, and I dont know if I can fit one in, but if I need to i can maybe fight the school to let me postpone some other classes...] Not crucial at all. Don't stress over it.

2) For letter of recommendation, is it usually 2 letters from Anesthesiologists, and 1 from something else? Varies greatly. I did 2 anesthesia, 1 surgery, 1 medicine. I wouldn't do more than 2 anesthesia letters.

3) What about transitional year in medicine? Do most ppl use the same recommendations, or get a new set of recs? Most people use the exact same letters and even the same personal statement.

4) I don't have time to take step 2 until about November. Do they really care about Step 2? I know some specialties really want to see that Step 2 even if you did fine on step 1... Is anesthesia one of them? Depends on your step 1 score, but taking it in November will be fine (unless you need step 2 to boost you up to get interviews). You will more than likely need your step 2 score back in time for ROL submission (and taking it in November should be just fine).

 

[2010houston]

Agree with above.

Only thing I would add is that a very few medicine programs require a Medicine Chair letter. If you are targeting specific programs, check their websites/FREIDA so that you can get that if you end up needing it.

Good luck!

 

[DrZzZz]

Hi, a few questions regarding applying to residency. I hope someone can help me answer them. I'm located in NYC and would like to match in a near by hospital. Thanks

1) How crucial is it to do an away elective? [my schedule is really tight, and I dont know if I can fit one in, but if I need to i can maybe fight the school to let me postpone some other classes...]

2) For letter of recommendation, is it usually 2 letters from Anesthesiologists, and 1 from something else?

3) What about transitional year in medicine? Do most ppl use the same recommendations, or get a new set of recs?

4) I don't have time to take step 2 until about November. Do they really care about Step 2? I know some specialties really want to see that Step 2 even if you did fine on step 1... Is anesthesia one of them?

1) What was said above -- don't worry about it. I did a 2 week and 4 week elective, both at hospitals without a residency program. Still matched easily at a good program.

2) I did 2 anesthesia (1 was a chair) + 1 Cardio +/- 1 Gen IM. Agree that 2 anesthesia is a good #. If possible, I think the other 1-2 LORs should be from something applicable to anesthesia (Cardio, Pulm, Surg, etc)

3) They assume you're applying for an advanced specialty, so there's no need to use a different PS or set of LORs. I ended up only applying to prelim IM (no TY or prelim surg). They all got the same PS, and mostly the same LORs (all got 2 non-anesthesia, whereas the anesthesia programs got 1-2 non-anesthesia LORs).

4) Depends on your Step 1 score, CS pass, and med school. A US MD is much more likely to get a pass on not having CK in their app (especially if you had a strong Step 1) than an IMG. It's certainly not an app-killer, but there will be some programs that won't consider your app without it.

Best of luck.

 

[sakata8242]

Echo that.

- Away rotations aren't critical unless you're really gunning to match at a certain location. In which case it might help.
- I did 2 anesthesia (1 chair), 1 IM, and one from my PhD advisor (different situation from most). Most residency programs only require 3 LoRs.
- You use the same letters and PS for any TY/prelims. Although my personal advice would be to apply to as many categorical programs possible. Most residencies are headed in that direction, so unless your #1 choice is an advanced only, it's much more convenient to only have to move once.
- I took CK/CS a bit late (last 2 weeks in October) and got plenty of interviews. It probably helped that I had a decent Step I score, but I'm sure I got passed over by other programs because I didn't have Step 2 results back until December. Apply to more programs than what people tell you. If they say 15, shoot for 20 or more, depending on where your focus is geographically.