Question for nyskindoc!

[alianwaar4]

ive been hearing alot of negative comments about albany med and its training for a specialty field like derm and even matching...i wanted to ask your opinoin if its more of the student that makes their own case or the school for someone to match into derm? can you give any advice on when to start research on derm? thanks nyskindoc! any other feedback would be great!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ny skindoc]

There is a derm resident in one of the manhattan derm programs from that school so you can match in derm from Albany no doubt.The problem there is that a few years ago the chairman of derm left and the residency program was disbanded.I dont know its current status.Its a big help to have a home derm program so that you can get to know faculty and possibly get a match at your home school, which is almost always your best bet.Several students from Temple and other places which have no derm residency did match this year and in the past, so its up to you ..and the name of the school will not kill an application if you are clearly top notch.Still going to a med school with a solid derm program is a plus.I suggest looking over Albanys match lists for the past few years and speak to some recent grads about this.

 

[drtofu66]

There is a derm resident in one of the manhattan derm programs from that school so you can match in derm from Albany no doubt.The problem there is that a few years ago the chairman of derm left and the residency program was disbanded.I dont know its current status.Its a big help to have a home derm program so that you can get to know faculty and possibly get a match at your home school, which is almost always your best bet.Several students from Temple and other places which have no derm residency did match this year and in the past, so its up to you ..and the name of the school will not kill an application if you are clearly top notch.Still going to a med school with a solid derm program is a plus.I suggest looking over Albanys match lists for the past few years and speak to some recent grads about this.

I heard about AMC's ill-fated attempt to create a derm residency (I graduated about 2 years before it was up and running. I was interested in derm enough to talk to the chair at the time about it. Didn't get a good vibe). Were they even board eligible? I had the impression that it folded after about 3 years and may not have even been accredited.

One guy that went to med school at AMC got a derm spot at Wake Forrest but only after doing 2 years of medicine at AMC and he was AOA. A girl in my class landed a derm residency at Miami but it doesn't appear that she matched there out of med school. Back then derm was a 'late match' so I can't tell if she matched right out of school but when I last checked I didn't think she did. The AMA site no longer gives a time frame for the residency field; when I looked her up long ago i remember thinking how good it was that she eventually landed a spot since she wasn't AOA. One other woman in my class was applying for derm but it seems she didn't get it as she's boarded in IM only on the ABMS board. Strange since she was something like 3rd or 4th in our class and obviously AOA. She was older (a former DDS) and wasn't really the most personable person so I don't know if it was that or her age or both that worked against her. Just goes to show that grades aren't everything.