Ranking preliminary surgery programs

[David>Goliath1]

Below are the programs I am in the running to match for a surgery preliminary year. I have really no idea how to organize these beyond location. How would you rank if location is not a factor?

Stanford
BWH
NYU
Columbia
UTSW
Northwestern
University of Arizona
UC Irvine

Any advice and pros and cons would be great to keep in mind when I finalize my rank list!

Thank you!!

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[Banco]

Is your ultimate goal to match categorical GS?

If so, the questions to ask are: which ones take their own categoricals? Which ones help you get a categorical spot the next year?

 

[David>Goliath1]

Is your ultimate goal to match categorical GS?

If so, the questions to ask are: which ones take their own categoricals? Which ones help you get a categorical spot the next year?

I hope to end up in an integrated interventional radiology residency with the backup being DR. Even if I match DR, I will most likely rank surgery high because I think it's a great way to learn anatomy!

 

[Banco]

Ah okay then yeah, just go with location or wherever you felt it was chillest during your interviews. For surgery prelim you hardly will be in the OR, just fyi - so if your goal is to learn surgical anatomy you should look into the programs that boasted about high case numbers during intern year.

 

[AzBasRad]

I hope to end up in an integrated interventional radiology residency with the backup being DR. Even if I match DR, I will most likely rank surgery high because I think it's a great way to learn anatomy!

I have interviewed at TY programs w/o surgery residency where interns are first assist on all surgical rotations, write zero to minimal notes (and essentially 0 scutwork), only do procedures and develop incredible autonomy by the time they graduate. I am gunning DR, but haven't ruled out ESIR yet and plan to rank such a TY #1.

I strongly agree with the above comment. At any major university program with a surgical residency, you will be relegated to scutwork/floorwork and many not get much OR time. If I were you, I would want to speak with current surgical interns at those programs and clarify how much OR time they are getting.

 

[David>Goliath1]

Ah okay then yeah, just go with location or wherever you felt it was chillest during your interviews. For surgery prelim you hardly will be in the OR, just fyi - so if your goal is to learn surgical anatomy you should look into the programs that boasted about high case numbers during intern year.

Yeah, that's what I am afraid of. I noticed that during my surgery sub-I the prelims did all of the scut work while the categoricals were in the OR. I do NOT want this experience. I want to leave feeling as good as a surgery categorical does after PGY1. Thank you for the tip!

 

[David>Goliath1]

I have interviewed at TY programs w/o surgery residency where interns are first assist on all surgical rotations, write zero to minimal notes (and essentially 0 scutwork), only do procedures and develop incredible autonomy by the time they graduate. I am gunning DR, but haven't ruled out ESIR yet and plan to rank such a TY #1.

I strongly agree with the above comment. At any major university program with a surgical residency, you will be relegated to scutwork/floorwork and many not get much OR time. If I were you, I would want to speak with current surgical interns at those programs and clarify how much OR time they are getting

 

[David>Goliath1]

I've heard similar stories, which makes me wonder why advanced programs haven't picked up on this reality. Sure, surgery prelim sounds good on paper, but what actually happens is a division of labor where one is a glorified secretary and the other is cultivating useful surgical skills.

I will strongly consider the TYs at IR programs that don't mandate a surgery preliminary year! Thanks for the advice

 

[David>Goliath1]

I have interviewed at TY programs w/o surgery residency where interns are first assist on all surgical rotations, write zero to minimal notes (and essentially 0 scutwork), only do procedures and develop incredible autonomy by the time they graduate. I am gunning DR, but haven't ruled out ESIR yet and plan to rank such a TY #1.

I strongly agree with the above comment. At any major university program with a surgical residency, you will be relegated to scutwork/floorwork and many not get much OR time. If I were you, I would want to speak with current surgical interns at those programs and clarify how much OR time they are getting.