Residency - Confused

[john joseph]

Hello. My name is John Joseph - I am a first year Medical Student at SUNY Downstate. I just had a few questions about residency placement. I am very interested in pursuing a residency in Surgery, perhaps one of the specialties. I just wanted to know what the important factors are in residency applications. I know that grades, especially during the clinical years, as well as the USMLE Part 1 scores, are very important. However, I was wondering how important other factors, such as Extracurricular Activities (i.e., being an Officer of a Club) are. It seems like in order to receive honor grades, I don't have the time for extracurricular activities. Are they really as important as they were for getting into medical school. Also, is research important, and, if so, should I pursue a research project in the Surgical Department. I would greatly appreciate if any knowledgeable medical students or physicians could answer some of these questions. Thank you very much.

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[turtleboard]

Hey... I have a friend from college named John Joseph who's now at UT Houston.

And, as far as I know, there is no "John Joseph" in my first-year class at Downstate. Who are you, and why aren't you using your real name?


Tim of New York City.

 

[john joseph]

OK. My name is Hans Cho - I am a first year medical student at University of Rochester School of Medicine. I didn't want to use my real name for security reasons (I have had issues), but I guess it's safe here. Happy, Tim of 'NYC' (aka, Turtleboard).

 

[turtleboard]

There is, however, a person in my class with the last name of Joseph.

Would that be you? Hans Cho, huh? According to the University of Rochester School of Medicine (& Dentistry) directory, Hans Cho doesn't exist (although a friend of mine at Roch Med is)... Spooky.

I don't think the extracurricular activities are as important as academic activities for residency applications. Focus on hitting some hard research, doing well in your preclinical and clinical coursework, and doing well on Step 1. Sounds like a handful, and it is, but if you wanna be a top surgeon... That's what's doin' (all this according to my advisor, a surgical oncologist).


Tim of New York City.

 

[tennisboy93]

Turtleman: Maybe you are in the wrong profession. With all of that snooping, me thinks you'd make a great Private Eye.

LOL, Brent

 

[turtleboard]

It's not snooping. It's paying attention to detail.

Tim, P.I., of New York City

 

[jet li]

I don't think program directors of competitive specialties care if you were class president. If your grades are bad, you are out of luck. Besides, I'm sure we can all make up stuff to pad our application. Yeah, that's it!! I am a kung fu master and also a member of so and so club. However, you can't make up a 240 on Step 1.

 

[turtleboard]

I'm glad ethics pervades each and every hopeful physician. You make up stuff to pad your application? Do you realize that's fraud?

Tim of New York City.
(Ni bun dan)

 

[jet li]

It was a joke, Tim of NYC. I was just trying to make a point that there is no replacing top grades and board scores for those specialties. Furthermore, we can all just mention our daily activities such as intramural basketball, or in your case, P.I. work and ethics guru. Besides, I was in Lethal Weapon 4, and that punk Danny Glover killed me. I'm sure that will look good on my application.

[This message has been edited by jet li (edited 03-02-2000).]

 

[JBuls]

I am somewhat concerned, as well. My school of choice is a pass/fail school. How does that affect residency placement. If you have good USMLE scores is that good enough? Are recommendations helpful? Just curious.

 

[turtleboard]

An old, old study indicated that students from a strict pass/fail system will have slightly more difficulty in snagging a residency slot, and that's probably why most schools only use pass/fail in the basic science years. The clinical years, for the most part, are graded.

I wouldn't really worry about it all that much. The Boards are a big part in getting there.


Tim of New York City.

 

[md03]

Sorry you only got sarcastic responses rather than useful information. Reminds me of the PR board.

Different programs, even within a specialty, have different requirements. You should be able to fairly easily add some kind of extracurricular activity without adding a time crunch. There is probably some sort of surgical interest group at your school. You could join that, and then volunteer to head up a committee - could be a commttee that gets speakers to come to meetings, or something like that. Something that isn't too time intesive, but involves acutally doing something.

Also, you don't have to do extra stuff during your first two years. You could definitely wait unit your third year to do extracurricular stuff.

Don't forget that the summer between first and second years is available for research, or any number of other things. But, do somenthing because it interests you, not to pad your residency application. If you want to travel to a third world country...or whatever... go for it.

NOt all residency programs are looking for 3.8 grades with top board scores. The general surgery program associated with my school has an average GPA of 3.2. A few years ago, they tried taking people with higher grades (had an average of 3.8) and wound up with a bunch of jerks who could not get along with anyone. And they weren't any better surgeons than the 3.2 group. So they went back to the to taking 3.2 folks with good personalities. I know this because all medical students at my school have a standing invitation to go to the ER at any time and participate in whatever is going on. There are always surgeons there, and they are a really great group of people. They let the students help them (even M1's) and are great at teaching us things. Sometimes we even get to srub in.

So, relax, do your best, and understand that, when the time comes, you will be able to find a program that fits you. If you are not an AOA hotshot, you probably won't want to be around them, because you will find most of them to be jerks.

According to the FRIEDA site, the main reason people don't match is not because of grades or any other academic issue, but merely because they don't rank enough programs.

 

[SDN-Jim]

Just a reply to keep this current since I knocked it off with all the med school posts.

------------------
Jim Henderson, MD at http://www.studentdoctor.net

 

[buttercup]

Anyone knowhow competitive ER residencies are these days? I've heard everything from not too bad to approaching neurosurgery status...

Anyone care to shed some light on the subject?

Elisabeth

 

[Selinaam]

Hi There,
I am curious what school you are affiliated with..it sounds compelling.

Originally posted by md03:
Sorry you only got sarcastic responses rather than useful information. Reminds me of the PR board.

Different programs, even within a specialty, have different requirements. You should be able to fairly easily add some kind of extracurricular activity without adding a time crunch. There is probably some sort of surgical interest group at your school. You could join that, and then volunteer to head up a committee - could be a commttee that gets speakers to come to meetings, or something like that. Something that isn't too time intesive, but involves acutally doing something.

Also, you don't have to do extra stuff during your first two years. You could definitely wait unit your third year to do extracurricular stuff.

Don't forget that the summer between first and second years is available for research, or any number of other things. But, do somenthing because it interests you, not to pad your residency application. If you want to travel to a third world country...or whatever... go for it.

NOt all residency programs are looking for 3.8 grades with top board scores. The general surgery program associated with my school has an average GPA of 3.2. A few years ago, they tried taking people with higher grades (had an average of 3.8) and wound up with a bunch of jerks who could not get along with anyone. And they weren't any better surgeons than the 3.2 group. So they went back to the to taking 3.2 folks with good personalities. I know this because all medical students at my school have a standing invitation to go to the ER at any time and participate in whatever is going on. There are always surgeons there, and they are a really great group of people. They let the students help them (even M1's) and are great at teaching us things. Sometimes we even get to srub in.

So, relax, do your best, and understand that, when the time comes, you will be able to find a program that fits you. If you are not an AOA hotshot, you probably won't want to be around them, because you will find most of them to be jerks.

According to the FRIEDA site, the main reason people don't match is not because of grades or any other academic issue, but merely because they don't rank enough programs.