Roll Call

[AnnaMags]

Let's get the conversations going for the upcoming match. Who's planning on applying to peds residency this year?

I think it would be great if we could have a place to come with our questions. It looks like we have some residents that are willing to offer their advice too.

So, chime in if you're planning on doing peds!

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[Lara]

I'm here. After years of reading match threads, I'm looking forward to it being my turn to go through the process!

Right now I'm trying to balance Step 2 studying with starting my ERAS app...less than two weeks till my vacation block's over, eeek.

 

[drv]

HI
I am an international medical graduate. I will be going for peds in 2006 match. I am not an old member of this forum but in short time i have learned a lot from this forum. i hope it will continue to be the same while trying to match in peds.
Good luck to all

 

[adpi_med]

**chime*** i'll be applying for peds this year...

 

[AnnaMags]

How many programs are you planning on applying to? Which ones? I'm hoping to stay in the midwest...

Are any of you DO's?

Has everyone already written their personal statements? I am far behind...I just spent two weeks in Costa Rica so I'm really just getting going on mine. I did a lot of brainstorming before the trip at least.

Just keeping the conversation going. I'm so glad the peds forum is a little more active now...let's keep it up!

 

[Cardsfan]

I'm doing peds nueuro, but will be matching into gen peds for two years, still working on my list of places, think it will be around 17 or so

 

[Os4prez]

Yep me too guys. im applyin for peds 06. i used to be a lazy guy, but i love peds so much im actually lookin forward to the rest of 4th year and a residency. never thought id say that. hopefully this attitude lasts me the rest of my life.

im applyin east coast, midwest, and everything in between. Good luck to all!

 

[earmuffs]

i going through the peds match this year too.
mostly east coast & midwest, a few scattered out west.

but my list is still at 23 schools.

 

[USeF]

hey fellas and gals-

throwing my hat into the ring today between ERAS work. Just put down all the west coast, chicago and southeast programs and came up with 14. The exact number of med schools I applied to.. Have yet to delve into the northeast because of the following

1) I know little 'cept for the 'top programs' that my numbers won't correspond with (I-196, II-218)
2) Not sure how much more cold weather I can put up with. The Floridian in me beckons for more moderate weather.

BUT
all the talk of Brown on SDN and mentioning by a resident here makes it seem tempting... and the whole NYC thing might be a great experience for a few years.

 

[futureped]

I'm applying to 14 schools mostly DC, VA, MD, NC area. I have a 219 on Step I and am coming from a fairly good school, so I hope I'll have a good chance since I've heard that Peds isn't that competitive.

 

[labangel]

Peds for me too! I just gave up trying to narrow down my list from 20. And right now my sub-I is kicking my butt!

 

[mr.annoying]

As you may know from my "California Applicants" thread... I'm obviously entering Peds as well. I'm applying to only Cali programs, however. Let's keep things updated as this process moves along!

 

[treynolds]

Hello out there:

Brand new to this site - pretty cool that there are a lot of people out there willing to talk to each other and help us through this residency application process. Kudos to all of you for being so kind.

Looking to apply to all the New England residencies as well as some in PA,(although the osteopathic internship thing is scaring me a little) NC, CA, OR, and WA.

I am currently attempting to put together my application and am having some trouble with my personal statement. I am trying to write something from my soul, instead of the "I want to go into pediatrics because..." essay. Unfortunately, I am finding that my statement is way too long.

2 questions:

1) Anybody have a good idea of what is an acceptable word count?
2) Is it a bad idea to write something a little more abstract for my statement?

I will likely be using the same (or a variation on the theme) essay for psych residency applications as well.

Thanks in advance for the advice!

Tom

p.s. Also a D.O. student for those of you who were asking about that earlier in this thread...

 

[earmuffs]

i would by no means take my advice on personal statement writing, but i have about 750 words in mine, and it's probably a little bit on the long side. i've been told by people who get stuck reviewing them for all the applicants to generally to try and keep it about a page. ERAS, also puts everything into size 10 courier new font for the programs, so none of that playing with the margins $hi+ that i tried to pull.

i think it's awesome to not do the whole "i want to be a pediatrician because..." and write something from the soul. speaking for those reviewer friends: they love originality after spending hours a day reading the same crappy essays which are just paraphrased off of medfools.com. just don't make them think too hard.

does your school have a careers in medicine or professional development office? they were pretty helpful for me. but then again, i wrote that i like "shiny things" in my essay, and they didn't tell me to take it out. so again, just ignore me.

best of luck!!

 

[StringBean]

Peds '06 for me too! I plan to stay on the east coast. I'm also trying to get my personal statement together but it's not going so well at the moment. I'm having trouble even getting started It'll come, i guess.

Good luck to everyone!

~Bean

 

[makesomerheum]

Hi guys,

I decided to post this question here since many of you are in the middle of the app process. In regards to timing, would it be too late if I scheduled my peds rotation from mid July to mid Sept 2006? Assuming I apply for peds, are the letters of rec do at the same time as you are turning in your app which I would want to be able to do in Sept? I don't want to cut it to close. Thanks for any insight.

 

[AceRockolla]

Applying for peds this year too! Couples matching with spouse in ER so we are applying to A LOT of programs. If anyone has questions/interest in the Utah program, please let me know and I will fill you in. Look forward to maybe meeting some of you on the interview trail ! -Ace

 

[omores]

Applying this year as well -- like cardsfan, in Child Neuro. Ace, I'd love the skinny on the Utah program. SLC sounds gorgeous, and since I'm dragging a husband and kid along, location is very important.

 

[paisley1]

Hi all,

Great idea for a thread! I'm also applying in peds this year. Will be applying to about 12 programs--mostly all in CA but also Seattle, OHSU, and a couple out in the midwest (Denver Children's and UMich). Wish I was more adventurous but my family is in CA and I've been spoiled when it comes to the weather so I'm hoping to stay here.

For the poster that is having a hard time getting started on the personal statement--I totally sympathize with you! I agonized about STARTING it for weeks. Trust me though, getting started is perhaps the hardest part. Understanding that I was most likely going to have to re-write my first paragraph and entire parts of my essay over again helped me to work on getting something down on paper. Don't worry about making it perfect the first time around. Good luck!

 

[Lara]

Still working on the PS, but I hit the submit button for my CAF today. Aaaaah! For those who read my earlier thread this summer, I narrowed things down to 33 programs - East Coast, Chicago and California. Still a lot but I'm pretty happy!

Now for the USMLE score to get transmitted...

 

[AceRockolla]

Applying this year as well -- like cardsfan, in Child Neuro. Ace, I'd love the skinny on the Utah program. SLC sounds gorgeous, and since I'm dragging a husband and kid along, location is very important.

Omores, that is great that you are going into child neuro! We need more good child neurologists in this world. In response to your questions about Utah, SLC is a gorgeous place especially if you enjoy outdoor activities like skiing, hiking, etc. The smog can get bad in the winter, but weather-wise that is about the worst it gets. The culture can be a little different at times (as I am sure you have heard) but it really isn't a problem for most people. The city and state are very family-oriented, the price of living is great and traffic has never really been much of a problem.

As for the pediatrics program, I have been very impressed with what I have seen. It is a medium-sized program with this year's intern class size of 17. All the interns and residents I have worked with were friendly and seem to enjoy their time here. I also think there is a strong sense of community among the residents. I don't have a good sense of the specifics of training, but from what I can gather a wide variety of experiences is possible. As for placement into fellowships, I think most residents who go for fellowships are able to obtain positions. As for the quality of education, looking at the ABP passing rates from 2004 (http://www.abp.org/resident/passrates.htm) it looks like Utah does have a fairly high pass rate of 92% from 2002-2004.

If anyone has more questions, just let me know and I will be happy to answer them!

 

[Doctora Foxy]

Hey everyone,

I'm an old, old SDN poster, went a little crazy applying to med school with all the posts, and I took a 3 year vacation from SDN since then.

But now I guess I'm back....and applying for peds! I applied to 16 programs so far, in NYC, Chicago, DC, Philly, Miami, and UF.

Let's keep this forum goin.....

DF

 

[drv]

Hi
Can you tell me how would you rank peds programs in florida?Where
1. maimi childrens
2. jackson
3.U of flirida, gainesville

GOOD LUCK

 

[Doctora Foxy]

I would say that UF and Jackson Memorial are intermediate programs, and Miami Children's is the least competitive of the three because it is not a university-based program.

 

[mr.annoying]

I would say that UF and Jackson Memorial are intermediate programs, and Miami Children's is the least competitive of the three because it is not a university-based program.

Holy jesus 5000+ posts? I think I remember you from back when I was here on SDN pre-med with that whole AMCAS. I took a 3 year vacation from SDN also. Good to be back for some more info.

 

[Lara]

Hi Doctora - I remember you from 2002! Nice to see you on SDN again.

I thought Miami Children's was better over Jackson because of the standalone hospital...But if it's not affiliated with the University of Miami then that would be at least somewhat negative. I really don't know though. If I get interviews at both (kinda hoping for them considering I speak Spanish) it'll definitely be fun to compare. And Miami sounds cool, even if Katrina's made me way more nervous about hurricanes.

 

[faerichilde]

Hey Doctora Foxy, fancy meeting you here (though I was pretty sure I was going into peds even back in my Brandeis days). I'm also applying in NYC and Philly, though I'm really hoping to go back up to Boston. Maybe I'll see you on the interview trail

 

[gooseHC]

I'm applying to peds..mostly Boston/New England-centric, but also sort of throwing darts around the country to programs in Chicago, Cleveland, Philly, DC, and NC(Duke, Wake, UNC)...still experiencing severe nausea looking at my personal statement, so haven't submitted yet, but need to do it soon before I throw the whole thing away...