Specialty choices

[coffeebythelake]

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Some schools tend to produce graduates that pursue primary care, while other schools pursue specialty areas. What determines the acceptance into a competitive specialization like cardiovascular surgery or ophthalmology?

Is it because some schools have lower reputation associated with its name? Is it because they provide lower quality medical education? Or does it do with the individual.... because the students are less academically competitive in undergrad which reflect with lower USMLE scores?

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Some schools tend to produce graduates that pursue primary care, while other schools pursue specialty areas. What determines the acceptance into a competitive specialization like cardiovascular surgery or ophthalmology?

Is it because some schools have lower reputation associated with its name? Is it because they provide lower quality medical education? Or does it do with the individual; because the students have lower USMLE scores?

Could be those things, but also could be that the faculty or school is geared towards primary care... like if you look at US News, you can see which schools are ranked for primary care, perhaps this has some sort of influence. Some schools, like some of the Texas ones, like to take applicants who are interested in serving in underserved areas, probably as primary care docs.

 

[MossPoh]

Just a note. Cardiovascular Surgery is a fellowship, and with the trends hasn't been nearly as competitive as the others in getting.
Now to the question.

Some schools have a tendency to focus on primary care more than others, and sometimes students have a tendency to be of a certain mindset. I don't think it is dramatic as it oftentimes seems...If you look at match results it seems one year there will be a ton of primary care type, and then the next you'll get a bunch of surgery, rads, anes, and whatnot. The top residencies seem to be fairly evenly distributed, with the top schools probably having a slightly higher representation. The lower schools could have lower board scores, but it isn't anything realllllly notable....at least I don't believe it is. Many schools have a rep for sending more specialties but most schools are fairly close to the same. If anyone has any hard evidence feel free to correct me...that has just been from general observation so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[dutchman]

Some schools tend to produce graduates that pursue primary care, while other schools pursue specialty areas. What determines the acceptance into a competitive specialization like cardiovascular surgery or ophthalmology?

Is it because some schools have lower reputation associated with its name? Is it because they provide lower quality medical education? Or does it do with the individual.... because the students are less academically competitive in undergrad which reflect with lower USMLE scores?

you determine your own fate.

 

[coffeebythelake]

you determine your own fate.

So what is the point going into a top 10 school?