Surg residency

[tjmDO]

I am a first year medical student and let's face it as a first year nobody ever sits you down and says here is what you can do as a surgeon, and here is what you can do as a FP, etc. Also nobody tells you what grades you have to get to get into residencies. What I have heard is that class rank counts big along with your board scores. Can anyone break down for me what a general surgeon actually is trained to do? And maybe the extras you would learn as a trauma surg? Also can anyone tell me what the governing factor in resident selection is? I know it is a way off for me, but I know that I would like to be a surgeon. I have been in the medical field as a paramedic in and out of the hospital for the past five years.
Thanks

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[njbmd]

Hi there,
I will disagree with you on the statement that no one sits you down and tells you what is expected of you if you are applying for surgery or any other specialty. At my medical school and many others, we started out with a clinical preceptor (our choice of specialties) during the first semester of the first year. You have plenty of opportunity to ask quesitons and find out what is required of any specialty. All you have to do is ask.

If you do well, you can enter any specialty so do well in your coursework and on your board exams. DUH...! If someone tells you that you you need to have such and such a score in order to do such and such specialty, then that becomes your shooting level. Don't limit yourself! We were told from the outset to shoot for the moon and hit the stars. If you do well, you can determine your own fate. If you do not do well, you may be at someone else's mercy so DO well in school no matter what specialty you want to enter. DUH...!

I would suggest that you contact your chairman of surgery as soon as possible and let him or her know of your interest in surgery. The next thing to do is join the surgical interest group at your medical school. At my school, we made sure that we mentored those who came behind us with suturing workshops and plenty of meetings with surgeons in the community and in academia. We also pooled our residency interview information and gave coaching for USMLE and shelf exams during third year.

A useful website for you would be the American College of Surgeons. There is a handbook on that site that you may download for more specific information. You may also want to touch base with some of the surgical residents at your school as to the programs that they applied to so that you can better get an idea of whats involved with making yourself very competitive.

Finally, since you know so little about surgery and surgical residency, you may change your mind about this as you learn more. Most of the folks in my class did just that. Good luck and ask some questions! The earlier the better!

njbmd

 

[Celiac Plexus]

My step I score: 219
My grades: middle of class
Surgery grade: honors
Surgery research: Zippo
Other research: Some
Publications: Zippo
My med school: ranked (but not that high)
Letters: From well-known surgeons.

Applied to 30 programs.

23 interview offers... mostly middle to upper middlie tier univ. programs... 3 invites from top tier programs. Got rejected from the high & mighty to the low & desperate alike.

Went on 12 interviews.

Gonna rank 9, maybe 10.


By the time you apply, the climate for general surgery may be different. I think that right now it's more of a buyer's market than it has been in the past. I can't imagine it can get much better (from an applicant's standpoint) than it is right now. Like the other guy said, do your best and ask a lot of questions. Get involved with your surgery club. Also, get some kind of surgiery research under your belt. Research is mostly just a hoop to jump though as a med student (IMHO) but the guys who had publications got invites to pretty much all the top places.

Peace, and good luck.