Top of the Class?

[Quixotic]

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Do I need to be ?top of my class? to attain get a residency in orthopedic surgery or general surgery? I have completed three courses already and am not in the top of my class, but definitely in the top 20%. At my school you need to be in the top 10% for AOA which I have heard from M3's and M4's is necessary to do a competitive residency. I have begun a research project, which I hope to present at a national conference and will most likely begin another one next summer. My goal is be involved with at least three different research projects while here in three different fields that are inter-related or have practical applicability. I am trying to take the step one related material at the end of each course so I am prepared. I know it sounds gunnerish, but I am not positive what I want to do and don't want to limit myself by doing poorly over the first two years. Any opinions.

Ex

 

[jennie 21]

General surgery, definitely not. It's not that competitive right now. Orthopedic surgery, maybe, it couldn't hurt. It's not necessary to be AOA for ortho but it would help--then again, that's true with anything. However, most people who match into ortho aren't going to be AOA, so it's not a requirement. I would think top 20% of your class is good enough with good board scores. Board scores and third year grades are the most important things. I don't know what the grading policy is at your school. I'd be surprised if your school decides AOA based solely on preclinical grades--usually 3rd year grades are at least as, if not more important for AOA. With research and good grades 3rd year and good board scores (preferably 230+, 240+ is even better) you should be in good shape I'd think. Then again, I'm only an MS2 myself so hopefully someone more informed will come along to give you an opinion...this is just what I've heard and surmised here and elsewhere.

 

[njbmd]

Do I need to be ?top of my class? to attain get a residency in orthopedic surgery or general surgery? I have completed three courses already and am not in the top of my class, but definitely in the top 20%. At my school you need to be in the top 10% for AOA which I have heard from M3's and M4's is necessary to do a competitive residency. I have begun a research project, which I hope to present at a national conference and will most likely begin another one next summer. My goal is be involved with at least three different research projects while here in three different fields that are inter-related or have practical applicability. I am trying to take the step one related material at the end of each course so I am prepared. I know it sounds gunnerish, but I am not positive what I want to do and don't want to limit myself by doing poorly over the first two years. Any opinions.

Ex

Hi there,
In order to get into a competitive residency, you should try to do as well as you can. There are some things that you can do to enhance your chances. First of all, as you are doing, you can do research. Another thing that you can do is join the specialty interest group for surgery/orthopedic surgery at your medical school. From there, you can make good meaningful contact with your department chairs from both general and orthopedic surgery. Try to do a rotation on the orthopedic chairman's service early in your fourth year so that you can get a good solid letter for residency.

You can also do an away rotation at the residency that you want the most. Try to do this early in fourth year. Make good contacts there and work very hard. The program director will remember your hard work and you may get a shot even if you are not AOA.

Continue to try to get the best grades that you can get especially in your surgery rotation during third year. This will be a great opportunity to show what you can do. Work hard, have some good contacts and have some good research projects. You should catch the eye of the PDs at good orthopedic programs especially if you keep your grades up and score well on USMLE Step I.

Good luck!
njbmd 🙂

 

[thackl]

I used to think this about ortho. My brother is a resident and has told me most of the ortho residents he's worked with were around top 1/2 to 1/3. I wish I could remember the site, but there is one that shows the competitiveness of all residencies. Anything below about 95% match is considered 'highly competititive'. The only one that was ultra low was derm at around 60%. Ortho was well in the 90's.

 

[BenYossarian]

I remember when the kids all went to soviet moscow and learned that russians really aren't that different from you and me. Oh wait...that was HEAD of the class.