u think i can have a chance?

[threecoins]

hi guys,
I am an international medical STUDENT ( final year) thinking of applying to a surgery residency but i gotta tell you for someone living abraod it is very hard to get to know all the intricacies of the fine diffrences between programs, I am pusruing a surgery elective at kansas univresity medical center does any one know the "underground information ' about the surgery program at that institution,i got 207 at my step 1 but i am certain i can beat that in step 2 coz now more tha any time before i am getting used to the "soul of the examination", do u think it is easy for and international medical student to get strong leetrs of recommndations from staff at KUMC surgery, I would really appreacte if you gave me some tips on how to do well, thanks in advance for ur time

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[threecoins]

Originally posted by threecoins

hi guys,
I am an international medical STUDENT ( final year) thinking of applying to a surgery residency but i gotta tell :you for someone living abraod it is very hard to get to know all the intricacies of the fine diffrences between programs, I am pusruing a surgery elective at kansas univresity medical center does any one know the "underground information ' about the surgery program at that institution,i got 207 at my step 1 but i am certain i can beat that in step 2 coz now more tha any time before i am getting used to the "soul of the examination", do u think it is easy for and international medical student to get strong leetrs of recommndations from staff at KUMC surgery, I would really appreacte if you gave me some tips on how to do well, thanks in advance for ur time

 

[fourthyear]

I'm a US student, but I, too, was nervous about asking for letters, but every time I did ask, no one ever minded and they were so nice about it. I think they all EXPECT you to ask, especially if you are doing a rotation as a visiting student, so they are not at all surprised when you ask.

Don't know much about U of Kansas specifically, but generally the way to do well on any rotation is just work hard all the time. This means being aggressive in volunteering to take new patients and do procedures. Also stay late, as long as there is something left to do - never ask to leave early (maybe that's intuitive for those interested in surgery, but I'm surprised at how many students don't know that rule). Always read up on your patients disease process and treatment options, and read about OR cases, including the disease, the procedure, review important anatomy, and know possible complications. Do all that and never get phased by someone yelling at you or making you feel like you don't know anything - always be confident. Don't be nervous, if you want to do well, you will. Good Luck!! And have fun!

 

[threecoins]

thanks for ur advice about doin well on a rotation, i do think that all u said conforms with "commomn sense", but I still wonder if these things are enough to show the staff there that I am the brilliant Interantiaonl medical student they have been waiting for and would be pleased to work with and to rank him high in their list? Actually I will be taking two electives and the one i chose first would ebe Emergnecy medicine to halep me familiarize myself with the hospital environment before i start my surgery rotation do you think that is a good choiceor should I have taken internal medicine which would also serve as a "back up speciality ' for someone like me who has got only 207 in step 1 consdiering that emergency medicine is quite hard to match into. I still wann know if anybody has anything to say about KUMc residencies in paticular
and about matching in surgery with 207 in general.

 

[fourthyear]

EM is hard to match into, but I think is a much better preparation for surgery rotation than IM would be. You will seea broader variety of problems, medical and surgical, and will get to do some procedures. If you're a surgery type, you'll probably have more fun in the ER than on an IM rotation too.

Look at www.scutwork.com for a list of unfilled residency programs last year (if you haven't already checked it out). You'll see there were tons of surg programs that didn't fill - apply to enough of those and you will be fine - 207 is a good score, considering I think the US national avg was around 212-215 I think, so you're close to that.

If you want to do surgery, I think you should go for it - it doesn't seem much harder to match into than IM is right now. And IM is a world of difference from surgery, so if surgery is your passion, you won't be happy with IM. go for what you really want.

 

[threecoins]

well thanx for the tips, and it is such a relief for me to know from your rply( and many other posts) that surgery is getting less and less competitive all the time, but you know it is very hard for me which speciality i can get into , coz the SURGERY type u mentioned is something very vague for me,especially that the qualities of this species of doctors vary from one place to another , in my country the only difference is that they seem more aggressive.i have been looking for some kinda pysychological test to help me find which specialties suit me best , I found one in Iserson's "getting into a residency" if U have read it.but It is quite complicate and i was not very satisfied with te results ,can u tell me what is the question i should ask myself to know if i would make a good surgeon , you know the problem is that i hav trained myself to LIKE every amlost every branch of medicine that I lost the passion for something special

 

[fourthyear]

There is one other book - called How to Choose a Medical Specialty by Anita D. Taylor, that is also good like Iserson's book, with a slightly different way of rating what you are looking for in a specialty.

To me the question between IM and surg is "are you a doer or a thinker?" IM is a lot of thinking, a lot of patience sometimes in trying out a treatment and waiting to see if it works, running lots of lab tests to find out what is going on, and spending lots of hours rounding every day. Surgery, on the other hand, is mostly about doing. You get to have that opportunity to change what is wrong by fixing it permanently, not by just medications. It's a lot of hands-on work, so if you love to do procedures, you'll likely be more satisfied in surgery. Plus, the thing I like most about surgery vs medicine, is that rounds are quick and to the point - you quickly talk about what changed with the patient and what to do about it, then move on the spend most of your day in the operating room, not standing around talking about your pateints all morning long. Don't get me wrong, surgeons have plenty of intellectual challenges, they just dont' sit around and talk about them all day long. It just depends on how you want to spend your day.

Of course, surgeons also tend to work longer hours (probably why it is now decreasing in popularity), but that may change a bit with the new laws now.

 

[droliver]

fourthyear,

the overwhelming majority of my time is thinking rather then doing per se. For my money general surgeons & nephrologist (among internists) are the most thoughtful doctors because they have to be. I think surgeons tend to be able to understand the realtionships between anatomy & resultant pathophysiolgy better then most which is why. You will come to appreciate, that most things you get are rarely as straight forward as you'd like, especially with older patients.

 

[threecoins]

well i have not heard before about that Anita'a book,but i will try to find it ,Sure i Like doing procdeures and changing things with my hand , but i have only tried to do simple procedures like Thoracocentesis for pleaural effusion , which i did many times and i learned very easily but I am not sure I will be able to handle the stress and the responsibility of working for 10 hours to resect a liver lobe for transplantation especially when I am sleep derpived the night before, This is what is realy making me quiet unceratin about choosing surgery as a career, i mean if it is all about procedure and doing things by ur hands why should not you go fro some neat procedures like those done by interventional radiologists , they change their things withther " HANDS' too, but In a much relxed manner....please shre these thoughts with me