UK Ortho to US Ortho advice: General Surgery Pre-lim Year?

[TransAtlanticTank]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first post on here and I'm wondering if anyone out there can proffer some advice on which avenue to take.

To give you some background; I'm a UK graduate currently in the process of sitting the USMLEs. I'm currently booked in for Step 1 in early August and am planning to try crank out both parts of Step 2 by the end of September (if I manage to stay on schedule).

I graduated in the UK in 2012, completed my foundation training which is essentially a 2yr internship (standard in the UK) and then did some work locuming in different surgical specialities before landing on Ortho and spending a year working as a junior doctor in a level one trauma centre. Around this time I met my now wife (she's a US citizen starting her residency this July). We're now living in NYC for her training. I have a work permit and my greencard is processing. But essentially, that side of things should be stowed away.

I love Orthopaedic surgery, especially Trauma and realise how difficult this is to get into for US grads, let alone foreigners. My plan is to try and match this round in a General Surgery pre-lim year at a centre with a solid reputation, then apply for a post in Ortho next year and wriggle my way in that way. I have some Orthopedic research that has been presented multiple times internationally, not by myself, and have a reasonable number of cases logged (over 100).

1) Is a general surgery pre-lim year a good idea in terms of experience, LOR, future career opportunities?
2) Is there anywhere you would recommend to apply/aim for in NYC for my pre-lim year?
3) Any advice to further bolster my CV? I'm not 100% sure what US hospitals will be looking for here.
4) Is more research a good idea? I toyed with the idea of doing a research year instead of a pre-lim year but figured that would make a better stage 2 back up.
5) Is this a fools errand? Should I scale back my ambitions and look at another speciality? Anything but Psych, FM, OBGYN, IM, Patholgy/Histology and I think I could make it work.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and please feel free to give me your two cents. I need all the advice I can get right now!

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[ThoracicGuy]

Your chances of getting a US ortho spot is slim.

 

[TransAtlanticTank]

Yes, I figured they would be.

Any thoughts on the rest?
Does the above sound like a reasonable approach (if I decide to go for Ortho) despite the low odds?
Are there any better alternatives in terms of routes in? I imagine a direct match would be pretty much impossible at this stage.
Is a prelim year a good/bad idea? Especially in the context of vs research?
Any advice to help refine this plan would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[gutonc]

Yes, I figured they would be.

Any thoughts on the rest?
Does the above sound like a reasonable approach (if I decide to go for Ortho) despite the low odds?
Are there any better alternatives in terms of routes in? I imagine a direct match would be pretty much impossible at this stage.
Is a prelim year a good/bad idea? Especially in the context of vs research?
Any advice to help refine this plan would be appreciated.

Thanks

The refinement of your plan should be to find something you want to do that's not Ortho competitive. A prelim year won't help you much, if at all, for Ortho. I say find a specialty you want, other than Ortho and go for it, and also have a backup.

 

[akwho]

The only orthopaedic residents I'm aware of from other countries were attendings in their home country and moved to US for social reasons. Then they did lab research as an unpaid grunt for two-three years for the chairman of a major program and then used his influence to obtain a spot. You would likely be looking at a similar and risky path (you could always not match and be out three years of your life on unpaid grunt work).

If you love trauma surgery, general surgery is much easier to get into as foreign grad and you could still do acute care services and have other subspecialization options. That is the pathway I would choose if I were in your shoes.

 

[doc05]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first post on here and I'm wondering if anyone out there can proffer some advice on which avenue to take.

To give you some background; I'm a UK graduate currently in the process of sitting the USMLEs. I'm currently booked in for Step 1 in early August and am planning to try crank out both parts of Step 2 by the end of September (if I manage to stay on schedule).

I graduated in the UK in 2012, completed my foundation training which is essentially a 2yr internship (standard in the UK) and then did some work locuming in different surgical specialities before landing on Ortho and spending a year working as a junior doctor in a level one trauma centre. Around this time I met my now wife (she's a US citizen starting her residency this July). We're now living in NYC for her training. I have a work permit and my greencard is processing. But essentially, that side of things should be stowed away.

I love Orthopaedic surgery, especially Trauma and realise how difficult this is to get into for US grads, let alone foreigners. My plan is to try and match this round in a General Surgery pre-lim year at a centre with a solid reputation, then apply for a post in Ortho next year and wriggle my way in that way. I have some Orthopedic research that has been presented multiple times internationally, not by myself, and have a reasonable number of cases logged (over 100).

1) Is a general surgery pre-lim year a good idea in terms of experience, LOR, future career opportunities?
2) Is there anywhere you would recommend to apply/aim for in NYC for my pre-lim year?
3) Any advice to further bolster my CV? I'm not 100% sure what US hospitals will be looking for here.
4) Is more research a good idea? I toyed with the idea of doing a research year instead of a pre-lim year but figured that would make a better stage 2 back up.
5) Is this a fools errand? Should I scale back my ambitions and look at another speciality? Anything but Psych, FM, OBGYN, IM, Patholgy/Histology and I think I could make it work.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and please feel free to give me your two cents. I need all the advice I can get right now!

1. No, no, and no.
2. All NYC prelim surg spots are terrible. They will take literally anyone with a pulse.
3. See above. If you speak English, you're better than at least 75% of prelim surg residents.
4. Do several years of serious ortho research in the U.S. with surgeons who are known and have connections. That way you may find an orthopedics spot.
5. Probably. But worth a try. All the good specialties are tough for a foreign grad. Since you're coming from the UK, you have a very slight advantage over FMGs from the developing world.

Good luck!