Which MD/DO schools are best for someone like me? Nontraditional, want to go into plastic surgery (competitive, i know)

[kjpsenger]

Yes I used the search bar, I couldn't find anything 🙁
I'm a post-bacc pre-med student. The majority of my pre-requisites have been at a community college, since I graduated a year before I decided to go to medical school, and couldn't afford to go back to university.

• 3.57 cGPA
• 3.77 AMCAS (BCPM) GPA; and
• 3.83 AACOMAS (BCP) gpa.

Haven't taken MCAT yet, but I plan to study 4-5 months.
I am really pretty set on plastic surgery, or general surgery residency then plastics fellowship.
Also I am a Florida resident, but I will gladly go anywhere in the U.S.

Thank you!

EDIT: I will be getting some sort of medical research opportunity this summer, but its not entirely set in stone as to what exactly it is yet.

EDIT 2:
I guess I should've included all this in the original post :/
I've been the president of my school's HOSA (Health occupation students of america) chapter for the past two years, organizing and participating in over 25+ volunteer experiences, fundraising events, and competing at regional, state, and international leadership conferences against other pre-health students in various categories. I'm also a certified medical assistant, for which I've done a 200 hour externship at an urgent care and a neurosurgeons office. I have not worked as a CMA due to scheduling conflicts with school, but I've been working as a patient care technician in the OR where I've observed dozens of procedures of various surgical specialties. Lastly, I kinda plan on playing the "i'm trans" card, because I am, and transgender medicine is the field I want to pursue in plastic surgery. I'm kinda banking on the whole "its underrepresented" thing. Lastly, I plan on getting a research opportunity over this coming summer, I have some leads.

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[Davidfromcali]

An MD school that has a plastic surgery department and residency program.

 

[kjpsenger]

An MD school that has a plastic surgery department and residency program.

Thank you!

 

[Cornfed101]

I am really pretty set on plastic surgery, or general surgery residency then plastics fellowship.

Have you shadowed a plastic surgeon?

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

You could have anything from a mildly competitive app to a solid app depending on your MCAT (mostly brought down by the 3.57 cgpa), make sure you aren't lacking in any field of the application. Since you didn't mention it, I have to ask about EC's, particularly if your former job/career can offer anything like leadership exp, how much clinical and non-clinical volunteering you have and what is your x-factor, what through all of your experiences makes your app stand out (are you a veteran, founded a company etc, overseas experience).

Also, the advice above about steering clear of DO for competitive specialties has never been more pertinent.

 

[Goro]

Yes I used the search bar, I couldn't find anything 🙁
I'm a post-bacc pre-med student. The majority of my pre-requisites have been at a community college, since I graduated a year before I decided to go to medical school, and couldn't afford to go back to university.

• 3.57 cGPA
• 3.77 AMCAS (BCPM) GPA; and
• 3.83 AACOMAS (BCP) gpa.

Haven't taken MCAT yet, but I plan to study 4-5 months.
I am really pretty set on plastic surgery, or general surgery residency then plastics fellowship.
Also I am a Florida resident, but I will gladly go anywhere in the U.S.

Thank you!

EDIT: I will be getting some sort of medical research opportunity this summer, but its not entirely set in stone as to what exactly it is yet.

Get into med school first, then worry about specialty

 

[DO_or_Die]

Yes I used the search bar, I couldn't find anything 🙁
I'm a post-bacc pre-med student. The majority of my pre-requisites have been at a community college, since I graduated a year before I decided to go to medical school, and couldn't afford to go back to university.

• 3.57 cGPA
• 3.77 AMCAS (BCPM) GPA; and
• 3.83 AACOMAS (BCP) gpa.

Haven't taken MCAT yet, but I plan to study 4-5 months.
I am really pretty set on plastic surgery, or general surgery residency then plastics fellowship.
Also I am a Florida resident, but I will gladly go anywhere in the U.S.

Thank you!

EDIT: I will be getting some sort of medical research opportunity this summer, but its not entirely set in stone as to what exactly it is yet.

I'm going DO, but would advise that you go to an MD school for plastic surgery. Surgery would be more obtainable but still difficult. You're up against the cream of the crop trying to get into those specialties and that's on top of the fact that your average medical student is already a high caliber student, it's good to aim high but to realistically be prepared to go into internal medicine or family medicine. If you can't see yourself in anything other than plastic surgery, go MD or not at all.

 

[KeikoTanaka]

Only potentially good DO school for surgery is Philadelphia-COM. They hold national seminars for surgery, and have a robotic surgery practice lab.

 

[Moko]

Can you see yourself being happy in other specialties if your medical school performance is not competitive for plastic surgery? If not, you should think carefully about whether pursuing medical school is right for you. For plastics surgery, you should be aiming for MD schools with a home Plastics residency program.

Many people go into medical school aiming for hyper-competitive specialties, and most of them abandon those plans due to average board scores and clinical grades. If you have not already, I would recommend shadowing some non-surgical specialties as well to ensure that there are other (less competitive) specialties that you would be happy matching into. Just my thoughts.

 

[kjpsenger]

Have you shadowed a plastic surgeon?

I've met a few, as well as had two procedures done by plastic surgeons, whom I've asked many questions. I will be looking for shadowing opportunuites soon

 

[kjpsenger]

You could have anything from a mildly competitive app to a solid app depending on your MCAT (mostly brought down by the 3.57 cgpa), make sure you aren't lacking in any field of the application. Since you didn't mention it, I have to ask about EC's, particularly if your former job/career can offer anything like leadership exp, how much clinical and non-clinical volunteering you have and what is your x-factor, what through all of your experiences makes your app stand out (are you a veteran, founded a company etc, overseas experience).

Also, the advice above about steering clear of DO for competitive specialties has never been more pertinent.

I guess I should've included all this in the original post :/
I've been the president of my school's HOSA (Health occupation students of america) chapter for the past two years, organizing and participating in over 25+ volunteer experiences, fundraising events, and competing at regional, state, and international leadership conferences against other pre-health students in various categories. I'm also a certified medical assistant, for which I've done a 200 hour externship at an urgent care and a neurosurgeons office. I have not worked as a CMA due to scheduling conflicts with school, but I've been working as a patient care technician in the OR where I've observed dozens of procedures of various surgical specialties. Lastly, I kinda plan on playing the "i'm trans" card, because I am, and transgender medicine is the field I want to pursue in plastic surgery. I'm kinda banking on the whole "its underrepresented" thing. Lastly, I plan on getting a research opportunity over this coming summer, I have some leads.
Thanks 🙂

 

[kjpsenger]

Only potentially good DO school for surgery is Philadelphia-COM. They hold national seminars for surgery, and have a robotic surgery practice lab.

Thank you! I'll add it to the list!

 

[operaman]

Wherever you go, don’t tell people you want to do plastic surgery. It’s one of those fields that lay people have heard of yet comes with a lot of stigma that you don’t want at this point. Shadowing will help you talk about it since you could say you shadowed and found it interesting. Alternatively you could mention some niche part of the field like craniofacial or microvascular and say you’re really into that.

Overall plastics isn’t terribly competitive but it can be. Getting a fellowship after 5-7 years of general surgery is doable for most. Landing an integrated plastics slot right out of Med school is much harder. An MD school with a plastics program is your best bet so you can get research and letters once you’re there.

 

[never-too-late]

Everything will be determined by your MCAT, so no one can really tell you where to go until you have that. Florida, fortunately for you, has some options even if you don't crush the MCAT. The "trans card" as you say could work at some more liberal institutions, but my sense is that you will still need to be competitive in their applicant pool.

As far as plastic surgery goes, as far as I can tell, anyone with a medical license can do it. I'm not exactly sure of the legals on this one, but the last "plastic surgeon" I ran into was a guy who did his residency in EM who now calls himself a vascular surgeon and does tummy tucks on the side. Not making this up.

I also knew an ENT who had a reputation in the town I lived in for doing the best nose jobs.

So I'm not fully convinced one has to do a plastic surgery residency to practice in plastic surgery...if you find you're not competitive to match to your desired specialty. Also, as I'm sure you are fully aware, there is so much more to transgender medicine than just surgery, and you could make a tremendous difference in the lives of many doing primary care or endocrinology as a part of a gender clinic. Many individuals do not even seek surgery. Pediatrics would also be another great avenue as having physicians who can work with children and parents in this area is very much needed (spoken as the mother of a trans kid). Bravo/a/I (sorry not clear on your gender identity) for connecting to your passion, there may be many meaningful ways to do so outside of traditional plastic surgery if you are willing to consider other options.

 

[esob]

With step being P/F now you would not want to go to a DO school. You also do not want to go to a school that has P/F grading b/c you won't be able to distinguish yourself during the preclinical years.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

You also do not want to go to a school that has P/F grading b/c you won't be able to distinguish yourself during the preclinical years.

Ugh, easier said than done. Every MD program at which I interviewed has P/F preclinical grading. In fact, I don’t think I can come up with a single example of a school that still has preclinical grading, though I know some must exist.

The class of 2024 is going to have an interesting time preparing for residency. So excited I get to be a guinea pig for these changes! 😒

 

[Cornfed101]

Ugh, easier said than done. Every MD program at which I interviewed has P/F preclinical grading. In fact, I don’t think I can come up with a single example of a school that still has preclinical grading, though I know some must exist.

The class of 2024 is going to have an interesting time preparing for residency. So excited I get to be a guinea pig for these changes! 😒

+1, and I have to say this gif I saw on Reddit when Step 1 went P/F perfectly sums things up

 

[Goro]

With step being P/F now you would not want to go to a DO school. You also do not want to go to a school that has P/F grading b/c you won't be able to distinguish yourself during the preclinical years.

PDs don't care about your pre-clinical grades. Quite a few PF schools still show class rank, or at least quartile or quintiles placement.

PDs will also use Step 2 as a screen, and this puts many DO students on the same footing as MD students, except for those going to the newest DO schools..

 

[operaman]

I’m not sure how much your being trans will count as an underepresented demographic that schools actually care about. Maybe one of the people who work in admissions can shed some light. It might buy a few points but unclear if it will be the major boost afforded to other federally mandated groups.

It does give you an interesting story in pursuing plastic surgery but you would be wise to keep your interest vague. Perhaps you can frame your interest as in trans medicine as a whole, from endocrinology to plastic surgery to voice alteration surgery to public health. Having a passion to care for a marginalized and hurting group is a noble thing, so keep your story focused there rather than solely on plastic surgery.

 

[kjpsenger]

I’m not sure how much your being trans will count as an underepresented demographic that schools actually care about. Maybe one of the people who work in admissions can shed some light. It might buy a few points but unclear if it will be the major boost afforded to other federally mandated groups.

It does give you an interesting story in pursuing plastic surgery but you would be wise to keep your interest vague. Perhaps you can frame your interest as in trans medicine as a whole, from endocrinology to plastic surgery to voice alteration surgery to public health. Having a passion to care for a marginalized and hurting group is a noble thing, so keep your story focused there rather than solely on plastic surgery.

Yeah I completely agree. I'm definitely not banking on it, it's just something I'm going to mention since, honestly, it is one of my biggest motivations for going into medicine, and I'm not sure I'd be doing it otherwise. Don't get me wrong, I've always LOVED science, and I would definitely work in healthcare regardless, but what made me switch from PA to MD was the fact that I wanted to actively work on the healthcare environment and educate people across the country through conferences/symposiums/etc. on basic trans healthcare. I just don't feel like I would have the power to really enact the change I want to as a PA. (And also I want more than just two years of school, because I think its interesting 🙂