Orthopedic Surgery Opportunities

[prinzmetal7]

Hi everyone,

 

I am a third year medical school student who recently became very interested in the field of orthopedic surgery. Having decided on the field relatively late I understand I may be at a disadvantage compared to students who have been working towards the field throughout medical school. For this reason, I am open to pursuing an additional year of research or another opportunity to help strengthen my application for orthopedic surgery residency.

 

I was writing to see if there were any recommendations on how to proceed with research or clinical opportunities that would allow me to gain face time with faculty and strengthen my application. Is the best way to go about this to email the Orthopedics department at the various medical schools to inquire if they have any opportunities? What other way is there to approach this? Would research or clinical exposure be more helpful for my application? If relevant, I am open to going to any area of the country for residency as this is a field I am very passionate about.

 

Thank You

[Snowmen]

In all honesty, the whole no job thing means that ortho isn't very competitive as far as surgical specialties go. If you can get a few electives and do well in them, I wouldn't worry.

[Edict]

On 2/5/2018 at 11:05 PM, prinzmetal7 said:

Hi everyone,

 

I am a third year medical school student who recently became very interested in the field of orthopedic surgery. Having decided on the field relatively late I understand I may be at a disadvantage compared to students who have been working towards the field throughout medical school. For this reason, I am open to pursuing an additional year of research or another opportunity to help strengthen my application for orthopedic surgery residency.

 

I was writing to see if there were any recommendations on how to proceed with research or clinical opportunities that would allow me to gain face time with faculty and strengthen my application. Is the best way to go about this to email the Orthopedics department at the various medical schools to inquire if they have any opportunities? What other way is there to approach this? Would research or clinical exposure be more helpful for my application? If relevant, I am open to going to any area of the country for residency as this is a field I am very passionate about.

 

Thank You

Do research in ortho at your home school. You are more likely to be able to get more involved and get results before CaRMS. Definitely make yourself and your interest known at your home program. Volunteer to go to ORs and do call shifts when you have time off, start chatting to the ortho residents. Remember though that all these interactions are part of your interview, so make sure you act keen during these opportunities. A true gunner guns hard, and if you gun hard, you will do fine in the match. You don't need to do all these things though to match most likely, but the more you do the more competitive you are. Do electives at other schools yes, but doing research at other schools is not useful. The reason is that research at a distance is not as productive and at your stage you need all the productivity and opportunities you can get given your limited time before carms. 

[FailureToThrive]

On 2/9/2018 at 7:49 PM, Edict said:

Do research in ortho at your home school. You are more likely to be able to get more involved and get results before CaRMS. Definitely make yourself and your interest known at your home program. Volunteer to go to ORs and do call shifts when you have time off, start chatting to the ortho residents. Remember though that all these interactions are part of your interview, so make sure you act keen during these opportunities. A true gunner guns hard, and if you gun hard, you will do fine in the match. You don't need to do all these things though to match most likely, but the more you do the more competitive you are. Do electives at other schools yes, but doing research at other schools is not useful. The reason is that research at a distance is not as productive and at your stage you need all the productivity and opportunities you can get given your limited time before carms. 

What if your home program doesn't do research 

Why would research at a distance be less productive?

[Edict]

3 hours ago, médecine said:

What if your home program doesn't do research 

Why would research at a distance be less productive?

Well, at a distance it is harder to communicate which means things don't go as fast. For example, if you are doing your own project and you have a question, it is easier if you meet the person on a regular basis in person to have that question answered, especially if your preceptor is a busy person (they usually are). Additionally, it is always easy to build connections and to become involved in more projects when you work in close proximity to the research team and are able to go to research meetings. 

If your home program doesn't do research you have to do it at a distance, when you have lemons make lemonade