firefly_13 Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 Hi! I did a plastic surgery rotation lately and am now convinced it is my first choice. I never considered this specialty as a career path previously. I'm aware that it is late to discover this interest, but does anyone have advice on how to become a somewhat competitive candidate ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anbessa21 Posted May 2, 2021 Report Share Posted May 2, 2021 How late are we talking? I'd imagine you're rotation is some form of core clerkship selective with would put you somewhere in your third year... For context, I did not match plastics (couldn't decide between plastics and another surgical specialty, so I ranked in an alternating manner based on location). I did; however, rank plastics at my most desired location first, ahead of the other surgical specialty in that same location, which I ranked second and ultimately matched to. However as someone who discovered an interest late (i.e. the September 2020 for CaRMS 2021), I was able to secure 4 interviews with only 2 weeks of elective time, and only 2 specialty specific LORs. The only reason this was possible was by a) studying like mad ahead of my 2-week rotation (including looking at the OR schedule ahead of time, knowing the patients well and familiarizing myself with relevant anatomy related to all cases, staying late/picking up multiple days of call) and b) linking up with a PI who took a tremendous degree of personal interest in my success, helped me generate some degree of relevant research productivity in a very short time span, and sold me as the second coming of Christ in his LOR (I know this as I requested my letters and Casper from CaRMS). As you can imagine, there is an overwhelmingly significant component of luck involved, and even with this, it is a strong possibility that I wouldn't have matched plastics, even if I had ranked based on discipline. I speculate that the primary reason I wasn't able to match to my top choice was my lack of elective time (interpreted as 'lack of dedication'). Given that my interest in the other specialty predated plastics, I had booked all of my 2-week elective slots accordingly, and ultimately decided it was too big a risk for too little a reward (given my dual interest) to change these in favour of more plastics time. In retrospect, I believe that to maximize success, even with a late narrative, you must still make this realization with enough time to go as all-in as possible elective wise (i.e. 8 weeks). Aside from that, it's really a crapshoot. Do your very best, study up for electives + work hard and know your stuff, more importantly make big connections through research and networking on electives. Try to produce some relevant research output. But most importantly, pray that fortune decides to shine its (often) arbitrarily directed light upon you, because many people do all of these things from day 1 of M1 and still end up without a spot, or even without an interview. Oh, and have a solid parallel plan. dooogs, ThatMedGyal, futuredoc43 and 2 others 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firefly_13 Posted May 3, 2021 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 Hi ! Thank you for sharing your path, it is quite interesting. I'm currently in third year. I had one 4 week elective in plastics. I could potentially get another 4 weeks but that's it. Would it be worth it to take a year to do a masters so that i have more time to network and meet other teams ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anbessa21 Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 It would be disingenuous for me to answer this question because honestly, I don't know the answer. This will vary from program to program, and is complicated particularly by the context of no visiting electives for 2021-2022. Based on anecdotal evidence, I would say that you only have 1 shot at it, and that will be in the cycle of your M4 year. I have never seen a research year materialize in a plastics spot after going unmatched/foregoing the match. My advice would be to work hard to make yourself competitive for your M4 cycle, cross your fingers, and have a parallel plan you can be enthusiastic about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indefatigable Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 The advantages I could see of doing a Master's is that: you could get some research done which would give you more of a chance the elective situation may improve in a year. you could actually meet other teams and hopefully get some more exposure; if you were really ambitious you could write Step2 / Step 1 and apply to the US. OP (I think know which school/program you are from), unfortunately, you will currently not be considered to be on the same footing as applicants from other schools and you will be limited to being competitive to only one or two (French-speaking) programs within QC. futuredoc43 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insomnias Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 6 hours ago, anbessa21 said: It would be disingenuous for me to answer this question because honestly, I don't know the answer. This will vary from program to program, and is complicated particularly by the context of no visiting electives for 2021-2022. Based on anecdotal evidence, I would say that you only have 1 shot at it, and that will be in the cycle of your M4 year. I have never seen a research year materialize in a plastics spot after going unmatched/foregoing the match. My advice would be to work hard to make yourself competitive for your M4 cycle, cross your fingers, and have a parallel plan you can be enthusiastic about. I believe McGill had a student this year match into plastics (in QC) after going unmatched last year -> doing a master's and picking up a ton of call shifts, and the U of A had 2 students match plastics (somewhere in English Canada) in the 2018-19 cycle after going unmatched (I believe they did MBAs in the intervening year? Don't remember). It's certainly possible, but I wouldn't enjoy/recommend trying.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 11 minutes ago, insomnias said: I believe McGill had a student this year match into plastics (in QC) after going unmatched last year -> doing a master's and picking up a ton of call shifts, and the U of A had 2 students match plastics (somewhere in English Canada) in the 2018-19 cycle after going unmatched (I believe they did MBAs in the intervening year? Don't remember). It's certainly possible, but I wouldn't enjoy/recommend trying.. Agreed, i know of 2 unmatched plastics candidates who then did further rotations in their post-MD year, and research, and ultimately matching in english Canada. Again, its best to just match in your Ms4 year, but it does happen that some match afterwards. Its just not ideal and nowhere near a guarnatee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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