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Dermatology - Help!


BAMFtastic

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Hey Everyone,

 

If some of you could take some time and help me, I'd really appreciate it!

 

I have heard that dermatology is one of the only specialities which requires work from day one to get a residency. These are my questions:

 

1. What electives and rotations are good to take?

2. What extra curriculars would you suggest? (Jobs, Clubs, etc)

3. Where are the best residencies for Derm and why?

4. Did you know? .... You're the best (:

 

P.s. I know many people say that you should go in with and open mind and pick a field afterwards. I am willing to do so, but I have had a lot of personal struggles with skin disorders and find the topic very interesting.

 

Thanks for all your help!

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Hey Everyone,

 

If some of you could take some time and help me, I'd really appreciate it!

 

I have heard that dermatology is one of the only specialities which requires work from day one to get a residency. These are my questions:

 

1. What electives and rotations are good to take?

2. What extra curriculars would you suggest? (Jobs, Clubs, etc)

3. Where are the best residencies for Derm and why?

4. Did you know? .... You're the best (:

 

P.s. I know many people say that you should go in with and open mind and pick a field afterwards. I am willing to do so, but I have had a lot of personal struggles with skin disorders and find the topic very interesting.

 

Thanks for all your help!

 

1. Derm, Derm, more Derm. Face time matters a great deal for small competitive residencies. There is a an element of connections and gamesmanship that plays a role. The more Derm people you know, and who know you, the better your chances.

 

2. Derm research. I don't think clubs or jobs would really matter (at least they don't matter in my competitive surgical subspecialty residency).

 

The most important things to matching to competitive programs, especially small ones is:

1. You're a very hard worker

2. The program likes you and you fit in. They would want to work with you for 5 years.

3. You have a good knowledge of the material for a med student and are reasonably bright.

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1. Derm, Derm, more Derm. Face time matters a great deal for small competitive residencies. There is a an element of connections and gamesmanship that plays a role. The more Derm people you know, and who know you, the better your chances.

 

2. Derm research. I don't think clubs or jobs would really matter (at least they don't matter in my competitive surgical subspecialty residency).

 

The most important things to matching to competitive programs, especially small ones is:

1. You're a very hard worker

2. The program likes you and you fit in. They would want to work with you for 5 years.

3. You have a good knowledge of the material for a med student and are reasonably bright.

 

Great post, NLengr. I guess the question now is: What do you do if you don't make the cut after all that hard work?

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  • 2 weeks later...
I guess it would be possible to do another year of reasearch/shadowing in order to increase face time and then re-apply the year after. Or is that a bad idea?

 

Possible, but probably not the best idea.

 

Generally people who do that are looked on as damaged goods at match time for MOST specialties (I think optho is an exception). Check with a few derm residents to see what the scoop is.

 

CaRMS is a one shot deal essentially. That's why everyone stresses so much about it.

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Do you hear many success stories of people matching to term after only deciding they wanted it in clerkship?

 

I have. It's not the end of the world if you decide late. It is very tough in derm, because you have people gunning for it straight out of the gate. Similar to Optho. But I have met two Derm residents who only decided in clerkship (granted, it was very early in clerkship).

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just matched - started interest in derm late 3rd year.

 

words of wisdom: don't work hard, work smart.

 

im sure i could have had a better dossier and more interviews - but i matched...

 

most important factor is that the residents and staff like you and feel you would fit in

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  • 4 months later...

Do men generally pursue derm? From what I've read on this forum, it sounds like it's predominantly women (and those too who are attractive) who end up securing a residency spot in derm. I wanted to clarify whether that's true at all and whether 'beauty' may be a factor that the selection committee might (sub)consciously look for?

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Do men generally pursue derm? From what I've read on this forum' date=' it sounds like it's predominantly women (and those too who are attractive) who end up securing a residency spot in derm. I wanted to clarify whether that's true at all and whether 'beauty' may be a factor that the selection committee might (sub)consciously look for?[/quote']

 

Last year our school had 3 spots and all went to males.

Male/Female plays no role in deciding if you get admitted.

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Do men generally pursue derm? From what I've read on this forum' date=' it sounds like it's predominantly women (and those too who are attractive) who end up securing a residency spot in derm. I wanted to clarify whether that's true at all and whether 'beauty' may be a factor that the selection committee might (sub)consciously look for?[/quote']

 

In 2012 UWO's 2 derm matches were both men, both had similar strategies (research, lots of face time in derm electives, backup options); they looked like your average male, I don't think beauty was a factor.

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In 2012 UWO's 2 derm matches were both men, both had similar strategies (research, lots of face time in derm electives, backup options); they looked like your average male, I don't think beauty was a factor.

 

Did they conduct research relating to the skin? What were their backup options?

 

A friend of mine in year 3 of med told me that a particular race/religion was more prominent in this field...

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Did they conduct research relating to the skin? What were their backup options?

 

A friend of mine in year 3 of med told me that a particular race/religion was more prominent in this field...

 

As far as I was told one of them did quite a bit of internal medicine research, I think backup was internal medicine for that person. The race/religion question is difficult to answer with N=2...

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  • 3 weeks later...
Is derm usually a five year residency on top of the four year medical school? :-O

 

Do you get paid during residency, if so how much? And if not, how much is tuition :P

 

Yes, and most residencies are 5 years. You do get paid as a resident, CaRMS has all the program and salary informations.

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  • 4 months later...
Does research/publication in other specialty really not help when matching into Derm? I still don't think I grasp how competitive derm really is. I mean there are no Step 1 scores... so just purely based on your rotation + LOR + research?

 

Mostly based on elective rotation, but yes, competitive specialty matching has no real hard numbers you can use to compare candidates.

 

It's one of the downsides of the P/F system.

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