As an MSII, I would focus on the near future, ie, Step I. Traveling to the academy or other meetings will be extremely low yield if any. Hell, as a PGY 4, some of the stuff is over my head. Ultimately it will be your scores that land you the interviews to get into ortho, with very rare exceptions. Focus on your studies rather than trying to kiss ass at meetings that really don't address MS. Also try to get involved with research rather than being the head of ortho interest groups. It doesn't appear good when the area of research and publications on the ERAS application is left blank. I'm sure many on this site will disagree with the above, but this is my 2 cents worth. Good luck.

I would second the opinion above. It's great that you guys are interested in ortho so early on... but I would focus ALL my energy on step score (1st) and research (2nd, after done studying). As 3rd year rolls around, I would try to do really well on clinical rotations.

In my opinion, quad of ortho admissions are:
1. Step 1
2. Clinical grades
3. Research
4. Politics - good letters, away rotations, etc

Unless you are doing a podium presentation at these conferences, the time and energy you spent on arranging these travels will be VERY low yield. The attendings are so busy at these conference, they will not care for MSII.

Thanks for the replies. Of course Step I is looming. But it's free money, we would go after Step I, and if nothing else it would be a free vacation. So is there pretty much no benefit in terms improving an CV?

Maybe we'll just fly somewhere and play a couple rounds of golf on the school's tab.

i agree with lovin ortho but i would also add AOA and school reputation up there. if you do not go to a top tier school, getting into aoa should be a priority - but i'm not saying being a crazy psycho gunner is good either. just try your best, be respectful of others and good things will follow.

research, i guess, is important, if you knew all along that you wanted ortho. i, for one, didnt decide ortho till real late, managed to scrounge up some projects, have submissions but no pubs as of yet - i do get asked this on interviews about this and i tell them straight up that i didnt know i wanted ortho till i was a 4, and they pretty much have had no answer. in my mind research doesnt make one applicant better than the rest, but that's just my opinion and i know a lot of ppl out there will disagree with me on that, and that's cool too.

I'm already involved in ortho research and have a couple podium presentations coming up. This post was really to see if there was a spot on your CV to put something like this. I didn't honestly plan on absorbing all the research or bothering attendees in a pathetic attempt at networking. Just curious if going was better than not going. Thanks again everyone.

hell, why not? free trip! you've gotta have some room for fun in your life.