Hello all,
I am an MS-3 and am officially declared in urology. I chose urology not too long ago b/c I always wanted to do something surgical but was not sure what. I enjoyed my urology rotation (2 weeks) and so I decided to stick with it. Preceding my urology rotation I did general surgery and trauma at a urban hospital and was exposed to a lot of orthopedic trauma as a result. Thinking that I should try to get some orthopedics exposure I requested being switching out of neurosurgery for orthopedics, but was denied by the surgery coordinator. Part of what is really sparking my interest now is my neurosurgery rotation. I have seen almost exclusively spine stuff and have really liked it. And I am told that everything I have seen to date can be done by an orthopod as well.
It seems that urology and orthopedics are similar in their competitiveness, residency, and general lifestyle after residency. There about 15 guys in my generic state school who have declared orthopedics vs the few of us in urology at present.
I am not sure what to do now because I am seriously regretting not getting any orthopedics exposure now. I have a slack rotation coming up in June and I was thinking about doing some clinic and OR shadowing if they'll let me? That's about as much as I can do at this point. Doing the month long rotation in July to test the waters is NOT an option as that would totally obliterate my senior schedule for urology (early match). Any advice? Based on my objective stuff below, what is your impression of my application (I ask because I have only had a chance to briefly scan over ortho numbers).
My profile:
Engineering degree
Step 1: 235/98
Preclinical GPA: 3.5s
Clinical GPA: 4.0
Research: Several publications/abstracts from undergrad in cardiovascular fluid mechanics, project in pediatric cardiology in med school, finishing up a urology project now that will hopefully be published by application time; 2 presentations -- nothing in orthopedics or related to bones at all (half-truth, my urology work is with erectyle dysfunction).
