Hoping for the best...

how many interviews did you go on?

7 (3 rotated at)

Not looking for assurance or discouragement on match, just curious if anyone knows about various prelim programs and their ortho department's willingness to work with prelims.

Just want to have a plan in place if need be...

Mayo has a great prelim program that allows for rotations on the Ortho Trauma service. They have tremendous resources for research as well. Time off is allowed for interviews. Would highly recommend a prelim year, not research. You're training to be a Physician not a researcher.

Thank you. This is exactly the kind of response I was looking for. I feel like more research wouldn't really strengthen my application so my best bet would just be for more exposure, more chances to work with others and try to prove myself that way.

I disagree. Almost all residency programs have a research requirement. That and I matched after not matching previously after completing a research fellowship. Residency is what trains you to be a physician/surgeon, everything prior to that prepares you for/gets you into residency. In my humble opinion the research year is more beneficial to a prelim year when it comes to gearing up for the next years match. But opinions/experiences differ greatly, even if you ask attendings (as i did when i didn't match), just search the forums for "prelim vs. research" and you'll find year after year of debate from both sides. In the event you don't match you'll have to weigh the pros and cons of each for yourself and decide which route is best for you.

Good Luck,
AS

I also disagree and think that you should consider doing a research year. While there is disagreement between program directors, a prelim year of general surgery really does nothing to improve your application. As an attending told me last year, "we don't care about your performance, we only care about your test scores."

I strongly believe your best bet is to do a research year in a place that has a proven track record for matching students (Mayo Clinic, Dr. Mont in Maryland). If your medical school will allow it, you should also try to delay graduation so that you can apply again as a medical student - your chances of matching will increase significantly. There is a good discussion about doing this in a highly recommended book: Orthopedic Residency and Fellowship: A Guide to Success by Laith M. Jazrawi MD; Kenneth A. Egol MD; Joseph D. Zuckerman MD.

The reason why delaying graduation is recommended is that your school will continue your malpractice coverage and you will still be able to do away rotations. Hopefully this will help in gaining interviews by showing programs what you are capable of doing (in addition to having attendings with connections who can vouch for you).

Ultimately, the decision is up to you, but, it will be extremely difficult to overcome board scores the second time around (if you don't match, you will likely have even fewer interviews next year) and you should work to improve your CV. If you go to a place with strong connections where your hard work will be recognized, I think you will have a much better shot at matching next year.

Ah, the "research v. prelim year" debate begins again.

Unfortunately, there is no "correct" answer, and your decision should be made on where you think you went wrong. If you have a strong application and just didn't apply to enough places or didn't interview well, then a PGY-1 year makes sense. If you have no research and didn't have many people to make a phone call, then research is more likely to help. Either way, both require alot of hard work.

If you do the research route, it doesn't make sense to do a 1 year fellowship. By the time you have to ERAS submitted (sep 1) you've only had 2-3 months to start your research. How much can you possibly add in that time??? However, 2 years of PRODUCTIVE research can be a nice boost to your CV.

I didn't match last year and I chose the pgy-1 route. I applied to more programs and got more interviews from "top-tiered" programs. You can't reapply with the same application. SOMETHING (letters of rec, research) has to change. You can do research in the spring of your senior year if you don't match at your home program...probably wouldn't hurt. Having said all that, you have to be 100% pedal to the metal once you start your intern year, and you have to be one of the best interns...not just of the prelim class. Either route you choose, you only have a few months to get letters of recommendation. On my off days, I took ortho call. I know it sounds crazy, but I got a lot of face time with the chairman and other residents, who ended up talking to the chairman on my behalf. All that time spent in the ER rather than taking a day off showed up in my letter of rec.

I was lucky enough to secure a pgy-2 spot for the upcoming year so I only had to interview at 2 programs before canceling the others.

If you want orthopedic surgery bad enough, it will happen. I promise. There are TONS of current ortho residents who didn't match coming out of medical school. Ortho is awesome..everyone wants to do it.

Last advice. IF you choose a prelim year, you have to apply EVERYWHERE in order get those interviews for PGY-2 openings. Most (if not all) programs don't make it public knowledge that they are interviewing for an open pgy-2 spot so you have to apply there for a pgy-1 spot so they have your application. I was offered 5 interviews for PGY-2 spots and only 1 was mentioned on orthogate.

I don't really have an opinion on the delaying graduation topic. I guess when you reapply your application won't have "intern" on it, so it'll make it past some of the filters.

If you have any questions about the process, please PM me. Good luck everyone.