BONEZZZ
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(12/23/01 8:35:37 pm)
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looking for advise
I am an MS3 looking for some advise. I have great deal of interest in ortho but I don’t feel very confident
with my current picture as a future applicant. I don’t feel that I have distinguished my self sufficiently
thus far. The first two years of basic sciences, my exam performance has placed me in the top half to
top third of my class, but since my school uses a F/P/H system, I’ve ended up with very few honors. My
step 1 is 234. My understanding is that the first couple of years are not that significant, unless if they
are less than impressive then they can hurt you.
In terms of research, I worked 2 years in college on a spinal cord project, really hard work, but only
published an abstract, and couple of presentations. In med school I did a couple of small non-ortho
projects, with unclear potential for publication.
With this general picture in mind, I feel that I haven’t mustered up that Oomph that would make a
residency program interested in me. I mean essentially thus far I haven’t shown any real steps toward a
commitment toward ortho.
The only possibility that I can see to improve things would be to take a year off between 3rd and 4th to
work with some ortho biggie to turn out some high volume- high caliber projects. I am not sure how
much such an undertaking would help my application, and whether this is the best/only option for me at
this point. Not to mention that I have no knowledge of any big name ortho guys to work with or how to
go about establishing such a year long plan with them.
As far as establishing some grounds at my home school, I have discussed with some of the faculty my
interest in ortho. I’ve also sought out research opportunities, but the otho research at my school is run
by PHDs, plus doing a project with them seems unlikely unless if I have a big chunk of time like after my
clerkships, which I think would be pretty late. I should mention that I do feel that I have been beaten to
the punch since there is already a number of my classmates who have established pretty strong grounds
with the faculty here, making it seem that competing with them for home school would be impossible
unless they end up else where.
There is a lot of wonderful people here giving out some good advise, I would really appreciate any
thoughts you guys may have on this. -Thanks
Ortho2002
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 127
(12/23/01 10:32:57 pm)
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chill
i have about the same step I as you and don't have anything close to that much research. i am not AOA
and come from a middle of the road medical school. so far, i have more interviews than i know what to
do with (including a few of the so called "top ten" programs). while i have not matched yet, i feel like i
have a good probability of finding a spot (knock on wood!). my advice is to get honors in medicine and
surgery in your third year and set up some high powered away rotations in the early part of your fourth
year. work your ass off and generate some great letters. from there, it is all about personality and
finding a place that you belong. i hope that this helps.
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 108
(12/24/01 11:06:52 am)
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re:
I agree with ortho2002. Your step 1 score is pretty good and should get you a bunch of interviews. Just
focus on your rotations and on getting great letters from well-known orthopods. Also, set up away
ortho rotations AT PLACES YOU WOULD ACTUALLY WANT TO GO TO!!! It's hard to know this as a third
year, but it's worth asking around. I made a mistake of spending a month at a program that i did not like
and will not rank. It was a total waste of my time. So be selective in where you do your aways.
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 109
(12/24/01 11:20:23 am)
Reply
re:
I agree with ortho2002. Your step 1 score is pretty good and should get you a bunch of interviews. Just
focus on your rotations and on getting great letters from well-known orthopods. Also, set up away
ortho rotations AT PLACES YOU WOULD ACTUALLY WANT TO GO TO!!! It's hard to know this as a third
year, but it's worth asking around. I made a mistake of spending a month at a program that i did not like
and will not rank. It was a total waste of my time. So be selective in where you do your aways.
Bone Jock
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 4
(12/26/01 7:04:14 pm)
Reply
Re: re:
I too agree with all the things that have been said thus far, except from one thing. If you can get a great
letter from a high-powered Ortho guy then great. But someone told be that an incredibly enthusiastic
letter from a Nameless Orthopod who knows you well goes so much further than a 'Luke-warm' letter
from one of the Ortho gods. It also helps to pull down honors in 3 or more clerkships. Medicine and Gen.
Surg are the biggies. Your board scores are good. My board scores were slightly lower, but I made up
for it by applying to a crap load of programs (sixty). Most of those apps should go to programs within
your region, because a lot of programs are very regional. Lastly, you don't necessarily have to do
rotations at big time Ortho places. The best thing to do is No. 1 go to someplace where you would like to
go, #2 someplace where you think you would be competitive for residency, #3 do a great job there. On
paper I'm not going to knock any one over, but I rotated at three places (one home, two away) and I
worked my ass off, and was well liked by everyone that I worked with. Just because someone gets 260
on the boards doesn't mean that they'll make a great house officer. I think a lot of people in Ortho
realize that. Hopefully that helps.
NrvPmp
OSRR Newbie
Posts: 1
(1/14/02 9:44:20 pm)
Reply
Same Boat
Just wanted to say that I'm pretty much in the same boat as you BONEZZZ, and feel sort of the same
way...who knows we may be at the same medical school!!! My circumstances are the same, and I'm
contemplating taking a year off too...I dunno what to do...Another issue that maybe some of the guys
interviewing right now could address. I heard that the majority of programs have raised their cutoff
scores for considering interviewees to 230. Is this true? What is the cutoff, if there is one? One last
question. Have any of you taken a year off for research and felt that it got you interviews at programs
that you wouldn't have gotten without the research?
Thanks
IamNikolas
OSRR Fellow
Posts: 121
(1/14/02 10:10:33 pm)
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re:
I did not take a year off for research, but feel that it would only raise red flags. I contemplated doing this
because I am interested in academics (not to generate more interviews). My so-called "mentor" advised
me against it and told me to do that during residency. One chairman told us at the reception that it's a
numbers game...you have to establish yourself academically to get interviews. If you have 20 publications
but subpar board scores, it probably won't help you a great deal. At another place, the director told me
that he reviews every application, and something may catch his eye, whether it is a letter, one grade, a
special skill, or whatever...and he invites that person for an interview. I tend to think the former is the
rule and the latter the exception. Bottom line is that anything goes.
I really don't know of any official "cutoff" for board scores. i don't know if there is one. But I do think
scores are higher nowadays than they were a couple years ago. it just sounds that way at my interviews.
It seems programs are more impressed with this year's applicants. Maybe that's just what they tell us.
Anyone else get this impression?
Bone Jock
OSRR Intern
Posts: 12
(1/15/02 7:02:26 pm)
Reply
re:
Things do seem to be a bit more competitive this year. As for the 230 cut-off, I think some programs
have to do that. I've heard chairmen say that they've gotten any where from 400 - 600 applications to
weed through. The easiest way to cut out a hundred or two would be to have a board score cut-off.
Obviously, the Harvard's, Mayo's, and HSS's can do that. Other
