It certainly will not hurt you, and it most likely will help you a great deal. They don't expect you to have known you wanted to be an orthopod since age 7. Your experience shows that you know how to do research...they'll like that. From now on though, only work on Ortho projects to show your interest in the field.

I've just recently become interested in Ortho and am worried about my lack of research in the field (and also my lack of publications in any field). How will this affect my gaining a bid for a residency in the future? I'm currently finishing up my 2nd year and will be heading into the hospital soon so I'm not going to have many opportunities if any to get much ortho research under my belt before applying. Thanks for any responses.

As a general rule, research only adds to your strength as an applicant. If you want to do a residency in a high powered, academic ortho setting then research might be a requirement. If you want to go to a less academic program then research isn't as big a deal.

Treedae...don't worry about the research stuff right now in your second year. I would focus on rocking Step I as hard as possible b/c this will probably open more doors than anything else that you can do in the next few months. Then once you start 3rd year, work your butt off and do well in your rotations. If you have good Step 1 and great evals in your 3rd year rotations, you will do fine for ortho (I hope...I'm a 3rd year about to start my ortho externships).

PS. Does anyone know how I change the icon shown under my login name to something else?

Treedae, I agree with CollesFX. Kick ass on boards and work hard during your clerkships. Letters and Step I scores are what matters for interviews. Also, you should try to do an away rotation at places you really want to be.

CollesFX, click on my account, then click on change info. There is a drop down menu next to list that allows you to change images. If you click list, you will see the available images.

Agree with CollesFx...Step 1 is most important...getting interviews at "high powered" academic places is a function of the med school you go to (this is critical in my opinion), your boards and grades. Research is secondary, although it helps if it is meaningful research that you've played a large role in.

Sharptool, that is a bunch of crap. I came from a crappy midwest state school and got interviews from the top places in the country. What I didn't get is interviews from ALL of them.

Boneblaster...please don't make sweeping claims based on your own personal experience. There is anecdotal evidence for everything, including people matching with scores of less than 210...but these are exceptions. Just because you got interviews at such places does not mean my point is "crap". The school you go to plays a role in where you get invited to interview...more so at some places than at others. Take 2 very qualified candidates (similar grades, boards, research, letters, etc.): one goes to a "top" med school, the other to an average school...the former will get many more invites to highly academic programs. The same is true at every level of academics...I'd be interested in seeing how many harvard med students did not go to Ivy League colleges.

But it's a moot point because obviously you cannot control where you go to school. Just don't be disappointed if you get rejected from programs that you're qualified to attend by all other accounts. Realize that there are factors involved that are out of your hands.

SharpTool,
I too disagree that the school you come from is all that important. Programs seem to select candidates to interview based on first and foremost board scores and then letters, grades, etc. Case in point, I go to a mediocre midwest school and have seen atleast one guy a year go to a top 10 program. A more important factor that may come up on interviews is WHY you want to go to that school. (ie why Harvard when you have spent your whole life in California?)

Compare your school's match list with that of a top ten med school and there will be a drastic difference, i promise you. A very good friend of mine goes to one of these schools (i go to a middle-of the road school) and there is no comparison when comparing programs that students from his school match into and mine (have looked at last 4 years). So this is not an opinion that i've formed without basis...i have seen it first-hand and speaking to candidates on the interview trail (from various schools), i found a general trend.

If you have very good credentials though, you will get these interviews despite your school...my point is that it is much harder to be invited (you need to be more stellar academically) AND even harder to actually match there.

I think regionalism also plays a big role in this. Many of the top schools in the country are in the Northeast, which is also where many of the top ortho programs are located. If you look at programs anywhere in the country, they typically match with other people in their region.

My understanding is that it is very difficult to match outside your region without doing an away rotation in the area. I realize a lot of this may be because most people tend to interview close to their home region, but I have heard of many people with applications all over the country that only received invites from programs in their region.

I'll back up BoneBlaster on this one also. I go to a solid but not top-10 medical school and I got interviews at several top programs and matched at a strong University program (MCP Hahnemann). In the past, our school has sent people to Harvard, Duke, Penn, and Case Western. While it may be true that it's easier for students from top-10 schools to get interviews from the top programs, those people who get a lot of interviews are those who have done well on boards and 3rd year clerkships regardless of where they went to school. Many of the people I met at places like HSS, HJD, and UCLA were not from what people would consider top-10 medical schools.

i agree that it is very difficult to match outside your region without rotating, especially at a university program. Regionalism plays a huge role in all this. Getting the interview in another region is one thing (also hard but common)...actually matching is quite another.

Again, the above is anecdotal evidence. Have any of you looked at where students match from schools other than your own? (especially one of the top programs)?? There IS a difference folks...i wish there wasn't (i don't go to a top med school so i have no vested interest here).

Please do so before you disagree with me.

I mentioned above that a good buddy of mine goes to a concensus top med school...that's where i got my info.

I'm afraid I have to agree with SharpTool. I go to a bottom-tier Midwest school and we usually match about 10-11 students with 1 or 2 going to a fairly good program. This past match I went to another neighboring "high-powered" institution to watch some of my other friends match and they also matched 11 people in ortho but all the programs were top-notch. I wish this wasn't true but I'm afraid it's the reality. I guess we should only worry about things that we can change and leave the rest to fate? (or maybe entropy?)