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Step 1. Chill the F&C* out.

peds_ns - 17 July 2009 01:23 PM

Step 1. Chill the F&C* out.

Ha. I am probably one of the most laid back people you will ever meet.  I have just learned from past experiences it is better to be ask for advice early then wait.

Double Post

The only factor that could limit your ability to match well is your personality (not saying its bad just that everything else is excellent)… kick ass on your rotations. 3rd year separates the men from the boys. Be a hard working, humble, easy to get along with person and you’ll be fine.

I agree.  Your commitment to research and Step 1 score should make you very competitive for residency, provided that you are a great team player in the upcoming year and subIs.  Third year is a lot more about your social skills than many people admit.  If people take a liking to you because you are competent, compassionate and fun to be around, you should get great reviews and support from your program.  After that, when it comes time to interview, hopefully you have other passions in your life to talk about because faculty interviews and resident dinners rarely focus on grades and school work.  Good luck.

Same situation, MS 3....  I have presented at 2 and hopefully 3 conferences.  I am currently attempting to get that paper published.  I am 3rd author on a published paper and I continue to do research.  I have strong preclinical grades with more honors then high pass and it’s a top 10% cut-off at my top 40? school.  No social red flags ha… I got step one back with a 238/99.  Not a dealbreaker but not ideal....not what I was hoping for.  Obviously I’ll keep churning through 3rd year and Sub I but are there programs I am going to have to cross off my list because of this?  Can I at least pass the cut-off to some top notch programs and have a decent chance matching at one of them?

You might want to work on building your self-confidence while maintaining your humility.

Hypothermic arrest: Welcome, and keep up the good work. My humble suggestions to further improve your application: While you have been involved in research, it is not clear from what you have stated so far that you have been a driving force behind any research effort. While participation is excellent, being someone who makes things happen that otherwise would not happen (a fact that is then usually reflected by first or second authorship) would make you stand out more. In basic science research, no one can expect first authorship from a medical student, as these projects often take years. (Nevertheless, expect that some of your co-applicants--even a few non-MD/PhD applicants--will be carrying the elusive “first author on a basic science paper” card that seems to make PDs salivate.) Given your experience, you can probably now further improve your CV by talking with some highly productive clinical research faculty about something like a retrospective project, etc, that you could adopt as your own and see through to completion using existing databases, etc. Alternatively, academically oriented faculty often have a review or two on their to-do list that you may be able to offer to write. Finally, there are always case reports for which the first author spot may be most easily attainable (ask around to see if any residents have been trying to find time to write up that case of ______).  As always, performance on your rotations will also be key. If, as you say, you “would be happy to match anywhere,” apply and interview at a range of programs and I expect, short of some crazy statistical or personal glitch, that you will fare well.

Studmuffin - keep your chin up and push those papers out, while rocking your clinical rotations. 238 is probably fair game at most places, if the rest of the application (and applicant) are exceptional. 238 will certainly not buy you an automatic interview at the top places but an otherwise stellar applicant should not be excluded for a 238. I think the playing field is somewhat leveled after the interview - personality and personal interactions with faculty and residents can weigh in very heavily, somewhat diluting any perceived “suboptimal” effect of a 238. Remember, however, that 238 this is still above average for current (previously successfully matched) neurosurgery residents

138??

He’s probably a bit distracted, it being the first month of internship and all.

early onset dementia

Stem Cell - 18 July 2009 05:19 PM

Hypothermic arrest: Given your experience, you can probably now further improve your CV by talking with some highly productive clinical research faculty about something like a retrospective project, etc, that you could adopt as your own and see through to completion using existing databases, etc. Alternatively, academically oriented faculty often have a review or two on their to-do list that you may be able to offer to write. Finally, there are always case reports for which the first author spot may be most easily attainable (ask around to see if any residents have been trying to find time to write up that case of ______).

Unfortunately, I do not know most the neurosurgery attendings or residents very well.  I also won’t be in the OR with any neurosurgeons until later during my 3rd year (Surgery is scheduled for Jan-Feb).  Will most attendings or residents be receptive if I contact them out of the blue, or should I wait until my neurosurgery rotation in February to begin my search for another research project?

I would contact them now.  If one thing is common to all (with few exceptions) neurosurgeons, it is initiative.  If they have something for you to do, great; if not, they will tell you.  The one suggestion I have is to only contact them when you are willing/able to be committed to the research.  Taking something on and letting it fizzle is arguably worse than doing nothing.

I am currently on my surgery rotation and am worried that I will not be able to honor.  My attending has explicitly stated that he only high passes students.  Is there anything that I can do to change his mind or get the evaluation “overturned”?  So far I have received Honors on all of my clinical rotations with outstanding evaluations from all of my attendings.  Will a high pass in surgery hurt my chances of matching if I have honors in the remaining rotations?  Has anyone dealt with a similar situation and gotten their grade changed?  Any advice would be much appreciated.

Don’t worry about it.

It looks somewhat unusual if you don’t get “honors” in your neurosurgery Sub-I as a fourth year, but general surgery rotation grades are pretty much ignored when it comes to your application.  Just don’t fail.

I see plenty of third year students get so paranoid about their grades, but in the whole scheme of things, your general surgery grade of high pass will have absolutely no influence on your eventual neurosurgery match.  Zero.