marcNHS

i heard that you have to be at least at the top 5% of your medical class if you want to be considered a fellowship for plastic surgery as is for other specialties

bigndude

Well the fellowship comes after the Gen. Surg. Res.. If you do well in that and have really good Exam grades then yes. By that point they don't really care about med school its more about what you did in your residency and where you did it. Not about where you got your base. Although I'm sure it could help

Mny300zx

I have a Few questions of my own..

I recently STARTED my interest in Plastic Surgery
now, here is the catch im 23, I was wondering if im to late to start medicine to then become a plastic surgeon, another question what exactly is a residency..

If all goes well by what Age I would officially call myself a PLASTIC SURGEON..

impactangel

Residency is training after medical school.

If you are 23 now, then you would be 27 after medical school. The typical route is 5 years of general surgery residency first. You would be 32 then. Next is the 2 year fellowship in plastic surgery. You would now be 34.

There are some integrated plastics program out there now (you do not enter into gen surgery for this and go straight into a plastic program...this is without a doubt the hardest residency to obtain straight from med school)

duugle

hi am am 16 and a sophomore in high school, i would like to became a plastic surgeon in the future and would like to know if there is anything that i can do already that will help me achieve my goal and better my chances of getting into the right schools.

jakem333

For right now, do well enough to get into a college that suits you the best. I am a rising sophmore in college, and i am seriously considering plastic surgery. I actually thought i would have no interest in it until i started shadowing a plastic surgeon this summer. I really enjoy watching the surgeries up close, as well as seeing patients on non-surgery days.

I would suggest trying to find a shadowing-type position. You will get a look at the everyday life of a plastic surgeon, and it may help you figure out whether or not it is the right path for you.

Other than that, i don't know that there is a lot that you can do at this point. Stay focused throughout your undergraduate career, and get involved in as many medical settings as you can. Do some research, and hopefully it will lead you to medical school.

good luck

looktothestars54

So i am also still in high school, and i've always taken an interest in plastic surgery. i dont know what, but its always fascinated me. even though, i have absolutely no idea how to get into it. where do i start in college? what classes do i take? someone explain in depth please(:

c.urious_george

Im a freshmen at a college prep school and I am considering becoming a plastic surgeon. My main problem is Im somewhat afraid of disecting things. I think I could get over it but Im not sure. I know the amount of school it would take and Im okay with it but Im not sure the requirements or if I culd even get into medical school. Can anyone help me??

bluedevilmike

1.) Plastics is now a residency. It may also still be a fellowship, but most people who go into it enter it as a residency. Many residencies are seven years long.

2.) You get to call yourself a plastic surgeon when you begin your internship. It will technically be a true statement. You do not, however, have independence in the Operating Room or the incomes usually associated with a waiter, much less a platic surgeon, for another seven years.

3.) There is nothing to do during high school or even undergrad that pertains to specialty choice, even if you're 100% confident that that is what you will enter into.

rmbeckham2323

i am a junior in high school and i am thinking of becoming a plastic surgeon. My sisters friend's dad is a heart surgeon, and he said i could go shadow him at his work. would that be good? or would it be better to try to shadow a plastic surgeon specifically? also would he be able to help me get accepted to medical schools or with my residency

rmbeckham2323

also is the university of irvine- california(UCI) a good medical school?

marcNHS

oh wow, I havent logged on to this website in like 4 years. Well, I'm a first year med student now, and it seems my last post was when I was in my senior year in high school...things went by rather fasssssssst! So I'm not interested in plastic anymore. I suck in anatomy but I'm really good at other things. It turns out I don't like touching people...hmm...and yet im in medicine. Unfortunately guys, plastic surgery is super super super super competitive and medical school is really really hard. You have to become like super smart and be very talented with your hands; dissecting a human being is not as easy as dissecting a cat in college or high school. Basically, you need to go to medical school regardless of where it is. Medical school is all the same. It doesnt matter where you go, you just need to get awesome USMLE Step II scores, then you're set. You also have to have mad anatomy skills and this will be shown by the letter of recommendation you get either from your surgery attending or anatomy professor. Get A's in medical school and that's very hard to get 'cause different medical schools have different testing/grading policies. You need to get your professors to like you a lot...'cause they'll be the ones writing your letter of recommendation and that's one of the most important things and from what i've heard from residency selection committees, the most important. Letter of recommendation can't just be from someone though...if you want to get to a competitive residency programs like plastics, you have to do other extra things to even get a shot and this includes: doing a side rotation in the hospital/clinic offering the program, publish some scientific papers, and get a letter from a reknown person in the field, in this case, a known plastic surgeon. So how long and how hard is the journey? Let's see:

1st: Get to medical school (200 applicants out of 5000 applicants are accepted, which is deceiving because people, of course, apply to multiple school, but either way, that's competitive)

2nd: Do really good in your classes and be in the top 5% (how hard is this? well, now you're not competing in a high school/college setting where 90% are total morons...med school competition is against people that have been the "cream of the crop" for most of their lives.

3rd: Do good in USMLE

4th: Do good in clerkships

5th: survive internship

6th: apply to plastics residency

AceRockolla

There are many ways to a plastics residency.

Medical School-->Integrated Plastics Residency (Most competitive, shortest pathway)

Medical School-->General Surgery Residency-->Plastics Fellowship (Most common, traditional pathway)

Medical School-->Otolaryngology Residency-->Plastics Fellowship

Medical School-->Urology Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)

Medical School-->Neurosurgery Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)

Medical School-->Orthopedics Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)

Dental School-->Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency(6 yr)-->Plastics Fellowship (rare)

You don't need to be a plastic surgeon to do reconstructive craniofacial surgery. Oral surgeons and otolaryngologists regularly do those procedures.

Trauma/craniofacial surgeries don't bring in money, so these groups aren't fighting over these procedures. It also depends on the hospital on which surgeons get the craniofacial/trauma stuff, but most of the time it is shared.

This is from a craniofacial surgeon I know. He plans to go into private practice/elective surgery soon because hospital craniofacial/reconstructive surgery is a lot more work for a lot less money.

dwoletz

Im Looking For A Really Good College To Become a Plastic Surgen? Any ideas

asmallchild

pick the cheapest one

do very well

then get into medical school. the most important part is always the previous step. so if you are interested in getting into an integrated plastics program, you'll want to get into the best possible medical school

if you are interested in getting into plastics after residency, you'll want to get into the best possible general surgery residency