<p>Hi, I am currently in my junior year of high school, and I am set to graduate next year at the age of sixteen. I have always wanted to become a surgeon, and lately I had been wondering about the residency program one goes through when becoming a surgeon. How hard is it to be accepted into the program? Also, on average, how long does residency typically last?</p>
<p>Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Are you living in the USA? If so, then you need to discover the correct progression of college, medical school, internship/residency programs</p>
<p>[Medical</a> education in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_education_in_the_United_States]Medical”>Medical education in the United States - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>But to your original question: Surgical specialties are highly competitive. In med school, you’ll need to shine and get your instructors’ notice.</p>
<p>How good are you with your hands, even now? Do you have hobbies where your manual dexterity is practiced? Not that you need to be a watchmaker or a miniature figure painter or automotive mechanic – but hopefully, you have below average clumsiness.</p>
<p>It is not what you need to worry now. Actually, you should stop worrying about anything at all and make sure to enjoy your HS years, spend time with friends, pursue your non-academic interests, have fun!!! This time will not last forever, it will get very pushy and very fast, take advantage of your current freedom!</p>
<p>Get into medical school first and do well and residency not a problem</p>
<p>Ave length 5-6 years plus 1-2 year fellowship</p>
<p>It is not a problem if you match. My D’s best friend (diff. Med. School) just told my D. that the #1 ranked in the graduating class did not match at all. I am not sure what she will do. My D. is applying in one year, so we do not have experience. However, even we do not worry. The people who do not match, they do not fall off the earth, they do something, right? Then, I guess, they apply again, correct?</p>
<p>Again, HS junior year is definitely NOT the time to worry about it. And even college years are not the time to worry about residency. You worry when you do not match, then you will have to make some plans.</p>
<p>miami
“rank” in medical school does not always equate with matching.
Surgical matching is still very much an “old boys club” - but to the benefit of the student. I often call someone I know at xyz program and tell them that Sue or Fred is great and I highly recommend them. They have almost always gotten in their first choice.</p>
<p>I knew an older chair who would send his top students off to several academic programs and tell them “not to accept” but just to introduce themselves and he wanted then to go to abc program where they did get accepted.</p>
<p>From the student prospective, it is tough after working like a slave for 4 + 4 years and achieve a top standing (which means working harder than your average “slave”) and not match at all because of chairs and whoever else are up to certain schema…I just hope and pray that it will not happen to my D. (who has slaved her share and has high hopes because of her achievements). She will apply to about 60 in hopes of getting about 10 interviews to match to at least one position. This is her plan and she does not care to go to some top place, any place at some reasonable location will do.</p>
<p>^ is she still thinking derm?</p>
<p>^ Yes, Derm more than before.</p>
<p>I agree that a HS student should not concern him/herself with residency. Most HS students thinking of Medicine never make it or end up interested in doing something else. Being accepted to a US allopathic medical school is really the first criteria in trying to become a surgeon. While I do not think general surgery is all that competitive, the surgical subs are competitive as are derm, ophtho, rad onc, and rads. Criteria for matching varies from specialty to specialty and can be somewhat different between programs within a specialty.
A recent paper on dermatology for example found that AOA, medical school research rank, USLME scores, and number of unpublished manuscripts were significantly associated with matching. MSTP also probably helps. I suspect interview performance is also very important. An older paper on surgical matching found AOA, USLME, research experience and graduation from a top 40 NIH funded medical school to be positively associated with matching.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.nrmp.org/data/chartingoutcomes2011.pdf</a></p>
<p>General Surgery is not easy.</p>
<p>ace550,
Just for comparison purpuses without putting anybody down (yes, not a single one is easy), using the chrts from your website, Derm. - the tallest (the highest number accepted) on a chart was in a range of Step 1 score = 251 - 260, while for General Surgery - 221 - 230. Also, the total number of accepted for gen. surgery is way higher than for derm. Not easy at all, no specialty is…but a bit easiER.
There are many other factors for each specialty, Step 1 score is only one of them, but certain score will limit your selection…or open doors to every specialty your heart desires.</p>
<p>Gen surg is like medicine in that if your goal is just to get into ANY gen surg program it will be relatively easy but getting into one at a reputable hospital or in a desirable location will still be very difficult. This is in contrast to derm where getting into ANY derm program is very difficult.</p>
<p>^Do you know what happens when one does not match (this is not for certain specialty, just in general). What they do? Do they apply next year, while trying to use the year in some productive way? This is completely unclear.</p>
<p>Immediately after match is SOAP.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[NRMP:</a> Residency Match FAQ](<a href=“http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/faq/us_seniors_faq.html#19]NRMP:”>http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/faq/us_seniors_faq.html#19)</p>
<p>[Options</a> Exist for Med Students Without Residency Matches - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/articles/2013/03/29/options-exist-for-med-students-without-residency-matches]Options”>http://www.usnews.com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-medical-schools/articles/2013/03/29/options-exist-for-med-students-without-residency-matches)</p>
<p>I thought most transitional year programs were filled thru the Match though.</p>
<p>My guess is that it’s mostly prelim programs filled via match. I just learned that there is a difference between a transitional year an a prelim year: <a href=“http://www.doctorsintraining.com/blog/figuring-out-the-transitional-preliminary-and-categorical-year-for-residency-application/[/url]”>http://www.doctorsintraining.com/blog/figuring-out-the-transitional-preliminary-and-categorical-year-for-residency-application/</a></p>
<p>They might still be mostly filled during match but the article’s point is that a one year thing is more likely to be open than a categorical spot. Also a categorical spot will lock you in to a potentially different speciality while a one year thing leaves more options open immediately (but of course requires applying again)</p>
<p>Some specialties require transitional year. And one might match into different locations for the transitional year vs specialty spot. I wonder how it works if you match into transitional year and do not match into specialty. You just apply next year? In this case, how one would stand against the competition from the next year applicants. Everything is clear as mud.</p>
<p>^many students do go somewhere different for their prelim year. Most usually end up in the same city at least but prelim year programs are a great way for lower tier hospitals to snag high caliber students for a year.</p>
<p>You have to rank the prelim years as sub categories of the advanced program such that the algorithm first places you into an advanced program and then into a prelim year so the only way one ends up in a prelim year only is if they gave that as an option. If you were aiming for a competitive specialty, I do not know how you would realistically improve yourself to get a spot the following year. Those people are probably best off SOAPing into a less competitive specialty or reapplying to one the following year.</p>