ENT Through General Surgery?

[Avefenix]

I have some questions about getting into the speciality via a 2nd route. I have been interested in ENT since the end of my 2nd year, but my STEP 1 score was lower than I wanted despite my effort. I got a 215/87. My 3rd year clinicals are going great and I plan to take my STEP 2 early in my 4th year and do some research in Oto as well. In the event that I don't match for Oto (seeing how competitive the specialty is) is it feasible to do General Surgery residency and then ENT? What would you recommend?

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[adocron]

I think doing a gen surg residency and then ENT would kill a person and wouldn't be necessary. I know a guy who did a gen surgery preliminary year because he did not match into ENT. The next year he re-applied and did match into ENT. I do not know for sure if he matched somewhere so that his intern year counted or if he had to re-do his intern year. Part of the issue is that you would have to find a place that has an open spot for you as a second-year or just do the whole match over again trying for ENT.
But looking at doing a gen surg and then ENT residency would take you 10 years. We're already too old to not have real jobs, ya know?
Definitely try to do some research and make some connections at your program. Do well in your rotations and your ENT clerkships and see if your department chair can help out somehow in getting you interviews. The ENT community is small.

 

[TheThroat]

My advice is to do a year of research (Doris Duke or NIH) instead of wasting 5 years on a g-surg residency. Even if you don't want to do reseach long term, it will go a long way to getting you in next year. Doing 5 yrs of g-surg, if you are doing it just to go into oto, will lead to suicide or homicide, neither of which is ideal.