Identifying problem areas in my app and next steps

[theprince911]

Hello and thank you in advance for reading this and helping me out.

I unfortunately was not able to match for the 2017 cycle. I graduated in late November 2015 from a foreign medical school. I am a US citizen. My passion is to be a surgeon and my CV/electives and all of my US clinical experience (3 months) were in surgery. My Step scores were in the 240s and I passed everything on the first attempt. My LORs are very strong in my opinion. I waived my right to read them for the Match, but I obtained them to submit myself in future cycles because there were problems getting them in by September 15. 2 of them were uploaded at the end of September/early October. I feel that this may have been a problem and my application may have been tossed out for being incomplete. My GPA may have been another issue - I did not have the strongest basic sciences grades, though my final clinical grades were much better. I scored well on my rotations as well.

I applied only to General Surgery, but I checked off both prelim and categorical for a lot of the programs that offered both. I feel that this may potentially have been another problem. The feedback I got on my application, personal statement, etc from my peers was also positive, though perhaps I should have had someone with more experience look at them so that I would know about my mistakes.

I ended up with one categorical interview, and zero prelim interviews out of ~130+ programs I applied to (if I recall correctly). Interview went well, and I felt that the program was a great fit for me and I for the program. Received good feedback from some of the doctors I have been in touch with as well. I panicked at one point and applied to programs in other specialties because the thought of not having a job became very real. I understandably did not get a single interview from those and unfortunately I did not match. During the SOAP I was interviewed for a prelim position, but did not receive an offer. Since then I have been applying and knocking on doors hoping for a way to cement myself in the field.

I now may have the opportunity to undertake research in a surgical basic sciences lab at an academic center. I would like to commit 2 years to this to make the most of it and build a strong foundation for a career as an academic surgeon, but I am worried that the extra years off from clinical work will be a deterrent when programs are looking at my application. Should I receive the offer, I plan to participate in the surgical department as much as I can, and I want to strengthen the connections I built thus far as well as build some more.

My ultimate goal is a surgical residency followed by a fellowship, after which I would very much love to be an attending surgeon at a place where I can also teach medical students/residents and conduct research.

I would really appreciate some advice, especially considering that I have been hearing that dedicating so much time to research may be perceived as a change away from a clinical career, and adding years to the time since graduation will only hurt me, especially when aspiring for surgery.

Thank you again for your time

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[LucidSplash]

Have you contacted the places you interviewed about feedback? Do you have any mentors that could do this on your behalf?

 

[bannie22]

I think you need to obtain a prelim surgery position and perform very well.
At the same time, publishing lots of papers would help.

 

[theprince911]

Thank you for your replies. I have contacted the places I was interviewed at, but was not given much feedback or advice except to pursue a prelim or research position and reapply. I have been trying very hard to get one of those but to no avail.

 

[LucidSplash]

Have you checked APDS?

Open Training Positions | Association of Program Directors in Surgery

If possible, your mentors/letter writers (must be from the US) may be able to help with phonecalls in support of your applications.

 

[theprince911]

Have you checked APDS?

Open Training Positions | Association of Program Directors in Surgery

If possible, your mentors/letter writers (must be from the US) may be able to help with phonecalls in support of your applications.

Thank you for your reply. I've been checking and applying to that and everything else I can find. Radio silence for the most part, and am waiting to hear back from one or two other places. The painful thing is that I now have the opportunity to do USCE in other specialties, which if I take, I may miss out on the surgery opportunities I'm waiting on.

Seriously considering setting my sights on something else now, like radiology where I would still have the opportunity to solve anatomical problems, but in a different way. I do think I would be happy in that field after contemplating it for so long, but even that is very competitive and I need to get letters outside of surgery to even consider anything else.

 

[theprince911]

Just a quick update on my situation, as well as a quick question. Thank you to everyone who helped me out.

Since last year, I have managed to participate in some clinical research at a top 20 academic center (incidentally focused on the sort of surgery I want to pursue down the line) which has so far yielded a second authorship with a wonderful team that wants to see me succeed. I am still working on various projects and hope to help publish some more works. Additionally, I managed to network and learned yesterday that I matched into a preliminary position, I think at a program that I meshed really well with, and that gave me the strongest impression that it would help me become a surgeon.

During this time I had the chance to pursue different specialties and lock myself into a stable career in something else. Couldn't bring myself to give up on the dream, though I strongly considered it when I felt that I had no way to progress. All thanks to God, things looked up. Now I want to turn this opportunity (the preliminary position at the program that I feel I would THRIVE as a categorical resident at, and which has a history of keeping prelims or setting them up elsewhere) into a lifelong career in surgery. I want to take them by storm, and show them that they made the right choice by giving me a shot.

How can I be the best damn surgical intern, and develop qualities that will convince my team that I'll also make a damn good chief resident down the line? What should I be studying, how should I prepare? I've had a pretty relaxed year so I would go mad if I took any more time to relax. I was thinking of taking Step 3 before I start so that I don't have to take time off for it later and hopefully will have interviews that will take up that time.

Thank you again for your words of wisdom