Question about back up plan

[5150man]

I've have been reading on this site about having a back up plan. I've always planned on doing ortho but I'm not the most competetive candidate.

What I'm thinking of doing now is applying to ortho and family medicine. My question is is that something you want to keep secret when applying or will the admissions people already know?

Any responses on this subject would be appreciated. I apologize if this has been discussed. I tried to go back and read a bunch of posts and couldn't think of key words to search for.

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[dry dre]

There are a couple ways to reply to your question.

First off, don't let any one specialty know that you are applying to another specialty. It is very easy to "hide" that you are applying to two + specialties. Just make sure that you use ERAS with precision....make sure that your ortho personal statement and ortho letters go to the ortho programs, and the other PS and other letters go to the other programs. Unless you apply to two programs in the same hospital, or run your lips, no one will know (generally speaking).

Regarding "back-up" plans. If one day you woke up and realized you were meant to go into ortho, don't apply for another specialty as a back-up unless you'd be totally happy there. Die-hard ortho applicants think of "back-up" plans in terms of a preliminary surgery year (with re-application to ortho the following year) or a year or two of ortho research (followed by re-application). Maybe even research years plus a prelim year if you need the extra time to amass whatever it is that you need to match ortho.

Orthogate.com has a wealth of info and archives that you'd be well served to review. Good luck.

 

[doc05]

I cannot imagine under what absurd circumstances would an ortho non-matcher be happy doing FM.

 

[VUMD2be]

I cannot imagine under what absurd circumstances would an ortho non-matcher be happy doing FM.

maybe FM to sports med fellowship...