Questions...

[Celiac Plexus]

Hi guys,

I'm a pgy-2 right now, and plan to apply for an independent plastic fellowship in the future.

I have a coupla questions...

1. I gather from this site, and from talking with other residents that the number of independent fellowships offerred every year changes... Why is this? Is the number gradually decreasing due to the growth of integrated programs? Or is there another reason?

2. As I wrote, I am a pgy-2. Including my research time, I will not apply for almost another 4 years. So I have a while to go... Since some of you guys have the benefit of hindsight, is there anything that you can recommend/wish you had done, that would make me a competitive applicant?

Ok, thanks guys. I appreciate your time.

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[GSresident]

I'm not sure why the number of programs changes every year. In the match statistics that come out on SFMATCH every year, the opening paragraph for the last couple years has said that the number of programs shifting to combined/integrated ones has stabilized. There seems to be right around 50 programs (49 this year) that have fellowships in plastics.

As far as speaking from hindsight I can't. I can speak from nowsight though, as I am in the match for this year. I am not sure how competative I will be because the applications haven't been sent out to the programs yet, so no offers for interviews yet. I would imagine that most of the things that make for competative applicants are common sense. Droliver weighed in on this subject in some of the threads below, and he is someone to listen to.

In my own case I have asked several people the competative question. One is the chair of plastics at my University and the other is the (now former)chair of surgery. I greatly respect both of their opinions because of their longevity in surgery. The plastics chair has also been chair and program director at 2 other Universities. The surgery chair has his name on the cover of the American College of Surgeons textbook.

I am not saying by any means that I measure up to what would be considered ideal. From their perspective the ideal would be:
1) score in top 25% on ABSITE inservice exam every year.
2) be board eligable or certified for general surgery (apply during your 4th year or after)
3) be published
4) good letters of recommendation from people who are known to the plastics program directors.
5) Have those letter writers make phone calls on your behalf.
6) Interview well.
7) AOA or Phi Beta Kappa status a plus.
8) Don't have any major red flags in your application - ie criminal behavior, disciplinary actions etc.

If you can do all that you are the man and I hope I am not competing against you

If you would like to see when I did certain things like send in my application, ask for letters etc you can check out my online journal:
Plastics Match Weblog

Hopefully I won't make any mistakes in the application process, but if I do maybe you can learn from them.

 

[Celiac Plexus]

Thanks for the reply.

Seems like I have my work cut out for me...

Best of luck for the match!