Trying to become an Orthopaedic Surgeon in the future

[imdannoir]

Hello Sdn,

This is my first post on these forums and have a few questions about pursuing a career in Orthopaedic Surgery. I am currently in high school as a junior in New Jersey. My father runs a rehabilitation clinic close to home so I have been influenced by the medical field my whole life. At this point I have considered OS as a career choice. My GPA is 3.6 and I have SAT scores of 1800. I take honors sciences and advanced math classes. I understand that the road to becoming an Orthopaedic surgeon is long and difficult and was wondering if there were any tips any of the members here could tell me before I go off to college next summer. I understand what I am asking for is very broad but anything you guys could tell me would be great.

Thank you,
Dan

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[hanky1982]

Dan~

I like you had an interest in orthopedic surgery from a young age. Likewise, I did well in high school with every intention of going to undergrad then med school and then onto orthopedic residency. My dream finally came true over the last couple months with an acceptance to an orthopedic residency, but my journey was not at all what I had planned (wasn't accepted to medical school right out of college and subsequently had to do research and graduate level courses to improve my GPA). I have a couple recommendations. First is to work as hard as you possibly can in undergrad. I screwed around my first two years at UCLA, and my scores weren't where they needed to be, hence the research and additional courses. Secondly is to always stay focused on your goal. Often in college I'd get side-tracked, thinking (incorrectly) that getting into medical school wouldn't be that difficult. Remember, first you have to get into medical school! Lastly, try to get involved with some ortho surgeons in your area. Ask them if you can observe them in clinic or possibly in the OR. Your perspective of this field might change.

Remember that doing well in college and getting into medical school is your primary goal. Without this step, becoming an orthopedic surgeon is implausible. Do the best you can, stay focused and try to be involved.

Good luck.

 

[GAdoc]

Dan~

I like you had an interest in orthopedic surgery from a young age. Likewise, I did well in high school with every intention of going to undergrad then med school and then onto orthopedic residency. My dream finally came true over the last couple months with an acceptance to an orthopedic residency, but my journey was not at all what I had planned (wasn't accepted to medical school right out of college and subsequently had to do research and graduate level courses to improve my GPA). I have a couple recommendations. First is to work as hard as you possibly can in undergrad. I screwed around my first two years at UCLA, and my scores weren't where they needed to be, hence the research and additional courses. Secondly is to always stay focused on your goal. Often in college I'd get side-tracked, thinking (incorrectly) that getting into medical school wouldn't be that difficult. Remember, first you have to get into medical school! Lastly, try to get involved with some ortho surgeons in your area. Ask them if you can observe them in clinic or possibly in the OR. Your perspective of this field might change.

Remember that doing well in college and getting into medical school is your primary goal. Without this step, becoming an orthopedic surgeon is implausible. Do the best you can, stay focused and try to be involved.

Good luck.

That's very good advice, and its a story that's fairly close to my own. I was an engineer in undergrad and I thought getting into med school would be cake. Unfortunately, thermodynamics and advanced fluid dynamics did not prepare me for the MCAT. It took three tries for me to get into med school. I will say, that I found med school to be significantly easier than undergrad and I ended up matching into ortho.

Knowing now that you want to do ortho is both a blessing and a curse. You should definitely start proactively working towards your goal but be open to the possibility of changing your mind. Things to do: bust your tail in college so that academics aren't the limiting factor in keeping you out of med school. That doesn't necessarily mean As in every course or a 40 MCAT, but the better you do the easier things will be. Get some meaningful shadowing/volunteer experience. I can't stress this enough. How else are you going to know if its really what you want to do? Ask to volunteer for a local doctor or ER.

 

[Mr. Freeze]

Decide first if you even want to be a doctor. The odds that you will ultimately become a orthopod are overwhelming against you.

Focus on getting into college first, i.e. finishing high school.

 

[imdannoir]

Thank you very much for your responses everyone.
Hearing from doctors like yourselves is a privilege to me.
I hope that I can fight my way through pre-med and med school and ultimately achieve my goal.

 

[JDWflash44]

Most importantly finish high school, go to the prom, have the time of your life while you are young. Enjoy being a college student, chase girls (or boys), drink, have fun with friends, meet new and interesting people, go to your schools sporting events, take up new hobbies, study abroad, etc. Of course while being responsible and doing well in school.

Remember you only get to be a college student once. Once you get into med school you realize this and life gets much more busy, and then residency gets harder. Always keep your goals in the back of your mind to motivate you but don't let them run your life. Life is and adventure, enjoy the ride. My $0.02, take it FWIW.

 

[kdburton]

Most importantly finish high school, go to the prom, have the time of your life while you are young. Enjoy being a college student, chase girls (or boys), drink, have fun with friends, meet new and interesting people, go to your schools sporting events, take up new hobbies, study abroad, etc. Of course while being responsible and doing well in school.

Remember you only get to be a college student once. Once you get into med school you realize this and life gets much more busy, and then residency gets harder. Always keep your goals in the back of your mind to motivate you but don't let them run your life. Life is and adventure, enjoy the ride. My $0.02, take it FWIW.

I agree with this post A LOT

 

[DoctaJay]

Since my first year of college I absolutely knew that I was going to be a general surgeon. I had shadowed general surgeons and loved the trauma that they saw. It wasn't until I was half way through my general surgery rotation as a 3rd medical student that I realized that gsurg wasn't for me and instead I ended up matching into ortho.

I say this to tell you that you may change your mind about 400 times between now and match day as to what type of doctor you want to be....and that is okay. There is nothing you do prepare yourself for ortho except act like like a normal college premed college student (good grades and well balanced with extra curricular activities ). The only advice I could give would be to go to a medical school that has an ortho department but even with that said I know of a good amount of people who matched into ortho without having an ortho department at their school. So yeah there really isn't anything u can do except excel in your classes and be a regular guy/gal who someone wouldn't mind hanging out with.