Ultracompetitive specialties?

[xnfs93hy]

Obviously this is way to early to be thinking about this but I just want to ask it anyway.
--
There are a ton of different specialties out there and some are obviously more competitive than others.

I was curious about some specialties. All of which would be categorized from competitive to ultracompetitive.

I want to focus on Plastics and NS.

As a medical student, what could he/she do to ensure him/her the best chance to match into the ultracompetitive specialties mentioned above?

What does it take?

Does the USMLE Step I basically screen you out if you don't have a close to perfect score?

I'm just curious because that seems unfair that you would be screened out of an entire specialty because of a stupid test.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[yanorglu]

I'm just curious because that seems unfair that you would be screened out of an entire specialty because of a stupid test.

oh man here it goes

 

[xnfs93hy]

Give me a break.

 

[Maygyver]

Honestly, don't worry about it. Focus on your SATs first. If you keep worrying about things like this way down the line, you are going to get way too stressed out. Yes, it is nice to get a general idea about what you want to do, but Jeff, please just focus on what is in a reasonable distance ahead of you. Study hard and do your best and everything will fall in place.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Agree with Maygyver. Also, you're going to get "screened" by lots of "stupid tests" from here on out, so you'd better suck it up and get used to it.

 

[nlax30]

Agree with Maygyver. Also, you're going to get "screened" by lots of "stupid tests" from here on out, so you'd better suck it up and get used to it.

 

[El Nino]

I 'm curious, why plastics or NS?

 

[Depakote]

When you get that far along... the tests tend to be so well standardized that they do a good job separating out the really really smart people from the really smart people. This is useful when you've gone from college admissions (competitive) to med school admissions (very competitive) and are now looking at trying to apply to programs which only want the absolute best of the absolute best.

It may be stupid that a single test can determine your fate, but it traditionally has done a good job telling who is smarter than who and gives the residency directors a good base to work off of when deciding who to interview.

 

[Tiger26]

Agree with Maygyver. Also, you're going to get "screened" by lots of "stupid tests" from here on out, so you'd better suck it up and get used to it.

agreed--you get screen out by every test you take and you have to prove yourself at every level. When you get to college, see how many freshmen are "pre-med" and factor about 10% of them actually even applying to med school, much less getting in, much less being accepted, much less passing the first two years, much less getting a stud board score, much less matching to plastics or neuro surg . . .

 

[Algophiliac]

Yeah...why plastics and NS?

Won't the comeptitiveness for each specialty change by the time we are ready to choose a specialty, anyway? Or are they fairly stable over time?

 

[Depakote]

Yeah...why plastics and NS?

Won't the comeptitiveness for each specialty change by the time we are ready to choose a specialty, anyway? Or are they fairly stable over time?

There's always a little bit of drift, but I believe those two have always been at the upper end of competitive.

 

[Depakote]

There's always a little bit of drift, but I believe those two have always been at the upper end of competitive.

I think it would take a major change in the way insurance reimbursement is determined for Neurosurg to become non-competitive. Elective/cosmetic (out-of-pocket) surgeries will probably keep plastics competitive for the foreseeable future.

(not saying it's the only deciding factor, but one of the big ones)

 

[Algophiliac]

I think it would take a major change in the way insurance reimbursement is determined for Neurosurg to become non-competitive. Elective/cosmetic (out-of-pocket) surgeries will probably keep plastics competitive for the foreseeable future.

(not saying it's the only deciding factor, but one of the big ones)

Oh, well, I suppose it will be interesting to see what Obama plans to do with the system. Although I believe before the per-procedure payments were present, IM was quite competitive? Was there not talk of eliminating such a system again? I recently read a book on this topic, and a cardiologist was categorically against it.

You have to be good, Jeff. That means stop worrying about the future you can't control, and worry about the present you can.

 

[RySerr21]

one step at a time there buddy. SAT...........4+ years...........MCAT.......3+ years.........STEP I. Focus on the task at hand.

 

[Crazyday]

Getting to the point of self-control and acumen necessary to match into such a specialty takes time Jeff.

Work on doing excellent on your ACT/SAT, the rest of your high school classes, your college courses, and the MCAT. If you can do excellent on all of that, then you're on the right track, but even then you've really gotta be damn good to get into NS or Plastics, ESPECIALLY plastics.

If you can't do excellent on the easy stuff, then you're sure as hell not gonna do excellent when the **** hits the fan. Start small, work up.

Now, my question to you. Why do you want to focus on Neurosurgery and Plastics?

 

[Salvorix]

Obviously this is way to early to be thinking about this but I just want to ask it anyway.
--
There are a ton of different specialties out there and some are obviously more competitive than others.

I was curious about some specialties. All of which would be categorized from competitive to ultracompetitive.

I want to focus on Plastics and NS.

As a medical student, what could he/she do to ensure him/her the best chance to match into the ultracompetitive specialties mentioned above?

What does it take?

Does the USMLE Step I basically screen you out if you don't have a close to perfect score?

I'm just curious because that seems unfair that you would be screened out of an entire specialty because of a stupid test.

Step 1 scores, rotation evaluations, grades...

But no need to worry about that yet Jeff, although there isn't any harm in asking. The best thing you can do for yourself is find how you study best and apply it again and again. You have SAT's coming up? Pretend that SAT's are Step 1. Pretend that you're already in med school and this test will be the determining factor of what you will do for the rest of your life. Study, study, study. Let that be your primary goal. Ace it.