Official Match 2012 Thread (FOR DISCUSSION ONLY)

[Lem]

Not to be confused with the one where you can only post where you matched.


(THIS IS UNOFFICIAL BANTER)

Anyone else considering Zoloft at this point?

[LinkMoto]

I agree Slaol, that's one thing I greatly hate about U.S. rotations. I feel like there is SO much time wasted in certain rotations where it could be utilized better. Longer hours does not mean more learning, for some rotations(like lolsurgery) it seemed counterproductive.

[dolphinsrcool]

Props to Slaol for setting it straight. There is no evidence that UK Cores have a negative impact on residency.
LORs should usually come from electives - the clinical experience you get in UK helps you shine on electives and leads to stronger LORs. Do you want to learn clinical medicine or how to stand around?
Check the Match list - the person who matched into a prestigous university peds program did their peds core in London.
Many of the negative comments directed at doing cores in UK smell of xenophobia.

I did all my cores in the UK (Blackburn) and prematched into a family medicine program. While Blackburn was a depressing place to live for many reasons, in retrospect I actually think my rotations in the UK were much better organized and offered more hands-on learning opportunities for students than most of the rotations I have done in the US. I also don't really consider the fact that I was able to skip out on the opportunity to stand around for hours doing mindless scut a "disadvantage" .

As for how it was received during interviews, I would say it was 95% positive. Most programs wanted to know what I learned from my experience and how it has shaped my opinions about the current debate around health care. There were also questions about my interactions with people of different cultures, backgrounds, and beliefs. If nothing else, the experience gave me plenty of unique things to talk about. There were some experiences - namely my week in the TB clinic with the guy who authored most of the WHO guidelines for TB, and the daily opportunities for procedures (joint injections, phlebotomy, suturing, immunizations, deliveries, etc...) that I made sure to highlight in my interview.

This being said, you want to make sure that you do enough rotations in the field you want to match into when you get back to the US. All the programs I interviewed at wanted to see strong letters of recommendation from US doctors. For fields like surgery, I think it would be a good idea to keep a very detailed case log of the operations you assisted in while in the UK (being first-assist for a whipples procedure as a medical student probably won't happen in the US, but it is a very real possibility in England). Since most US medical students I've talked to only have to do a 1 month surgical core anyway, I don't see how 12 weeks of awesome case logs in the UK could hurt you -- as long as you made sure to concentrate on surgical electives and good US LORs back home.

That's just my two cents.

[TrollFace]

You are better off asking Alumni Association for contacts in a certain specialty, not just a certain person from a certain year of specialty because some people aren't going to be so friendly to help someone applying because they are too busy with their own life.

Well, that's what I did, twice.

In my case I had a chief resident in my respective field contact me and spend 45 minutes talking about my goals and how to attack the match... that is probably something you would find more valuable than finding XX resident at XX hospital in you #1 forever and ever hospital that you were born in and want to live and breath in forever and ever....

I wasn't trying to find anyone in a particular hospital or in a '#1' fizzles. I was trying to get in contact with recent alumni to get an idea of what needs to be done to beef up the app since they already took the path. But ya, I'll take your suggestion and hopefully I can sit with at least a resident/chief resident or attending in the specialty I want to go into and have them discuss it with me during that rotation.

[rokshana]

Props to Slaol for setting it straight. There is no evidence that UK Cores have a negative impact on residency.
LORs should usually come from electives - the clinical experience you get in UK helps you shine on electives and leads to stronger LORs. Do you want to learn clinical medicine or how to stand around?
Check the Match list - the person who matched into a prestigous university peds program did their peds core in London.
Many of the negative comments directed at doing cores in UK smell of xenophobia.

the correct answer is learn clinical medicine...those that are trying to learn how to stand out do....and not in a good way in the eyes of the residents and attendings..

[Lem]

Props to Slaol for setting it straight. There is no evidence that UK Cores have a negative impact on residency.
LORs should usually come from electives - the clinical experience you get in UK helps you shine on electives and leads to stronger LORs. Do you want to learn clinical medicine or how to stand around?
Check the Match list - the person who matched into a prestigous university peds program did their peds core in London.
Many of the negative comments directed at doing cores in UK smell of xenophobia.

We are all entitled to our opinions, titfish, but for competitive specialties like surgery I actually think the case logs would be a perfect idea granted that you will get an interview to begin with

[nutsterrt]

We are all entitled to our opinions, titfish, but for competitive specialties like surgery I actually think the case logs would be a perfect idea granted that you will get an interview to begin with

Haha, titfish...

[Slaol_121]

We are all entitled to our opinions, titfish, but for competitive specialties like surgery I actually think the case logs would be a perfect idea granted that you will get an interview to begin with

Yeah, I agree with you here. My comment about the case logs was with the assumption that the student had already been granted an interview. I have no idea how surgical program directors view UK experience when choosing who they want to grant interviews to.

[LinkMoto]

You guys aren't talking about those pathetic case logs that AUC "requires" right? More like a personal case logs that talks about specifics patients/cases or something?

[nutsterrt]

Just chiming in with my .02. I did Peds and OB/Gyn in the UK and the experience was viewed in a positive light on the interview trail. That said, I have and continue to discourage people from doing their Medicine core over there, especially if you see IM in your future.