Thread: Surgeon or dream

Hi! I was wonder the following: What are the chances (if any) of a graduate from St. George’s University of become a

1.) General Surgeon
2.) Cardiothoracic Surgeon
3.) Neurosurgeon
4.) Orthopedic Surgeon
5.) Trauma Surgeon

Also if you want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon do you have to go through a general surgery residency and then do a fellowship in cardio?


Thanks for the help

Originally Posted by Dr.SP

Hi! I was wonder the following: What are the chances (if any) of a graduate from St. George’s University of become a

1.) General Surgeon
2.) Cardiothoracic Surgeon
3.) Neurosurgeon
4.) Orthopedic Surgeon
5.) Trauma Surgeon

Also if you want to be a cardiothoracic surgeon do you have to go through a general surgery residency and then do a fellowship in cardio?


Thanks for the help

Ill let a surgeon talk details but briefly
1)easy enough with average scores (and remember, half the class is below average
2)highly competitive
3) very rare but its been done
4) very competitive but a couple each year
5)I believe this is a fellowship and dont know much about it

Stephew, thanks for the quick reply. You stated that cardiothoracic is very competitive, I understand. But has it been done before from St. Georges and also what is the path like? Thanks again.

Steph, ,you are correct... Trauma is a 1-year fellowship.

Cardiothoracic surgery is a fellowship of 4 years after genreal surgery (5 years). Trauma surgery is a 2 year fellowship after a 5 year general surgery. Now some programs are beiggning to make fast track routes for surgery ands its subspecialty. For instance you do a 4 year general surgery and a 2 year fellowship in vascular (6 total) as opposed to the old way of 5 and 2. Same thing is suppose to happen with CT 4 and 3. Surgery is not so competitive about 800 spots go to foreigners if I remember correctly. But fellowships are competitive. Not to say we cant get them.

Nimitt
3rd year

Straight Trauma surgery is 1-year. If you want to do Trauma surgery along with Critical Care, that is 2-years.

Check out:

http://www.trauma.org/resources/fell...llowships.html

for all the Trauma programs/options.

Thanks for the help!! Its good to know that I can be surgeon if I work hard enough.

I am an orthopaedics resident who went to St George's for my preclinical years before transferring to a US medical school. Ortho is a very competitive residency. It is therefore extremely difficult for SGU students to match straight into an orthopaedics residency, although it has been done. If you find that orthopaedics is your dream career, it is certainly worth going for it in the match when you are a 4th year med student--but that's not the end of the story if you don't match. I know of several SGU grads have reapplied and gotten into an orthopaedics residency after doing such things as a preliminary general surgical internship or by working for a year in an orthopaedics laboratory. It is still worth stating however, that SGU grads will be at a relative disadvantage to match a residency that is already very competitive. Backup plans are a must.

When ortho programs screen their candidate applications to decide on who to interview, they generally look for good med school grades, USMLE scores and letters of recommendation, and an enthusiastic interest in ortho. Things for you to keep in mind.

I should also mention that I believe my transfer to a US med school opened some more doors of opporunity. Transferring from SGU to a US med school is difficult, but definitely worth a shot if you have an interest in a competitive field.

Thanks for the response Axel, I have a question for you if you don't mind. You stated that you transferred from SGU to a US medical school I was just wonder how the process was like. Secondly what are they looking at in deciding whether to accept you in the US medical school; do they just primarily look at medical school GPA and step-1 or do they also look at undergraduate GPA and MCAT score. Once again thanks for the help and respond.

Its been a few years since I went through that process, so I don't remember all the little details. I just remember calling a lot of medical schools, asking them if they would consider taking a SGU transfer, and filling out an application if they said yes. The rest of the process was school-dependent. It was very useful to me to have a family member back home helping to make some of those initial phone calls.

As far as what each school looks for . . . that's hard to say. I'm sure they're all a little different in what they want. But try to imagine yourself in the school's position, and I'm sure you can think of what's important. There is no doubt in my mind that your SGU record is going to be a major factor. If you're not tops at SGU, then why would another school want you? Hey, when I was applying for residency positions, some of them asked me for an SAT transcript . . . no fooling! So, its safe to say that any given school might be more or less interested in any little thing in your history.

Don't dwell on any deficiencies in your past record, though. What's done is done. The only useful thing you can do with the past is learn from it, and apply it to the present and future. Even if you don't end up being at the top of your class at SGU, I don't think it hurts you to still try for a transfer, if that's something you'd like to shoot for.

I should stress that transferring from SGU to a US medical school is a difficult task. Rest assured, though, that St Georges is a good medical school! If you do well at SGU, whether you transfer or not, I strongly believe that all doors will be open to you . . . some just may take additional time and effort to get through, but they will all be open.