It’s been a number of years since I was active on this forum but it crossed my mind today so I figure I would check in and provide what little advice I can. As an intro, I graduated from arizona state with majors in biochem and dance, went to Columbia for medical school, did a year research fellowship, and now am a PGY3 resident at University of Pittsburgh in neurosurgery. I am quite happy with my career in medicine. Yes it is easy to figure out who I am and I dont mind but please refrain from directly spelling it out or linking to my various profiles. It results in tons of spam.
Thank you for the “check in”! We certainly remember you and are glad to hear that you’re doing so well.
Neurosurgery! Amazing (and long residency!). Best wishes and congrats!
If only some of the prestige obsessed high school seniors (and some parents too) could read this. They are convinced that if they do not go to a top 10 undergrad school that their life is ruined.
Go where youre happy. Happiness is the key to productivity. I wouldnt have been happy at an Ivy League undergrad, it wasn’t the environment I needed to grow at that time.
Congrats mmmcdowe
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If only some of the prestige obsessed high school seniors (and some parents too) could read this. They are convinced that if they do not go to a top 10 undergrad school that their life is ruined.
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@TomSrOfBoston so true.
And some wrongly think if you don’t go to an Ivy or Ivy-like med school then your chances of a good residency are ruined. My son has received residency interview invites from over 40 residencies, and he’s received invites from nearly all of those elite names we all hear about. The funny thing is, at each interview so far, he’s been asked about Alabama football…and…Have you actually been to any games? Really? Wow? What’s it like? They’re all interested. Lol. Of course they talk about serous stuff, too, but Bama football takes several minutes of each interview. Lol
Really, what gets you the interview invites to the top programs are your Step scores, grades/rank in med school, research, and LORs.
Of course, the jury will still be out until Match Day! Fingers crossed!
@mom2collegekids Interesting, so at least it is a ice-breaker during interview. Funny thing happened with my D. OU as a tradition they invite all incoming NMS (170+) students to center of the football stadium during home game and make announcements. So for that game alone, all freshman NMS students get a free ticket. Next day, when I asked my D, she told it was fun and she had good time but came to dorm during half time itself since she and few of her friends felt the game was boring and were wondering why the first 30 minutes of the game took 2+ hours to reach half time! I was teasing her, folks pay in hundreds to get ticket and you kids got a free ticket and came back in half time itself, especially OU is so popular in athletics. Hope interview does not ask questions related to games rules since these kids will flunk for sure!
@mmmcdowe can you tell us more about your residency. Is it as intense as people say? My son is interested in it. He’s only first year so not sure if he will change his mind but so far the more he sees the more he’s interested.
While I do think life as a neurosurgery resident is better than before I think people must be cautious about the future being significantly better. The 80 hour work week has emboldened a lot of applicants to apply to the field and I have seen many disillusioned when the full onslaught of the service hits them. There are very few of us and we have manynpatients. If we arent the hardest specialty we at least would be a solod contender. The mornings are early and the nights can run very late at times. The important thing is not the numbers but the need for a tremendous willingness to stay until the work is done.
Is it like a point of pride among neurosurg residents to write the shortest notes possible?
Just kidding (sort of)
absolutely. We dont bill for notes