Becoming a Plastic Surgeon

Pre-Med & Medical School Careers in Medicine
21

<p>For right now, do well enough to get into a college that suits you the best. I am a rising sophmore in college, and i am seriously considering plastic surgery. I actually thought i would have no interest in it until i started shadowing a plastic surgeon this summer. I really enjoy watching the surgeries up close, as well as seeing patients on non-surgery days.</p>

<p>I would suggest trying to find a shadowing-type position. You will get a look at the everyday life of a plastic surgeon, and it may help you figure out whether or not it is the right path for you. </p>

<p>Other than that, i don't know that there is a lot that you can do at this point. Stay focused throughout your undergraduate career, and get involved in as many medical settings as you can. Do some research, and hopefully it will lead you to medical school.</p>

<p>good luck</p>

22

<p>So i am also still in high school, and i've always taken an interest in plastic surgery. i dont know what, but its always fascinated me. even though, i have absolutely no idea how to get into it. where do i start in college? what classes do i take? someone explain in depth please(:</p>

23

<p>Im a freshmen at a college prep school and I am considering becoming a plastic surgeon. My main problem is Im somewhat afraid of disecting things. I think I could get over it but Im not sure. I know the amount of school it would take and Im okay with it but Im not sure the requirements or if I culd even get into medical school. Can anyone help me??</p>

24

<p>1.) Plastics is now a residency. It may also still be a fellowship, but most people who go into it enter it as a residency. Many residencies are seven years long.</p>

<p>2.) You get to call yourself a plastic surgeon when you begin your internship. It will technically be a true statement. You do not, however, have independence in the Operating Room or the incomes usually associated with a waiter, much less a platic surgeon, for another seven years.</p>

<p>3.) There is nothing to do during high school or even undergrad that pertains to specialty choice, even if you're 100% confident that that is what you will enter into.</p>

25

<p>i am a junior in high school and i am thinking of becoming a plastic surgeon. My sisters friend's dad is a heart surgeon, and he said i could go shadow him at his work. would that be good? or would it be better to try to shadow a plastic surgeon specifically? also would he be able to help me get accepted to medical schools or with my residency</p>

26

<p>also is the university of irvine- california(UCI) a good medical school?</p>

27

<p>oh wow, I havent logged on to this website in like 4 years. Well, I'm a first year med student now, and it seems my last post was when I was in my senior year in high school...things went by rather fasssssssst! So I'm not interested in plastic anymore. I suck in anatomy but I'm really good at other things. It turns out I don't like touching people...hmm...and yet im in medicine. Unfortunately guys, plastic surgery is super super super super competitive and medical school is really really hard. You have to become like super smart and be very talented with your hands; dissecting a human being is not as easy as dissecting a cat in college or high school. Basically, you need to go to medical school regardless of where it is. Medical school is all the same. It doesnt matter where you go, you just need to get awesome USMLE Step II scores, then you're set. You also have to have mad anatomy skills and this will be shown by the letter of recommendation you get either from your surgery attending or anatomy professor. Get A's in medical school and that's very hard to get 'cause different medical schools have different testing/grading policies. You need to get your professors to like you a lot...'cause they'll be the ones writing your letter of recommendation and that's one of the most important things and from what i've heard from residency selection committees, the most important. Letter of recommendation can't just be from someone though...if you want to get to a competitive residency programs like plastics, you have to do other extra things to even get a shot and this includes: doing a side rotation in the hospital/clinic offering the program, publish some scientific papers, and get a letter from a reknown person in the field, in this case, a known plastic surgeon. So how long and how hard is the journey? Let's see:</p>

<p>1st: Get to medical school (200 applicants out of 5000 applicants are accepted, which is deceiving because people, of course, apply to multiple school, but either way, that's competitive)</p>

<p>2nd: Do really good in your classes and be in the top 5% (how hard is this? well, now you're not competing in a high school/college setting where 90% are total morons...med school competition is against people that have been the "cream of the crop" for most of their lives.</p>

<p>3rd: Do good in USMLE</p>

<p>4th: Do good in clerkships</p>

<p>5th: survive internship</p>

<p>6th: apply to plastics residency</p>

28

<p>There are many ways to a plastics residency.</p>

<p>Medical School-->Integrated Plastics Residency (Most competitive, shortest pathway)</p>

<p>Medical School-->General Surgery Residency-->Plastics Fellowship (Most common, traditional pathway)</p>

<p>Medical School-->Otolaryngology Residency-->Plastics Fellowship</p>

<p>Medical School-->Urology Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)</p>

<p>Medical School-->Neurosurgery Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)</p>

<p>Medical School-->Orthopedics Residency--> Plastics Fellowship (rare)</p>

<p>Dental School-->Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency(6 yr)-->Plastics Fellowship (rare)</p>

<p>You don't need to be a plastic surgeon to do reconstructive craniofacial surgery. Oral surgeons and otolaryngologists regularly do those procedures. </p>

<p>Trauma/craniofacial surgeries don't bring in money, so these groups aren't fighting over these procedures. It also depends on the hospital on which surgeons get the craniofacial/trauma stuff, but most of the time it is shared.</p>

<p>This is from a craniofacial surgeon I know. He plans to go into private practice/elective surgery soon because hospital craniofacial/reconstructive surgery is a lot more work for a lot less money.</p>

29

<p>Im Looking For A Really Good College To Become a Plastic Surgen? Any ideas</p>

30

<p>

</p>

<p>pick the cheapest one</p>

<p>do very well</p>

<p>then get into medical school. the most important part is always the previous step. so if you are interested in getting into an integrated plastics program, you’ll want to get into the best possible medical school</p>

<p>if you are interested in getting into plastics after residency, you’ll want to get into the best possible general surgery residency</p>

31

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<p>Neither. Shadowing doesn’t help you get into medical school. It really really doesn’t help you get into residencies.</p>

32

<p>You have to do some sort of clinical experience to get into med school. It’s one of the few things that is really just a box you can check off (I try very hard to discourage students from thinking med school admissions boils down to a check list, but this is one thing that really needs to be done). All that said, it doesn’t matter what you shadow, so long as you have some sort of experience seeing what physicians do on a daily basis and you get some exposure to patients. If anyone offers you a chance to shadow them, TAKE IT.</p>

33

<p>What do you consider shadowing? Like can it be just like one day in the OR for a plastic surgeon? Do I need to do anything specific or can I just stand there? Do I need some sort of proof I was there? Should I take down the exact OR number and stuff while I am there and who was with me/who I was shadowing or even maybe a written statement by the surgeon?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

34

<p>

Nine questions, if I count correctly. The answers, in order, are no, no, no, no, no, no, no, yes, and no.</p>

35

<p>Look, you are asking a bunch of good questions regarding medical school and how to become a plastic surgeon. I am a plastic surgery resident right now in Maryland (there’s only one plastics program here, you can figure out which one I’m talking about). I’ve been through all of this before, and I’ve been on the med school application committees, so here’s my advice.</p>

<p>First you have to get into medical school. I know you want to do plastics, but put that on the back burner. Getting into medical school is becoming harder and harder each year. No matter where you go, NO ONE will expect you to have your mind made up about which specialty you’re going into. In fact, if you say, “I am definitely doing such-and-such” it will only make you look ignorant. There is simply no way you can know. No offense, but you know jack about medicine. That’s why you’re going to med school–so you can learn. There is no way you can know what you need to know to choose a specialty. Admitting this will place you above a lot of other applicants. Knowing that your knowledge is limited and admitting this is a big step and shows a lot of maturity.</p>

<p>Second, and listen closely on this one: Most people, including doctors, have the wrong idea about plastic surgery. They think that we (plastic surgeons) are all about glamor, money, big breasts, etc. Saying you want to become a plastic surgeon (especially during your med school application process) is only going to back-fire on you. To be blunt, it makes you look either ignorant or pompous. Regardless of your experiences so far, I promise you that you know next-to-nothing about any specialty. You gain that experience during your third and fourth years in medial school. So, stick to what you know right now. </p>

<p>Third, here’s what you need to concentrate on to get into medical school. You’ve got to have a good GPA (traditionally, 3.6 or higher). They DO take into account your major. For example, if you majored in any type of engineering and your GPA is 3.6, this will probably make you look better than someone who majored in business or history with a 4.0 GPA (no offense to those majors out there…I’m just giving you the facts). Med schools look for all types of majors and they really do not give preference to any one. They like anything in the core sciences (chemistry, physics, biology, biochem, microbiology) but they also like math, they LOVE engineering (b/c it’s tough and involves application of knowledge), but they also like the non-science majors, like english, history, accounting, etc. So, study what you like. Just do well. Further, everyone who applies to medical school must take the same science courses (2 of biology, 2 of gen chem, 2 of organic chem, 2 of physics, and some other electives). That’s a lot of science, which is why you can major in anything and still have a solid science background. After your classes, you need to get experience in the clinic or hospital. You need to shadow a doctor, any doctor, and you need to build a relationship with them. This will occur over weeks to months. If you can, get to know several doctors. How do you prove that you worked with them? Because, you’re going to get letters of recommendation from them. That’s how. You also need to show that you are able to place others before yourself. Do this by volunteering time doing things like working in big brothers/big sisters, feeding the homeless, etc. You need to show you’re a humanitarian. Everything else is for bragging rights. Research is very important, and if you want to be competitive, you must have some research experience.</p>

<p>I would not worry about shadowing a plastic surgeon right now. Just shadow any doctor, and be sure to get a letter of rec from them. Do well with your GPA, and get research experience. Get involved in extracurricular activities, like volunteer work, student council, etc. And do not say “I want to be a plastic surgeon”. Say something like, “I don’t really have the exposure I need to make that decision, but I am very curious with surgery. I think I may enjoy reconstructive work, like with burn victims or craniofacial anomolies. But for now, I am definitely going to learn all I can about every area of medicine, and then I will decide.”</p>

<p>Lastly, here is the scoop about what plastic surgeons do and how we get here. There are only approximately 80 plastic surgery residency spots in the nation each year (over 300 apply). By residency, I mean that you are “Plastics” on day one. You do approximately 3 years of general surgery first, then 3 years of plastic surgery training, and then you are done. The other route to become a plastic surgeon is to do a full residency in either general surgery, ortho, ENT, neurosurgery or urology, and then you do a fellowship in plastics. The fellowship years are the exact same as the last three years of the plastics residency. In the end, you are all the same.</p>

<p>Plastic surgeons are trained to do hand surgery, micro surgery (sewing arteries, veins and nerves together under a microscope), craniofacial surgery, general total-body reconstruction (burn, mangled limbs, chest-wall/abdominal wall recon, genitalia recon) and of course, cosmetic surgery. </p>

<p>This post is long because there is a lot for you to know. And there is even more for you to know if you want to do plastics. There’s no room for messing around. If you want to do plastics you’ll have to be the best…period. We are a very closely-nit society, and there is a very small number of us. The best thing you can do to become a plastic surgeon is to get accepted to medical school and graduate top in your class. If you do that, and do some plastic surgery rotations during your third and fourth years, you will likely have what it takes.</p>

<p>Good luck. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do this. I was very curious about plastic surgery in college, but I never said that until I was already in medical school (I knew it would look arrogant). We are not about big boobs and pretty faces. Yes, we can do that, but we are really about other things. I challenge you to discover what those other things really are. If you can, we’ll be happy to ask you to join our society.</p>

36

<p>I read some of these prior posts saying that shadowing doesn’t help. If you don’t want to get into medical school, then listen to those posts. If you do want to go to medical school, then read my post above. Shadowing is important because it is the only way you are going to get a meaningful letter of recommendation for an actual physician. You’ll need letters of rec from a college professor who really knows you, from the university doctor you did research in, maybe from the leader/manager of a volunteer organization you worked for, but you will DEFINITELY need a letter of rec from a physician who knows you. Not having one is like trying to win a NASCAR race without a car. You might as well pack up and leave.</p>

<p>Lastly, please be careful about the advice you take. You should really be asking medical students or doctors for advice. That’s why you need to find one to shadow. “The only people who know what it is like to be a medical student are doctors and medical students.”</p>

<p>Good luck to all who are trying to become doctors. We need you. You’ll definitely have friends who join this journey with you, and many of them will not finish it. They’ll choose some other profession or will not have what it takes. You’ve got to be willing to take this walk alone. </p>

<p>Work hard and stay humble.</p>

37

<p>I’ll politely disagree on the need to have a physician LOR to get into medical school. But your overall point on shadowing is spot-on, though it’s really any clinical experience, hospital volunteering is acceptable. And I’ll co-sign on having LOR’s from people who know you.</p>

<p>Welcome to the board!</p>

38

<p>Unfortunately the image that many pre-meds have of plastic surgery is the d*<em>ch</em>b*g from Dr. 90210 (only vowels remain)</p>

<p>Real life is vastly different. (Although in watching his show, his actual work hours seem to mirror that of plastics residents. i.e. brutal)</p>

<p>I’ll also echo bigredmed’s sentiment about NOT needing a physician LOR. Perhaps things have changed since I applied for medical school but outstanding LORs from your professors seem to be the key.</p>

<p>That being said, SOME shadowing is probably best so that you can coherently explain why you are interested in medicine, demonstrate some volunteering aptitude, and at least have vague exposure to the field.</p>

39

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<p>No. (10 char)</p>

40

<p>I agree with this; a letter from a physician you shadowed will actually be an embarrassment, as if you couldn’t get a letter from somebody for whom you actually did something. You want to stick with professors and research supervisors.</p>

<p>Nonetheless, I would absolutely affirm EVERYTHING else about posts #35 and #36. This is a wonderful, wonderful post that I’ll be forwarding students to from now on. ^^^ 44.</p>