Hi! Does anyone know if VCU has released invitations to interview as well as how those were released? I have not heard from them other than admission to their undergrad and honors college
What type of interview format Temple has? greatly appreciate the advise… thanks.
@lovebio101
UPitt-you will get an email from them.
Their interviews are towards end of March.
@Mimic17
Any particular reason you want to know about us?
@Mimic17
If yes, you can DM me.
@lovebio101
My answer was regarding interviews.
@Mahikesh
Temple - Group interviews and if you are the unlucky group it will be a STRESS group interview.
Rejected from REMS and PPSP 
So far the only one I’ve gotten the interview for is Caldwell/NJMS.
Congrats to everyone who advanced, and good luck to everyone!
US healthcare system is a mess.
In the last decade, healthcare insurance rates have practically tripled - And at the same time co-pays and deductibles have increased.
High-deductible plans are basically daylight robbery by the insurance companies. With companies actively promoting them. Nowadays, insurance companies are charging high copays for even Zero deductible plans, making a mockery of having zero deductibles.
Ask any hospital or group practice - they spend a lot more time for “denial management “ - denial of payments by insurance companies for services rendered on flimsiest grounds.
Healthcare practitioners are getting squeezed in the name of managing costs.
One-third of US hospitals are running in losses for >3 years in a row. Number of hospitals that have closed down in past decade is high. It is said hospitals make money on ortho, cardio and neuro specialties. May be oncology. Rest are money losers.
Which begets the question - why do kids want to do medicine?
I firmly believe it is beyond money (at the time of becoming one) but it does come into play if you have spent a fortune to become a doctor - realities one faces once one starts earning.
If it is just money, I suggest pursue investment banking.
Re:Medicaid
You have to accept Medicaid if your accept Medicare.
CMS will withhold/deny Medicare payments if you do not accept Medicaid.
Medicaid is practically like getting $2 on your $100 list price of service. Total money loser.
Re: No insurance
Yes, a number of private practices in certain large cities are going NO insurance/ out-of-network insurance. It is an emerging model.
Re: Specialty residences
Specialty residencies are dependent on your Step 1 and Step 2 scores apart from your grades, research and other criteria.
Good medical program can potentially help students get “better” Step 1 / 2 scores by providing resources, and also providing research opportunities to strengthen the candidates’ profile.
However, any student with great Step 1 /2 scores for any medical school has a shot at specialty residences.
Does anyone know the REMS interview format? (the email/ itinerary say 2 individual, 2 group, but any insight regarding what those may consist of?)
@NoviceDad how group interviews are conducted? what do you mean by STRESS group interview? thanks
@NoviceDad I work for an academic/community hospital which accepts all insurance.
RE: Medicaid
Medicare is a federally administered insurance program. Medicaid is a joint state and federal program that is administered by the state. Perhaps in your state, physicians are required to simultaneously participate in both medicaid and medicare, but in my state a provider can participate in medicare and not in medicaid without penalty. Nationally, medicaid physician participation is lower than medicare participation. Hospitals are different. Because most hospitals have not-for-profit tax exempt status, they must participate in both medicare and medicaid.
RE: Competitive residencies
Yes, grades, usmle scores, research, activities are required to get past the first stage of consideration. In the competitive specialties like neurosurgery, it’s a small world and the residency program directors have relationships where the letter of recommendation from a colleague holds a lot of weight. Last year, neurosurgery only had 218 residency positions available, while ~19,000 US medical students graduate each year. If the program director receives a letter from someone they know well (perhaps they trained together, or once worked in the same department or lab, or worked together within the national specialty physician organization), they will trust that letter and look more favorably for that candidate. Often, the colleague will personally call the program director to directly advocate for the candidate.
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If it is just money, suggest pursue investment banking.
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I wanted D enroll in this program in financial engineering, a prestigious one, with a significant merit scholarship too and great placements right before graduating. She said no.
@RefreshingGel,
Great to know that your institution accepts all kinds of insurance and you are associated with it. I no way intend to push the child to go after any specialization without her own decision making, but just curious I believe similar statistics as given above for Ortho, right? Also to get to Cardio, you need to go through primary care medicine/general surgery first, right? What about oncology? I think Derm and Optho can be direct routes.
@rk2017 for cardiology, the route is Internal medicine (3 years) → cardiology fellowship 3 years then a 1 year interventional cardiology fellowship of you want to do IC. For CT surgery, there are 6 year integrated programs right out of Medical school, or you can do general surgery for 5 years then a 2/3 year CT fellowship or you can do a 5 year integrated vascular surgery residency and then a 2/3 year CT fellowship. Derm and Optho are direct routes, yet optho and uro have an early match compared to the normal ACGME match. What type of oncology? Medical oncology? Hematological Oncology?
Thanks @ZacharyGelfond, amazing you know all this info at this stage itself.
I think Radiation oncology is direct route? Not sure about the other two, I think they need internal medicine first?
@rk2017 I usually let @NoviceDad or @GoldenStateDad answer because they know more about the bs/md programs and I am just a HS student. Rad onc is direct 5 years, heme onc is 3 years IM or peds then a heme onc fellowship (varies based on what type of heme onc). One can also do a pathology residency and then do a hemepathology fellowship. There are also different oncology focuses in different fields such as obgyns who focus on oncology, surgical oncology, then there are the select few neurosurgeons who focus on tumor resection (most do spine only cases). Thoracic surgeons who focus on the lungs work towards different types of lung cancers etc. Oncology is very vast.
@rk2017
Here’s a link from WashU Medical school that goes through each specialty residency track. It’s a good starting point when deciding on a specialty training.
https://residency.wustl.edu/choosing-a-specialty/specialty-descriptions/
I think the link shared by @RefreshingGel answers most of the questions.
One observation – It is possible that some of the brighter students who could go to any specializations may opt for internal medicine if their ultimate interest is cardio or gastroenterology. I know a few kids who are at Mayo, UCSF doing internal medicine and they could have gone to any other specialization if they wanted. So, please that this into consideration if you are looking at match % as a benchmark for selecting the med school. While match results are a good way to know the strength of the academic/research (better step 1 scores etc.), given the how close they are in terms of %’s , perhaps match results cannot be the only factor in deciding the school. Location, research funding, campus safety, cost etc. are a few other variables that one might want to consider.