<p>thanks everyone</p>
<p>D. is in Med. School, but she ruled out surgery way back in HS. Does not know her specialty yet, will have a better idea after her Step 1.
Anyway, why is it 15 years for an MD and 2 for PA. Where you got these ideas? I have never heard of either.</p>
<p>I think he’s talking about PA school = 2 years then they go into practice. Ortho= 4 years med school + 5 year residency + 1-3 years fellowships (total of 10- 12 years) then they go into practice.</p>
<p>how about pediatric neurosurgeon: 4 years of med school + 7 years of residency + 2 years of fellowship = 13 years of training</p>
<p>My son was just offered a job in neurosurgery with his masters degree in Physician Assistant Studies. He turned it down because he’s not sure what type of surgery he wants to pursue. Yale has a one year surgical residency, with 6 different types of surgery. He starts there in September. Undergrad+Grad+Residency=6 years</p>
<p>Congrats, Toledo, good for your S!!
And my D. has a better idea also, just got her Step 1 score. Will be pursuing her “specialty” dream from way back in HS. She also will be applying for residencies next year. She will go with locations, does not care about ranking/prestige, she never did. Location has much more meanning for residency, often they stay at the same location for work. The goal is to apply to about 60 programs to get about 10 interviews in hope of one match. But these are just estimates. If she gets into any of her specialty residency, it is 4 years. But why people count the residency into years to get there. Residency pays, so it is a job. I count any MD “get there” years as 4 + 4 + any gap years (if not paid position). Because of us being in ancient age, we told our D. “no gap year”. However, if it happens that she does need a gap year after Med. School, we might consider it. We really appreciate her dedication and exceptional har working attitude in reaching her goals.</p>
<p>just curious how much to apply to 60 programs is that typical???</p>
<p>RE: 60 residency programs</p>
<p>It’s very much specialty dependent. Highly competitive specialties will require a higher number of applications than a less competitive specialty.</p>
<p>For example, EM might require 15 applications while ortho would require 50+.</p>
<p>As for cost–it’s the traveling that’s expensive. D1 has already started talking about “residency application loans” that are available for medical students. She figures if she applies in a competitive specialty, she might need $10-15K for application and interview expenses.</p>
<p>Whoa Toledo! That’s wonderful news about your son, but also took my breathe away. The differences in years between PA and MD are outstanding. Did he complete his Master’s program one year? Is that typical?</p>
<p>nyumom2,
"just curious how much to apply to 60 programs is that typical??? "
-From what I undestand it depends on specialty. D. said that in her planned specialty, some are applying to ALL programs in the USA, yes, every single one, the number is about 110. But 60 is a reasonable number in this specialtyif a goal is about 10 interviews. And again, 10 is a goal to get at least one match, since about 10% of all interviewed at specific place will get an offer. This is all from talking to others, D. is not there yet at all, testing waters. She is planning to apply in one year.</p>
<p>I believe all the 5 year physician assistant programs are 3 years for an undergrad degree and 2 years for the graduate degree, so they’re mostly shortening the time spent as an undergrad. There are very few physician assistant residencies because they are optional. My son could only find three in surgery. He only applied to one and the application fee was around $50. The airfare, shuttle, and hotel fees for the interview were our big costs.</p>
<p>^There are accelerated bs/md programs that take 2+4 years, they recieved their Bachelor while in Med. School already, they do not get it after 2 years.
D. was accepted to one, but choose non-accelerated combined bs/md 4+4 and had incredible 4 years of college that went well beyond any expectations. She was right, it was important (at least for her) to have “normal” 4 years of college and being in combined program removed a lot of worries, but again an option of 6 years was available for her.</p>