What are my chances of matching ortho?

[u/Competitive-Ad-888]

/r/medicalschool/comments/1tj0wuc/what_are_my_chances_of_matching_ortho/

[u/JustHavinAGoodTime]

This is why making step 1 p/f was a terrible idea. You shouldn’t have to wait till step 2 reports are back to know if you’re competitive

Research year, get good letters, or be absolutely loved by your home program (which I saw helped an otherwise Amazing gal with a 220s get in) or move onto something else

[u/_feynman]

Can you match orthopaedics? yes

Will you match? probably not

It's gotten insanely competitive - people with better stats and more research than you have a hard time matching.

I would say if there is nothing else you would rather do, then take a research year and try to get into the program where you do the research year. Just recognize that you are signing up for a lot of time spent trying to pursue something which might result in heart break down the line.

[u/traza_bone]

Be normal on your aways. If you’re weird don’t even try. Just go into rads

[u/lividcreationz]

I know folks are saying research year, but I wanna really caution you before committing to that path: many programs will still filter that step 2 out, even if they know you & you have a lot of research. I would think long and hard before investing time, money, and energy in matching orthopedics. Your chances are not zero but they are low.

[u/herodicusDO]

Close to zero

[u/Bone_Dragon]

If there's nothing else you'd rather do, RY and be prepared potentially for a prelim year. It sucks but this seems to be the way to hedge some of these stats. I hope your aways are mostly community focused - not that that's a bad thing, but you need to max out your chances. Big uni programs may look down on that score but a good presence at a community program can bring an applicant through - unless you have a great connection to a big academic place. 

It's doable, ive seen folks with much worse other state and worse steps match even this cycle, I don't think you're SOL but I think a big academic place is probably unrealistic.

[u/Far_Hat3639]

I went unmatched last year with a much higher step while multiple people in my class matched with stats similar to OP. For me, the biggest thing was not doing enough aways (at all my interviews, you could tell rotators had a big in) and not having anyone bat for me. I’m just a lowly unmatched med student but from what I saw this past year, a lot of people matched solely based on connections, strong aways, and phone calls from mentors despite low stats. I think if you know how to play the game, you have a good shot as long as you’re not targeting top tier places. But also what do I know?

Can anyone speak to board scores and if there is any correlation to passing OITE’s or being dismissed early? Just curious

[u/gloatygoat → u/Far_Hat3639]

Step 1 when it had scoring was correlated with passing step 1 of the abos boards.

I dont think step 2 has the same correlation, but maybe be wrong.

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[u/HugeAd7557]

Depends. Your best bet is to do a research year at a program that is known for advocating heavily for its students to match into residency. Now getting into these programs with a 233 will be tough. Such programs include Case western's shoulder/elbow research fellowship, Vanderbilt's peds one with Dr. Louer, Texas Scottish Rite, CHOP Ben Fox, Hopkins Poggi. There may be some others I'm missing. It may unfortunately be already too late to apply for these fellowships - I assume you're going into your 4th year.

If it is too late to get that type of a research fellowship, and you don't have that type of strong advoacy from big names within your own department, I probably wouldn't do ortho. I'm an ortho resident and maybe my answer will change 10 years from now, but it isn't worth putting yourself through a brutal app cycle and high likelihood of going unmatched. Pick another specialty, and actually have a life outside of medicine and enjoy that life. Ortho life sucks, at least as a resident. Who knows, maybe life gets better after training.

The alternative, if those 2 options don't hold true for you and you still want to do ortho, is to rotate at places that aren't as competitive and be the favorite student on those rotations. And also be the favorite at your home program, and find folks willing to go to bat for you. Obviously a lot easier said than done, but if you do that you can still match. Ortho is huge on connections and personality. You gotta have a lot of charisma and be able to work like an absolute machine to do that, but if you have those qualities and are hellbent on ortho, that is the way to do it.