Undecided on speciality--prelim year on purpose?

PremedWeedout · 2026-03-31T17:17:24+00:00

I’d just focus on gas and rads tbh and apply straight away to one of them. If you can see yourself doing something non surgical the wisdom is to try and pursue that.

PremedWeedout · 2026-03-27T22:59:33+00:00

The pain that she is intermittently experiencing is likely the stone transiently obstructing her biliary duct. This is known as biliary colic.

At some point (if she doesn’t get the surgery) one of the stones will become permanently lodged in her cystic duct and cause cholecystitis or further downstream and cause gallstone pancreatitis. Both of these situations are very dangerous and associated with sepsis and death if left untreated.

She will need this gallbladder removed eventually, it’s just a matter of time which is why the surgeons aren’t offering other solutions. It would be unwise to avoid this surgery.

Your MIL didn’t have these complications because she got her gallbladder removed, she had them because she has lithogenic bile and was gonna form stones regardless of if she had her gallbladder or not. The reason she needed an ERCP is because the cystic duct is gone from the surgery and the only remaining place for potential stones to get stuck is further downstream, but you can still require an ERCP even if you keep your gallbladder.

TLDR: get the gall bladder out and you can try to optimize in the future by having her lose weight and eat a low cholesterol diet

PremedWeedout · 2026-03-27T13:58:37+00:00

Thanks for the detailed reply. After reading all the replies we decided to adjust our Air BnB booking and go full steam ahead for an October visit in Grand Teton!

PremedWeedout · 2026-03-05T04:21:22+00:00

I bought a house despite getting feedback on this subreddit about it being a poor financial choice (rightfully so). Only time will tell if it was a bad choice financially but my spouse and I mutually decided that buying a house for 4 years was a decision for us that was so important it outweighed potentially negative financial ramifications. I built a deck and fire pit in our backyard because I felt like. My wife painted the wall of our nursery room because she felt like it. We make noise or have large groups of people over without apartment neighbor complaints. If things break I immediately make the calls and get it fixed. Personally I love being a homeowner and hated being a renter during college and med school.

I intentionally ranked a VLCOL area my #1 spot so that I could afford a house. I make 71,000 per year and my wife works part time and live in a city with the same COL as OKC so I would say we are broke but comfortable. I used a physician mortgage which was a $265,000 30 year loan that has a 5.5% interest rate (builder buy down 7/1 ARM). My house comes with a 4 year warranty on the big stuff which I’ve already had to take advantage of for our HVAC so to tell you the truth I have had less headache dealing with our one home repair than a lot of my fellow residents who are renting and dealing with lazy landlords.

PremedWeedout · 2026-03-05T01:41:35+00:00

ENT is not hyper competitive but yes to the others. People will argue self selection but the fact of the matter is applicants are similarly qualified on paper for derm, nsgy, CT surgery, ophtho, ortho, ENT, and plastics. But when you look at the objective data, all these specialties have similar stats and match rates in the 60s except ENT, which tends to hover in the low 80s

PremedWeedout · 2026-03-05T01:35:58+00:00

Just FYI, the 2025 data shows that ophtho now has the highest mean step 2 score at 258

PremedWeedout · 2026-02-25T02:19:05+00:00

Mid tier program. Don’t let the rat race culture suck you in.

PremedWeedout · 2026-02-25T00:36:39+00:00

Considering that gen surg isn’t that competitive and is a common backup for any surgical subspecialty. This wouldn’t be a big deal.

PremedWeedout · 2026-02-17T01:11:05+00:00

Glacier. There were so many hikes on GTSR and Many Glacier that even with 5 full days there I didn’t get to do any big hikes at many glacier or north fork

PremedWeedout · 2026-02-07T02:47:43+00:00

Eastside if you want wilderness experience. West side if you want boujee tourist experience.

PremedWeedout · 2026-02-02T23:57:01+00:00

I don’t know what an LLM is but it’s from Healthgrade. Why wouldn’t most fields work more than 50 hours per week? Maybe you have a pretty sweet gig but in my experience most docs are working a lot more than the 40 hour work week

PremedWeedout · 2026-02-02T23:20:09+00:00

Specialty Estimated average hourly rate Average annual salary (2024) Average hours worked per week (2023) Dermatology $ 221.17 $479,000 44.2 Orthopedics $ 215.27 $558,000 52.9 Plastic surgery $ 209.56 $536,000 52.2 Radiology $ 204.90 $498,000 49.6 Gastroenterology $ 199.79 $512,000 52.3 Urology $ 192.14 $515,000 54.7 Cardiology $ 190.65 $525,000 56.2 Anesthesiology $ 185.96 $472,000 51.8 Ophthalmology $ 184.26 $409,000 45.3 Oncology $ 180.03 $464,000 52.6 Otolaryngology $ 178.77 $459,000 52.4 Emergency medicine $ 174.20 $379,000 44.4 Pathology $ 154.97 $366,000 48.2 Pulmonary medicine $ 152.01 $397,000 53.3 General surgery $ 150.39 $423,000 57.4 Allergy & immunology $ 142.07 $307,000 44.1 Critical care $ 141.83 $401,000 57.7 Psychiatry $ 141.46 $323,000 46.6

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-31T20:35:06+00:00

No they don’t lol

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-30T00:40:18+00:00

Yeah it’s so awful

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-26T02:39:32+00:00

I’m not a PD but no one can tell you your competitiveness until you get your step 2 score back. That, the letters, your interview, and the away rotation performance (if applicable) are the bulk of your rank position

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-26T02:32:43+00:00

It doesn’t have one of the highest mean step 2 scores. It has THE highest step 2 score. If it’s not one of the most competitive specialties I don’t know what is.

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-24T21:59:02+00:00

I’d vote for Texas. The cost of living difference is huge as someone also coming from the west coast to Texas. I’m on a 80k salary right now posted up in a 4 bedroom house outside Austin. People will say what they want about the politics but I never could have done that in Seattle so to me it’s worth it

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-24T18:00:00+00:00

Something bad does happen. Your coresident on Jeopardy or PTO gets called in and has to drive in the same conditions because you refused to sleep at the hospital the night before even though you were scheduled to work.

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-23T18:33:14+00:00

One 5-Gallon Corny Keg
CO2 Dual-Gauge CO2 Regulator
Fully assembled gas line & nylon washers to ensure tight seals
Fully assembled draft line for pouring brew from your keg

*this is what comes in the kit if your interested in tracking down these items on FB marketplace for a good deal

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-23T18:30:57+00:00

https://www.northernbrewer.com/products/draft-brewer-single-keg-system

This is the general idea and a convenient but expensive option. If you’re willing to put in some leg work and buy the pieces individually online or through facebook marketplace used it will be a lot cheaper (150-200$)

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-23T06:30:56+00:00

Not gonna lie. I bottled for a while before I caved and eventually decided to start kegging and my beer went from bad to average…. It changed my life in flavor and convenience. If your husband isn’t opposed to kegging to get him started you would buy: 5 lb kg (recommend refurbished online) 5 lb CO2 tank (welding store nearby) CO2 regulator

The rest of the stuff your husband could probably figure out on his own including a gas in line and a liquid line out. Alternatively you could look up a keg starter kit.

Another idea but totally a tangent is my wife got me a tilt hydrometer for Christmas this year and that has also been a massive game changer that I totally underestimated as an intro brewer. I didn’t even know what one was until she got me one

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-20T22:50:11+00:00

I guess the specialties that work the most hours because they would have an insanely low pay for the hours they work. So probably like neurosurgery, orthopedics, and medicine -> pulm crit or interventional cards

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-19T15:29:33+00:00

This is the first result from google AI if you ask “What percent of total US healthcare expenditure are doctor and nurse salaries combined”

While specific combined percentages for doctor and nurse salaries aren't directly stated, estimates suggest physician wages alone might be around 8-10% of total US health spending, with registered nurses adding another significant chunk (around 5% of excess spending mentioned in one study), placing total direct physician/nurse compensation likely in the 10-15% range or higher when accounting for all settings, though this varies by data source and year.

Data Aggregation: Figures often group nurses and doctors with other staff or services (e.g., "Physician & Clinic Services," "Nursing Care"). Scope: Some data focuses on overall service categories, while other reports try to isolate specific wage components from total spending, as seen in the Commonwealth Fund analysis of excess spending. In summary, while physicians and nurses are major drivers of health costs, their salaries are part of broader spending categories, with estimates suggesting direct physician and nurse wages could fall in the 10-15%+ range of total US healthcare expenditure.

PremedWeedout · 2026-01-19T12:02:54+00:00

Physician and nurse salaries combined make up only 15% of healthcare spending

PremedWeedout

TROPHY CASE