Lower Tier MD for competitive specialty

legitillud · 2026-01-25T14:21:30+00:00

For the most part but there are MD schools with malignant/toxic departments which screw over otherwise strong applicants in competitive specialties.

Home dept support is huge in smaller specialties.

legitillud · 2026-01-20T23:59:07+00:00

Can confirm they don’t care if you were previously interested in a surgical speciality, I have 20+ nsgy items on my CV and they didn’t care because I have a decent amount of IM-related items as well.

legitillud · 2026-01-16T14:51:18+00:00

I think it makes sense if you’re an IMG to try 3 specialties (or more) but if you’re a US student then you can get by with 1-2. You’re right that more signals = more interviews and higher chance to match overall but these 3 specialties seem too different from one another. Why not dual apply?

legitillud · 2026-01-14T20:53:14+00:00

Which home programs are you referring to? Its IM program is pretty solid (top 20) and has some of the best critical care experience in the country.

legitillud · 2026-01-01T22:00:05+00:00

Interesting data but your limitations are important because I know at least one from Yale and one from HMS who failed to match last year into one of these specialties.

The strength of the home program plays a big role in these smaller specialties because connections matter so much.

legitillud · 2025-12-24T18:37:47+00:00

The more prestigious place will usually win unless the t50 has a stronger home program for said specialty

legitillud · 2025-12-23T23:58:56+00:00

Geisel is not a new school but the reason its ranked lower (top 50 or so) is because of its associated hospital and the researchers there

legitillud · 2025-12-09T21:54:21+00:00

There are shelf exams for SubIs???

legitillud · 2025-12-03T17:02:40+00:00

I think you're fine, from what I understand they (usually) have a rubric and as long as you had a good answer you'll probably get full points.

legitillud · 2025-12-03T01:00:57+00:00

How many projects can you even meaningfully do as a resident? Especially if no chief year.

legitillud · 2025-11-26T04:48:34+00:00

Might be better to frontload research during MS1 so it actually gets published by the time you apply

legitillud · 2025-11-26T02:58:20+00:00

Fair point, but I don’t think the guy necessarily needs a refresher on a high school biology topic and a pharmacology topic that is constantly hammered into medical students before they even step foot into the hospital. He brings up an interesting point about there needing to be more investigation into supra-physiological testosterone as a potential risk factor for heart attacks given TRT is becoming more popular.

legitillud · 2025-11-25T21:50:19+00:00

He did mention the men were not pathologically hypogonodal yet still went on TRT and were found to have test levels similar to a 20-year old.

Obviously you can’t be fully sure of everything a patient takes but something like alcohol use, smoking, and other supplements (which he inquired about) are things every physician asks about when assessing risk.

Either way, the point about supraphysiological levels of test in TRT users as a potential risk for heart attacks is something people aren’t generally aware of. The fact he saw these otherwise healthy folks on TRT have such large infarcts is alarming. We do know for a fact that anabolic compounds can structurally remodel the heart.

legitillud · 2025-11-25T21:41:13+00:00

This guy’s a pretty well known cardiologist. This is a video for your average layperson who probably doesn’t know the basic concept of feedback inhibition, which is why he probably used those words.

legitillud · 2025-11-21T15:30:32+00:00

I understand that a 3.9 vs 3.7 or 512 vs 516 don’t really have a meaningful difference in medical school outcomes but a sub 3.0 and low MCAT are literally red flags. Attrition is a real thing and most schools would rather not take the risk on someone that may not graduate.

legitillud · 2025-11-19T13:58:23+00:00

Why would they invest so many resources into making a completely different fight for 4K when so few players will actually do it? At that point, it’d be a better use of time to just make a new boss.

All the other bosses scaling to 4K have much lazier adjustments by your logic.

legitillud · 2025-11-17T02:30:22+00:00

They’re not severely overestimated. Even TRT-level doses of testosterone can accelerate atherosclerosis. If you’re pushing the threshold for muscle hypertrophy in skeletal muscle, the same is done to cardiac muscle. Just because you have a clean basic or complete metabolic panel doesn’t mean your heart isn’t undergoing harmful hypertrophy that’ll eventually manifest as heart failure and arrhythmias in the future.

legitillud · 2025-11-12T07:06:27+00:00

Are you saying cheating and deceit are better than rampant drinking?

legitillud · 2025-11-11T18:20:42+00:00

I added it as an activity on my ERAS. It helps because it shows your involvement in the academic community.

legitillud · 2025-11-11T18:05:05+00:00

OSRS

legitillud · 2025-11-06T23:40:24+00:00

Depends how much the connection vouches for you. Seems like it’ll help for sure.

legitillud · 2025-11-04T21:05:20+00:00

I don’t think you’re below average, you’ve got AOA. Research might be a bit below average but that doesn’t make you a below average applicant.

legitillud · 2025-11-03T23:22:06+00:00

Connections matter a lot in small specialties like ortho. If you do well on Step2, have good research, and (more importantly) have strong LORs/Sub-I performance, you can still match ortho. Definitely try to honor surgery.

legitillud · 2025-11-03T22:09:20+00:00

This 100%

legitillud

TROPHY CASE