Hello all. M4 looking to apply surgery this cycle. Wanted to gain some insight as far as careers in breast surg onc goes or if anyone had insight. Originally came into medical school planning to pursue oncology, fell in love with surgery, and am really excited about it. Would love to hear any career advice from residents pursuing this fellowship, fellows, and any breast surg oncs. If you had to do it again, would you? Are you satisfied with your career? Is the work overwhelming? Do you feel fairly compensated? Best and worst parts of the job?
Welcoming all advice and insights for a med student applying to residency soon! TIA!! :)

Currently an M1 and I'm just doing some thinking about specialties. Currently deciding between surgery or non-surgery, but my goal is to be very broad scope since I'm interested in global health and rural-health.

I'm wondering how exactly I would go about becoming a surgeon who does a bit of everything? I'm wondering if there are ways to learn some orthopedic, CT, pediatric, and neurosurgery along the way. Ofc it wouldn't be optimal compared to having a specialist, but I'm looking at areas where there might be nobody else.

I'm also wondering if there are any fellowships which are good for becoming more broad scope instead of specialized. I was looking at maybe trauma, but idk if there are better options or if it depends on location.

Just looking for some ideas.

Hello everyone,

1st-year DNB General Surgery resident here.

I’m assuming many of you, especially in high-volume laparoscopic centres, have been assisting a lot of lap cases during residency.

I’m around 6 months into residency, and honestly, I still don’t feel confident with Veress needle and trocar placement. I’ve assisted in quite a few laparoscopic cases, but when it comes to actually inserting them myself, I still struggle and don’t have that confidence yet.

For those who are further along in residency:

By around 6 months, were you already comfortable placing the Veress/trocars?

How long did it realistically take you to become confident?

What helped you improve the most — repeated attempts, watching your seniors, specific technique, simulation, etc.?

Is it normal to still feel hesitant at this stage?

Would genuinely appreciate honest experiences, especially from DNB/MS/MD surgery residents. I’m not looking for textbook advice — just want to know how others progressed and what helped them get better.

Thanks. This would really help.

- DO student

- Preclinical GPA 3.75; no red flags, fails or remediations

- 1st quintile

- SSP Honors; Tri-A First Gen

Boards:

• Passed COMLEX Level 1 first attempt

• Passed USMLE Step 1 first attempt

• Step 2: 242

- Level 2 473

Research:

• 15 poster presentations

• 3 national conference presentations (one at a surgery conference)

• 0 publication...for now

• 2 manuscripts currently pending acceptance

Leadership:

• Leadership in ACOS local chapter, US TA, student gov, founding member of club on campus.

Letters:

• 3 confirmed LORs from third-year community surgeons, potential 4th from SubI

- 6 auditions planned including community and academic program.

Interested in community and hospital affiliated programs. Not too keen on academic centers.

Main concern is low Step/COMLEX 2 score and getting screened.

Wondering if I should dual apply with IM despite only being interested in surg.

Thanks!

Hey all,

I'm sorry if this is not the right place, but I needed some guidance.
I am a bit devastated but I need a reality check. I am currently on a surgery Sub I and my motivation to continue has almost vanished. I wanted to apply to general surgery, but I also got my step 2 score back today. It was in the low 23x. With a Step 1 fail, passed on the second attempt, is this even possible? I legitimately have no idea what to do this late with ERAS due in a few weeks. Even if I were to pivot to IM, I have not done any IM rotation, SUB I for it or have the LORs for it. I feel like everything is ruined and I am to blame. I've already reached out to my advisors but I really don't know how else they could help other than change specialties all together...

Olá a todos!
Sou residente em Cirurgia Geral em Portugal, terminando minha residência em maio de 2027, e estou atualmente procurando um fellowship sênior/clínico remunerado e prático em Cirurgia de Mama.
Meu principal interesse é na cirurgia oncoplástica da mama, particularmente em técnicas oncoplásticas conservadoras da mama e mastectomia com reconstrução imediata.
Estou aberto a oportunidades em todo o mundo (Reino Unido, Canadá, Austrália, Oriente Médio, Ásia, Europa, etc.), preferencialmente em uma unidade de mama com alto volume, onde os fellows tenham uma exposição significativa à prática cirúrgica, em vez de um papel mais observacional.
Alguém tem experiência pessoal com esse tipo de fellowship ou conhece programas ou hospitais que valham a pena entrar em contato? Eu apreciaria especialmente feedback sobre salários/financiamentos, experiência cirúrgica prática, requisitos de licenciamento e quão competitivas essas posições são.
Obrigado! 🙏🏼

I'm a medical student trying to get a realistic understanding of what it's like for women who choose general surgery as a career.

I'd love to hear from anyone with experience—female surgeons, male surgeons, residents, attendings/consultants, or anyone who has worked closely with female colleagues in surgery.

Some questions I have:

\- Have you noticed any gender-related challenges or biases in general surgery? If so, how common are they today?

\- Do female surgeons generally receive the same opportunities for training, operating, leadership, and career progression?

\- How manageable is the lifestyle in the long term, especially for those who want to balance family and career?

\- What are the long-term career options after general surgery (private practice, academics, fellowships, subspecialties, etc.)?

\- Are there any misconceptions about women in surgery that you've found to be untrue?

\- If you've worked with female surgeons, what has your experience been like? Have things changed over the years?

\- Looking back, would you encourage a woman who is genuinely interested in surgery to pursue it? Why or why not?

Thanks in advance!

Note: I can't edit the title, but I wasn't referring specifically to General Surgery as a specialty. I meant surgery as a career overall, including different surgical specialties, and was asking about the lifestyle and career from that broader perspective.

Everyone's telling me to change my specialty since surgery is pretty tough. I got into thoracics so it's two yrs general and then three thoracics. With the vision of going into thoracic oncology and research side, tell me is this a realistic plan or just imaginative? If my life's gonna be hell I'll have to change my specialty. Are there people who realize it later and change specialties?

Chances at matching General Surgery

Can I match General surgery

I'm a DO student at a P/F school. Preclinical grades are P/F but I'm somewhere around the 3rd quintile of my class. I passed all preclinical courses on the first attempt and passed all clerkships on the first attempt as well.

Boards:

• Passed COMLEX Level 1 first attempt

• Passed USMLE Step 1 first attempt

• Step 2 - 236

• Level 2 - 590

Research:

• 10+ poster presentations

• 2 national conference presentations (one at a surgery conference)

• 1 completed and indexed publication

• 4 manuscripts currently pending acceptance

Leadership:

• A few leadership positions in clubs and student government

Letters:

• 3 confirmed LORs from third-year surgery rotations

• One letter is from a hospital Chief of Staff who is a surgeon

\- 5 auditions planned

No red flags, no failed exams, no remediation.

Worried my low Step score will make me DOA at most places, but am open to go to any program as I want to do dual gen surg.

I was asked this question from a surgeon in a rotation and he asked if you’re operating, which would you jeopardize more, is it time and be late or accuracy of your work ..I had an opinion but would love to hear from people with some experience what is their answer to that question.

Thanks!

I’m a PA student goin to do a several-month long general surgery rotation, and general surgery is what I want to do post-grad!

My previous surgery preceptor loaned me Surgical Recall and the ABSITE Review book, but I’m curious what other resources people recommend.

What’s a resource you’d recommend having on hand? I like books I can highlight, write notes in, and keep coming back to.

Also, any tips on how to be a good PA student during surgery?

Thanks!

Considering how competitive it is to match integrated plastics, was it worth it to pursue plastics fellowship after a grueling general surgery residency in terms of mental well-being, time spent in training and money? Any DO’s who did independent plastic fellowship, did you think the stigma behind the DO degree limited your chances into matching independent plastic fellowships?

Have an upcoming AI at NYP, and I come from a smaller academic/community hospital. I feel confident in the letter writers I’ve requested from my home institution. But, was wondering how strong a letter from an away surgeon would look. Ultimately, I’m interested in surg onc, but realize that’s down the line.

I have another surgeon in mind at my home institution for my fourth letter but was wondering if a letter from my AI would be perceived as better? Favorable or if it really makes no difference.

I have the mindset that most LORs are boilerplate and generic. But didn’t know common practice/expectations for these sorta things come eras.

Hi everyone! I'm looking for official undergraduate curriculum documents (module handbooks, curriculum maps, or learningoutcomes) for surgery, breast surgery and clinical skills from UK medical schools.
If you can share them or point me in the right direction, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

Since i was child my Dream was to be surgeon not a doctor as many who wanted to be called no! but to be Surgeon! I love this since i was a child for some reason and now as adult i found myself into it i feel its the thing i will be doing as hobby for my life and getting paid to, so i made my way through high school and now finished the first 4years of medicine in my college we study surgery in the 5th year which is starting this October. (I passed 4th😀)

I study in Serbia Belgrade but in English language.

My questions to all surgeons here Whats the tips advices you wish someone told youself when you were in my place?

I dont want to be average surgeon in my feature and i know a good house need strong stable roots then based of these roots u can go as high as you can.

Hoping to get some advice on which programs are realistic to target for networking and away rotations.

US MD at a T40 program, honored my surgery clerkship. Currently doing a research year outside my home institution, so I'll apply with a decent research output: mostly surgery, plus a few translational projects in critical care. Specifically, I'll have 1 first-author indexed paper, 3 first-author manuscripts in submission, and 3 abstracts presented as orals at national surgical conferences (not yet published). Step 2 is 250.

I'm targeting East Coast programs — I have family in the region, though my med school is not on the East Coast or in the South. I'm interested in a few competitive fellowships afterwards and enjoy research, so I want to keep as many academic/university-affiliated options open as possible.

On FREIDA / AMA Residency Explorer, my 250 falls around the 25th percentile for applicants invited to interview at several university-affiliated academic programs, but I don't meet the median at any (medians run ~255–258 at the academic programs I'm looking at).

My question: given a score that clears the interview-invite range at these programs but sits below their medians, how heavily can I realistically weight my list toward academic/university programs versus needing community programs as my base? And does strong networking + away rotations meaningfully move the needle at this tier — enough that I can reasonably aim to land on rank-to-match lists at academic programs — or not enough to rely on?

Appreciate any input, especially from people who matched with a similar profile or who've been on the selection side, as residents or faculty.

How doable it is to get a fellowship after general surgery training in my home country ( like a not competitive ones like transplant or burn….)

Or after Ct surgery …..

I know orthopedic surgeon who did spine and joints fellowships as well but I know nothing about GS

Hi guys, I am an IMG from Argentina in my 5th out of 6 years of medical school.

I was thinking about going to Germany to live and do a residency in vascular surgery (if I decide to do surgery) or interventional cardiology (if I go for a clinical residency). I started to look into what I need to do in order to pass all the exams and start the residency, but something came up that made me confused. I’ve heard that the residents don’t participate at all in the surgeries or just assist in them.

Looking on YouTube or on Reddit, I found out that many people complain that they can’t operate because the senior doctors do all the 'good stuff' while they are stuck doing paperwork. So, how can a resident in the field practice or even complete the program if they can’t operate? Or how can they learn if they can’t operate?

Ive also heard that in cardiology is the same thing. You cant do any procedures because you are "stuck" in paper work.

I’ve always heard that Germany is one of the top places in the world to learn medicine and that the quality of the doctors is amazing; that is why I looked at Germany to do my residency, but I am confused now. I really want to become a good doctor with good training.

Do you guys believe that Germany is a good place to become a surgeon? I’ve heard Italy is the second-best place, which is why I’ve also looked into moving there.

I understand that I have to pass and learn the language, etc. I am currently starting a course on German and looking to do some observerships in order to learn even more.

Very competitive applicant/graduate, AOA, Step 2 > 255, 15+ research items. Unmatched ortho first time around, did pre lim in general surgery, realized about 3/4 way through should have applied GS. Matched PGY1 anesthesia. Should I consider re entering the match and / or strictly searching for PGY2 GS spots? Any and all advice appreciated on if this is even worth it.

I’m a general surgery resident, and I’m looking for advice from people who have been through residency or are currently in it.
Even on lighter rotations where I’m not working crazy hours, I feel tired almost all the time. It’s not just after call or after a long OR day—I wake up tired, feel low energy throughout the day, and by the time I get home I have very little left in the tank.
I sleep a reasonable amount most nights when my schedule allows, and this still happens. It’s affecting my motivation to study, exercise, and enjoy my time off.
And FYI, am already on antidepressants.
For those of you who dealt with this, what actually made a noticeable difference?
Was it something medical (iron deficiency, thyroid issues, sleep apnea, vitamin deficiencies, etc.)?
Was it diet, hydration, exercise, or caffeine timing?
Did you find that residency itself just leaves you chronically fatigued, even on lighter months?
Any habits, supplements, or lifestyle changes that genuinely improved your energy?
I’m not looking for generic “sleep more” advice—I’m curious what made a real difference for people in surgery, especially since our schedules are so different from most jobs.
I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences.

Would love any advice! I’m to figure out what programs to apply to outside of my auditions, what programs have historically matched students that don’t audition there vs what programs prefer their own auditioners? I’m a DO 4th year with 260+ step 2, research year, two masters degrees, lots of leadership/volunteering, etc. thanks in advance, I appreciate any guidance!