Hello!
I, like many pre-meds face the difficult challenge of deciding where to apply for medical school. Of the many factors to take into account, should the residency specialty that interests me be one of them? I am fully aware that my interests can and probably will change while in medical school. But I would still like to give myself the best option for what I am most interested in now. Does it matter which medical school I go to when it comes to a successful match day? Thanks for the help!
P.S. I am looking at orthopedic surgery.
Short answer is that it probably doesn’t matter THAT much, especially since lots of people change their minds once exposed to all the other choices for residencies.
That being said, if you want to go into a competitive residency, like Ortho, it wouldn’t hurt to attend a school that has a strong ortho program. You’ll have more exposure, you may be able to get an LOR from a well-known name in the field, and you’ll have better chances to get into some ortho-specific research opportunities.
School match lists may be indicative of how good that school is, but don’t discount the fact that not everyone even wants to attend the #1 residency program of whatever field based on countless personal reasons.
Bottom line, though, is get into the school that you feel you will thrive in. For example, if a school is a problem-based-learning type school and has a strong ortho program, but you don’t learn well in that modality, then you may not do well enough in school/boards to even make ortho a realistic possibility. You can always do an away rotation during 4th year at ortho programs to get the exposure you want. Board scores aren’t everything for residency apps, but having a crappy score can cause you to self-eliminate from some programs. If you can, try to find a school that has strong career advising so you can gain all the info and advantage you can regardless of whether the school is well known for ortho.