Application
Selection criteria. It is self-evident that the residents are the backbone and greatest asset of a surgical training program. Our stated mission is “to be the best community-based surgical residency program in the Southeastern United States” To fulfill this mission, one of my highest priorities, as Program Director, is the annual selection of the best possible candidates to add to our superb current cadre. We are looking for candidates who believe in our stated values “integrity, respect, honesty and excellence in patient care and scholarship”. The successful applicant will be intelligent, motivated, and have excellent interpersonal skills. Academic curiosity and an ability for self-teaching are vital. This is not a program for students who prefer “spoon feeding” and frequent lectures, nor for those interested in advancing by pulling others down!
Medical school academic achievement, including USMLE scores, is one of the more objective tools for resident selection. We realize that such scores reflect only a part of an applicant’s potential, but USMLE scores are predictive of success in taking surgery board certification. Letters of recommendation, especially if personalized, are an important supplement to the transcript. Research is a favorable addition, but we have not excluded otherwise excellent candidates without research experience. We require a personal visit to Spartanburg, as we feel that this visit is vital for us (and the applicant) to assess an applicant’s suitability to our program.
Our interview policy. Interviews are expensive for applicants and time-consuming for applicants and faculty. By November 1, 2007 we have had about 300 applicants for our three categorical positions and will interview about 40. In general, we are fairly liberal in granting interviews to medical students within easy driving distance. We encourage applicants from outside of our driving area - currently seventy percent of our residents went to medical school outside of Georgia and the Carolinas. To minimize wasted expense, however, I will honestly assess (based on previous years’ experience) any “distant” applicant’s chances for a high rank in our program. Simply put, I will not offer you an interview if you live far away and are unlikely to be on our rank list. You can be assured, therefore, that an offer of an interview for those of you living at a distance means that you have a competitive chance of matching in our program.
PGY-1 Class of 2008: Statistics regarding applicants scheduled for categorical interview as of December 8, 2007 (N=48)
USMLE Part I: Average 217 (191-251). 24% were 230 or higher
USMLE Part II: Average 228 (199-262). 42% were 230 or higher
The bar graph shows the distribution of each individual's highest score.
43 (90%) are from US medical schools - 6 of those are from osteopathic medical schools. 5 (10%) are from Caribbean medical schools. The USMLE scores for the Caribbean students are substantially higher than those from US medical schools.
As shown in the pie chart, 8 applicants are from MUSC or USC, and another 18% are from medical schools in Georgia, North Carolina, or Tennessee. However, almost a quarter of our applicants are from US medical schools outside the southeast, including Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Indiana, Oklahaoma, and Texas.
Currently, the SRMC categorical residents that matched with us as interns averaged 222 (214-232) on Part I and 227 (200-266) on Part II.
The INTERVIEW Process
The majority of our interviews are held on several designated Friday mornings. Occasionally, we offer less formal interview sessions during weekdays. The latter have the advantage of seeing the system “at work”, but have the disadvantage of working around work schedules, operations, etc. These weekday interviews are by appointment only, and limited to applicants with legitimate scheduling conflicts.
Please plan on arriving the evening before your interview, if at all possible, so that you may have dinner with a representative group of our current residents. In addition to dinner, the Program will arrange for a single night’s lodging, at our expense. After lunch with the house staff, you may expect to leave Spartanburg in the early afternoon following the interview. Convenient airports are Greenville-Spartanburg (GSP) or Charlotte (CLT). The Program does not reimburse for your travel expenses.
For Osteopathic Medical Students.
We encourage qualified osteopathic medical students. Successful passage of USMLE Parts I and II is encouraged, but we will consider applicants with excellent COMLEX scores who have not taken the USMLE.
International Medical Graduates.
Each year we receive over 200 applications from International Medical Graduates. Unfortunately, we must limit our potential interviews to those IMG’s with the following credentials:
- We rarely sponsor visas
- Graduation from medical school within 24 months of application for residency.
- Medical experience in the United States
Preliminary residents. We offer three “non-designated” preliminary PGY-1 positions and up to two “designated” preliminary PGY-1 positions. In the recent past, our preliminary residents have done well in capturing PGY-2 positions. Although a few preliminary residents have decided to move into other specialties (internal medicine, anesthesiology, and neurosurgery), several others have remained in general surgery and have been placed in excellent training programs. Our designated preliminary residents have commented upon the value of their PGY-1 year at Spartanburg. Recent designated residents continued in anesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and radiology.
Non-designated PGY-1 residents have the same responsibilities and opportunities as our categorical residents. We are able to tailor the PGY-1 year, to some extent, for designated PGY-1’s to facilitate their eventual career goals. We do not require an “on-site” interview for preliminary positions. However, these positions are becoming more competitive and an on-site interview will definitely enhance an applicant’s chances. In 2007 we matched one of the three non-designated preliminary spots. An additional spot was filled by a student who had been in contact before the match, and the third spot was filled on “scramble” day. We signed the designated preliminary intern on scramble day. I am very happy to talk with anyone who may be interested in these excellent positions. Ideally, I would like to match these positions and avoid scramble day altogether.
Externships. We are please to offer externships to medical and osteopathic medical students from accredited US medical schools - these are sponsored by the Medical University of South Carolina. Please contact Sandra Lully for application materials. In the past, several of our “externs” have been matched at Spartanburg Regional, but externship is not a prerequisite for matching here. It is also unlikely that a student with a poor academic record will match with us simply because he/she did an externship here. Students are treated as “acting interns” and usually spend two weeks on trauma and two weeks on oncology or vascular.