Tips for Medical Students Year 1-3

1. Start planning early. (Where have you heard that before?) 
2. Make yourself known to the orthopaedic faculty at your own institution. Contact one or more of the attendings and introduce yourself as a prospective orthopaedic residency candidate. (If you can find out who is on the interview committee it is helpful, but not crucial.) Just get to know them and allow them an opportunity to know you.
3. Get involved. At Wake Forest School of Medicine that means helping out with whatever research projects are in progress and/or volunteering to go to clinics (away and on-site). If sports is your area of interest, you may want to ask if you can help out with pre-season physicals, game coverage, and to go along to the campus training rooms. Once the orthopaedic faculty members know you are interested, you are sure to find they are very receptive to helping you learn all you can in their field of interest.
4. Do some relevant (orthopaedic) research. Our program does not place a heavy emphasis on research, but it IS important to have some research experience.
5. Planning acting internships at the programs which hold the most appeal to you can also be a good idea. This will allow you (and the program) the opportunity to work together and get to know each other. If nothing else, it should help you to get an interview there. Note: When you go to do an AI, plan to WORK HARD. If you go, fulfill the basic requirements and then go home you are wasting your time and that of the program. This is applicable whether you are at the very top or in the middle of your class.  Please see the section Visiting Studentsfor more information on this topic.