2011-2012 Interview Gossip/Chit-Chat

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ok i'm officially confused by the interview thread. i think an "underline" means an invite was sent, although two programs (new york methodist and harvard), don't cite the notification date. Would it be too much to ask to just separate the two groups (invites sent vs not sent) by a paragraph break and maybe add labels to distinguish them?

Agreed. Also the last post concerning Harvard was made by a resident, so it's unclear if invites have gone out. I'm also curious if Michigan has sent out invites for all of their interview dates as the OP only made a comment about the Nov. 4 date. If anyone knows the answer to these questions, I would really appreciate it.

Regards.

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Agreed. Also the last post concerning Harvard was made by a resident, so it's unclear if invites have gone out. I'm also curious if Michigan has sent out invites for all of their interview dates as the OP only made a comment about the Nov. 4 date. If anyone knows the answer to these questions, I would really appreciate it.

Regards.

Yeah seriously. Maybe we could have people specifically put "(Interviews sent out)" in parentheses in front of each school. I think it's too easy to accidentally underline a school and cause havoc on SDN.
 
Yeah seriously. Maybe we could have people specifically put "(Interviews sent out)" in parentheses in front of each school. I think it's too easy to accidentally underline a school and cause havoc on SDN.

I think the thread should only be for invites sent out, with all the formatting its bound to get messed up multiple times. Especially since interviews seem to be sent out out so randomly until mid-December.

And yes, I'm nervous. I told my wife that odds ain't so hot this year :oops:
 
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Why do you say odds aren't so hot this year? Is it because there seem to be a lot of applicants?

From what I hear, there are more applicants this year. This is an assumption, but I am assuming that the avg. board scores, AOA#s have also increased. Hopefully I'm just paranoid:)
 
There are definitely more applicants this year. My school has 3 people applying (we've never had more then 2), I ran into two other students who said they had 4 and 5 people applying (again never had more then 2-3). It also seems like a ton of people are taking time off as every place I rotated at had 1-2 students who did research there for a year.
 
My experience was that step scores, AOA status, and LORs trump research experience easily, even in this field. You should be able to find a few months in fourth year to demonstrate your ability to put out a clinical research paper. Yes, if you want a top program, you may need to take a year off in addition to having the high step scores, AOA, and great LORs. But that's true in a lot of specialties.
 
My experience was that step scores, AOA status, and LORs trump research experience easily, even in this field. .

This certainly isn't what I've been told, experienced or heard restated in this forum over and over.

I personally met people on the interview trail last year who were interviewing at all the big name places with <20-30 points my step 1 and 2 and my AOA, but with tons of pubs.

The stats thread is full of mediocre/average academic credentials that all did very well because of voluminous research and PhD Status.

In Rad Onc, good research will take you very very far and may trump scores easily.

I ended up with plenty interviews last year and matched happily but I was a nervous wreck because of my thin research background.
 
I personally met people on the interview trail last year who were interviewing at all the big name places with <20-30 points my step 1 and 2 and my AOA, but with tons of pubs.

I was one of those types. I felt like I got beat out handily by the AOA, high step score, not much research crowd. I interviewed at a few big name places and matched ok in the end, but not to a "top" program.

Sure, there are some huge name academic places I interviewed at and ranked low because I thought they were malignant and in bad locations. That was my personal choice. But when it came to big name places in desirable locations, or really just about any name places in desirable locations, I was almost entirely shut out.
 
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I'm inclined to agree with RadOnc11. If you look at the latest Charting Outcomes in the Match, you will see that applicants with lower Step I scores (I mean < 200) still had a decent (>50%) chance of matching. On the other hand, only one person matched with NO research experience.

Of course these stats are for matching in Rad Onc anywhere, not just top programs or desirable locations. If you want the latter two then you'll obviously need an application which is strong in all respects.
 
My point is not to go applying with zero research experience. My point is that you only need a month or two on top of your fourth year clinical rotations to get a clinical pub and be competitive for mid-tier programs if your stats are good.

My experience was that years of basic science research in an area related to, but outside of rad onc doesn't get you very far. I met several others on the interview trial in similar positions who felt the same way. Many years of basic science research within rad onc is desirable, but not many people will apply with that.
 
I think that it is natural for everyone to be flipping out and speculating about numbers of applicants this year. In all honesty the trend is difficult to predict until the numbers come in. People basing overall numbers off of their home institution's number of applicants is only going to cause undue stress. My home institution has a strong history of putting out higher than average numbers of applicants and we are at half the number of RadOnc applicants from last year. Also the two programs I did aways at were surprised by how few externs they had this year. All in all my point is, I don't think it is worth losing sleep over speculations.
 
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My point is not to go applying with zero research experience. My point is that you only need a month or two on top of your fourth year clinical rotations to get a clinical pub and be competitive for mid-tier programs if your stats are good.

My experience was that years of basic science research in an area related to, but outside of rad onc doesn't get you very far. I met several others on the interview trial in similar positions who felt the same way. Many years of basic science research within rad onc is desirable, but not many people will apply with that.

I'm upset that my one pub came out AFTER I sent out my eras. I did send an update to every program, but I think it would have definitely helped me more if it was in earlier.

I can imagine LORs to be super important when everyone seems to have decent numbers.
 
I was one of those types. I felt like I got beat out handily by the AOA, high step score, not much research crowd. I interviewed at a few big name places and matched ok in the end, but not to a "top" program.

Sure, there are some huge name academic places I interviewed at and ranked low because I thought they were malignant and in bad locations. That was my personal choice. But when it came to big name places in desirable locations, or really just about any name places in desirable locations, I was almost entirely shut out.

I think the people that end up matching at the top places in desirable locations are the ones, for the most part, with plenty of research PLUS AOA PLUS 250+.

If you lack one of those then your application is not "perfect" and you have less of a shot at those places.

That being said, I have heard of people with awesome PhD experiences who lacked AOA or 250+ and matched at amazing programs.
 
Can any residents give any insight into what to expect as far as logistics for interviews? I had friends that applied last year in different specialties that said most of the programs they interviewed at paid for their hotel. Is that true for most Rad Onc programs? Also, how long is the interview day? Would it be possible to do interviews at different places on back to back days?
 
Logistics = very difficult. There are few dates per program, and they often overlap with other programs. Some programs will invite you with little notice and expect you to show up on a particular date with no ability to switch that date, even if it conflicts with another program. Very few programs pay for a hotel... MD Anderson is the only one that comes to my mind.

The length of the interview days depends on whether there is a dinner the night before or a dinner the night of. You should always go to these dinners if you can help it. It can sometimes be possible to do back to back interviews in one region on one trip, but it rarely works out that way.

My general advice is: get the prelim/TY interviews out of the way ASAP to make room for rad onc interviews. Schedule rad onc interviews as early as possible in case you get later invites.

Also: hot sauce below is right on :thumbup::thumbup:
 
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Logistics = very difficult. There are few dates per program, and they often overlap with other programs. Some programs will invite you with little notice and expect you to show up on a particular date with no ability to switch that date, even if it conflicts with another program. Very few programs pay for a hotel... MD Anderson is the only one that comes to my mind.

I remember the cleveland clinic helped defray costs, and if I recall correctly, so did U Wisconsin
 
Can any residents give any insight into what to expect as far as logistics for interviews? I had friends that applied last year in different specialties that said most of the programs they interviewed at paid for their hotel. Is that true for most Rad Onc programs? Also, how long is the interview day? Would it be possible to do interviews at different places on back to back days?

My advice is book with southwest when possible as you can change flights without paying huge penalties.
 
Not to sidetrack the discussion, but what is the proper way of going about "updating" the programs you have applied to regarding changes in publication status, AOA status etc? Thanks for any insight!
 
Not to sidetrack the discussion, but what is the proper way of going about "updating" the programs you have applied to regarding changes in publication status, AOA status etc? Thanks for any insight!

I am also wondering the same thing... I have heard that during an interview it is good to hand out a hard copy of your CV to the interviewer with updates. In terms of updating a CV, is it a good idea to include abstracts that have been submitted but not accepted since most of the acceptances will likely not occur until after interviews/match?

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
I need to get banned from this forum so I dont have a heart attack every time I don't get an interview that someone else got.
 
I need to get banned from this forum so I dont have a heart attack every time I don't get an interview that someone else got.

I bought a pack of baby aspirin and an AED just in case.
 
My advice is book with southwest when possible as you can change flights without paying huge penalties.

Yep, great advice. You want as much flexibility as possible.

As for programs that help you out with a hotel stay, U Wisconsin and MD Anderson come to mind. You get 1 night at U Wisconsin (I believe) and up to 3 nights at MD Anderson. Obviously, even without this help, these are top top top programs and a great experience if you have a chance to interview there.
 
Georgetown rejection.

May be useful to have a rejection thread:

Case Western and Georgetown thus far.
 
Georgetown rejection.

May be useful to have a rejection thread:

Case Western and Georgetown thus far.

Geez, I did get the Case Western rejection, but not the one from Georgetown - apparently, Georgetown divides the applicants into three categories: the good ones that are invited to the interview, the good ones that are formally rejected, and the truly bad ones who are not even worthy of a formal rejection!
:lol::scared::lol::scared::lol:
 
Geez, I did get the Case Western rejection, but not the one from Georgetown - apparently, Georgetown divides the applicants into three categories: the good ones that are invited to the interview, the good ones that are formally rejected, and the truly bad ones who are not even worthy of a formal rejection!
:lol::scared::lol::scared::lol:

ORRR: 1. Invite now. 2. Invite later if we have space. 3. Reject.

I have a feeling you are in the 2nd category. I hope you get the invite today :luck:
 
No invites yet for me. Its hard to understand how each school chooses their top 15-30 candidates and yet somehow 160+ candidates match. Aside from doing an away rotation there, what is an appropriate way to express particular interest in a program and/or region of the country?
 
No invites yet for me. Its hard to understand how each school chooses their top 15-30 candidates and yet somehow 160+ candidates match. Aside from doing an away rotation there, what is an appropriate way to express particular interest in a program and/or region of the country?
Regarding expressing interest, I have heard three things from two of my friends who matched into RadOnc in previous years:
1. Customize your PS
2. Ask someone to make a call on your behalf to the program of interest ("someone" being a bigwig faculty member from your home institution; of course, he or she has to know you well enough)
3. Contact the program yourself later in the application season.
 
Its hard to understand how each school chooses their top 15-30 candidates and yet somehow 160+ candidates match.
I think this is what confuses me as well.. it seems like the same people get the interviews at most of these places so how does the average applicant end up getting a spot?

Call me crazy but I catered nearly all of my personal statements by mentioning area (ie, NY, Midwest, West coast, etc.) but I don't think that necessarily will get me an interview..

I just hate this stupid process.. :scared:
 
Its hard to understand how each school chooses their top 15-30 candidates and yet somehow 160+ candidates match.

There are tiers of applicants just as there are tiers of programs. In addition, there is that often mentioned regional bias. Therefore, expect to see the same people over and over again during your interviews.
 
There are tiers of applicants just as there are tiers of programs. In addition, there is that often mentioned regional bias. Therefore, expect to see the same people over and over again during your interviews.

I actually tried estimating a "tier" for myself. I put myself in 6th tier based on the charting outcome stats (assuming each tier has 20-25 students). I then looked at the ~80ish programs and tried to estimate where I could end up. Any my calculations resulted in..........me watching reruns of 2 and 1/2 men.
 
I think similar tier programs definitely end up interviewing the same group of people (i.e. as GFunk said, tiers of applicants), and in my experience (N=1) I didn't experience much regional bias. Similar programs are looking at similar types of people (don't mistake this to mean all high Step scores, uber-publishers, etc). In fact, I thought my fellow interviewees were pretty heterogenous! For instance, I interviewed with the same people in back to back West coast then East coast interviews - we concluded we should've just flown/roomed together (which we subsequently did at the next interview in yet another part of the country). I remember the craziness of the process, but stick in there. It's still really early and the process will keep on moving whether or not you worry about it. Watch a movie, go exercise, take a deep breath.
 
just out of curiosity- what "tier" is georgetown in?? formal rejection here- trying to estimate where i fall...
 
Agreed. Also the last post concerning Harvard was made by a resident, so it's unclear if invites have gone out. I'm also curious if Michigan has sent out invites for all of their interview dates as the OP only made a comment about the Nov. 4 date. If anyone knows the answer to these questions, I would really appreciate it.

Hey jpaulreddy, I sort of doubt Michigan has put out all of its dates. I got an email asking me to come on one particular day (where the others seem to give a choice of a couple/few days), and it seems unlikely that they only have one interview day. Sorry I don't know more to tell you about that. Because really, everyone needs more uncertainty to heighten our anxiety at this point, don't we? Yikes. My heart can't take this darn process.
 
Last year UMich had at least 3 IV dates, with invitation emails stating one date only, with significant gaps between when invites for them went out. Harvard had a similar process. This happens with a lot of other programs as well.

Fret not, or at least not yet.
 
Hey jpaulreddy, I sort of doubt Michigan has put out all of its dates. I got an email asking me to come on one particular day (where the others seem to give a choice of a couple/few days), and it seems unlikely that they only have one interview day.

It's widely rumored that Michigan invites their favorite applicants for the first interview date only. That's denied by them on SDN, however.
 
Michigan will have three interview dates with invites only sent for one date, and they have not taken ANY applicant from their first interview date in the past three years (for what it is worth)
 
Dont worry, plenty of time left.

Michigan usually has 3 days - last year they were pretty well spaced apart. Agreed with Nukem that they have tended to invite their favorite applicants on day 1. The previous poster is incorrect in his statement - just in the last match cycle there was someone who matched who was at the first interview day. Matching comes down to a lot of factors (who the program wants, the applicants rank list, etc), but the fact is that Michigan is an extremely strong and phenomenal program - you should be extremely happy if you get a chance to interview there.
 
Does anyone have any insight on New York Methodist this year and their multiple interview dates? It looks like they are having a strangely large number of them for what is normally a 2-4 interview day process. It also looks like they are presenting interviews in multiple waves, any idea if they are done sending out invites?

Are they planning on interviewing just a couple of people on each date or are we looking at 40-50 applicants?
 
I totally agree with the separation of dates and offers and thank whoever started that. Also, I just found a phone msg from Mayo (which is over 24hrs old!). FYI for anyone else out there who, like me, does not check phone msgs, should probably kick that habit for interview season. And thanks for all who are posting updates, of course!
 
Does anyone have any insight on New York Methodist this year and their multiple interview dates? It looks like they are having a strangely large number of them for what is normally a 2-4 interview day process. It also looks like they are presenting interviews in multiple waves, any idea if they are done sending out invites?

Are they planning on interviewing just a couple of people on each date or are we looking at 40-50 applicants?

I did get an invitation today, and what they did was sent a universal email to all applicants they invited a for the 5 dates. There were 13 invited ( I hope that I did not commit any violation by revealing their number of invitess) so I am not sure if it is 40-50, more likely 25 to 30, as I assume around another 12 were invited in the first wave. That is ofcourse if they are done invitting.
Any way hope the best for all of us :)
 
Do you think a lot of programs are just waiting for MSPEs this year?
 
Just to echo a thought that's been alluded to-- at this stage of the game it's normal to be freaking out but to go back to ERAS and shell out more $$ for programs you weren't previously interested in is a waste of money. I did this too, sent 10 or 15 somewhat late applications and 1) none of them invited me to interview, and 2) I ended up being just fine in my number of interviews at the end and matched high on my list. So relax (easier said than done, I know).
 
I thought I would drop a quick line to help assuage some fears/anxiety that many of you may (or may not) be experiencing...

Like yeasterbunny, by approximately this point (mid-late October), I probably only had 2-3 interviews and was somewhat concerned. Nonetheless, there was a rather large deluge of interviews sent out in early November and I ended up with 11 interviews and subsequently matched to my top ranked program...so please take a deep breath and try to relax.

Furthermore, I believe that many programs (mine included) do not even look at applications until the Dean's Letter (MSPE) comes out on November 1st. So, try to enjoy what will be the most relaxing year of your nine years from MS-1 to PGY-5. :)
 
I thought I would drop a quick line to help assuage some fears/anxiety that many of you may (or may not) be experiencing...

Like yeasterbunny, by approximately this point (mid-late October), I probably only had 2-3 interviews and was somewhat concerned. Nonetheless, there was a rather large deluge of interviews sent out in early November and I ended up with 11 interviews and subsequently matched to my top ranked program...so please take a deep breath and try to relax.

Furthermore, I believe that many programs (mine included) do not even look at applications until the Dean's Letter (MSPE) comes out on November 1st. So, try to enjoy what will be the most relaxing year of your nine years from MS-1 to PGY-5. :)

And what about those of us who don't even have 2-3 interviews yet? Should we start to get worried yet?
 
I still would just sit tight and try to relax a bit. I met people with all sorts of different experiences - some with few interviews, some with many. It's still pretty early, and I didn't get the majority of my interviews until well into November, some in December, and even one in January (there was a Univ of Florida interview floating around). As Cyberknife mentioned, enjoy this year! Because you only have intern year to look forward to next year!
 
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