2011-2012 Interview Gossip/Chit-Chat

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Ooof, rough day. Cleveland Clinic, Sloan, and UChicago rejections all in one day. What does it take to interview at the big name places? I thought I had a pretty solid app, but apparently not.

Same here... thought I had a solid app too. There are only a few places that haven't given out interviews yet, so we'll see how it goes.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Same here... thought I had a solid app too. There are only a few places that haven't given out interviews yet, so we'll see how it goes.

Do any places give out another round of interviews in later November/early December?

edit: vvvv I'm in a very similar position to you. Med school is just outside of the Top 50.
 
Last edited:
I'm convinced that some of these big name institutions rely heavily on your med school (Top 50) to hand out interviews. I'm from a bottom tier med school but have really good stats (first author pubs, astro oral, great step1/step2, great letters).. but no love from any top tier program. Anyone else in a similar boat?

The chair at my home institution warned me about this in that previous excellent candidates had similar outcomes with no interviews at these institutions.

On a side note.. wait listed at Cleveland Clinic.. what are the chances I get an interview??
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I think there are still around 25 programs that have not send out applications, also some will have openings based on schedualling conflicts. For example I had to drop one program and be waitlisted because of that. So some will open. Also maybe some have not send all their intreviews. Still it is scarry for all of us. Why did we have to apply in a year that applicants have increased up by maybe 20-30 :).

On a second note did U Chicago sent out rejections today. I did not get mine, probably hiding it till tom. to start my day the way Cleveland clinic did today:D
 
Rejections from CCF, Mayo, Stanford, Iowa, and MSK today!
 
I think waitlisted is good (worse than interview, of course). You have a decent shot of being interviewed there! great job and keep your hopes up.
 
I'm convinced that some of these big name institutions rely heavily on your med school (Top 50)
Lol just look at the current residents at Harvard! 80% of them are from Harvard! btw, that's why I didn't bother applying there, no matter what my stats are! :laugh::laugh::laugh:

And of course if there are two identical candidates, and one comes from a top 10 school, and the other - from a school somewhere in the middle, the first one will get the spot. There is nothing new there. The problem is that there are so few spots in RadOnc that they do get gobbled up that much faster...
 
I still haven't heard one way or another from a program that I am would like to end up at. Would it be ok to send them an email letting them know my interest?
 
I still haven't heard one way or another from a program that I am would like to end up at. Would it be ok to send them an email letting them know my interest?

I think it is reasonable to send an email of interest. I don't think it will hurt you (if written well) and it could help.
 
For the programs that have yet to send out interview invites, when should we expect these? Are most before Thanksgiving or are they sent out after? I'd like to do some travel planning and the uncertainty is making it tough!
 
Anybody know if Penn sent a second wave of invites since last Thursday?
 
.
 
Last edited:
Members don't see this ad :)
I assume Hoftstra is a new program this year? Didn't see them on the list last year...
 
I had heard that was the case for all UC schools, but I never confirmed this.
 
So whats the word on how many invites we should have at this point to feel comfortable.. by my estimate around 80% of programs have sent out invites. I know that historically, 9 invites was good enough for a spot.. but with more applicants is that number up to 10-11??
 
from a mathematical standpoint, the total number of applicants shouldn't have a bearing on the "magic number" needed to be confident of a match -- all that matters is the number of interviews that programs offer per spot. to make a point by exaggeration: if there were only 100 applicants this year, but each program gave out 50 interviews per spot, would you still feel good about having 8 interviews? probably not. however, if there were 1000 applicants this year, and each program only gave out 5 interviews per spot, you'd feel pretty good about having 8 interviews.

obviously there are many other factors and much randomness that happens, but overall, since the number of interviews per spot hasn't seemed to change, i think the magic number is still 8-10. having more applicants this year just means that the average number of interviews everyone gets is likely to be lower than they might have gotten in previous years, but the magic number shouldn't change.

have i thoroughly muddled the issue :)
 
I'm as concerned as anyone else about the increase in applicants, but are we going to find out just how many applied and matched? Does the NRMP put out any data about the match in the years they don't publish Charting Outcomes in the Match (like this year)?
 
A program contacted me today saying I am on their waiting list. I was wondering what to make of it, it is a solid program not top 15. How realistic is it to recieve an invite from a program wait listing you. Anythoughts?
 
A program contacted me today saying I am on their waiting list. I was wondering what to make of it, it is a solid program not top 15. How realistic is it to recieve an invite from a program wait listing you. Anythoughts?

Last year I received an invite from a program after they told me I was on their waitlist. I also ended up matching at a place that invited me after they had sent out their first batch of interviews, so it's not necessarily a bad sign if you don't get invited right off the bat.
 
Last year, I got an invite to a program AFTER I was rejected from them. For another program, I got another invite in January after I had been put on a waitlist in the end of November. At least last year, it seemed like there would be an interview slot that would open up for a program (ie an applicant declining the interview as the season goes on), and that program then tries to fill that interview slot. Sometimes they may need to go through several applicants before one of them can make it, since by December your interview schedules really have started to solidify or tighten up.
 
Anyone hear from Stanford recently? Second wave of interviews or formal wait list?
 
Got a Utah rejection/waitlist today. A quick question from you guys: I have 10 interviews so far, one of them in a location that I'm less than thrilled about. Would it be a bad idea to cancel it and go down to 9? This whole process is getting pretty expensive.
 
On behalf of those who don't have 10 interviews, feel free to drop some crumbs for everybody else. On that note several programs I was hoping to interview at interview in the next 2-3 weeks. I have not been rejected from any of them. Will I A) be rejected shortly B) hold out hope for an invite or C) never hear anything from them. Looking at previous years most programs seemed to send to rejections at some point. Good luck everyone.
 
Got a Utah rejection/waitlist today. A quick question from you guys: I have 10 interviews so far, one of them in a location that I'm less than thrilled about. Would it be a bad idea to cancel it and go down to 9? This whole process is getting pretty expensive.

No one can guarantee that you will match with 9 interviews instead of 10. Historically 9 interviews is a pretty good bet but obviously there are no guarantees in this process.
 
Got a Utah rejection/waitlist today. A quick question from you guys: I have 10 interviews so far, one of them in a location that I'm less than thrilled about. Would it be a bad idea to cancel it and go down to 9? This whole process is getting pretty expensive.
I have 12 invites and I have cancelled 3 of them because they were from programs with not good academic reputation. I want to go to a _good_ program - and I have finally made up my mind that I'd rather not match this year than go someplace where I will not get good training. Still not sure if this is the right decision. If you look at charting outcomes from last year, no one with >11 ranks did not match. Which means that one probably needs to rank >13 (and consult good astrologist/sacrifice an unblemished lamb) to be absolutely guaranteed a match. On the other hand, someone ranked 1 and matched (I'd pay big money to meet him/her!!! :wow::claps::bow:).
 
i hope they're still giving interviews... hesitant to keep asking. still waiting for one myself

Glad I'm not the only one waiting. They obviously gave out that early pre-dean's letter batch - I heard their first wave is for MD-PhDs and Harvard folks. But if they haven't given out the rest for non-Harvard MDs, man, they are taking their time!
 
Has any one heard anything else from the three Chicago programs, interview/rejection/or waitlist?
 
When an interviewer asks you why rad-onc vs. heme/onc how do you typically respond?
 
Has any one heard anything else from the three Chicago programs, interview/rejection/or waitlist?

U Chicago is done interviewing, they only had one date. Northwestern isn't taking anyone this year, I believe. Don't know about Rush.
 
I have been asked this question by multiple fellow applicants on intreview trail, and I could not answer so I figured I post it here. Applicants are asking if people are getting more intreviews or less. One told me people are getting less invites since there are more applicants, some one else told me people are getting more invites as programs are inviting more from a larger pool. In honesty I have no clue , so I figured I post it here and see what others think since many of these applicants also look up student doctor.
 
So which method are people using to thank program directors/interviewers? I can see advantages to both. Email gives them a chance to respond, adding that extra bit of feedback from their side. Letters, of course, require more time/effort and may look better.

This is probably quite a nit-picky question with little relevance but, like many of us, the process is making me neurotic.
 
So which method are people using to thank program directors/interviewers?.

This has been a hot topic in previous interview cycles; see here and here.

In this day and age, pretty much everybody uses email so I think electronic thank you notes are adequate. However, there is nothing quite like the feel of a handwritten note, particularly when email is so pervasive. Once in a while, I got a handwritten note from applicants when I was a resident and it was a great feeling. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I certainly tended to remember those students more than others who just sent an email.

If you are REALLY interested in a particular program, it may be worthwhile to send handwritten note(s). For what it's worth, I wrote a handrwritten thank you note to everyone who had interviewed me (short, usually three sentences, but personalized). I bought a bunch of blank thank you cards and filled them out while I was sitting in the airport. Probably overkill, but like all of you I was crapping my pants during interview season and was desperate for an edge.
 
Thanks Gfunk, very helpful.
 
So when did all of you guys for this cycle take your Step 2CK? It'd be really helpful for those of us coming right behind you!

I took it in June because I didn't have a better time to take it any other time. I wanted to be able to focus fully on research and aways.
 
Just wondering any one heared from Loma Limda, Vandy, Allgehney?
 
I need some advice. I received an interview offer from Program A during their first set of invites. I'm not too interested in Program A but I can't complain. I received an invite from Program B because they had people cancel and needed to fill an interview spot. Program B is supposed to be a phenomenal program and I'm very interested in it. Is it worth canceling Program A for Program B or are my chances at Program B practically 0.
 
I need some advice. I received an interview offer from Program A during their first set of invites. I'm not too interested in Program A but I can't complain. I received an invite from Program B because they had people cancel and needed to fill an interview spot. Program B is supposed to be a phenomenal program and I'm very interested in it. Is it worth canceling Program A for Program B or are my chances at Program B practically 0.


(If you want to send specific program names as PM to get a more accurate comparison, given your preference on location, I'd be happy to help).

In my experience, being invited period is a good sign. Once you get to the interview, how you fit in with the program and how you do during the interview means a lot. Applicants every year match to programs that invited them later - I'd say go for it. Do you otherwise have enough interviews to reach the critical threshold for matching?
 
Top