2014-15 Anesthesiology Applications & Interviews

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I've had a couple of surprise invites in the past couple of weeks. It seems to me that the invites going out now are filling spots vacated by people who cancelled their interviews.
 
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DaisyBuchanan said:
I've had a couple of surprise invites in the past couple of weeks. It seems to me that the invites going out now are filling spots vacated by people who cancelled their interviews.
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I agree - I am sure that is the case with the ones I am seeing this week.
 
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Out of curiosity, has anyone who interviewed at MGH gotten a follow-up phone call? No post interview contact for me personally, but I've heard rumours that certain East Coast programs (cough cough MGH) will give ppl a "ranked to match" phone call. I've also heard that you're supposed to take those calls with a grain of salt since they might not necessarily mean it, but I'm wondering if the fact that I haven't gotten a call means I'm lower on the list. Anyone out there with any insight/experience/perspective?
 
I would take a "ranked to match" phone call with a whole shaker of salt. Meaningless.
 
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anyone who interviewed with Utah willing to shed some light on their experience? how were the interviews? strengths/weaknesses? thanks very much!
 
big gulps huh? alright.
anyway, are we legally allowed to tell a program we're gonna rank them #1? sorry for so many questions. thanks!
 
gasd.o.c said:
big gulps huh? alright.
anyway, are we legally allowed to tell a program we're gonna rank them #1? sorry for so many questions. thanks!
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Yes. But I would only tell a program that if it were true.
 
You can tell them you will rank them #1 they just are not allowed to ask how you will rank them
 
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I know most invites have been given out already so now I am hoping to get feedback from you guys about my interview rejections: MGH, Hopkins, Duke. 240+ Step 1, passed CS, no CK yet. Honors in most classes including anesthesia. Amazing letters & PS (as told to me by program directors where I have interviewed thus far). No AOA. Only 1 research project, no publications. What do you guys think? Obviously nobody knows the real answer, but what part of app kept me from getting those top tier interviews? Thanks!

Edit: Also rejected from Rutgers RWJ. Go figure.
Edit: US M.D. school. Not top-40.
 
1029384756x said:
I know most invites have been given out already so now I am hoping to get feedback from you guys about my interview rejections: MGH, Hopkins, Duke. 240+ Step 1, passed CS, no CK yet. Honors in most classes including anesthesia. Amazing letters & PS (as told to me by program directors where I have interviewed thus far). No AOA. Only 1 research project, no publications. What do you guys think? Obviously nobody knows the real answer, but what part of app kept me from getting those top tier interviews? Thanks!

Edit: Also rejected from Rutgers RWJ. Go figure.
Edit: US M.D. school. Not top-40.
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I obviously don't know your application in its entirety, but I think it's simply the competition and/or luck of the draw here. I have step 1 250+, step 2 260+, letters, grades, etc. like you. Also rejected by Hopkins, Duke, Stanford, UCSF, Mayo, etc. Like you, my app is not research heavy so that may be a factor for these research-heavy programs. Who knows...
 
LMA24 said:
I obviously don't know your application in its entirety, but I think it's simply the competition and/or luck of the draw here. I have step 1 250+, step 2 260+, letters, grades, etc. like you. Also rejected by Hopkins, Duke, Stanford, UCSF, Mayo, etc. Like you, my app is not research heavy so that may be a factor for these research-heavy programs. Who knows...
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This makes me feel better that I don't have a glaring flaw on my application!
 
Just curious, I heard some people get hand-written letters from programs (mainly heard about it from MGH). Do these mean anything in terms of they only send it their top candidates or are they just being polite?
 
whiteorgo123 said:
Just curious, I heard some people get hand-written letters from programs (mainly heard about it from MGH). Do these mean anything in terms of they only send it their top candidates or are they just being polite?
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Like others have said, don't read too much into it. I got love letters from every single program except one. Guess which one I ended up matching in. It's really easy to get sucked into that game that everyone plays, you honestly don't know what people are thinking. Opinions change. Your "rank" will change when they interview more people.
 
How many prelim interviews are recommended? I have 3 right now but I may have to consider canceling one to make room for another anesthesia interview. Just curious

Thanks
 
msmith83 said:
How many prelim interviews are recommended? I have 3 right now but I may have to consider canceling one to make room for another anesthesia interview. Just curious

Thanks
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I am wondering this as well.
 
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Is it too early to start talking about ROLs
 
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Steege305 said:
Is it too early to start talking about ROLs
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If you're done interviewing for anesthesiology programs, I don't see why not! Maybe start a new thread though, a combined large one like this one, but for ROL.
 
anbuitachi said:
Anyone kno how many interviews Brigham has? their day ends so... late
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If I remember correctly, it was around 5 or 6 interviews. The tour is pretty long, and they leave you in an OR for about 30 minutes with a resident. Plus, there is an hour long cocktail hour at 4:30.
 
For those who interviewed at Rush Uni...Where did you stay?
 
1029384756x said:
I know most invites have been given out already so now I am hoping to get feedback from you guys about my interview rejections: MGH, Hopkins, Duke. 240+ Step 1, passed CS, no CK yet. Honors in most classes including anesthesia. Amazing letters & PS (as told to me by program directors where I have interviewed thus far). No AOA. Only 1 research project, no publications. What do you guys think? Obviously nobody knows the real answer, but what part of app kept me from getting those top tier interviews? Thanks!

Edit: Also rejected from Rutgers RWJ. Go figure.
Edit: US M.D. school. Not top-40.
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Why anesthesiology has remained this competetive is beyond me.
 
Can anyone who interviewed at University of Arizona PM me, it was one of my first interviews and it was before I started writing down actual important info instead of things that really aren't going to factor into my decision. Just have a couple questions regarding call schedule (I only wrote down 1-4) and moonlighting ops. thanks
 
1029384756x said:
I know most invites have been given out already so now I am hoping to get feedback from you guys about my interview rejections: MGH, Hopkins, Duke. 240+ Step 1, passed CS, no CK yet. Honors in most classes including anesthesia. Amazing letters & PS (as told to me by program directors where I have interviewed thus far). No AOA. Only 1 research project, no publications. What do you guys think? Obviously nobody knows the real answer, but what part of app kept me from getting those top tier interviews? Thanks!

Edit: Also rejected from Rutgers RWJ. Go figure.
Edit: US M.D. school. Not top-40.
Click to expand...

nothing in your app really stands out. those are top schools. they attract smart kids from all over. they love research. do a Phd to increase your chances
 
Added a page to the google doc for post-interview communication, in case people would like to keep track. Things to mention: who from (PD, Chair), e-mail or call, content: ranked to match or encouraging words.

Goes without saying: rank your programs in the order you would like to go to them, do not rely on post-interview communications. They're not residency contracts.
 
anbuitachi said:
nothing in your app really stands out. those are top schools. they attract smart kids from all over. they love research. do a Phd to increase your chances
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From talking to my classmates, 240+ on Step 1 is enough to at least get you an interview at these program. I have met applicants with less than that who have gotten interviews.
 
1029384756x said:
From talking to my classmates, 240+ on Step 1 is enough to at least get you an interview at these program. I have met applicants with less than that who have gotten interviews.
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From what I gather, those applicants with less than 240 on step 1 who end up with interviews at elite programs you mentioned likely have something additional to their application. I would bet they are likely AOA or attending an elite med school (top 10-20). Even with your great step 1 score and good grades, the school you come from probably hurts you in that you would have needed to be AOA to get interviews at all the elite programs.
 
1029384756x said:
From talking to my classmates, 240+ on Step 1 is enough to at least get you an interview at these program. I have met applicants with less than that who have gotten interviews.
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They are right. 240 beats the cutoff for pretty much most if not all classes. But that's it. Step is a cutoff mostly. Just BC you are higher than cutoff doesn't mean invite. It just means that if you were lower than cutoff then no invite. I had 250+ on both steps and I didn't receive interviews in many places including some 'mid/low tier programs'. I noticed what's especially important to top tiers is research. To mid/lower tiers I think location is important as well (possibly).
 
anbuitachi said:
nothing in your app really stands out. those are top schools. they attract smart kids from all over. they love research. do a Phd to increase your chances
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I would echo that research is more important than you think for the elite programs... since the elite programs are academic powerhouses they want more than just good board scores. Back when I applied, I had step 1 and 2 both ~260, coming from a very average school, with no research, and hence did not get interviews from top names. So moral of the story, you need at least 2 out of 3 (good board scores, top med school, lots of research) to get those interviews.
 
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Very interesting. Good to know for future applicants to both med school and residency.
 
are people planning to email their number 1 programs and telling them that?
 
if a program has a mixture of categorical/advanced spots, and you rank both, does that count as 2 contiguous ranks?
 
anbuitachi said:
They are right. 240 beats the cutoff for pretty much most if not all classes. But that's it. Step is a cutoff mostly. Just BC you are higher than cutoff doesn't mean invite. It just means that if you were lower than cutoff then no invite. I had 250+ on both steps and I didn't receive interviews in many places including some 'mid/low tier programs'. I noticed what's especially important to top tiers is research. To mid/lower tiers I think location is important as well (possibly).
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This is just my opinion and also some PDs, it isn't necessarily your scores and AOA. How many of you all are REAL people? How are your LORs? Most of the big programs are looking for LEADERS, so what else do you bring to the table? I.e. Work experience, volunteering, organization leadership. I think if you display some of these characteristics it makes you more marketable since anyone could do just school and get good grades and AOA, etc.

I did not get 240+ on step 1 but I interviewed most good places, and I am a DO. Oh yea and I thinl if you are too competitive the mid level programs skip you to save spots for genuine applicants.
 
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SloeDOwn said:
This is just my opinion and also some PDs, it isn't necessarily your scores and AOA. How many of you all are REAL people? How are your LORs? Most of the big programs are looking for LEADERS, so what else do you bring to the table? I.e. Work experience, volunteering, organization leadership. I think if you display some of these characteristics it makes you more marketable since anyone could do just school and get good grades and AOA, etc.

I did not get 240+ on step 1 but I interviewed most good places, and I am a DO. Oh yea and I thinl if you are too competitive the mid level programs skip you to save spots for genuine applicants.
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You are under 240 and DO and got interviews at MGH, Hopkins, Duke? Congrats, that's very very impressive
 
1029384756x said:
You are under 240 and DO and got interviews at MGH, Hopkins, Duke? Congrats, that's very very impressive
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Thanks but wait. Penn Pitt CCF mayo BIDMC. MGH didn't like my grades, and I literally got nothing south of philly, although I'm not sure how many southern programs I applied to. Some of it is regional and some regional preference.

Oh and I did get over 250 on step 2 so....regardless, whole package.
 
SloeDOwn said:
Thanks but wait. Penn Pitt CCF mayo BIDMC. MGH didn't like my grades, and I literally got nothing south of philly, although I'm not sure how many southern programs I applied to. Some of it is regional and some regional preference.

Oh and I did get over 250 on step 2 so....regardless, whole package.
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congrats!. how was your research
 
To anyone who's written a "you're my number 1" love letter to a program, how long was your email?
 
I sent one (intent to rank) back in December. Should I send another reminder?
 
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