5 prelim/transitional interviews so far... Should I be worried?

[hopefulderm88]

Hi,

I am currently a 4th year med student applying to derm programs. Although I have several derm interviews so far, I only have 3 prelim and 2 transitional interviews. I had two more interview invitations but had to cancel them as they conflicted with my derm interviews and it was impossible to re-schedule.

I guess I made the mistake of not applying broadly. Only applied to 20 prelim and 10 transitional programs and mostly in big cities. Should I apply to more programs at this point? I've found some programs with December 31 deadlines. Or should I risk scrambling into a prelim IM program? I would hate to lose a derm spot over this? Help me out! Thanks

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[dermie1985]

30 programs seems like you should have gotten more interviews if you're a derm candidate (which probably means you have strong stats, that's mainly what prelims care about for interview screening). But it happens.

It's probably too late to apply to more programs at this point. You could try applying to a few more, but I think you'd need to supplement this with a personal email to the PD/administrative person to let them know of your interest. Many programs aren't even downloading new applications at this point. I'd just make it a point to really reach out to those prelims closer to decision time to make sure you match at one of them. 5 is probably enough, 10 would be better.

Scramble would be back-up plan. You certainly could scramble somewhere, but it might end up being some terrible prelim surgery spot in an undesirable city.