Looking For Advice On Residency Applications

[MoreTin]

Hey Beautiful People!

My name is MoreTin (No! It isn't...actually!) and I am a psychaholic. First and foremost please forgive the poor grammar. I assure you my application does not blatantly assault the english language as I do here... Instead I took the hidden rout and assaulted the language secretly .

So I have run into what I think may be a snag and am seeking advice regarding applications. My primary concern is the following: I have not yet received an interview, but have received two no's, of the 60+ programs I have applied to. This leaves me invariably confused as I was under the impression (and have been told) that I possessed a strong application, albeit I do have several weak points.

Here are my details:

The challenge:
IMG, Needs a Visa

No elective LOR's, but two core psych letters. In fact I had organized my electives so that I can save psychiatry for december/january where I can try to book at one of my interviewing hospitals... retrospectively I wish I had not, but...

I have conducted several observerships/volunteer clerkships in surgical specialties (this was to rule out my interest in surgery, which ultimately was the case). In my PS I did not explain why it was I had as much surgical experience as I did, should I have addressed this point? Should I bring this point up in emails of interest (assuming you think I should send an email of interest)?

The good:
Strong class rank
Step 1 and 2 both in the 250's
No CS (just recently completed)
Research involvement with several publications (most however are non-psychiatric, with my only psychiatric experience not having any publication)
Volunteering with several organizations indirectly serving psychiatric communities.
Pre-med school career with success in the field and several awards in various non-medical disciplines.

At this point in time, it is mid-october and I am looking to your expertise on how to proceed? I have spent this weekend drafting individualized emails to the programs that I am interested in, but have not yet sent out those emails. Perusing through the forum it appears that, in general, people feel emails of interest should be saved for the end of the month, but on review of NRMP published reports it seems that 15% of programs will have filled all interview slots by then... Any other thoughts on how I should proceed? Should I simply drop my MD and enter a career in investment banking? But I wouldn't know which king to ban or which mint to put in what vest (okay, as corny as that was it was still funny!).... No, I think the last of these options is definitely going to come third to my strong interest in psychiatry as well as my equally strong interest of becoming spiderman.

I appreciate your input. Have a jolly Sunday evening

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[splik]

its still early wait until the beginning of november before you start to fret. many programs sent out IMG invites later, the only programs I received early invites from were those where I had contacts. it's too early to send out emails wait until the end of the month at the very least. DO NOT mention anything about your surgical observerships etc it was a mistake to put this on your ERAS application at all but whatevs too late now just dont make any reference to it again (that includes explaining it, it doesn't need explaining).

your lack of CS is probably an issue for some problems. many will not interview you if you are not ECFMG certified. it sounds like you are a student rather than an IMG (you havent graduated yet, that makes things trickier as like I said some places will only interview you with ECFMG certificate in hand so you have to have graduated). That said there are many places that do interview international students. I hope you will get your CS result soon that should also make a difference!

good luck I remember feeling anxious about all of this myself but you're in good shape, just be patient!

 

[MoreTin]

Thanks splik! yah the reason I put it in is because it was neurosurgical and thought it may link in to my PS mention of an interest in research (ie. DBS). I was just speaking to someone who said that my application may be screened out before anyone gets to see it before the lack of CS and he suggested I contact program directors just so that they can get the opportunity to look at my application. Any thoughts? I would appreciate more thoughts on the topic just so I can pool the collective opinion.

 

[SmallBird]

your lack of CS is probably an issue for some problems. many will not interview you if you are not ECFMG certified.

Really? I can believe that not having CS is an issue, but I didn't know ECFMG certification was important for getting interviews. I wasn't ECFMG certified and I didn't have difficulty procuring interviews, for what its worth. A lot of programs do say on their websites that they require ECFMG certification but many of them still offered me interviews and I believe they wanted the certification by the match deadline.

 

[splik]

Really? I can believe that not having CS is an issue, but I didn't know ECFMG certification was important for getting interviews. I wasn't ECFMG certified and I didn't have difficulty procuring interviews, for what its worth. A lot of programs do say on their websites that they require ECFMG certification but many of them still offered me interviews and I believe they wanted the certification by the match deadline.

you would have got more interviews if you were ECFMG certified