Haha! I come back to this forum and MDT still cracking jokes! I do seriously want to chime in that you and OPD were absolutely correct about my gap being the BIGGEST issue with my application.
At this point in your mind you can say, "yup, told ya so!"
I absolutely feel that a felony would have to be worse than a gap but even worse would be someone stupid enough to HIDE a felony. Well, I hope that's worse than a gap! Can you imagine the selection committee?? "Well we obviously have to throw out this guy's app with a huge gap, but I found a solid group of felons we MUST inverview.."
A gap is worse than failing step one or almost any other red flag I can think of. You see there are just shy of 200 programs and I spent maybe 60+ hours researching everything about every program in America and gaps are VERY important.
I am from an amazing US allopathic school and have even passed step 3, but I have a TEN year gap.
I consider myself somewhat of a gap expert though. There are several types of gaps. Also, a gap to get a PHD or do anything related to medicine or education is not a real gap. There are basically 4 stances programs take and they state it very specifically and clearly in the requirements for applying.
1. We will essentially throw out your application if you have any gaps. This is rare and only super premium programs took this stance. I suspect programs in fields more competitive than pysch take this stance more frequently, but I think only maybe 10/192 psych programs took this stance.
2. We will essentially throw out your application if you have a gap of 3 yrs/5yrs/or 10yrs. I don't know why 3,5,and 10 are the magic cut off gap numbers but you see these 3 variants of no-gap requirements in approximately 110/192 programs!
3. As you can see I now can physically only apply to 62 programs. But there's another stance! "We are against gaps but we just did not mention it on our application requirements page!" Uh oh I wonder how many I have left now.
4. The fourth type is common but does not apply to me. If you are an IMG and have a gap we will throw out your application, but gap okay for AMG.
I basically found 60/192 programs which either say they do not care about a gap, or they would 'prefer' no gaps, OR they simply do not mention anything about gaps in the app requirements.
With everything working against me my school still decided to help me apply to match for this year in psychiatry even though it will be a long shot. And yes a gap will also follow you forever, but everything will follow you forever if you think about it.
Basically if I do not match this year I need to get some solid recent clinical experience and recent LORs and shoot for 2017. With recent clinical experience, I will likely be able to apply broader too.
The good news is I really feel the programs I selected are very strong with excellent training. They just do not have big IV league names, prestige, etc.
Out of 60 I eliminated 10 I felt were not that strong/good fits for me. It felt good just to eliminate SOME programs to be honest. Out of the remaining 50 I applied to my top 25 on Sept 30 and depending on feedback I will apply to 15-25 more Oct 30 or possibly November.
Out of 25 I have 2 rejections. Zero invites but trust me I am not a candidate who is likely to get many of the first October invite slots.
Basically, I need luck. Once again I find myself in a position where I need luck. This has happened to me so many times in life that I actually feel I am better at being lucky than others. People sometimes get upset cause they are like, "How freaking lucky can that guy get!? What a luckbox!" Like I have some magical power to be lucky. I am not luckier than any other person, I just am good at luck, but that doesn't make any sense I know. I guess I see it coming and can maximize it better? Also, if you think you are not lucky then you are not lucky. That doesn't make any sense either but it's true. Luck can actually be mathematically represented thru variance (SD2). Wow. Now I am off on a total tangent. I would never bring up luck as one of my strengths lol but I am good at it. Sorry. I know you are laughing right now too
"Wait, is this guy really saying that he is good at luck?? What the f does that mean?? What an a-hole!" Yes, but a lucky a-hole.
If I'm interviewing, I already did it in other words. For example, I had what I would consider no chance of getting into medical school, so I only applied to one school as a goof, planning to reapply the following year, consider getting a stronger mcat score etc. I got in. That is just a very small example you would never believe how I actually made it through medical school. Okay, okay, enough magical thinking. I mean I can give a man a fish, but I can not teach you to fish in just one post.
HAHAHAHAHA. Forgive me. Some of my jokes and humor are for my own entertainment. I'm such a tool. I know. I know.
So I get this email at the end of last week... Sweet! Likely another rejection! Yes!! Awesome!! Yipee!! Oh cool the email is from one of my top picks which is a longshot! I'm glad I'm wrapping up my week with another rejection! Give me an R! Give me an E! Give me a J! Sooooweeeeee baaybeee!
So I open the email and it's not a rejection, but it's not an invite. They are very pleased to have received my application and could you please assist us in our difficult selection process by filling out this supplemental questionnaire? Rut Row. What are these questions gonna be?? There are only 3-4 questions and they are very simple except for one. I will do not want to post the questions, but a couple were basically how did ya find out about our program and the area our program is in etc.
The only difficult Q is why are you specifically a good fit for our program and why are we specifically a good fit for you?
The program is in my top 10 possibly top 5 out of the 50 I selected, but they do not know that.
I feel my answer could influence whether or not I receive an interview. I feel it should be 6 sentences long with 3 addressing each part of the 2 part question. I don't want to turn it into a PS2 but there is certainly enough space for much more than 6 sentences. I guess I just have to speak from the heart, and I've already made some good parallels in my head between the patient population at my medical school and their program, but I NEED this interview. Once in an interview setting that is my strength, and I will fare better than average. I need them to want to talk to me in person though.
I am honestly very flattered that this program is considering me. I need to let them know how interested I am, but I can't write that they are my top 5 because they will think I'm just writing that to get an interview. But it's true and I need to figure out a way to let that come across and the responses to the questionnaire need to be given by tomorrow morning.
I can't put too plain and typical responses like simply regurgitating positive qualities already mentioned on the program's website. Also, I can't think too far outside of the box or give 'shocking', 'grab your attention' answers. This is because my personal statement is already a "triple read phone a friend" meaning a PD who attempts to skim my 444 word PS will end up slowly reading it 2-3 times and then call a friend to say, "holy cow you are not gonna believe the PS that just landed on my desk!" The reason spliks 6 types of PS are so common is because coming straight out of medical school you almost have to fall into one of those 6 categories. But if you did something else for 10 years it's gonna be a lu lu.
Does anyone have any experience with these supp questionnaires? Anyone ever fill one out that led to an interview or a rejection? Does 6 sentences seem too short? Should I maybe write 2 paragraphs? I need to write a very honest, from the heart response but at the same time if there is ANYTHING I can write to tip the scale in my favor it would be awesome. Getting an interview invite this early would be a HUGE COUP for a candidate like me. How can I tell them they are a top 5 without sounding like bs? Maybe I should address some of my obvious flaws but I guess I shouldn't be defensive. Not a good look imo. Also, I have several reasons why I am a much better choice than candidates without gaps but talking about that also comes across as defensive and insecure.
Anywayzzzzzzz,..
tl;dr
1. Gaps are bad
2. I need luck
3. Supplemental questionnaire?
