I recently heard doing an 4th year externship at the University of Utah actually decreases your chances at getting an interview. Anyone know if there is any truth to this?
Universtiy of Utah Externiship?
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I think it has been a few years since they matched somebody who rotated there. However, I don't believe the notion that rotating there decreases your chances of an interview. They may not be prone to give "courtesy interviews" just because you did a rotation there, but many programs are that way. I think the interview invitation there is based upon the quality of the applicant and obviously if an applicant performed well on a rotation there, that can only be a plus.
Actually, I think the student from Loma Linda who matched there this year did a rotation there. Admittedly, he was a very qualified student, and we would have liked to have had him in our program
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Can any of the recent applicants comment on this? Now the application cycle is over, I'm curious if anyone has any insight on the situation. I'd really like to match at the U of U's program.
Don't know if it decreases your chances for sure but I do know 3 people who did aways at U of U last year and none of them got an interview despite getting good LORs. It certainly doesn't seem to increase your chances of getting an interview so I would not recommend doing an away there.
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Post #4 above:
has to do with this past year's application cycle that just ended. I matched this year and while I personally had no contact with U of U, I knew individuals on the trail who were very motivated to train there, were academically qualified for solid mid-tier programs like the one in question, and who felt that their rotation there went well and got strong letters from it - but no interview from the program.
Anecdotally, it certainly does not seem to help one's chances to get an interview and indeed appears to hurt them. Of course, next year is next year. Your mileage may vary.
A better thing to do may be a rotation at a different Mountain West/West Coast program if you don't have ties to the area in order to show that you're willing to train in this region. I would away at the strongest such program I could get.
has to do with this past year's application cycle that just ended. I matched this year and while I personally had no contact with U of U, I knew individuals on the trail who were very motivated to train there, were academically qualified for solid mid-tier programs like the one in question, and who felt that their rotation there went well and got strong letters from it - but no interview from the program.
Anecdotally, it certainly does not seem to help one's chances to get an interview and indeed appears to hurt them. Of course, next year is next year. Your mileage may vary.
A better thing to do may be a rotation at a different Mountain West/West Coast program if you don't have ties to the area in order to show that you're willing to train in this region. I would away at the strongest such program I could get.
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Maybe i should ask this in a separate thread, but what is the deal with "ties" to a particular area? How do you 'demonstrate' that you have ties to an area so as to increase your chance for an interview?
As most programs only interview 20-30 students your geographic background can play a role in getting an interview. If you have have lived on the west coast your entire life a program in the mid west may not interview you as they assume you probably want to continue to live on the west coast. However, if said person wants to move to the midwest they need to let programs know. Doing an away in the midwest and mentioning it your statement can help. Also if there is a family connection or other connection you can try to put that in your statement somehow (remember you can assign different statements to different programs).
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As was suggested in the "Rad Onc Rankings" thread . . . make up a relative.
"Oh yeah, I visit my uncle Bob in Wichita at least a couple of times a year!*"
*not recommended
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I went to UofU for med school and I think that what is being said on this thread has unfortunately been true in years past. Not sure what goes into the thinking on it - I would think a known quantity would always be better than going with an unknown. I don't want to go into too much detail, but in short, my own feeling is that an externship at UofU does in fact hurt your chances of getting an interview or securing a position in the residency. As far as what will help your chances, I can't help you there unfortunately. All the standard stuff - high board scores, research, yadda, yadda, but most applicants have all that, so I am not sure how they select their interview pool.
I wanted to point out that one of this year's matched residents at u of u is from u of u, and was no doubt well known to the department. My impression from my interview there was that it was a really fun, tight-knit, department, and I would bet they take "fit"'into account more than other factors. So I think, unfortunately, the only way of knowing whether an externship could help or hurt you... Is doing one.
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I did see that UofU took one of their own this year as well - I believe that is the first time in 9 years though. I think it probably helps that recent U graduates have matched at big name places - MDACC and Mayo to name two in the last few years. Perhaps that has caused them to rethink the quality of their own schools' students.
I can only comment on what I observed firsthand - which was many well-qualified and well-liked residents rotating through the department either as internals or externals only to get completely passed over come interview time. Perhaps things have changed in the years since I was there, but it was very frustrating for several students who desperately wanted a shot and sunk a lot of time and money into traveling and doing a rotation and working their tails off.
It is a dynamite program - definitely top tier IMO. I think the training is excellent, the faculty are almost all awesome, the research support is phenomenal, the cancer center itself is the most picturesque of anywhere in the country, etc. But they were a little (ahem, a lot!) wierd about how they went about selecting candidates for interviews. If you are dying to go to Utah, I am not sure how to best go about it. Perhaps the previous poster is correct - try to rotate there and knock there socks off. I just witnessed that strategy oddly backfire, even for very, very strong candidates in the past.
I can only comment on what I observed firsthand - which was many well-qualified and well-liked residents rotating through the department either as internals or externals only to get completely passed over come interview time. Perhaps things have changed in the years since I was there, but it was very frustrating for several students who desperately wanted a shot and sunk a lot of time and money into traveling and doing a rotation and working their tails off.
It is a dynamite program - definitely top tier IMO. I think the training is excellent, the faculty are almost all awesome, the research support is phenomenal, the cancer center itself is the most picturesque of anywhere in the country, etc. But they were a little (ahem, a lot!) wierd about how they went about selecting candidates for interviews. If you are dying to go to Utah, I am not sure how to best go about it. Perhaps the previous poster is correct - try to rotate there and knock there socks off. I just witnessed that strategy oddly backfire, even for very, very strong candidates in the past.
