***2014-2015 Integrated Thoracic Surgery (I6) Interviews/rejections***

[CTS14]

As expected....

Cincinnati: 11/7, 11/19, 12/3, 1/7
MUSC: 10/25, 12/06
Maryland: 12/12, 01/09
USC: 11/14, 12/12
MCW: 11/13, 12/19, 1/9
Northwestern: 12/12, 1/16
Kentucky: 11/15, 1/10
Rochester: 11/14, 11/15
UTHSCSA: 11/19-20, 12/10-11
Duke: 12/5-6, 1/16-17
Emory: 12/4, 1/8
UNC: 11/21, 12/12, 1/9, 2/13
Yale: 12/10, 1/14
Long Island Jewish: 11/13, 12/18, 1/22
Mt. Sinai: 1/3
Stanford: 12/6, 12/13, 1/10
UVA: 1/13
Mayo: 11/20
Cleveland Clinic: 12/6
Indiana: 11/19, 12/17
UW: 1/9, 1/16
Columbia: 12/7, 1/11
UPMC: 1/13-1/14, 1/20-1/21, 2/3-2/4
Iowa: 12/15, 1/5
Penn: 1/3

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[mnckvl]

Adding Michigan..

Cincinnati: 11/7, 11/19, 12/3, 1/7
MUSC: 10/25, 12/06
Maryland: 12/12, 01/09
USC: 11/14, 12/12
MCW: 11/13, 12/19, 1/9
Northwestern: 12/12, 1/16
Kentucky: 11/15, 1/10
Rochester: 11/14, 11/15
UTHSCSA: 11/19-20, 12/10-11
Duke: 12/5-6, 1/16-17
Emory: 12/4, 1/8
UNC: 11/21, 12/12, 1/9, 2/13
Yale: 12/10, 1/14
Long Island Jewish: 11/13, 12/18, 1/22
Mt. Sinai: 1/3
Stanford: 12/6, 12/13, 1/10
UVA: 1/13
Mayo: 11/20
Cleveland Clinic: 12/6
Indiana: 11/19, 12/17
UW: 1/9, 1/16
Columbia: 12/7, 1/11
UPMC: 1/13-1/14, 1/20-1/21, 2/3-2/4
Iowa: 12/15, 1/5
Penn: 1/3
Michigan: 12/11, 1/14

 

[bcl17]

Anyone with Columbia 12/7 looking to switch for 1/11?

 

[debakes1933]

What's the word on Davis? Anyone hear anything?

 

[mnckvl]

What's the word on Davis? Anyone hear anything?

I heard their interview dates are Dec 5th and 12th. I believe they haven't yet sent out any invites.

 

[bubsy84]

It seems that these interview dates force us to make some hard decisions with out much information.

There's more overlap in dates than is optimal - can anybody comment about some of their experiences with some of the programs? I don't necessarily mean "malignant vs not" (which some people think might get them into trouble), but more along the lines of "X program has big heart failure volume, low congenital, less thoracic..." stuff like that? Some examples of trying to pick interviews would be Penn vs Sinai or UWashington vs Northwestern. This would be super helpful for those of us who didn't get to rotate at these places... thanks!

 

[M1M]

For those who landed an integrated CT residency spot: I am an MS3 presently and interested in pursuing an integrated CT residency. I am hoping to get feedback on my competitiveness. Please see my qualifications below and weigh in on them. Please also share your stats as an MS4 applicant if you will. Am hoping to get a feel for what kind of applicant these programs are looking for. How far can networking go? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your input!

Step 1: 227
Research: 7 experiences (3 pubs, 4 presentations, 1 first author)
Leadership: president of one student group and on leadership for surgical society
Honors: got honors in half of coursework for first 2 years and honors in surgery rotation
LOR's: will have one great letter from well known CT attending, one letter from surgery chair and one from clinical preceptor in surgery
Volunteer: 3 medical service projects, one overseas
AOA: not yet decided for our school
Med School: Middle tier

*Step one is an obvious weak spot, had a bad test day. Hoping to do really well on Step 2 to make up.

Cincinnati: 11/7, 11/19, 12/3, 1/7
MUSC: 10/25, 12/06
Maryland: 12/12, 01/09
USC: 11/14, 12/12
MCW: 11/13, 12/19, 1/9
Northwestern: 12/12, 1/16
Kentucky: 11/15, 1/10
Rochester: 11/14, 11/15
UTHSCSA: 11/19-20, 12/10-11
Duke: 12/5-6, 1/16-17
Emory: 12/4, 1/8
UNC: 11/21, 12/12, 1/9, 2/13
Yale: 12/10, 1/14
Long Island Jewish: 11/13, 12/18, 1/22
Mt. Sinai: 1/3
Stanford: 12/6, 12/13, 1/10
UVA: 1/13
Mayo (4/3 thoracic track): 11/20
Cleveland Clinic: 12/6
Indiana: 11/19, 12/17
UW: 1/9, 1/16
Columbia: 12/7, 1/11
UPMC: 1/13-1/14, 1/20-1/21, 2/3-2/4
Iowa: 12/15, 1/5

 

[Untraditional]

Not to discourage you but you should definitely consider applying for Gen Surg programs as well. When i was interviewing I was up again people with their own RO1 grants, multiple awards from the TSDA, multiple first author publications, PhDs, book chapters, AOA and outstanding board scores.

Don't be fooled by the number of interviews you get. I regularly saw programs interviewing 80+ candidates for just one or two spots.

The thoracic match is the toughest match in medicine. It may be easier next year with more programs coming online but only the most stellar applicant can anticipate getting one of these spots. For everyone else it will be connections and a crapshoot. A LOT of programs are still picking folks based on prior connections.

 

[CTS14]

I agree with Untraditional about everything except that programs are interviewing 80+ applicants. The worst ratio I've noticed is around 40 interviews for one spot at UNC. UPMC interviews around 50 for two spots, but no one is interviewing 80. All the others are better than that in terms of interviews to spots ratio.

My advice would be to establish connections and apply to both I6 and general surgery. Obviously networking can take you far in this and every part of life. That being said, lots of applicants have strong connections. Good luck!

 

[Untraditional]

I agree with Untraditional about everything except that programs are interviewing 80+ applicants. The worst ratio I've noticed is around 40 interviews for one spot at UNC. UPMC interviews around 50 for two spots, but no one is interviewing 80. All the others are better than that in terms of interviews to spots ratio.

My advice would be to establish connections and apply to both I6 and general surgery. Obviously networking can take you far in this and every part of life. That being said, lots of applicants have strong connections. Good luck!

Cleveland Clinic was a chief offender. 50 guys for 2 spots.

 

[KingofHearts778]

For those who landed an integrated CT residency spot: I am an MS3 presently and interested in pursuing an integrated CT residency. I am hoping to get feedback on my competitiveness. Please see my qualifications below and weigh in on them. Please also share your stats as an MS4 applicant if you will. Am hoping to get a feel for what kind of applicant these programs are looking for. How far can networking go? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance for your input!

Step 1: 227
Research: 7 experiences (3 pubs, 4 presentations, 1 first author)
Leadership: president of one student group and on leadership for surgical society
Honors: got honors in half of coursework for first 2 years and honors in surgery rotation
LOR's: will have one great letter from well known CT attending, one letter from surgery chair and one from clinical preceptor in surgery
Volunteer: 3 medical service projects, one overseas
AOA: not yet decided for our school
Med School: Middle tier

*Step one is an obvious weak spot, had a bad test day. Hoping to do really well on Step 2 to make up.

I would take Step 2 in time to send it to programs. Don't worry too much about your step 1 score though, the cardiac faculty care way more about letters and who wrote them than your actual score. IMHO I would do as many aways as possible (time-wise and financially) to have connections into some programs.

And no matter what anyone tells you also apply to general surgery. There's ~150 people who want ~34 spots in the country so by and large most of us will end up training the traditional route.

 

[Texas Ex]

I'm an osteopathic MS-3 and was wondering if anyone could comment on my chances on matching an I-6 spot. My stats: 250+ step 1; top 10 rank in class; Sigma Sigma Phi member, osteopathic equivalent to AOA; 100+ volunteer hours; research with 2 presentations, no pubs and not in CT; letter from the chair, who is a CT surgeon, and working on one more LOR with connections to the field. I know UTHSCSA has taken several DOs, and I've heard of programs interviewing DOs, but no other programs who have matched a DO. Do I have a decent shot at matching? I'm okay with going the traditional GS-CT route, but the dwindling number of fellowships is worrisome. Any feedback is appreciated, thank you.

 

[themockjock]

I'm an osteopathic MS-3 and was wondering if anyone could comment on my chances on matching an I-6 spot. My stats: 250+ step 1; top 10 rank in class; Sigma Sigma Phi member, osteopathic equivalent to AOA; 100+ volunteer hours; research with 2 presentations, no pubs and not in CT; letter from the chair, who is a CT surgeon, and working on one more LOR with connections to the field. I know UTHSCSA has taken several DOs, and I've heard of programs interviewing DOs, but no other programs who have matched a DO. Do I have a decent shot at matching? I'm okay with going the traditional GS-CT route, but the dwindling number of fellowships is worrisome. Any feedback is appreciated, thank you.

So obviously haven't matched yet, but take a look at what kingofhearts above said... I had good board scores, grades, etc. but nobody seemed to really care about any of that. The biggest thing missing from your application is some sort of evidence of dedicated, sustained commitment to CT surgery, which was really what the PDs seemed to care about - they want people who can show that they know what they're getting into and who won't flame out. So you should really seek to try and get some more in-depth CT research with some good presentations (not necessarily STS/AATS but at least some reasonably well known national meeting) and/or pubs.

I just want to echo kingofhearts about how aways and letters REALLY matter. Nearly everyone commented on the letter I got from a well known guy during my away. And at some places it seemed like doing aways was completely critical for getting interviews and/or having even a marginally realistic shot at matching.

I have no clue how many DOs applied this year, but all I can say is I met 2 on the trail and only at a couple of places (UTHSCSA, IU and UPMC, if you're wondering), so it's definitely an uphill battle. If you don't match I6, with your stats though you should be able to get a good ACGME GS position if it doesn't work out and there will still be some traditional CT spots available in 5-7 years...

 

[CardiacHaze]

good luck all!

 

[yinxzon]

just curious... how competitive is I6 now? not my cup of tea but how is compared to integrated vascular, say..
i heard vasc has 100+ ppl interviewed for just 50 spots..

 

[themockjock]

just curious... how competitive is I6 now? not my cup of tea but how is compared to integrated vascular, say..
i heard vasc has 100+ ppl interviewed for just 50 spots..

This is last year's I6 thread so not sure how much you'll get out of it but anecdotally, my program had ~120 apply, interviewed over 20 for 2 spots this year. I think that's pretty typical across the board. Again I don't know what the exact numbers are, but from last year's main residency match data... 64 US seniors applied for 35 spots (104 total applicants including IMGs, DOs, etc) in the I6 programs. For vascular it was 58 US seniors applied for 57 spots and 122 applicants total. Vascular had 2 unfilled programs

So basically there is a 2:1 US senior applicant to spot ratio in I6 and 1:1 in vascular... Take what you will from that...