advice for late applicants

[slowlybutshelly]

I just took Step 2 ck last week and am awaiting my scores. I was hoping to pass and enter the match through ERAS very late. I need advice for applicants receiving scores in late December. My plan is to apply locally; as I have had 3 immediate family members hospitalized in the last 6 months and need to stay in the vicinity for residency. Many people have suggested I sit out a year and reapply next year. But I am hoping to get a late interview spot locally. My application is complete except for my scores. I just have not started ERAS yet. Any advice?

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[gutonc]

I just took Step 2 ck last week and am awaiting my scores. I was hoping to pass and enter the match through ERAS very late. I need advice for applicants receiving scores in late December. My plan is to apply locally; as I have had 3 immediate family members hospitalized in the last 6 months and need to stay in the vicinity for residency. Many people have suggested I sit out a year and reapply next year. But I am hoping to get a late interview spot locally. My application is complete except for my scores. I just have not started ERAS yet. Any advice?

Apply earlier next year.

Seriously. Why did you wait for Step 2 before applying? Did you run this plan by an advisor at your school? Putting together all the crap ERAS requires (including USMLE and med school transcripts) will take another couple of weeks at best. I assume your LORs are uploaded to ERAS already, right?

If you're lucky, you can get everything completed and submitted before everyone checks out for a week and a half next Friday.

Have you checked the deadlines of the programs you want to apply to? Most programs that have deadlines (and not all programs actually have application deadlines, but most do) set them as Nov 1 or Dec 1, a few may have Jan 1 and a few more may not have published deadlines but will have given out all of their interview spots already.

Aso to what advice I can give to insure you get interviews, aside from asking for favors from some faculty you know well or straight up begging, I've got nothing.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Everything gutonc has stated is correct. It was a mistake to wait to apply especially when you are so geographically limited.

At any rate, before going to all that trouble of applying call the programs in your area TODAY and find out what their application deadline is AND whether or not they have any interview spots left. If they are still accepting apps AND still interviewing, then call some sympathetic faculty member and have them call their buddies at those programs and see if anything can be done.

You have a LOT of red flags in your application: terminated/withdrawn from two medical schools (you presumably found a 3rd to graduate you), coming up against the 7 year limit for ALL steps (you do realize this includes Step 3 as well), failed 1 medical school core rotation, and you are apparently applying for Peds which is more competitive than many IM or FM residencies. AND you are geographically limiting yourself. All in all, this means that you are not generally considered a very competitive candidate and now you are making that even more so by applying significantly later than most applicants. I'd agree with those that say just wait until next year rather than setting yourself up for failure.

Finally, I would ask: is your family asking you to stay close? Unless you are financially providing for them or are a caretaker, I'm not sure how staying geographically close is going to help them and it may harm your career, by limiting your choices. I know you psychologically might feel that being nearby would be beneficial, but most residents are pretty busy and are not able to offer a lot in the way of time. I'd be willing to venture that your family would not want you to sacrifice your well being for their (rather pedestrian) health care issues. You need to be psychologically and physically all in for residency, otherwise you won't do well. If you are doing it of your own accord, that's your decision but my advice still stands: find the best program that will take you, anywhere you can get it. At this point,beggars can't be choosers.

 

[gutonc]

Aahhh...I should have known this wasn't the whole story.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Aahhh...I should have known this wasn't the whole story.

It didn't take long to look back through the threads and see the details of her educational troubles and family health issues.

 

[gutonc]

It didn't take long to look back through the threads and see the details of her educational troubles and family health issues.

Right...but I'm lazy, and don't care. Plus my 3yo needed a bath.

I'm of the opinion that if you have a crazy question and don't provide the background to answer it appropriately, you get the answers you deserve. That said, my advice holds (and is pretty generous) given the situation you describe.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Right...but I'm lazy, and don't care. Plus my 3yo needed a bath.

Sorry....not meant as a criticism; just that I was curious and that it didn't take *me* long to do it, given the frequency with which the OP discussed these issues.

I'm of the opinion that if you have a crazy question and don't provide the background to answer it appropriately, you get the answers you deserve. That said, my advice holds (and is pretty generous) given the situation you describe.

Your advice is still spot on. He/she did get bad advice (if they received any) that it was ok to apply at this late date and that they should prepare not to match.

In addition, her family issues are not the type that many PDs, I would venture, would feel sympathethic toward to make an exception about application dates (eg, parent dying of pancreatic cancer = ok; parent with broken ankle/pneumonia/CHF = not ok).

 

[smq123]

I just took Step 2 ck last week and am awaiting my scores. I was hoping to pass and enter the match through ERAS very late. I need advice for applicants receiving scores in late December. My plan is to apply locally; as I have had 3 immediate family members hospitalized in the last 6 months and need to stay in the vicinity for residency. Many people have suggested I sit out a year and reapply next year. But I am hoping to get a late interview spot locally. My application is complete except for my scores. I just have not started ERAS yet. Any advice?

1) If you just took Step 2 CK, and are waiting for your scores before you complete ERAS, you're clearly banking on the fact that your scores will come out in December. But that's kind of a big "if," particularly with the Christmas holiday slowing everything down. I wouldn't be surprised if your scores didn't come out until the beginning of January.

While I'm sure you were hoping for a high Step 2 to bolster your app, the fact that your application will be SO late just makes you look flaky - something that even a high score will not make up for.

2) Telling people that you need to stay local to care for your THREE sick family members is not a plus. That's like telling people that you need to stay local for the sake of your four young children - it will make people wonder if you're going to be able to pull your weight, cover call adequately, etc.

3) As I see it, you have two options. You could either sit this year out and reapply next year, doing research or some other volunteer work to fill your time, OR you could register with the NRMP for the sole purpose of participating in the scramble and hoping to squeeze into anything, even a prelim year. I'm not sure if I would recommend the latter unless you are willing to move elsewhere, if necessary, and if you realize that you may not get anything in the scramble, either.

I would go ahead and call people in the area to see if they still have interview slots, but I also wouldn't hold my breath. I'm in a relatively non-competitive FM program, and even we have booked up all our interview dates. We're not interviewing in February; actually, I think we hope to have our rank lists done by February. I can't imagine that the peds programs in your area are going to be all that different.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.