MD co ‘20 Residency Panic Thread

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Just thinking about dinners - both of you may be right.

Maybe at a smaller, community oriented place they will care a lot about a dinner. And maybe at a larger, academic setting, they will not care at all about the dinner.

Luckily I’ve only applied to academic places... I’ve now rationalized my decision to skip any dinners I can lol (kidding/not kidding). shout out to @Giovanotto
 
curbsideconsult said:
And it's not necessarily a lie. PDs/interviewers could say this to every interviewee and mean every word of it, but they still have to stratify applicants when it comes time for rank lists.
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Agreed. Just like we are all trying to convince multiple programs we are a good fit.
 
darknecrosforte said:
But sitting at a table with 5 others for a "lower"-tier university psych program with 2 residents and talking about the video games you all play while marveling at the random thick-accent IMG talking about his 2 years of extremely specific bench research at a top 4 NIH funded place and interjecting stories that smell of pseudologia fantastica is pretty fun. Made the next day funnier when pretty much every faculty member highlighted community focus and that while research is available and supported, it is not necessary at all. Outside of these really weird outliers, it was easy to at least have a smooth conversation unrelated to the application process, even when I or others had noticeable sympathetic over-activation.

From the 2 places I've interviewed at, it seemed that it is unlikely they could even take any notes on applicants except to generally highlight a "whoa that guy/gal was really weird/inappropriate/etc." I dunno if they use a numerical system to roughly rank or score dinner attendees individually or within the group, but could be a decent way to differentiate applicants further. My fav place so far forgoes the dinner and splurges on the lunch with dessert so you can food coma after the interviews finish. They still put you in a swanky hotel so they're not really being cheap; they apparently say that not everyone flies in early enough to attend dinners and that dinners run the risk of messing with interviewees' sleep or prep before the real deal.
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NOW THIS PROGRAM GETS ME! I was dead dead after my last interview dinner. Interview day was subsequently harder than it needed to be.
 
mistafab said:
Just thinking about dinners - both of you may be right.

Maybe at a smaller, community oriented place they will care a lot about a dinner. And maybe at a larger, academic setting, they will not care at all about the dinner.

Luckily I’ve only applied to academic places... I’ve now rationalized my decision to skip any dinners I can lol (kidding/not kidding). shout out to @Giovanotto
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I mean, dude, the logic some people are using doesn't make any sense (or makes too much sense and the world is on fire). By their logic, not doing aways at those places makes interviewing pointless?????? I mean, they spent months with other applicants, why should they pick you over them after one dinner? And continue this scenario to any scale you want. How were applicants picked before aways and pre-interview dinners? Gasp, how do programs without dinners ever find a good fit!!?!?

Interview dinners are for applicants, not for programs to judge you, unless you royally screw up. I generally try and want to make it to the dinners, but sometimes it just can't happen.

This is my take on the whole thing.
 
Giovanotto said:
I mean, dude, the logic some people are using doesn't make any sense (or makes too much sense and the world is on fire). By their logic, not doing aways at those places makes interviewing pointless?????? I mean, they spent months with other applicants, why should they pick you over them after one dinner? And continue this scenario to any scale you want. How were applicants picked before aways and pre-interview dinners? Gasp, how do programs without dinners ever find a good fit!!?!?

Interview dinners are for applicants, not for programs to judge you, unless you royally screw up. I generally try and want to make it to the dinners, but sometimes it just can't happen.

This is my take on the whole thing.
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In looking through a lot of different threads on here: I am aware that there are some programs that do in fact use attending the interview dinner as a part of the ranking process. Whether that means you actually attended vs how your were perceived from the standpoint of the residents is unknown. Whether it means it's simply a negative if you don't attend and a neutral if you do is unknown. each program is so so different and secret with their process that the default for us applicants is to attend everything to play it safe.

I guess your take on this is "if a program wants to not rank me because I don't attend so be it" then that is absolutely your prerogative but I think there are some out there who don't have the luxury of having a confident number of interviews to play that game.
 
Ross123 said:
Friends i applied to 350 IM programs still no interviews.

Credentials .step1 221,step2 ck 227 (cs fail history is there).
ECFMG certified.Step 3 213..Did phd in diabetes,yog 2010. US IMG .How can i improve my chances🤐.Really depressed these days.Spend a lot of money on this journey. I need help
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Really sorry to hear the trouble you're in. There is an IMG IM Applicant thread that I suggest you post this in as you might get more responses to people in similar situations. However I will say that I believe you're having trouble due to lower step scores and being VERY VERY far out from YOG (almost a decade). Do you have any USCE since then? Did you have letters from faculty that you worked with?
 
I’m stepping my A+++ game for my top five choices. That means attending dinner, doing small talk and being sociable at these events, being conscious of keeping small talks going, and connecting with my interviewers on interview days. I personally won’t be doing any post-interview sucking like sending thank you notes and stuff like that.

But I do plan to let my #1 know that they’re my number 1 in January. This is coming from someone who has a comfortable amount of uni IIs at this point. It’s almost at the finish line. Got to finish strong before vacation time.
 
AlteredScale said:
In looking through a lot of different threads on here: I am aware that there are some programs that do in fact use attending the interview dinner as a part of the ranking process. Whether that means you actually attended vs how your were perceived from the standpoint of the residents is unknown. Whether it means it's simply a negative if you don't attend and a neutral if you do is unknown. each program is so so different and secret with their process that the default for us applicants is to attend everything to play it safe.

I guess your take on this is "if a program wants to not rank me because I don't attend so be it" then that is absolutely your prerogative but I think there are some out there who don't have the luxury of having a confident number of interviews to play that game.
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Practically speaking, I have to agree with you. If you're sitting on 2-3 interviews right now, I'd attend the pre-pre-dinner, pre-dinner, volunteer to present on grand rounds, post-interview hand written with golden ink thank you cards, etc.

And to clarify, me choosing not to attend a dinner is purely because of my DO school/current site not allowing unlimited time off like I know some people have. I absolutely did not plan my October/Early November to be chill, figured most interviews would be coming end of Nov-Early June. And yet, here I am with 4 interviews in October, and the real kicker is that these are my top choices. With dinners, that's 8 days in one month. Yeah, no.
 
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Giovanotto said:
Practically speaking, I have to agree with you. If you're sitting on 2-3 interviews right now, I'd attend the pre-pre-dinner, pre-dinner, volunteer to present on grand rounds, post-interview hand written with golden ink thank you cards, etc.

And to clarify, me choosing not to attend a dinner is purely because of my DO school/current site not allowing unlimited time off like I know some people have. I absolutely did not plan my October/Early November to be chill, figured most interviews would be coming end of Nov-Early June. And yet, here I am with 4 interviews in October, and the real kicker is that these are my top choices. With dinners, that's 8 days in one month. Yeah, no.
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Dude what? Don’t even tell your school. Work it out with your attending(s). It’s not rocket science, 99% of them get it
 
NecFasc92 said:
Dude what? Don’t even tell your school. Work it out with your attending(s). It’s not rocket science, 99% of them get it
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Ditto. Just talked to my attending on an away rotation. Literally got cleared to take ten days off to go to 3 interviews. These people understand that we need to go to these events to get a job after graduation.
 
NecFasc92 said:
Dude what? Don’t even tell your school. Work it out with your attending(s). It’s not rocket science, 99% of them get it
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Epilepsy365 said:
Ditto. Just talked to my attending on an away rotation. Literally got cleared to take ten days off to go to 3 interviews. These people understand that we need to go to these events to get a job after graduation.
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Most do understand, thankfully. You're just really hung out to dry by your school if caught (at least at mine).
 
ciestar said:
Most do understand, thankfully. You're just really hung out to dry by your school if caught (at least at mine).
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Sure. But why would an attending be like “o ya no problem at all” then tell your school? They aren’t 16. That would be a very bizarre action which I doubt any actual physician would do
 
coldcase331 said:
Not in this context, but I had to take a half day for some doctor appointments. Got an email at the end of the rotation asking why I hadn't made it up yet...
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Goodness. Willing to bet one of the residents snitched. Same thing happened to me last year! Which is why I made sure my rotations during interview season didn’t include residents

Sorry man :/
 
It's unlikely anyone would "double cross" you over your attendance. It's much more likely that the school finds out inadvertently. For example, your evaluation might say: "XYZ's performance was really great. It's too bad they ended up missing 10 days due to interviews, we would have loved to have him/her more". Or, some schools actually give faculty preceptors a small stipend, and the preceptor might only claim 3 weeks rather than 4 if you missed a week. The school will point to their policy. You could fail a rotation. All of this is unlikely, but there have been threads here in the past with this exact story.
 
I received an interview invite and the email told me to contact them if I needed different dates. However, all of the dates are full and only waitlist are available. I emailed them back a few times asking if there are any other dates opening or if my only option is to waitlist... have not received a reply back, its been more than a week. Do I just accept that theyre ignoring me and I should just stay on the waitlist?
 
camng11 said:
I received an interview invite and the email told me to contact them if I needed different dates. However, all of the dates are full and only waitlist are available. I emailed them back a few times asking if there are any other dates opening or if my only option is to waitlist... have not received a reply back, its been more than a week. Do I just accept that theyre ignoring me and I should just stay on the waitlist?
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Can you call them?
 
camng11 said:
I received an interview invite and the email told me to contact them if I needed different dates. However, all of the dates are full and only waitlist are available. I emailed them back a few times asking if there are any other dates opening or if my only option is to waitlist... have not received a reply back, its been more than a week. Do I just accept that theyre ignoring me and I should just stay on the waitlist?
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You need to relax. I’ve had two like that and added myself to the waitlist and each time both became an interview within 72 hours

Neurotically emailing numerous times is gonna get you noticed, and not in a good way
 
NecFasc92 said:
You need to relax. I’ve had two like that and added myself to the waitlist and each time both became an interview within 72 hours

Neurotically emailing numerous times is gonna get you noticed, and not in a good way
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Well I mean the email told me to let them know if I cannot make those dates and they will schedule me for a different date. It's just strange for them to ignore me rather than take couple of seconds to respond.
 
camng11 said:
Well I mean the email told me to let them know if I cannot make those dates and they will schedule me for a different date. It's just strange for them to ignore me rather than take couple of seconds to respond.
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I’m sure the email doesn’t say to crush their inbox. You said you emailed “a few times.” You should email once and wait for a response
 
NecFasc92 said:
Dude what? Don’t even tell your school. Work it out with your attending(s). It’s not rocket science, 99% of them get it
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I'm at an away rotation at a place where I want to make a good impression....
Otherwise, duh!
 
*ASKING FOR A FRIEND***

I am an IMG (Step 1 : 247/ Step 2: 231 ) who is doing observership at a program. 2013 graduate from overseas. I got a call that the PD wants to meet me to decide if to give interview or not -

I don't know how to prepare. I am assuming he will ask about the gaps or my weakness in the application. not why i chose their program or that speciality

--He might ask about visa status? I don't need visa sponsorship, already permanent resident
---HE MIGHT ask why it took me 2 years to do step? I don't know about that, that question seems like weird
---he might ask about????? Really not sure
 
aProgDirector said:
It's unlikely anyone would "double cross" you over your attendance. It's much more likely that the school finds out inadvertently. For example, your evaluation might say: "XYZ's performance was really great. It's too bad they ended up missing 10 days due to interviews, we would have loved to have him/her more". Or, some schools actually give faculty preceptors a small stipend, and the preceptor might only claim 3 weeks rather than 4 if you missed a week. The school will point to their policy. You could fail a rotation. All of this is unlikely, but there have been threads here in the past with this exact story.
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Exactly why I don't want to take any risks.
Taking all my vacation time during interview season.
Some people are saving it for the end of the year and hoping they luck out with attendings, but I am not that brave
 
throwaway1000000 said:
Exactly why I don't want to take any risks.
Taking all my vacation time during interview season.
Some people are saving it for the end of the year and hoping they luck out with attendings, but I am not that brave
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Some people may also not be applying to super competitive residencies, so may only need a handful of interviews to match.
 
CidHighwind said:
Some people may also not be applying to super competitive residencies, so may only need a handful of interviews to match.
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Possible. Most people go on 10-12 interviews. I guess you could schedule them all in 2-3 weeks and be done.
I spaced mine out. Individual preference for each method.
 
If you're sending an Letter of Interest, is it better to just write it out in the email or is it better to attach the letter as a PDF to the email?
 
curbsideconsult said:
If you're a good worker bee and they like you, they'll be accommodating because they want to keep you.
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I mean they are accommodating, but I guess in this one scenario I really preferred showing up to my away then wasting a whole day worrying about a dinner. It's also a very prestigious institution, and I'm barely in contention. And not showing up for 2 days on my last week would not have been great. Moving forward I'm going to try and be more vocal about taking time off given that I won't be on important aways and if they want to block it I may just drop the rotation. I want to at least TRY and make it to some of my dinners.
 
AlteredScale said:
Ur still doing aways? what specialty are you applying to?
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I'm killing myself, but this rotation turned out to be a big net positive, not only at the current institution, but I'm working with fellows from other institutions that I just interviewed at and you better believe phone calls are being made (hopefully good ones!). Medicine really is a small world.
 
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throwaway1000000 said:
Exactly why I don't want to take any risks.
Taking all my vacation time during interview season.
Some people are saving it for the end of the year and hoping they luck out with attendings, but I am not that brave
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I'm being brave to end up finishing the year in March. It's a very bold decision, and probably a mistake. I'm still playing with the idea of cancelling my next one and not ending so early so I can show up to my interviews fresh rather than completely burned out.
 
Okay I’ve been to two dinners so far and it’s not that they’re bad. They’re tiring. And for me I found it difficult to really mingle well with the residents when there are so many other applicants around. It’s a weird concept. I guess they do give some idea about fit though. You can tell when you’re the odd one out in the room.
 
I don't start my interviews until beginning of November but the introvert in me is already dreading the inevitable exhaustion from all the social interactions. :dead: Nearly all of my interviews are back to back from November - December with a break during Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks. I don't even want to think about the travel exhaustion of going to at least 13 different states in the next 2 months.
 
So I kinda asked a stupid question during an interview because my brain was being stupid. Just a reminder to you out there. To stick to a couple good questions that you prepared before lol.
 
MerYangBey said:
So I kinda asked a stupid question during an interview because my brain was being stupid. Just a reminder to you out there. To stick to a couple good questions that you prepared before lol.
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How stupid? I'd rather get asked if i had any questions then the dreaded and horrendous, "so, tell me about yourself?" Such an awful and dumb question. What anyone can gain from that is beyond me.
 
NecFasc92 said:
How stupid? I'd rather get asked if i had any questions then the dreaded and horrendous, "so, tell me about yourself?" Such an awful and dumb question. What anyone can gain from that is beyond me.
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It's like a psych test. They're looking for how you answer the question. You're one type of person if you start off your answer with your passion for hobbies and another type of person if you start off with how hard-working you are. Even if interviewers aren't cognizant of the fact that they're giving you a psych test, they'll make subconscious notes to determine whether you're a good fit for their program. Just think about the last time you asked someone to tell you about themselves and how you felt about them.
 
NecFasc92 said:
How stupid? I'd rather get asked if i had any questions then the dreaded and horrendous, "so, tell me about yourself?" Such an awful and dumb question. What anyone can gain from that is beyond me.
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Each time I just want to point to my eras application, then stare at them and shrug my shoulders. Like, dude, I gave you 10 pages of my life, what else do you want me to add that isn't a heaping pile of worthlessness
curbsideconsult said:
It's like a psych test. They're looking for how you answer the question. You're one type of person if you start off your answer with your passion for hobbies and another type of person if you start off with how hard-working you are. Even if interviewers aren't cognizant of the fact that they're giving you a psych test, they'll make subconscious notes to determine whether you're a good fit for their program. Just think about the last time you asked someone to tell you about themselves and how you felt about them.
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Well, I don't. Never have. Because I think it's an utterly worthless and stupid question. It's vague and meaningless.
 
curbsideconsult said:
It's like a psych test. They're looking for how you answer the question. You're one type of person if you start off your answer with your passion for hobbies and another type of person if you start off with how hard-working you are. Even if interviewers aren't cognizant of the fact that they're giving you a psych test, they'll make subconscious notes to determine whether you're a good fit for their program. Just think about the last time you asked someone to tell you about themselves and how you felt about them.
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I just started replying asking for clarification, like "is there anything in particular or my life in general? Like where am I from?"

My biggest pet peeve is having 2-3 interviewees asking you essentially the same question. Cause I'm paranoid and start to think that they share answers so I need a different answer for each one. On my last interview I had "Problem solving example" + "Challenging you overcame" + "difficult situation". Seriously get out of here. By the second one I told them I couldn't think of anything else since I already used up my first example 5 minutes before hahahaah.

Also got 3 interviewees ask me to tell them about myself. They're either playing mind games or really poorly prepared to interview. Not sure which one is worse.
 
NecFasc92 said:
How stupid? I'd rather get asked if i had any questions then the dreaded and horrendous, "so, tell me about yourself?" Such an awful and dumb question. What anyone can gain from that is beyond me.
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I kinda asked if the residents tend to be more from that general geographic area or if it was a diverse selection. I mean it seemed like a lot of people with connections to the area so I was just wondering... but it’s a stupid question.
 
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