MD co ‘20 Residency Panic Thread

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
How many more minutes do I have to wait?
617F4892-7FC9-4D83-B7BD-2D12B315C6AF.gif
 
I agonized a lot over my #4 and #5 spots yesterday and now I'm starting to regret not switching them. Hopeful I can stay in my Top 3 somehow.
 
How about instead of sending us emails saying we should learn about the SOAP in advance in case we don’t match on the Monday of match week, the NRMP should tell us on the Friday before match week? This way we have the weekend to learn about the SOAP before match week starts.

But the traditionalists on here who say we should just be responsible enough to waste our time learning about the SOAP just to because they’re afraid of making the system better.
 
How about instead of sending us emails saying we should learn about the SOAP in advance in case we don’t match on the Monday of match week, the NRMP should tell us on the Friday before match week? This way we have the weekend to learn about the SOAP before match week starts.

But the traditionalists on here who say we should just be responsible enough to waste our time learning about the SOAP just to because they’re afraid of making the system better.
Agreed. Or tell us next week, give us time to soap without the insanity and severe strain of needing to soap in a few days.
 
Agreed that this is worse than applying to med school. My education cost > $300k. I have so much more to lose right now than i did four years ago.
Plus with medical school there was the option to actually choose if you had multiple acceptances. For the rank list, there are a couple of programs in my home state that I did get the impression would rank me highly and so ranking them certain places feels like I am saying no to the programs below them but then I have no idea where those programs would rank me plus can we really gauge interview performance and whether we are wanted by programs etc etc. Med school admission just did not have the same mind games associated with it. I feel like it is so much more stressful to have no “final say”. It’s very different to rank vs. choose among acceptances.
 
How about instead of sending us emails saying we should learn about the SOAP in advance in case we don’t match on the Monday of match week, the NRMP should tell us on the Friday before match week? This way we have the weekend to learn about the SOAP before match week starts.

But the traditionalists on here who say we should just be responsible enough to waste our time learning about the SOAP just to because they’re afraid of making the system better.

Well, I’m an insane person and took time as an M2 to learn extensively about the SOAP process and strategies. (Current M3)
 
Also, anyone else going to miss having time to go on SDN? Time to browse through Allo/Osteo? From now it's all general residency issues 🙁
 
This corona thing..
I have a eurotrip in May but parts of Italy are quarantined. Will NOT miss this trip.
Yeah I have a 3 city trip planned that includes Venice.
I either need trump to go on and travel ban Italy so I can get my money back and go somewhere else or those quarantines need to go
 
Was planning to go on an Asian trip or Hawaii with my wife and the baby before intern year.

The Coronovirus just tanked that plan.
 
There's not really a good reason why match day couldn't just be this Friday... It's going to be a long 3.5 weeks
This comes up every year. The first few days allows people who screwed up -- un-certified a list and forgot to recertify -- to do so. Once that's done, then they need to finalize whether everyone is qualified to be in the match (i.e. are the IMG's all ECGMG eligible, has everyone who matched in an earlier match been removed, etc). Then they move the data from the ranking system to the match system, and double check all of that. Then they run the match, probably a few times to find the best solution. Then they go back and double check that no one could have done any better -- made much more complicated by couples. Then they need to take that result and get SOAP all set up. Could it be done faster? Probably. But likely at the cost of accuracy.
I agonized a lot over my #4 and #5 spots yesterday and now I'm starting to regret not switching them. Hopeful I can stay in my Top 3 somehow.
Welp made changes to my rank list last night before certifying and I really hope I don't end up regretting it.
No matter what you do in these scenarios, you think about reversing it.
How about instead of sending us emails saying we should learn about the SOAP in advance in case we don’t match on the Monday of match week, the NRMP should tell us on the Friday before match week? This way we have the weekend to learn about the SOAP before match week starts.
This is a reasonable option, although it does result in people who don't match worrying/suffering through the weekend.
Plus with medical school there was the option to actually choose if you had multiple acceptances. For the rank list, there are a couple of programs in my home state that I did get the impression would rank me highly and so ranking them certain places feels like I am saying no to the programs below them but then I have no idea where those programs would rank me plus can we really gauge interview performance and whether we are wanted by programs etc etc. Med school admission just did not have the same mind games associated with it. I feel like it is so much more stressful to have no “final say”. It’s very different to rank vs. choose among acceptances.
While true, the Med School app process also has waitlists. If there was no match (or if it worked differently that you got multiple acceptances), then many people would either get no spot and need to wait (or be forced to scramble into something else), and it's possible that you could get later offers. Because of the amount of time it takes to onboard residents (i.e. licensing), this would be a huge problem.
 
This comes up every year. The first few days allows people who screwed up -- un-certified a list and forgot to recertify -- to do so. Once that's done, then they need to finalize whether everyone is qualified to be in the match (i.e. are the IMG's all ECGMG eligible, has everyone who matched in an earlier match been removed, etc). Then they move the data from the ranking system to the match system, and double check all of that. Then they run the match, probably a few times to find the best solution. Then they go back and double check that no one could have done any better -- made much more complicated by couples. Then they need to take that result and get SOAP all set up. Could it be done faster? Probably. But likely at the cost of accuracy.


No matter what you do in these scenarios, you think about reversing it.

This is a reasonable option, although it does result in people who don't match worrying/suffering through the weekend.

While true, the Med School app process also has waitlists. If there was no match (or if it worked differently that you got multiple acceptances), then many people would either get no spot and need to wait (or be forced to scramble into something else), and it's possible that you could get later offers. Because of the amount of time it takes to onboard residents (i.e. licensing), this would be a huge problem.
Beautifully explained. Thank you for taking the time to type this!
 
Then they run the match, probably a few times to find the best solution. Then they go back and double check that no one could have done any better -- made much more complicated by couples. Then they need to take that result and get SOAP all set up. Could it be done faster? Probably. But likely at the cost of accuracy.

Also, this... I won’t grumble about these next 3 weeks anymore.
 
Ok soooooo help me figure out what to do for match day for fun. No match day at my school, I was invited to the MD one that I shared my clinical site with but quite frankly I don’t wanna be an interloper.
I’m considering winery, axe throwing, escape game, anyone have any cool ideas I could steal?
 
Weed would be the absolute worst thing I could do. Tried it twice in college, I was super paranoid. Would probably make me freak out lol
Weed doesn't do much for me either way.

Alcohol and cocaine, on the other hand...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Ok soooooo help me figure out what to do for match day for fun. No match day at my school, I was invited to the MD one that I shared my clinical site with but quite frankly I don’t wanna be an interloper.
I’m considering winery, axe throwing, escape game, anyone have any cool ideas I could steal?
EtOH
 
Axes and alcohol always seemed like a bad combination.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Intense safety rules and dull axes. Seems safe enough.
But we’re almost doctors... we can handle the results if things go sideways (literally??)... right?? 😵
My psych applying self can renew my suturing skills. 😀
 
In all seriousness, you should assume that a drug test may be required immediately after match day. Some institutions require drug testing immediately after "acceptance of offer", and that's exactly what the match is. The legality of MJ in your state is meaningless if the institution you matched to will not hire based upon drug testing for MJ.

Using MJ post-match is not recommended. For many positions, you'll have weeks to do the testing. But not all.
 
In all seriousness, you should assume that a drug test may be required immediately after match day. Some institutions require drug testing immediately after "acceptance of offer", and that's exactly what the match is. The legality of MJ in your state is meaningless if the institution you matched to will not hire based upon drug testing for MJ.

Using MJ post-match is not recommended. For many positions, you'll have weeks to do the testing. But not all.
I would like to piggyback off this and add that some institutions do nicotine tests. So if you smoke, or use other forms of nicotine, you should be aware of this if some of your ranked programs test for it.
 
I would like to piggyback off this and add that some institutions do nicotine tests. So if you smoke, or use other forms of nicotine, you should be aware of this if some of your ranked programs test for it.
"Nicotine has a half-life of 1–2 hours. Cotinine is an active metabolite of nicotine that remains in the blood with a half-life of 18–20 hours, making it easier to analyze." - wiki
 
Last edited:
"Nicotine has a half-life of 1–2 hours. Cotinine is an active metabolite of nicotine that remains in the blood with a half-life of 18–20 hours, making it easier to analyze." - wiki
And the metabolite is usually what they test for.

18-20 hours is rough for a smoker lol
 
I think the medical school application process was a lot worse. I had no idea if I was even going to get in to a single school or get any interviews. At least with the residency application process I figured I'd get a decent # of interviews; I just wasn't sure how many or where. Also, the process was insufferably long for medical school. We complain about match day occurring like 3 weeks after certifying our lists, but you could get an interview invite anywhere in between August and April for med school which was was just torture. I never want to relive that again.
 
I know this is totally random. But I had a trip planned to Southeast Asia to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali and Singapore for 3 weeks after match in April. Now with the coronavirus, do you think I should postpone. I really don't want to and have been looking forward for this!!
 
Although I wouldn't be too worried about catching it, you wouldn't get to do much since a lot of the shops, museums, and sites you're planning to go to will likely be closed so...
 
In all seriousness, you should assume that a drug test may be required immediately after match day. Some institutions require drug testing immediately after "acceptance of offer", and that's exactly what the match is. The legality of MJ in your state is meaningless if the institution you matched to will not hire based upon drug testing for MJ.

Using MJ post-match is not recommended. For many positions, you'll have weeks to do the testing. But not all.

And it’s meaningless to most medical institutions that MJ is legal in whatever state... it is still federally illegal.
 
And it’s meaningless to most medical institutions that MJ is legal in whatever state... it is still federally illegal.
While this is true, the legality of the drug is still irrelevant. Like I said above, some hospitals test for nicotine, which is legal in all 50 states and federally.
 
While this is true, the legality of the drug is still irrelevant. Like I said above, some hospitals test for nicotine, which is legal in all 50 states and federally.

Honestly this is the weirdest ond


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I know this is totally random. But I had a trip planned to Southeast Asia to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali and Singapore for 3 weeks after match in April. Now with the coronavirus, do you think I should postpone. I really don't want to and have been looking forward for this!!
You would have to pay me to travel right now. You still wanna go though. Are people getting quarantined after they come back from international travel or nah?
 
Yeah I had to cancel my trip to China. Totally sucks. Plan was to meet some of my wife’s family. Don’t know how much longer some of them will be around, or the next time we’ll be able to get out there. Have to figure out some other trip to do now that hopefully doesn’t take us anywhere crazy or cost much
 
You would have to pay me to travel right now. You still wanna go though. Are people getting quarantined after they come back from international travel or nah?
Depends on the region if that is happening.
Im traveling now and well.. nobody in this country cares a whole lot lol
 
I know this is totally random. But I had a trip planned to Southeast Asia to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali and Singapore for 3 weeks after match in April. Now with the coronavirus, do you think I should postpone. I really don't want to and have been looking forward for this!!
If you want a fun vacation plus possibly two weeks off the start of residency.
 
Top