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MD & DO co'21 Residency Panic thread
Started by kraskadva
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Very neurotic question, but what did y'all put as the subject line on your letter of intent emails?
Haha this is what I had googled when I saw one of the results say to make the LOI a formal letter PDF rather than in the body of the email and came here and asked about that. I just put “Letter of Intent” as the subject.
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I was even more blunt and put "Letter of intent to rank #1"
Oh man I totally would have done that 🙁
I put "My name - Ranking you #1". I didn't wanna tire them out with another e-mail that has "letter of" in subject lol I doubt it matters tho
Geez where were you guys when I needed you lol
It's fine. We're all waiting for you to drop the "Guys I matched into Cleveland Clinic Florida" bomb 😀
Lol they didn’t interview me but it’s fine. They weren’t the best fit for me but I applied to every single Florida program because geography.
I will be rotating at my #1 during The Match, and that last week afterwards is going to be super awkward if I don’t match there 😅
Last year I put “letter of intent” for mine, got a response, matched there. Don’t overthink it y’all! If they want you, they want you and will open the email/be happy to see contact from you.
I wanna say that I didn’t send any post interview communication to my number one and matched there. I feel like this thread makes it seem like everyone sends a letter. I didn’t send a thank you even.
Curious if a program director would comment about their value. I can’t imagine that any program is going to change their rank list and move an applicant up the list from an “unlikely to match” spot to a solid spot based on a letter.
Pretty similar overall to the past few years. But the average Step 1 even for unmatched applicants is 238!
60 more registered / 50 more participating US MD Seniors than last year. Same number of spots, and >110 total unmatched US MD Seniors.
Ouch, rough year.
People also matched lower on their list too.
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This chart is pretty interesting
Rather than a bunch of over-applying, over-interviewing superstars, it looks like people did a good job evaluating their competitiveness and only applied to crazy numbers of places if they needed to.
Rather than a bunch of over-applying, over-interviewing superstars, it looks like people did a good job evaluating their competitiveness and only applied to crazy numbers of places if they needed to.
I really think this will be the overall trend for the main match as well
I feel bad for the 6 DO graduates that didn't match AGAIN.
I hope they dual applied? Anyone who re apply should dual apply.
I’m pretty sure it makes zero difference the majority of the time. It just makes us feel like we’re doing something.
Can it be March 19th already.......
No because then I’ll be 37.
But 21 at heart <3
I'll be close to that. Still can't wait for the wait to be over.
Thanks for kicking things off again. Àaaaaaaaaaaah
Just to clarify my anxieties, once I’ve ranked and certified with the NRMP and got the email saying I did it...I’m done, right? Nothing else?
So now we’re just left with a month of over analyzing every interview interaction and convincing ourselves that everyone hated us? This can’t be real.
So now we’re just left with a month of over analyzing every interview interaction and convincing ourselves that everyone hated us? This can’t be real.
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I'm doing this super fun thing where I ranked my home program #1 and I'm still going in for a couple cases a week, so I get to overanalyze every single interaction I have in those as well! It's so great.
I'm becoming increasingly convinced I'm going to fall to 10+ on my rank list.
I just keep having nightmares because my LOI got no response. Then I wake up and tell myself that it’s normal to not get a response. Then I go to sleep and dream about Bojangles
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Once you've double checked you have the correct programs/rank codes, and you hit certify and it says "Certified" in big green letters on your application header, you're done. Overanalyze away.
Certified Fresh!
Maybe you guys can help me decide, I'm having trouble deciding between 2 programs I really like. Being able to visit my home town/family is important to me.
Program 1: 5-6 Hour drive to family vs. 1.5 hour flight (total travel time 2.5 hours). Smaller airport with ~2-3 flights per day to hometown.
Program 2: 12 Hour drive to family (physically much further away) vs. 2 hour flight (total travel time 4 hours). International airport with 10+ flights a day from AM to late PM.
The dilemma is, I can see myself taking flights for weekend trips to my home town, I'd like to do this every couple of months during golden weekends. For program 1, a drive is possible, but would be pretty tough if I'm tired. Flight would be easy, but not so many options. For program 2, drive is impossible, but so many flight options - almost seems easier as I could theoretically get off of work on a Friday and take an evening flight.
How would you guys go about this situation. Assume I like both programs equally.
Program 1: 5-6 Hour drive to family vs. 1.5 hour flight (total travel time 2.5 hours). Smaller airport with ~2-3 flights per day to hometown.
Program 2: 12 Hour drive to family (physically much further away) vs. 2 hour flight (total travel time 4 hours). International airport with 10+ flights a day from AM to late PM.
The dilemma is, I can see myself taking flights for weekend trips to my home town, I'd like to do this every couple of months during golden weekends. For program 1, a drive is possible, but would be pretty tough if I'm tired. Flight would be easy, but not so many options. For program 2, drive is impossible, but so many flight options - almost seems easier as I could theoretically get off of work on a Friday and take an evening flight.
How would you guys go about this situation. Assume I like both programs equally.
Program 2. Driving is almost ridiculous for program 1, and limited flights=limited time flexibility AND more risk of delayed/cancelled flights eating into your trip and/or preventing you from getting back for duty.
What's your tolerance for driving? Like a lot of Midwest people will drive 6-8 hours no problems every week or every other week, but I know people from other regions cannot even tolerate two hours of driving.
I wouldn't even blink at driving 5-6 hours. You can go exactly when you want, and there is zero to minimal risk of cancellation/delay. Can make those golden weekends a lot longer.
That is so draining though. To drive 6 hours each way 48 hours apart or less. I wouldn’t do that more than every 2 years if that’s what it took.
As someone who has regularly driven 5 hours to go to family, it isn’t that big of a deal. It is tiring, but I’ve done it pretty tired and it was fine. And as long as there are flights, you can make it happen—just have to be okay with being flexible.
That said, the ability to just go to the airport and jump on a plane on a Friday and not have to wait until Saturday morning is really nice. How willing are you to drive? Because you could also drive after work on a Friday and get there only a little later or even earlier than you would if you flew.
Yeah that’s why I asked how much the driving would bother him. I’ve driven 10 hours multiple days in a row, and I’ve driven 12 hours both ways 48 hours apart. But I don’t mind driving. I drive 3-4 hours each way with about 72 hours between them once a month.
I did 4 hour drives pretty regularly during college, so I could do it. Just concerned that surgery residency + being tired make this less feasible than it sounds.
In comparison with Program 2, I can get out theoretically at 6-7, catch flight at 8, and be at home town by 11 pm. Take flight back sunday evening, be back to residency city by 10 pm etc. And there are at least 2 flights daily that fit that possibility, plus many others at other times. Compared to driving from program 1, I would get home earlier, be less tired, have more time to spend at home etc.
Flights at program 1 would really only happen early AM on saturday, which I suppose makes no big difference effectively.
Yeah in terms of leaving Friday and coming back Sunday - that's really only possible via driving at program 1 and flying at program 2. The flying would actually take less time overall even tho its further.
In terms of willingness/ability, I could brute force my way through it for sure, I've done the exact drive both ways in just 24 hours before - just worried about getting exhausted haha.
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But it’s 6 hours, not 4. And surgery residency, not undergrad. Program 2 and fly. All else being equal.
Yeah. It's funny actually because program 2 just "feels" so much more further away since its several states apart vs. in the next state over (program 1) - but weirdly realistic travel to home and back may be easier with 2.
Either way both of them are towards the middle of my list so hopefully it doesn't even make a difference. My top 4 are within 1 hour of home so hoping I land there haha.
Now I agree for the purpose of traveling home. However, and others may not agree, I also think there’s something to be said about regional population and pathology differences. I’m going into IM, and I’ve taken that into account.
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The Match and COVID: Stolen Interviews, Swag Bags, and Stress
The Match and COVID: Stolen Interviews, Swag Bags, and Stress
The 2021 Match has been disrupted by the pandemic, leading to top candidates "stealing" interview slots and causing institutions to change strategies. Will this year's residents find the right fit?
www.medscape.com
So true. I’ve driven the ~10 hour drive back to Michigan from Kansas City several times to visit family during medical school. Gotta have good playlists & excellent snackage.
Program 1. With all the talk of new SARS-COV2 variants (would that make them SARS-COV2-infinity?) you don't know what types of travel restrictions your hospital will put on you. Regardless of state mandates, each hospital will have different travel protocol. Also, even though you will be vaccinated, you don't know what types of dipshytes will be on the plane with you hacking up a lung and having their mask barely hang on by a beard hair.
I'm fully vaccinated dude. If that isn't enough to justify air travel, then nothing ever will be.
This is an interesting thought. Currently, where I’m rotating we are not allowed to leave the county without incurring a quarantine, which effectively means we can’t leave the county without having to repeat the rotation. Being vaccinated doesn’t change that.
