MD & DO co'21 Residency Panic thread

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iamarosepetal said:
no idea. i did send an LOI and the PD said i'd be the perfect fit etc. and a lot of other things about my app.
boom REJECTION.
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Lawpy said:
Crap sorry. I wish this dumb false hope communication from PDs is banned
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May be that the PD never even saw your app, I think often assistant PDs help with first passes? Thought I guess the LOI would also have to have never reached the boss
 
What the hell should a LOI even say? People tell me shorter and to the point (hey look at my app again) type of deal. Yay or nay?
 
efle said:
May be that the PD never even saw your app, I think often assistant PDs help with first passes? Thought I guess the LOI would also have to have never reached the boss
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but why would the PD even praise the app? this is like PDs promising to rank someone #1 only to end up not ranking them at all. why are they lying?
 
JibsGuy52 said:
What the hell should a LOI even say? People tell me shorter and to the point (hey look at my app again) type of deal. Yay or nay?
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1 sentence for intro and that you're very interested in the program. 1-2 sentences on specific things you like about it/why you're a good fit/any connection. 1 sentence conclusion. Better not to make it longer than that.

A very basic example:

Hello,

My name is _______ and I wanted to reach out to express my interest in X Program. X Program's research/clinical/patient population/location really appeals to me, because Y, and I believe I would make a great fit. I hope I'm given the opportunity to interview at Program X and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Patrick Star
 
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JibsGuy52 said:
What the hell should a LOI even say? People tell me shorter and to the point (hey look at my app again) type of deal. Yay or nay?
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Yay to the shorter. Had a friend send out short succinct emails indicating Why X program and why they'd be a good fit and got a couple good responses. n=1 though.
 
I will say that I’ve already done interviews at a couple of places I didn’t have a real interest in.....one I absolutely hated and one turned out to be my favorite program thus far (of five). Point is, you can’t blame people for interviewing everywhere they get invited. You really don’t know if you like a program until you interview there. I’ve turned down a couple, but not out of the goodness of my heart. It’s not my fault that other med students didn’t gun their asses off during med school, and if I soak up interviews it’s because I earned the right to do that.
 
It is a crazy year. I got an email from a PD I know asking if I'd received an invite to interview at their program (umm no, also shouldn't you know this? Why are you asking me? Paranoia rises again from ERAS email mishap...). I sent a polite reply saying no, but it's still early, right? Two days later I receive an invite and they only have 4 open interview days left between now and Jan. (one of those open days being the very next day).

Got another email from our specialty advisor (who previously had recommended not sending LOIs until 2nd half of Dec. to give the process time) basically asking us how many interviews we have, how many places we haven't heard from, and encouraging us to reach out to programs we haven't heard from yet but want to interview at. I wonder what caused them to change their tune on timing?

I also got an email from my home institution and they have scheduled me for an interview with one of my letter writers?!? This was a person I interacted with a ton on my sub-i, but I was a little bit hesitant to ask them for a letter cause our personalities were different and I wasn't sure they were a fan of mine. Another faculty though said I should ask them, so I did and they said yes. I guess it's OK though cause at least they know me from Adam.
 
underthesun said:
I will say that I’ve already done interviews at a couple of places I didn’t have a real interest in.....one I absolutely hated and one turned out to be my favorite program thus far (of five). Point is, you can’t blame people for interviewing everywhere they get invited. You really don’t know if you like a program until you interview there. I’ve turned down a couple, but not out of the goodness of my heart. It’s not my fault that other med students didn’t gun their asses off during med school, and if I soak up interviews it’s because I earned the right to do that.
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Eh you come off pretty bad at the end here. Everyone’s busting their asses you aren’t special there hero. It’s just a crazy situation here. I agreed in the first half but cmon don’t be that arrogant
 
Lawpy said:
I'm not really sure how that helps? That just means programs can get away with lying while applicants should ideally interview/rank where they feel best.
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Being StrategyProof (SP) means that plays will be better off or at least not worse off by being truthful regardless of what other players do. Applicants are an SP player group (actually Group SP in that collision between applicants is not a viable strategy). Programs are not, which means that can fare better by being deceptive. Since players go for maximum payoff, programs are incentivized to lie.
 
Also, how the heck has someone been on 5 interviews? At least in my specialty many programs just began interviewing yesterday. I do get though that you want to give all the programs a fair shot, but I feel that way towards my fellow applicants too. I scheduled interviews I thought I might cancel towards the end of Dec./Jan. so that if places I was more interested in came through I could give the programs plenty of notice and they could offer those spots to others.
 
Dr. Lion said:
Also, how the heck has someone been on 5 interviews? At least in my specialty many programs just began interviewing yesterday. I do get though that you want to give all the programs a fair shot, but I feel that way towards my fellow applicants too. I scheduled interviews I thought I might cancel towards the end of Dec./Jan. so that if places I was more interested in came through I could give the programs plenty of notice and they could offer those spots to others.
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Would you choose to NOT interview at a program? That makes zero sense in a virtual world. What if you end up liking it? I was dreading the one I was on and thought it was a waste of time before the PD sold me on the program.
 
underthesun said:
Would you choose to NOT interview at a program? That makes zero sense in a virtual world. What if you end up liking it? I was dreading the one I was on and thought it was a waste of time before the PD sold me on the program.
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I think the person meant it when they received enough IVs to comfortably match. If you're receiving a lot of invites to places you'd much rather go to than safety X program, it's reasonable to drop / "NOT interview" at a program.
 
3member said:
I think the person meant it when they received enough IVs to comfortably match. If you're receiving a lot of invites to places you'd much rather go to than safety X program, it's reasonable to drop / "NOT interview" at a program.
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But what if the program you drop is a place you actually would have loved and ranked highly?
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
But what if the program you drop is a place you actually would have loved and ranked highly?
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Exactly. For this reason I will interview at every possible program. I’ve worked extremely hard to have “an edge” in this process and I’m gonna use it to find my best match. This idea of “giving up” interviews like they are going to charity is nonsense. You’ll notice the usual proponents of this BS are the low-stat applicants.
 
3member said:
I think the person meant it when they received enough IVs to comfortably match. If you're receiving a lot of invites to places you'd much rather go to than safety X program, it's reasonable to drop / "NOT interview" at a program.
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There are no safeties. People who think there are end up SOAPing
 
underthesun said:
There are no safeties. People who think there are end up SOAPing
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You’re something else haha how do people get to be such tools? stop bein ridiculously arrogant

There are safeties unless you’re apply to top specialties. You know that you’re just wanting to flex on everyone for literally no reason other than to fill the ego
 
Dr. Lion said:
I wish the reddit guys read this. One side got people defending USMD saying people are not hoarding stop using that as an excuse for your interview count. Other side you got them hoarding and saying its note my fault that I worked harder than you. Sounds like they're just looking at the numbers when accepting kids into US med school these days. The amount of arrogance is gross.
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You're sort of proving my point when I say that the only people against taking more interviews are the people who stand to lose out
 
Dr. Lion said:
I wish the reddit guys read this. One side got people defending USMD saying people are not hoarding stop using that as an excuse for your interview count. Other side you got them hoarding and saying its note my fault that I worked harder than you. Sounds like they're just looking at the numbers when accepting kids into US med school these days. The amount of arrogance is gross.
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Yeah I don’t really agree with saying it’s not my fault I worked harder than other people. You don’t know that, and that’s a bit arrogant. But I do agree that it’s not their fault they’ve been fortunate and shouldn’t be pressured into giving up interviews because someone else doesn’t have as many.
 
underthesun said:
Would you choose to NOT interview at a program? That makes zero sense in a virtual world. What if you end up liking it? I was dreading the one I was on and thought it was a waste of time before the PD sold me on the program.
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lol why did you even apply to a program you were “dreading”?

underthesun said:
Exactly. For this reason I will interview at every possible program. I’ve worked extremely hard to have “an edge” in this process and I’m gonna use it to find my best match. This idea of “giving up” interviews like they are going to charity is nonsense. You’ll notice the usual proponents of this BS are the low-stat applicants.
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we’ve all worked extremely hard.
 
Chibucks15 said:
You’re something else haha how do people get to be such tools? stop bein ridiculously arrogant

There are safeties unless you’re apply to top specialties. You know that you’re just wanting to flex on everyone for literally no reason other than to fill the ego
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There are no safeties. I'm including myself in that assessment. It's arrogant to think that there ARE safeties
 
sunshinefl said:
lol why did you even apply to a program you were “dreading”?



we’ve all worked extremely hard.
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Wasn't dreading the program, was just dreading a zoom interview for a program I wasn't excited about. Turned out to be a great place. Don't have the luxury of only accepting IIs from places I am in love with.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
But what if the program you drop is a place you actually would have loved and ranked highly?
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I guess it depends on what kind of applicant you are. Given the choice btw a top 10 and a bottom of the barrel residency IV.. which would you be more inclined to choose? Given multiple top 10s vs a bottom of the barrel residency? Given multiple top 20s vs bottom of the barrel? etc etc.. and I'm not talking about just namebrand tiers, but usually better residency reputation = better resources/experiences/teaching..
 
underthesun said:
There are no safeties. I'm including myself in that assessment. It's arrogant to think that there ARE safeties
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It's not necessarily a matter of "safeties". For example, say someone applied to prelim programs as one possible way to reach their career goal, but now it seems like they have a good amount of interest from categorical programs or might be thinking of starting a family and there's not enough flexibility in the timing of a prelim year, etc. People do many things for many reasons, including altruism alongside personal reasons I don't think is a bad thing. Clearly it's not for you, but live and let live, right?
 
3member said:
I guess it depends on what kind of applicant you are. Given the choice btw a top 10 and a bottom of the barrel residency IV.. which would you be more inclined to choose? Given multiple top 10s vs a bottom of the barrel residency? Given multiple top 20s vs bottom of the barrel? etc etc..
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I’d probably go by stats. Once I’m at the point where I have a close to 99% chance of matching and interviews at a good mix of programs I might start declining or canceling. But I totally see the temptation to go on all of them out of FOMO or paranoia.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Being StrategyProof (SP) means that plays will be better off or at least not worse off by being truthful regardless of what other players do. Applicants are an SP player group (actually Group SP in that collision between applicants is not a viable strategy). Programs are not, which means that can fare better by being deceptive. Since players go for maximum payoff, programs are incentivized to lie.
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why aren't programs strategyproof?
 
Lawpy said:
why aren't programs strategyproof?
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Because the applicants are “proposing” to the programs. By misrepresenting their level of interest to applicants, they can theoretically get more desirable applicants to propose earlier (i.e., rank them higher). Because applicants are proposing (i.e., the algorithm uses the applicants’ rank lists as the proposals), being deceptive does not improve their possibilities.
 
Chibucks15 said:
Well the reddit sheet is seeming like I won’t get my top spot. Based on number sent out and slots likely remaining

I did an away there and got incredible feedback and literally was told “we’ll make sure to look for your app” during my mini interview. Also had attendings and residents tell me to let them know if they can help. Really don’t know what else I could’ve done besides not be a DO and do a bit better on steps but I figured that me killin the away would at least get me an interview. Feels bad man

EDIT: Changed for anonymity
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Asking a pretty obvious question (sorry in advance), but did they tell you for sure it wasn't your real interview? My core site is interviewing auditioners at the end of the audition rotations, period. So we had people interview in August, September, etc. with their *real* interview who will be ranked even though they interviewed before ERAS apps were due. Maybe you're in that boat.
 
calivianya said:
Asking a pretty obvious question (sorry in advance), but did they tell you for sure it wasn't your real interview? My core site is interviewing auditioners at the end of the audition rotations, period. So we had people interview in August, September, etc. with their *real* interview who will be ranked even though they interviewed before ERAS apps were due. Maybe you're in that boat.
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I treated it like my real interview...but they said things like "oh I wish you were here during interview season" and "I'll definitely tell [PD] to keep an eye out for your application". Also residents were like "we'll see you during interviews!" when I was leaving. Just very confused and kinda hoping its a clerical error cuz my stats aren't THAT bad
 
So I guess I'll update.

Currently sitting at 17 GS invites, 9 university programs, a few hybrid, and a few community. Honestly I'm a little shocked, I wasn't expecting to get to this number this quickly.

Keep being patient fam, I suspect invites will keep trickling in until mid-December honestly.
 
Given the holiday break, how far into December or early January do you guys think we can expect to interview? Has anyone had an interview scheduled between December 20 to say January 6?
 
Ho0v-man said:
Sitting at 8 DR interviews rn. Grateful for what I got but honestly thought I’d be doing a little better.
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DR apps seem to be all over the place. You have some pretty uncompetitive people on paper with a lot of interviews and I absolutely do not buy their letters are better, PS stronger or whatever else people say might be giving them the love. I'm happy for them of course but DR has been confusing as hell.
 
I have 17 IM interview invites (not trying to brag just giving context) and I had my first interview this week and immediately after logging off I cancelled 2 interviews and I plan to cancel a few more scheduled in January at the end of this month. There is no freaking way I can survive doing 15+ interviews. Dare I say they are worse than normal interview days (comparing them to Med school interviews at least)?

Anywho my point is I think as “interview hoarding” people complete their first few interviews they will quickly realize that it’s not worth their time to interview at so many places (even with the travel cost savings) because once you hit above 10 the return on the time investment fades and the fatigue hits big.
 
Noemata said:
Given the holiday break, how far into December or early January do you guys think we can expect to interview? Has anyone had an interview scheduled between December 20 to say January 6?
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I scheduled for 12/22 with a Peds program. Only program out of my interview invites to be offering that week.
 
Yeah as someone who has more interviews than goal, I am currently in the process of trimming my list and cancelling/declining interview invites. It is SCARY AS **** to do this y'all (especially because I'm convinced they are all a mistake as there are people on here a lot more impressive than me with less interviews), but it would be absurdly unfair to my fellow applicants.

And to be clear, this has nothing to do with not wanting to go to these programs - I did my research before applying and made sure I would be a good fit personality wise and application/board scores wise. I did apply to mostly community programs, which may explain the various invites I got, but still, no reason to hoard.

ALSO how the heck do people plan to take so much time off from rotations for so many interviews? I'm on the struggle bus over here ALREADY and this is WEEK ONE.
 
browneyes1000 said:
Yeah as someone who has more interviews than goal, I am currently in the process of trimming my list and cancelling/declining interview invites. It is SCARY AS **** to do this y'all (especially because I'm convinced they are all a mistake as there are people on here a lot more impressive than me with less interviews), but it would be absurdly unfair to my fellow applicants.

And to be clear, this has nothing to do with not wanting to go to these programs - I did my research before applying and made sure I would be a good fit personality wise and application/board scores wise. I did apply to mostly community programs, which may explain the various invites I got, but still, no reason to hoard.

ALSO how the heck do people plan to take so much time off from rotations for so many interviews? I'm on the struggle bus over here ALREADY and this is WEEK ONE.
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I have done 7 already and will hit 9 by the end of this week. I have already canceled a couple of invites because interviewing on zoom sucks. My one tomorrow is with 6 faculty and I am dreading it. The key to taking time off is to not tell your school you are taking time off. Instead, just ask whoever is supervising you. I don't plan on ever keeping my school in the loop with days missed.
 
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