A
AnatomyGrey12
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"Due to an unexpected scheduling conflict I will no longer be able to attend my interview at X. Thank you for your consideration."
MD & DO co'21 Residency Panic thread
Started by kraskadva
"Due to an unexpected scheduling conflict I will no longer be able to attend my interview at X. Thank you for your consideration."
What were you saying (allegedly)?
"I'm interviewing at a better place. Thanks though."
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Finished my first interview, not too bad! Definitely was nice having breaks for bathroom or water. Felt like I got a good feel for the program, and got invited to a second look wine and dine. Saved myself at least $700!
Tips? Thoughts for us who have them in the next week or two?
She said I was just shouting “EF, EF this BS, such EFFin BS.” Over and over lol.
So do program directors routinely let you know where you are ranked later in the season? I feel like that would help me to figure out where I will rank programs. Wanna go where I’m wanted lol
No, not usually
This is the worst idea. Rank by order of preference as if every single one of them were begging to have you. There are enough candidates that if you end up there, you were wanted.
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A- that’s a match violation
B- that’s not how the algorithm works
I thought a program can tell you whatever they like as far as where they're ranking you....but that information should not be trusted. I thought the violation would be if a program asked you where you're ranking them, or what other programs you are ranking, etc.
D
deleted645092
Not routinely but it’s not unheard of. I’m sure it’s a match violation gray area but friends from last year showed me emails where the program basically said “if you’re receiving this email we Plan on seeing you in July and hope you feel the same”.
I know someone who was told she would be ranked number 1 by her top program. The PD went so far as to tell her to save her money because she doesn’t need to interview anymore. Not only did she not match there, that program didn’t even fill which means she wasn’t even ranked! Ended up soaping into a different field.
For Gods sake, don’t trust these people.
For Gods sake, don’t trust these people.
Obvious I’m only an MS2, and I won’t even be going through the civilian match, but I did read about the algorithm since I was a mathematician in another life, and you’re just screwing yourself if you don’t rank in order of preference. It’s literally designed to favor the applicant.
It's the opposite. Applicants can tell programs anything they feel like, however, programs cannot ask you where you're ranking them NOR can they tell you where you fall on their rank list.
Dude. It’s year 4 of med school. It’s the same reason you get screwed every other step of the way as a med student. Bc screw you, you have no power.
They can send “ranked to match” notifications though can’t they?
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A
AnatomyGrey12
Yes but they are largely meaningless. "Ranked to match" can mean a lot of different things.
Both of these statements are not quite accurate.
A) Programs can tell you anything they want about where you are on their list. They can tell you the exact number if they want. There is nothing that prevents this. And you can tell programs anything you want -- exact positions on your list, or anything else. Neither party is allowed to ask the other for this information, especially if couched in the "I will only rank you highly if you promise you're ranking me highly". So either can tell, neither can ask.
B) This is a bit nuanced. It's correct that the way the algorithm works, you can't hurt yourself by ranking programs that you think you have less chances at (i.e. reaches) higher on your rank list. You can't lose a spot by "ranking a program too low". But, applicants might still prefer to go somewhere that "wants them more". It does an applicant no benefit to match at a "reach" place and be miserable. But since there's no real way to know what programs are doing, applicants should not try to do this.
The "favor the applicant" line is often quoted. There's a whole thread about the match alg that, if you're a math/computer nerd or are otherwise interested in the inner workings, is worth a read. But the match isn't actually all that "applicant favored". It weighs program and applicant interests basically equally. The only "favor the applicant" piece is that any ties are settled in the applicant's favor. This affects less than 1% of matches, so really plays a minor role. So, mathematically, the match only slightly favors the applicant.
I forgot to respond to the "Ranked to match" post. I agree, this statement is extremely confusing. To some people, it means that if I have X positions in my program, you're ranked from 1-X. In that case, you are mathematically guaranteed a spot (but could easily match somewhere else, if you rank another program higher). To other programs, it means "I usually go down to #50 and you're at #45", but that program could fill at #40. Usually when you complain, you're told "It was a more competitive year than usual".
Since you can't really tell what it means, and it's (somewhat) a match violation to ask, the statement is not terribly useful. But again, it really shouldn't matter -- you simply rank the programs in the order you want to go to them.
To review a key match fact: You cannot "not match" by changing the order of your rank list -- you might change where you match, but you will still match. Likewise, if you don't match you would not have matched no matter what order your list was entered.
Since you can't really tell what it means, and it's (somewhat) a match violation to ask, the statement is not terribly useful. But again, it really shouldn't matter -- you simply rank the programs in the order you want to go to them.
To review a key match fact: You cannot "not match" by changing the order of your rank list -- you might change where you match, but you will still match. Likewise, if you don't match you would not have matched no matter what order your list was entered.
Yes, it favors the applicant in that it is applicant proposing rather than program proposing. By doing so, a small number of applicants match better than they would have the other way around, and overall the algorithm gives a best fit result (which is a switch from the original, program proposing method, as I'm sure you know). Just by the math, it favors you to fill it out per your own preferences.
The point is that it's strategyproof for the applicant (meaning you are better off or at least not worse off by being entirely truthful--in other words, by ranking your true order of preference). It's not for the programs, but there's nothing you can do about that.
Why aren't these communications banned?
I literally took the word of a PD to mean the truth and it devastated me. I was so betrayed (i knew the PD more personally than any other.. audition and all of that).
Yeah, dont trust anyone. Rank the programs that way you want to.
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Where are my II, boi im boutta lose it 
srry was the scotch talking lolol
srry was the scotch talking lolol
Anybody had a thalamus interview yet? If so, how does the video chat start? Is there a link on thalamus somewhere?
EDIT: found it; we good!
EDIT #2: for anybody who hasn't used thalamus yet, highly recommend checking it out before you use it for the first time. The camera is a lot more zoomed in than on Zoom and the mic settings are different (no option for both an external mic and speaker that I have found)
EDIT #3: camera adjusts once in real meeting; no worries!
EDIT: found it; we good!
EDIT #2: for anybody who hasn't used thalamus yet, highly recommend checking it out before you use it for the first time. The camera is a lot more zoomed in than on Zoom and the mic settings are different (no option for both an external mic and speaker that I have found)
EDIT #3: camera adjusts once in real meeting; no worries!
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I sure hope so! I applied to ~90 programs and am currently sitting at 8 invites. Extremely grateful thus far, as my goal was/is 12+. Really hoping for another rush of invites for all of us.
You know how some people take solace in listening to some sappy love songs after a breakup? With my IVs drying up, I was listening to some 90's R&B(Boyz II Men, Bryan Mcknight, etc) and realized if I replace the word "girl" w/ "eras/iv" it makes total sense of how I feel about the situation.
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Agree. Many of the invites out right now are to rotators and locals or known folks. They will keep coming. On Thalamus the place I have still has like 22 spots available, so I know they’re sending out more invites.
Hoooo, that invoice must have been brutal. 300 is the highest number I’ve seen yet.
Damn. I'm happy you have some invites and I hope you get more. This is just so stressful.
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Are hand written thank you notes taboo this cycle because of fomite risk or are they ok to send ? Or is email the way to go ?
Email for sure
Come on #4.... Papa needs a job next year.
Do email. That way IF the PD cares about them, they can “search” their inbox and you will come up that way. Plus then you know it was sent/received. A friend did hand written and stressed about it bc was the address right? Did it get lost? Trashed immediately? One PD sent a snarky email in response about their choice of card. Don’t open yourself up to that kind of stress.
Man, probably just stick to my PC. I already missed the ps4 generation. Will I really have time for console gaming during intern year? : (
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I cant tell if im more stressed over 0 IVs on eras or cyberpunk 2077s 3rd delay
I’ve been playing red dead redemption 2 on my potato. Amazing .
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Yes.
Dang.....a snarky response? Was it justified? I mean...****, if it was just a subjective matter of taste that'd make me DNR them PDQ
Did you play Witcher 3? I'm trying to savor my time with it until Cyberpunk.
The key is to just have 3 friends who are also on vacation and just get drunk frequently and switch between the free fortnite and Warzone. 4th year in a nutshell really
All potatoes are good potatoes especially if they can run RDR2. However I would recommend using that PGY1 Educational stipend on a new rig/rtx3070 for cyberpu...i mean doing reads from home...
I played a bit of it, it def got lost in my backlog though. Definitely considering revisiting it to get back into the RPG hype, currently on auditions so in terms of gaming I really have only had time for the occasional warzone match with the boys. If I’m gonna play an RPG its half day/all day event for me (I get distracted easily and go off on hour long pointless explorations and make no progress ) so in all honesty the cyberpunk delay puts it at a perfect time for me as I’ll be off for 3 weeks
“What did you do during the COVID pandemic?!”
“Got hella dubs with the boys”
*Ranked to match*
Honestly got asked about what I did during Covid quarantine in my first interview yesterday and had to come up with something not involving getting dubs with the homies lmao
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I hope you said something along the lines of socially distanced team building exercises with colleagues in addition to dexterity training under pressure (aka pulling clutches in the gulag)
Are people sending thank you emails post-interview? I feel like that just clogs up their inboxes but saw a bunch of people talking about it over on Reddit...
