MD & DO co'21 Residency Panic thread

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MavFab said:
Any chance the heavy hitter could call a few programs on your behalf and attest to your abilities? I bet that would help a lot. Other than that, I would send some LOIs and try to explain the situation. I really can't believe the school is not updating the MSPEs. It screws over applicants like yourself.
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Got a few people making calls, yeah. Hopefully that helps. The advisor from Nova is trying to help me get them updated now that I’ve already done a bunch of surgery rotations.
 
CavsFan2016 said:
Didn't get an II at what could've been my top choice program. My step scores were in the 75th percentile of their program, I was an in-state applicant with ties to the area and I published a paper with one of the residents in their program who said he put in a good word for me...this interview season makes no sense
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Reach out to the resident. Sometimes they can catch their PD/APD and suggest giving a particular person another look.
 
CavsFan2016 said:
Didn't get an II at what could've been my top choice program. My step scores were in the 75th percentile of their program, I was an in-state applicant with ties to the area and I published a paper with one of the residents in their program who said he put in a good word for me...this interview season makes no sense
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The season really doesn't make sense, its such a crapshoot. I am definitely a weaker candidate in my class and don't have stellar board scores. I have 20+ interviews both from in and out of state. My friends who have higher scores and GPA are struggling. How am I supposed to help them feel better when literally none of this makes sense? I'm getting interviews at random reach programs, but applicants with higher scores and better stories have heard nothing. I just dont understand.
 
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Scrubs101 said:
So like when does the chill part of fourth year start? Your boy is dying over here. Between the hell that was step 2, then auditions, and all this application stress fourth year has been 100x worse than 3rd year stress wise
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Just put in to do 2.5 months of the spring as online courses. After spending the last several months traveling for auditions, and essentially quarantining inside when not at the hospital to justify my traveling, I am ready to CHILL lol
 
CavsFan2016 said:
Didn't get an II at what could've been my top choice program. My step scores were in the 75th percentile of their program, I was an in-state applicant with ties to the area and I published a paper with one of the residents in their program who said he put in a good word for me...this interview season makes no sense
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Very similar situation over here.
 
RamsFan&FutureDO said:
Just put in to do 2.5 months of the spring as online courses. After spending the last several months traveling for auditions, and essentially quarantining inside when not at the hospital to justify my traveling, I am ready to CHILL lol
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I've been off rotation for the past 3 weeks quarantined after my wife caught covid. I'm supposed to go back in 7 days...then school pulled all students from my core site this morning due to covid. Yeah 2020 is a bitch of a year.
 
Scrubs101 said:
So like when does the chill part of fourth year start? Your boy is dying over here. Between the hell that was step 2, then auditions, and all this application stress fourth year has been 100x worse than 3rd year stress wise
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Nope, for me 3rd year was still definitely more stressful (hang in their 3rd years! You won't have to feign interest in things you never want to do again for much longer!). I put COVID stress in a separate bucket from med school stress, as most of my worry is for others and not for myself.

Guys, my LOI yesterday to my #1 worked! (That or it was total coincidence that I got an invitation today). I was nervous about writing one, but my advisor gave me the template below to follow and I found that helpful so I'm sharing.
Craft an email to any programs you are especially interested in and outline a few things:
  1. Why that location is desirable to you
  2. Why that program specifically is desirable to you
  3. What you bring to the program
 
Naruhodo said:
Nope, for me 3rd year was still definitely more stressful (hang in their 3rd years! You won't have to feign interest in things you never want to do again for much longer!). I put COVID stress in a separate bucket from med school stress, as most of my worry is for others and not for myself.

Guys, my LOI yesterday to my #1 worked! (That or it was total coincidence that I got an invitation today). I was nervous about writing one, but my advisor gave me the template below to follow and I found that helpful so I'm sharing.
Craft an email to any programs you are especially interested in and outline a few things:
  1. Why that location is desirable to you
  2. Why that program specifically is desirable to you
  3. What you bring to the program
Click to expand...

Congrats and thanks for sharing. I've been thinking about how to write a LOI.
 
Spectreman said:
Got a few people making calls, yeah. Hopefully that helps. The advisor from Nova is trying to help me get them updated now that I’ve already done a bunch of surgery rotations.
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How did you phrase that request? Thinking of asking one of my mentors to reach out for me at some point but not sure how to ask him - especially because I would be really happy staying at my home program and don't want it to seem like I'm trying to get out, I just want to make sure I match!
 
boolin_1 said:
This has been the most humbling and sobering experience I’ve been through. It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve worked or how passionate you are
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It’s hard not to take it personally. But it is what it is . It’s also hard to tell underclassmen that they should bust their behinds when it seems like all the hard work was for naught.
 
bigindian4891 said:
The season really doesn't make sense, its such a crapshoot. I am definitely a weaker candidate in my class and don't have stellar board scores. I have 20+ interviews both from in and out of state. My friends who have higher scores and GPA are struggling. How am I supposed to help them feel better when literally none of this makes sense? I'm getting interviews at random reach programs, but applicants with higher scores and better stories have heard nothing. Makes zero sense.
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are you extremely good looking or URM?

It’s likely just luck of the draw. Some programs put more emphasis on personal statements, LOR, etc... I would like to see things from the other side (the vantage point of program directors)
 
This week has actually been very dry for me thus far, got some action on Monday but nada since then. I'm lucky to be sitting at a comfortable number of interviews though so it's not the end of the world, but I am hoping to get some attention from some programs that I consider "target" but have thus far ignored me. On the other hand, I've gotten invites from reaches that are geographically really far away that I didn't actually expect. Truly a weird process.
 
Huggy said:
Was asked today who were my top 3 favorite bands. I couldn't come up with a quick lie so I told the truth: Circa Survive, Avenged Sevenfold and Taking Back Sunday. She told me that she's never heard of any of them but is excited to look them up later today. Let's just say she didn't seem like the type who is going to like what she hears lol
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I’m pretty sure we just became best friends...
 
Huggy said:
Was asked today who were my top 3 favorite bands. I couldn't come up with a quick lie so I told the truth: Circa Survive, Avenged Sevenfold and Taking Back Sunday. She told me that she's never heard of any of them but is excited to look them up later today. Let's just say she didn't seem like the type who is going to like what she hears lol
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Hell ya fam solid choices.

I was asked my current favorite band on my first II & I told them it was Periphery & showed them this Periphery hat I coincidentally bought like the week before haha. They had zero clue who they were but it was still a fun question.
 
Huggy said:
Love to see some appreciation for Circa Survive.
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Huge fan of Anthony Green.

I saw TBS way back in 2002, they were opening for Rufio, and have always loved their stuff. I used to play in those kind of bands, opened for some decent groups like Further Seems Forever, Senses Fail, AFI. Pretty much the reason I didn’t go to med school till I was in my 30’s.
 
Huggy said:
Taking back Sunday in 02 would’ve been so hype. That’s absolutely nuts that you opened for senses fail and AFI those are way more than “decent” groups
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Both shows were in a local grange hall haha. I was 17 when we opened for AFI, would have been ‘01 just outside Chico CA. Good times!
 
Huggy said:
Was asked today who were my top 3 favorite bands. I couldn't come up with a quick lie so I told the truth: Circa Survive, Avenged Sevenfold and Taking Back Sunday. She told me that she's never heard of any of them but is excited to look them up later today. Let's just say she didn't seem like the type who is going to like what she hears lol
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Taking back Sunday was the first concert I went to ever back in middle school. Cute without the e will probably always be one of my favorites haha
 
popopopop said:
Damn, is HCA a dealbreaker for any of ya'll? I just heard some distressing stuff from residents from a program that has recently been acquired by HCA.
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Wait, I've heard this too. What are some of the negative stuff? Re-thinking about a waitlist from an HCA program may be a blessing in disguise...
 
3member said:
Wait, I've heard this too. What are some of the negative stuff? Re-thinking about a waitlist from an HCA program may be a blessing in disguise...
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You can read about this both from residents and support staffing. A resident told me after the HCA inquisition, a bunch of physicians/staff left and that the hospital are filled with travel nurses now(meaning they can't staff with permanent employees).
 
Damn just got one from a reach that I sent an LOI to earlier this week!


But weirdly I looked at the damn google sheet for the first time (why did I do this) and saw that the place I did an away sent them out today, and I got nothing, which is weird to say the least because they have been very clear about wanting me. It's possible I'm being impatient and they send in batches but this year is weird so, lol.
 
mandu_cheeks said:
How I used to interview prep: go to a programs' website, write things down on post-it notes, rehearse answers to behavioral questions
How I prep now: start drinking at 1PM, sing along to Whitney Houston while ugly-crying, check on my sourdough starter every couple of hours

View attachment 322992
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Same! Now my prep is to not to prep and write down 2-3 points made in the morning information session about why that program...
 
morningmedicine said:
Yes, I agree that purposeless interviews should be avoided. But say an applicant goes on 20 interviews and ranks all 20 places, I don't think he/she should be penalized in that scenario. On the contrary, the applicant that goes on 25 interviews and ranks 10 is the a$$hole, IMO.
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Barring a big red flag you didn't notice until the interview. You should be ranking every program you interview at this year.
 
iamarosepetal said:
What does this mean
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It means that this year with all the chaos, it would be wise to make sure to add every program you interview at, onto your rank list. Technically, if you interview at a place, you don't have to put it on your rank list. But @getfat is saying don't do that this year, you want to have a long rank list.
 
popopopop said:
You can read about this both from residents and support staffing. A resident told me after the HCA inquisition, a bunch of physicians/staff left and that the hospital are filled with travel nurses now(meaning they can't staff with permanent employees).
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This isn't uncommon for HCA acquisitions. One big negative for the HCA hospitals is for the attendings in particular, they structure contracts that tie part of your salary/pay to certain performance metrics. One big one I've heard of is early discharges (before noon, for example) for the hospitalists. You'll literally get paid less if you don't get more early discharges. That's pretty whack IMO but that doesn't really impact the residents directly. It just means your attending is pushing for early discharges but you won't be financially penalized for not pumping your numbers up.


AnatomyGrey12 said:
It depends on the program. Some of the HCA programs are rumored to be absolutely terrible, while others are actually decent and have been established for a good amount of time.
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Definitely true from my experience. Some HCAs in FL I know are rough, but there are some other ones that aren't bad at all, and are actually pretty solid community programs. Also depends on the speciality I think.
 
Does this HCA bad reputation also apply to the HCA TY programs?
 
Huggy said:
Yeah I interviewed at an HCA TY this week and although it was only one 15min interview with the PD it seems to be an absolute breeze from what I’ve read and heard from others.
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Man, you guys are making me feel like I should have applied to TY programs 😉. Except that with my numbers I wouldn't have been competitive for them, and honestly I'm grateful for getting the interviews at the places I've got. Not gonna double guess my strategy now.
 
Huggy said:
Yeah I interviewed at an HCA TY this week and although it was only one 15min interview with the PD it seems to be an absolute breeze from what I’ve read and heard from others.
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What questions do you think are important to ask at TY interviews to unearth this? Some seem like IM prelims in disguise but I don't want to come off like a dick because they aren't transparent.
 
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