MD & DO co'21 Residency Panic thread

Started by kraskadva
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mehc012 said:
I mean, I get it. But that doesn't mean it isn't annoying af to have the same conversation back to back 8 times in a row. Maybe try talking to each other so you can get 8x as much information instead of one REALLY WELL EMPHASIZED point. Also, dear interviewers in shotgun interview-style programs: by the 3rd interview slot, your interviewee has already asked all of their questions, twice over. By the 5th, that question has them screaming internally. By the 8th, you're just being lazy and your poor interviewee's head is about to explode. Stop. Asking. This. 5min. Into. Your. 15min. Session.
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It sucks...and annoying...trust me I know...because I have a red flag too...but think like this: maybe your interviewer #1 asked you about it but did not ask good question or he/she may not be vocal type of person to advocate loudly for you during the ranking time...Interview is an opportunity for you to voice any type of red flag...in my opinion better than if they just ignore it, don't understand it and just rank you low on the list. They can't talk to each other if they go from one zoom to others. Passing messages can also be interpreted differently...so the best person explaining it is you.

I am just trying to give you points to think positively about this...because there will be more interviews...and more explanations...
 
jets46 said:
Same. What's your favorite animal. If you can be any animal, what would it be? What Netflix series are you watching? If you were a vegetable, what vegetable would you be? I'm ready for this process to be done.
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Cat
Cat
CATS
Catsear

I’ll take that match now. Kthxbai
 
iamarosepetal said:
i don't see how it's a BIG red flag. literally not her fault some PDs have giant egos and didn't want her to rank them low on the list as a back up. She is clearly smarter and better than me in every category :dead:
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Are you sure? Because I know few reapplicants had trouble getting interview second round either with the original specialty or back up specialty...when they were obviously very competitive applicant because they interviewed at top programs. I can only speak for competitive specialty though, with this cycle subIs are cancelled, any type of screening out metric became more important especially with the inc number of apps per program.

She is clearly smarter and more capable than me as well...do I think the system is right? NOPE...
 
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Will attest to how chill rads interviews are. I have been surprised though, on how after interviewing at quite a few top programs I can tell in the first hour if I like the vibe or not. Which ofc affects my performance which isn't the best. But for the programs I love, I really dig deep and give my best interviews. Knowing there are a lot of programs I'd be happy to go to has made this process a lot better than a month ago.
 
Still sitting at 5, only 1 non-audition interview and still no interview from 3 of the places I’ve been to. Snagged a good letter from my IM preceptor that’s def okay for FM if I need to soap that way. I don’t think I’ve got the fight in me for a prelim after this grim of an interview season. Clearly my age, weak scores, and some other factor like my missing surgery rotations (although from covid) are wrecking me. I have friends with much lower scores with several interviews to places I applied. My surgery COMAT comes back this week and I’m 99% sure I crushed it so I’m going to use that as a good reason to blast emails. Hopefully it gets some movement.

Anyone have thoughts on the odds to soaping IM instead of FM with my stats (225/231 508/639, 2nd quartile, no fails, 2 pubs, 6 posters)? No real intent on fellowship, though, if I have to walk away from GS I’m just gonna do the hospitalist gig somewhere rural. The fact that I could do it via FM makes me think maybe I shouldn’t bother trying for IM, but if I could snag IM maybe I should so I have the option to go on.
 
Spectreman said:
Still sitting at 5, only 1 non-audition interview and still no interview from 3 of the places I’ve been to. Snagged a good letter from my IM preceptor that’s def okay for FM if I need to soap that way. I don’t think I’ve got the fight in me for a prelim after this grim of an interview season. Clearly my age, weak scores, and some other factor like my missing surgery rotations (although from covid) are wrecking me. I have friends with much lower scores with several interviews to places I applied. My surgery COMAT comes back this week and I’m 99% sure I crushed it so I’m going to use that as a good reason to blast emails. Hopefully it gets some movement.

Anyone have thoughts on the odds to soaping IM instead of FM with my stats (225/231 508/639, 2nd quartile, no fails, 2 pubs, 6 posters)? No real intent on fellowship, though, if I have to walk away from GS I’m just gonna do the hospitalist gig somewhere rural. The fact that I could do it via FM makes me think maybe I shouldn’t bother trying for IM, but if I could snag IM maybe I should so I have the option to go on.
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Damn bro this makes me sad. I'm biased since I'm applying IM but I'd definitely say IM>FM. Much more flexibility I think. Who knows, maybe after three years you want to do a fellowship in GI and itch that procedural bug of yours? I think if you're even remotely thinking Inpatient > outpatient, I'd do IM.

I think it's good to think about plan B or C. But don't let your mind slip down that path too much yet! For what it's worth the fourth year surg auditioneers at the hospital I'm at don't have many interviews at all. Just a crazy unpredictable year. But you're still in the running
 
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Spectreman said:
Still sitting at 5, only 1 non-audition interview and still no interview from 3 of the places I’ve been to. Snagged a good letter from my IM preceptor that’s def okay for FM if I need to soap that way. I don’t think I’ve got the fight in me for a prelim after this grim of an interview season. Clearly my age, weak scores, and some other factor like my missing surgery rotations (although from covid) are wrecking me. I have friends with much lower scores with several interviews to places I applied. My surgery COMAT comes back this week and I’m 99% sure I crushed it so I’m going to use that as a good reason to blast emails. Hopefully it gets some movement.

Anyone have thoughts on the odds to soaping IM instead of FM with my stats (225/231 508/639, 2nd quartile, no fails, 2 pubs, 6 posters)? No real intent on fellowship, though, if I have to walk away from GS I’m just gonna do the hospitalist gig somewhere rural. The fact that I could do it via FM makes me think maybe I shouldn’t bother trying for IM, but if I could snag IM maybe I should so I have the option to go on.
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Also dude, your school f*cked you. I don't understand why not explicitly saying in the MSPE what happened with covid for you. And also, why did your school make you wait to take your surgery comat?? I missed IM for the month of April due to COVID, my school made me do stupid online stuff but I still took the comat when I was scheduled to take it. Making you wait until a third of the way through four year is asinine on the part of your school. Especially if you're applying to surg. I'd make a guess that admissions are looking at shelf scores for their speciality. Especially something like surgery.

I'd be pissed af if I was in your shoes and writing some visibly angry emails to my schools admin
 
What are some of the best resources you all found to practice interviews? Applying ortho so our interviews are starting in the next couple weeks and want to make sure I am adequately prepared.
 
NecrotizingFasciitis said:
Dang. DR interviews are so much more chill than that lol.

Most clinical question I've gotten after 7 DR interviews: "you're presented with a patient you have very little information on, what do you do?"

Me: "um... probably... get more information?"

Interviewer:
View attachment 323402
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Had a similar interaction yesterday.
Interviewer: "You have a pt w/ a million problems. What is the first thing you want do"
Me: "Ask the pt what he wants to do?"
Interviewer: Shocked face
 
I went through the Big Interview also, but to summarize it, just apply the "star method" to each question you have and you'll be fine. However, like others have said, have heard that ortho interviews can be intense. One guy had to interpret an x-ray on the spot (pre-covid).
 
Espressso said:
Also dude, your school f*cked you. I don't understand why not explicitly saying in the MSPE what happened with covid for you. And also, why did your school make you wait to take your surgery comat?? I missed IM for the month of April due to COVID, my school made me do stupid online stuff but I still took the comat when I was scheduled to take it. Making you wait until a third of the way through four year is asinine on the part of your school. Especially if you're applying to surg. I'd make a guess that admissions are looking at shelf scores for their speciality. Especially something like surgery.

I'd be pissed af if I was in your shoes and writing some visibly angry emails to my schools admin
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Dude getting the school to let me take my comat was literally like pulling teeth. I did surgery rotations right away, but they weren’t labeled as straight “general surgery” like one was vascular even though it was with a general surgeon and one was “rural selective” even though it was again straight up GS. So the clinical dean wouldn't approve for me to sit for the comat. Just crazy town. I did hear back from one program that rejected me but interviewed a friend with crazy low scores. I emailed just briefly explaining the surgery core issue and they said they aren’t factoring rotations at all because of covid, and that they aren’t able to disclose their all of their review criteria but they looked at my app and decided not to interview me.
 
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Espressso said:
Our school gave us access to Big Interview Residency Edition and I found that to be extremely helpful. Just went through most of the video modules prior to my first interview
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popopopop said:
I went through the Big Interview also, but to summarize it, just apply the "star method" to each question you have and you'll be fine. However, like others have said, have heard that ortho interviews can be intense. One guy had to interpret an x-ray on the spot (pre-covid).
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We have big interview as well - was planning on using this. Glad to hear it helped.

Yeah I have heard same thing about ortho testing some of your knowledge. Oh well, hopefully I learned something from my sub-I's
 
NotAnotherPreMed said:
Will attest to how chill rads interviews are. I have been surprised though, on how after interviewing at quite a few top programs I can tell in the first hour if I like the vibe or not. Which ofc affects my performance which isn't the best. But for the programs I love, I really dig deep and give my best interviews. Knowing there are a lot of programs I'd be happy to go to has made this process a lot better than a month ago.
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SAME!! Im glad someone else feels this way.
 
getfat said:
Had this yesterday for an IM interview. Old school guy that was on the verge of retirement. I feel like it's usually just people that are "out of touch" with current interview practices.
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same. the same person who asked me a medical question was a really old guy. i was like ??? and then he concluded with no right or wrong answers just wanted to see how you think
 
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iamarosepetal said:
same. the same person who asked me a medical question was a really old guy. i was like ??? and then he concluded with no right or wrong answers just wanted to see how you think
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I actually appreciate that kind of question where they give you a case and ask how you approach it rather than “A fib with RVR how do you treat?!?! Quick they’re dying!”

Had a good conversation with an interviewer about how tricky it is managing bounce-backs complaining of back pain specifically.
 
scrublyfe21 said:
I actually appreciate that kind of question where they give you a case and ask how you approach it rather than “A fib with RVR how do you treat?!?! Quick they’re dying!”

Had a good conversation with an interviewer about how tricky it is managing bounce-backs complaining of back pain specifically.
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oh no what i got wasn't a case. it was pimping on medical factoids lol
 
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Man the entire cycle has died down quickly. Maybe other specialities are still rolling in, but for IM, its been a STRUGGLE BUS the last couple weeks good god. I wanna hope that we get a second wave sometime sooner rather than later, but I think that's just optimistic thinking. It's gunna be dropped IVs trickling down from here looks like

Feels like I'd be lucky to get even 1 or 2 more invites the rest of the cycle the way IM has been going recently. Sure hope I'm wrong man
 
Spectreman said:
Still sitting at 5, only 1 non-audition interview and still no interview from 3 of the places I’ve been to. Snagged a good letter from my IM preceptor that’s def okay for FM if I need to soap that way. I don’t think I’ve got the fight in me for a prelim after this grim of an interview season. Clearly my age, weak scores, and some other factor like my missing surgery rotations (although from covid) are wrecking me. I have friends with much lower scores with several interviews to places I applied. My surgery COMAT comes back this week and I’m 99% sure I crushed it so I’m going to use that as a good reason to blast emails. Hopefully it gets some movement.

Anyone have thoughts on the odds to soaping IM instead of FM with my stats (225/231 508/639, 2nd quartile, no fails, 2 pubs, 6 posters)? No real intent on fellowship, though, if I have to walk away from GS I’m just gonna do the hospitalist gig somewhere rural. The fact that I could do it via FM makes me think maybe I shouldn’t bother trying for IM, but if I could snag IM maybe I should so I have the option to go on.
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I wondered about this. I honored my EM COMAT and rotation after ERAS season was underway, but some people suggested not emailing programs about it cause it might seem pretentious
 
MakeLifeHappen13 said:
Anybody else alternate between thinking you did okay on the interview to thinking you absolutely bombed it? Most of the time I feel like it went well, but then I remember saying things that didn't come out how I wanted. Really hard to gage
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Same. Don't think about it. Honestly 10-15 minutes isn't enough to judge anyone and a lot of places have a pre-interview rank list. As long as you weren't mean or super ignorant you're probably fine. It's more like a screen than anything.
 
Dr. Lion said:
A lot of people in IM feel the same way. I know people with better scores and no red flags who have less interviews than I do. I think there will be more waves. There are programs that have not even sent out their 1st wave yet. I guess we'll see.
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That IM spreadsheet if you glance at it mostly looks like community programs. I think (hope) academic ones are still coming.
 
MakeLifeHappen13 said:
Anybody else alternate between thinking you did okay on the interview to thinking you absolutely bombed it? Most of the time I feel like it went well, but then I remember saying things that didn't come out how I wanted. Really hard to gage
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iamarosepetal said:
Same. Don't think about it. Honestly 10-15 minutes isn't enough to judge anyone and a lot of places have a pre-interview rank list. As long as you weren't mean or super ignorant you're probably fine. It's more like a screen than anything.
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I looked at the literature on interviews back when I was applying to med school. Turns out, people are terrible judges of how they performed, and who you get assigned to interview with (like similar personality to your interviewer) matters more than your answers do anyway. Reassuring and frustrating at the same time. Big part of the transition to MMI format was because all the studies kept showing that having a few longer interviews with a couple random faculty was like throwing darts, having rapid impressions from half a dozen people is better at picking candidates. Obviously not because you get to thoroughly discuss anything, but because it tries to minimize the variance from who you're assigned.
 
efle said:
I looked at the literature on interviews back when I was applying to med school. Turns out, people are terrible judges of how they performed, and who you get assigned to interview with (like similar personality to your interviewer) matters more than your answers do anyway. Reassuring and frustrating at the same time. Big part of the transition to MMI format was because all the studies kept showing that having a few longer interviews with a couple random faculty was like throwing darts, having rapid impressions from half a dozen people is better at picking candidates. Obviously not because you get to thoroughly discuss anything, but because it tries to minimize the variance from who you're assigned.
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Yeah that makes sense. One of the interviewers I really vibed with told me she was introverted as well after I admitted to her that I was more on the introverted side. I like to think that as long as you can answer basic questions adequately and don't come off as a complete douche or a robot that the interview isn't going to affect where you fall on the rank list too much. I may be wrong but at least it helps take some of the pressure off.
 
efle said:
I looked at the literature on interviews back when I was applying to med school. Turns out, people are terrible judges of how they performed, and who you get assigned to interview with (like similar personality to your interviewer) matters more than your answers do anyway. Reassuring and frustrating at the same time. Big part of the transition to MMI format was because all the studies kept showing that having a few longer interviews with a couple random faculty was like throwing darts, having rapid impressions from half a dozen people is better at picking candidates. Obviously not because you get to thoroughly discuss anything, but because it tries to minimize the variance from who you're assigned.
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I’ll agree with MMI for med school. The current standard of interviewing with faculty and admin that you’ll likely never speak to if you get admitted is obviously flawed as you say.

But MMI is stupid for residency. I did one the other day and kept wondering how me dancing through unrealistic hypothetical scenarios is somehow better than trying to get to know the people I’ll work with for several years.
 
Doc-Thor said:
Man the entire cycle has died down quickly. Maybe other specialities are still rolling in, but for IM, its been a STRUGGLE BUS the last couple weeks good god. I wanna hope that we get a second wave sometime sooner rather than later, but I think that's just optimistic thinking. It's gunna be dropped IVs trickling down from here looks like

Feels like I'd be lucky to get even 1 or 2 more invites the rest of the cycle the way IM has been going recently. Sure hope I'm wrong man
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I feel the same. I’m honestly at a complete loss about my interview yield. There’s 8 programs in my field in my home state and I’ve got scores for any of them.

The only one that’s invited me is the most competitive one.

So I literally have to get into a top program to stay close to home because the community programs are ignoring me.

This is not at all how it was supposed to go down.
 
Dude same... I got my eval back from my audition that I did months ago and although it wasn't the SLOE, I'm guessing most that was written went to the comments section of the SLOE. I thought I got lower 1/3rds, but from the looks of my grade (B+ in %) and overall eval, it's most likely top 1/3rd (maybe middle 1/3rd, but who knows lol). So now I'm still wondering why I still have a less-than-ideal interview number. My boy who is like an EM god-in-training got a boss ass eval and got top 10% and is swimming in interviews (100% deserves it though!). I feel what's holding me back right now is me only having 2 SLOEs/LORs, although I'm working my ass off to get another one by next week... hopefully it's not too late ;(
 
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frenchyn said:
Mind to share experience?
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It just had everything I was looking for in a program (even things I wanted that I didn't realize I kind of needed for me personally) in a location that has everything I'm looking for and I felt like I'd fit in with the people really well. One huge point for me was they have very supportive faculty in terms of pursuing avenues related to & even outside of radiology (very very important to me, and multiple people brought it up without me saying anything about it). Just everything they said was right up my alley & I came away feeling extremely good vibes.
 
NecrotizingFasciitis said:
It just had everything I was looking for in a program (even things I wanted that I didn't realize I kind of needed for me personally) in a location that has everything I'm looking for and I felt like I'd fit in with the people really well. One huge point for me was they have very supportive faculty in terms of pursuing avenues related to & even outside of radiology (very very important to me, and multiple people brought it up without me saying anything about it). Just everything they said was right up my alley & I came away feeling extremely good vibes.
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It's always refreshing when you can tell that all the program's interviewers like, actually read your application and you can tell invited you because they are interested in YOU and not just your academics.
 
So it looks like the rejections are starting to roll in for the primary care specialities (FM, IM). I am wondering if most of the programs have extended all the interview slots that they have.
 
Frogger27 said:
What are some of the best resources you all found to practice interviews? Applying ortho so our interviews are starting in the next couple weeks and want to make sure I am adequately prepared.
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Doesn’t really help but I’ve found the best preparation to my interviews, were the prior interviews.


NecrotizingFasciitis said:
Guys I had that “moment” today; I think I just interviewed at the perfect program for me
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I did too!!!! And now I’m hopelessly in love with them and can’t imagine not matching there 😳
AnatomyGrey12 said:
It's always refreshing when you can tell that all the program's interviewers like, actually read your application and you can tell invited you because they are interested in YOU and not just your academics.
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Yeasssssss! My interview today, first of all there were only 4 of us being interviewed so it wasn’t an assembly line. The program coordinator was awesome! The PD and everyone else I interviewed with knew my application really well and made complimentary observations, asked informed/articulate questions, and were just overall amazing.
 
cadingcading said:
So it looks like the rejections are starting to roll in for the primary care specialities (FM, IM). I am wondering if most of the programs have extended all the interview slots that they have.
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I think rejections are more reflective of where you applied rather than on you and your app. Most programs just ghost you indefinitely. It looks like if you just happened to apply to programs that have the courtesy to update you, you get the closure of rejection.
 
Mr. D.O.five said:
Dude same... I got my eval back from my audition that I did months ago and although it wasn't the SLOE, I'm guessing most that was written went to the comments section of the SLOE. I thought I got lower 1/3rds, but from the looks of my grade (B+ in %) and overall eval, it's most likely top 1/3rd (maybe middle 1/3rd, but who knows lol). So now I'm still wondering why I still have a less-than-ideal interview number. My boy who is like an EM god-in-training got a boss ass eval and got top 10% and is swimming in interviews (100% deserves it though!). I feel what's holding me back right now is me only having 2 SLOEs/LORs, although I'm working my ass off to get another one by next week... hopefully it's not too late ;(
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I asked that guy EMGamerdoc in the APD ask me anything thread about correlation between our eval grade and SLOE ranking. They said generally honors on the school eval should be a top 10%-top 1/3rd, high pass middle to top-1/3rd, and low pass mid to bottom-1/3rd.

Going off his logic since you have interviews it’s probably in the middle 1/3rd range with some above-averages in 1-2 competencies.

Also at this point I’m not certain another SLOE will make a difference. At 2 of my interviews so far they said they only took into account my first of my 2 SLOEs.
 
efle said:
I looked at the literature on interviews back when I was applying to med school. Turns out, people are terrible judges of how they performed, and who you get assigned to interview with (like similar personality to your interviewer) matters more than your answers do anyway. Reassuring and frustrating at the same time. Big part of the transition to MMI format was because all the studies kept showing that having a few longer interviews with a couple random faculty was like throwing darts, having rapid impressions from half a dozen people is better at picking candidates. Obviously not because you get to thoroughly discuss anything, but because it tries to minimize the variance from who you're assigned.
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That's true I guess. I'm someone who always thinks I did badly on interviews or in clinicals. Super SUPER hard on myself. I remember posting on this forum because I was convinced I'd get a P on my surgical sub-i. Ended up honoring it and getting an amazing LOR that has been brought up at every interview. Told myself I did terrible on a research presentation and won an award for it. Don't know why I'm like this.
 
Doc-Thor said:
Feels like I'd be lucky to get even 1 or 2 more invites the rest of the cycle the way IM has been going recent
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Doesn't it feel like it was just yesterday we were all on here saying that the IM invites were going to start picking up. boy did that die down quickly or what

cadingcading said:
So it looks like the rejections are starting to roll in for the primary care specialities (FM, IM). I am wondering if most of the programs have extended all the interview slots that they have.
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IDK about you bruh/chicka but I got a few rejections early on
 
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