MD & DO Co’22 ERAS Panic Thread

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Steve_Zissou said:
Speaking of radiology, would any of my fellow 22’ers who are interested in radiology be interested in a radiology Subforum specific thread for us? I’m probably going to make one either way, but figured I would advertise it here.
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wouldn't mind having it there so that we don't de-track from this thread with rads-specifics
 
aaronrodgers said:
wouldn't mind having it there so that we don't de-track from this thread with rads-specifics
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That was my thought. And so we don’t bombard the current 4th years with DMs.

forums.studentdoctor.net

Co 22’ application season thread

Making this for all my radiology app peeps. @Ho0v-man, @Neopolymath and @NecrotizingFasciitis would love to have some advice/info from you all. @calivianya you were the only one on the thread for Co 22 that said you were interested in radiology, but if there is anyone else you know of, tag em.
forums.studentdoctor.net forums.studentdoctor.net
 
Steve_Zissou said:
Also, why did the thread title get changed? Not that I'm complaining, just curious.
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Take a look around the forums and then the date. You might be too caught up with your med school and residency.
 
1617305035663.png


Does this mean that all our letters [LORs] have to be in by 9/28? Last year it was 10/15 if I recall correctly. Was hoping for that.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
I'm honestly ok with it. I'd rather get started sooner than later.

Still no official word on the format of the Easter egg hunts though. Really hoping they put out an official statement soon.
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Yeah I'd like to know one way or the other so I can start planning my set up and buying things.
 
Not going to lie, I’m really disappointed about the timeline. I was really hoping for October.

We have no third year electives at my school and we’re not allowed to finish third year until late June, so I can’t take a board study month until July... so I’m really only going to have my August rotation in rads now. I think it might not be realistic to expect to get a letter by September 28th from a September audition. So... I have only one shot to get a letter because I’ll have finished a grand total of ONE radiology rotation more than a week before apps are sent to programs.

This is a nightmare. I may have to go all out on IM just in case for some reason I can’t get a single rads letter.


I guess I can skip dedicated and take step 2/level 2 cold to give myself two months of radiology to possibly get letters from (July and August)... what do you guys think? Reasonable to skip dedicated to guarantee at least one LOR in your specialty? I do have a comat/shelf at the end of my last rotation (surgery), so obviously I’m going to have to be studying surgery harder than anything right before I take boards if I do it this way.
 
calivianya said:
Not going to lie, I’m really disappointed about the timeline. I was really hoping for October.

We have no third year electives at my school and we’re not allowed to finish third year until late June, so I can’t take a board study month until July... so I’m really only going to have my August rotation in rads now. I think it might not be realistic to expect to get a message in a bottle by September 28th from a September audition. So... I have only one shot to get a message in a bottle because I’ll have finished a grand total of ONE radiology rotation more than a week before apps are sent to programs.

This is a nightmare. I may have to go all out on IM just in case for some reason I can’t get a single rads message in a bottle.


I guess I can skip dedicated and take step 2/level 2 cold to give myself two months of radiology to possibly get messages in bottles from (July and August)... what do you guys think? Reasonable to skip dedicated to guarantee at least one LOR in your specialty? I do have a comat/shelf at the end of my last rotation (surgery), so obviously I’m going to have to be studying surgery harder than anything right before I take boards if I do it this way.
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You can do 2 week radiology rotations to help give you more chances.

Also, many people have matched rads without a single radiology letter. It's useful but certainly not required. Panic (panic thread after all) but don't totally stop applying if that happened.

Most rads letters are pointless.
 
calivianya said:
Not going to lie, I’m really disappointed about the timeline. I was really hoping for October.

We have no third year electives at my school and we’re not allowed to finish third year until late June, so I can’t take a board study month until July... so I’m really only going to have my August rotation in rads now. I think it might not be realistic to expect to get a message in a bottle by September 28th from a September audition. So... I have only one shot to get a message in a bottle because I’ll have finished a grand total of ONE radiology rotation more than a week before apps are sent to programs.

This is a nightmare. I may have to go all out on IM just in case for some reason I can’t get a single rads message in a bottle.


I guess I can skip dedicated and take step 2/level 2 cold to give myself two months of radiology to possibly get messages in bottles from (July and August)... what do you guys think? Reasonable to skip dedicated to guarantee at least one LOR in your specialty? I do have a comat/shelf at the end of my last rotation (surgery), so obviously I’m going to have to be studying surgery harder than anything right before I take boards if I do it this way.
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How strenuous is your surgery rotation going to be?

You're between a rock and a hard place tbh. That being said, a good step 2 score and one LoR is likely better than a meh step 2 score and 2 LoRs.
 
Neopolymath said:
You can do 2 week radiology rotations to help give you more chances.

Also, many people have matched rads without a single radiology message in a bottle. It's useful but certainly not required. hippity-hop (hippity-hop thread after all) but don't totally stop applying if that happened.

Most rads messages in bottles are pointless.
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That’s fantastic to hear. I was worried about applying with only letters from internists and surgeons. I really want at least one letter from a radiologist if I can have it.

Steve_Zissou said:
How strenuous is your surgery rotation going to be?

You're between a rock and a hard place tbh. That being said, a good step 2 score and one LoR is likely better than a meh step 2 score and 2 LoRs.
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I don’t think it’s supposed to be too horrible. I had the more difficult preceptor already; I’ve heard the other guy at my site who takes students in gen surg is more chill. But everybody at my site does take a lot of call, so it just depends on how things go with that, really.
 
Experiences vary but I found step 2 didn't really need a dedicated like step 1. You study hard during the year and it builds on itself. There isn't as much cramming dumb stuff right before the test like step 1. The test is hard now that they changed it but certainly isn't make of break if you have been studying hard each month. If you have been killing shelves/comats then you will likely do excellent.
 
Neopolymath said:
Experiences vary but I found step 2 didn't really need a dedicated like step 1. You study hard during the year and it builds on itself. There isn't as much cramming dumb stuff right before the test like step 1. The test is hard now that they changed it but certainly isn't make of break if you have been studying hard each month. If you have been killing shelves/comats then you will likely do excellent.
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How did UWorld correlate for you? I swear my scores go from 50% to 80% from set to set.
 
fldoctorgirl said:
So this may be an overly neurotic question, but does anyone know if programs look at what rotations we have scheduled for 4th year and care? I'm applying for a radiology elective as my first M4 rotation mostly because there isn't much else available yet and I need to start putting my schedule together. Will this look bad if I'm applying IM? Hoping my next rotation will be an IM sub-I.
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IM here. Some programs asked me things like - what rotation are you doing right now, have you done your IM sub-I yet, how much ICU experience do you have (IM spreadsheet will lead you to the name of this program). Most of them didn’t seem to care though. Our school told us programs won’t even see what we’re taking in 4th year but I’m in a DO school and I generally don’t believe/ignore what they say
 
Prehealth1011 said:
IM here. Some programs asked me things like - what rotation are you doing right now, have you done your IM sub-I yet, how much ICU experience do you have (IM spreadsheet will lead you to the name of this program). Most of them didn’t seem to care though. Our school told us programs won’t even see what we’re taking in 4th year but I’m in a DO school and I generally don’t believe/ignore what they say
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I feel like we just send our transcripts, no? If so, all the things we take 4th year will show up?
 
Neopolymath said:
Just the UWSAs!

You guys got this! It's gonna be a fun year even if you understandably stress a lot about it.
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So don't bother with NBMEs? I have zero fire to study for step 2 the way I did for step 1 lol.
 
calivianya said:
Not going to lie, I’m really disappointed about the timeline. I was really hoping for October.

We have no third year electives at my school and we’re not allowed to finish third year until late June, so I can’t take a board study month until July... so I’m really only going to have my August rotation in rads now. I think it might not be realistic to expect to get a letter by September 28th from a September audition. So... I have only one shot to get a letter because I’ll have finished a grand total of ONE radiology rotation more than a week before apps are sent to programs.

This is a nightmare. I may have to go all out on IM just in case for some reason I can’t get a single rads letter.


I guess I can skip dedicated and take step 2/level 2 cold to give myself two months of radiology to possibly get letters from (July and August)... what do you guys think? Reasonable to skip dedicated to guarantee at least one LOR in your specialty? I do have a comat/shelf at the end of my last rotation (surgery), so obviously I’m going to have to be studying surgery harder than anything right before I take boards if I do it this way.
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That's terrible. Your program is markedly preventing you from being as competitive as you can easily be. What a ridiculous situation.

If I had your foundation from an exceptional step 1/level 1 I would absolutely pursue the increased chance at an additional letter at the cost of step 2 dedicated.
 
fldoctorgirl said:
So don't bother with NBMEs? I have zero fire to study for step 2 the way I did for step 1 lol.
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Sure. some will disagree but I found them useless for step 1 and doubly so for step 2. Any time you are not learning needs to be used for test taking skills. If your test taking skills are good (you know if this is true or not) then why take nbmes? For the record, I'm someone who doesn't need to learn how the test writers like to phrase things and didn't have trouble with usmle versus comlex style questions for example just to explain where I'm coming from here. It's controversial but I found the time better used elsewhere. The nbme exams help you see how the questions are so you are used to it. Much less of a problem on step 2 and much less of a problem if you don't have that hangup when taking exams.
 
ERAS timeline drop today..... Its getting real

Agree with other people, sad its september and not october. I was able to get 3 letter from third year, but I have no idea how good they are, I just made sure to get 3 incase getting more is a nightmare. Really need to get a inpatient peds letter before applications go out....
 
Neopolymath said:
Sure. some will disagree but I found them useless for step 1 and doubly so for step 2. Any time you are not learning needs to be used for test taking skills. If your test taking skills are good (you know if this is true or not) then why take nbmes? For the record, I'm someone who doesn't need to learn how the test writers like to phrase things and didn't have trouble with usmle versus comlex style questions for example just to explain where I'm coming from here. It's controversial but I found the time better used elsewhere. The nbme exams help you see how the questions are so you are used to it. Much less of a problem on step 2 and much less of a problem if you don't have that hangup when taking exams.
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How many hours per day did you study during your semi-dedicated period? I'm setting up my last 4 weeks before step 2 right now and want to know if I'll have some time to go mountain biking on the weekends lol. I gave up everything for step 1 dedicated and only really got in a workout 3 times a week, don't want to do that if it's not necessary this time. Goal is breaking 260 though, so might have to doubly hustle.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
How many hours per day did you study during your semi-dedicated period? I'm setting up my last 4 weeks before step 2 right now and want to know if I'll have some time to go mountain biking on the weekends lol. I gave up everything for step 1 dedicated and only really got in a workout 3 times a week, don't want to do that if it's not necessary this time. Goal is breaking 260 though, so might have to doubly hustle.
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I don't think I broke 8-9 hours a day ever and definitely didn't do more than 5 days a week aside from the rare 6th day.

Like I said, step 2 is harder than it used to be but if you have been keeping yourself honest this year then you have already done so much studying and it all builds on each other really well unlike step 1 material where most people need Anki to keep from forgetting all the minutae. You have been seeing it in action and doing it as well so it's even easier for the stuff you remember from clerkship.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
How many hours per day did you study during your semi-dedicated period? I'm setting up my last 4 weeks before step 2 right now and want to know if I'll have some time to go mountain biking on the weekends lol. I gave up everything for step 1 dedicated and only really got in a workout 3 times a week, don't want to do that if it's not necessary this time. Goal is breaking 260 though, so might have to doubly hustle.
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Since I'm done with Comat, I'm in kinda dedicated right now. Its been wayyyyy less studying than step 1, and Im really hitting a groove with Uworld. On the weekends where I have nothing but to study, its been 5 hours max. I imagine in actual dedicated Ill be wokring 8am-3PM everyday, maybe 8-5.

much better than the 7am to 10pm hell that was step 1
 
Sorry for all the posts, just trying to catch up with yall

Med/Peds here 231 Step 1

Location has become a big deal to me, and I deicded Id rather just do IM or peds if it meant I could stay in that location. So I will be triple applying. Mostly Peds and Med/Peds, but I'm going to apply to all the IM in and around my desired location. It will probably come out to 150+ programs, but Id rather spend money now then cry in march of 2022
 
ohmanwaddup said:
Since I'm done with Comat, I'm in kinda dedicated right now. Its been wayyyyy less studying than step 1, and Im really hitting a groove with Uworld. On the weekends where I have nothing but to study, its been 5 hours max. I imagine in actual dedicated Ill be wokring 8am-3PM everyday, maybe 8-5.

much better than the 7am to 10pm hell that was step 1
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That's what I'm anticipating I'll do, except maybe 6 am - 2 pm everyday sort of thing. I can't imagine that doing all my reviews + 2-3 blocks of Uworld will take more than 6-8 hours a day.

I still have 6 weeks of peds starting Monday, but I have already nearly completed all of the Anki deck (cheesy dorian) for it. I think I have 20 cards left in new. After that, doing 100 new cards a day, I will be done with everything I have left over in about 20 days. Exam is in 69 days. Definitely going to take Saturdays almost fully off so I can go biking or hiking with the SO.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
That’s good to hear. Did you take any practice exams?
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fldoctorgirl said:
So don't bother with NBMEs? I have zero fire to study for step 2 the way I did for step 1 lol.
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I didn't take any NBMEs. Most of my friends who did found them stressful and demoralizing (they under predict you a lot) with little to no benefit. I did UWSA 1& 2 and they were spot on for me. I personally found Step 2 to be MUCH better than Step 1.
 
Nucleophile1 said:
I didn't take any NBMEs. Most of my friends who did found them stressful and demoralizing (they under predict you a lot) with little to no benefit. I did UWSA 1& 2 and they were spot on for me. I personally found Step 2 to be MUCH better than Step 1.
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They def were for step 1. I'll probably do them because I have the time, and I dont mind having a depressing fire lit under my ass
 
I also ignored the nbmes. I hadn’t studied in a few months at all. Gave myself 5 weeks because I had a new baby and really had no rotation options anyway. The majority of my time was spent doing anki and I never spent more than 4hrs/day.

The only stuff I didn’t know on the uwsa’s and the real thing were mostly trivia that no amount of studying could’ve prepared me for. I.e. the appropriate next step according to some random study I’ve never read.
 
Ho0v-man said:
I also ignored the nbmes. I hadn’t studied in a few months at all. Gave myself 5 weeks because I had a new baby and really had no rotation options anyway. The majority of my time was spent doing anki and I never spent more than 4hrs/day.

The only stuff I didn’t know on the uwsa’s and the real thing were mostly trivia that no amount of studying could’ve prepared me for. I.e. the appropriate next step according to some random study I’ve never read.
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If you don’t mind sharing, how did you do on step 2?
 
Since I’m about 3 months out I’m thinking about doing an NBME in a couple weeks just to see where I fall right now knowing that they underpredict. I’ll save the two UWSAs for dedicated and those will be probably be the only practice exams I do. I’m almost done with my first pass of UWorld so I will go through all my incorrects during dedicated and brush up on biostats and ethics since I’ve heard those are big on both Step 2 and Level 2.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
Made my ERAS specific email today. Also made sure to set it to “alert me for every single email” mode. I know it’s way early, but the excitement is building.
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I will probably create a new email account soon. I'm going to have my fiance get it as well, and a list of my top programs that she can schedule if she gets the email and does hear from me.
 
ohmanwaddup said:
I will probably create a new email account soon. I'm going to have my fiance get it as well, and a list of my top programs that she can schedule if she gets the email and does hear from me.
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That’s a great idea. I should probably do the same since the area I’m living in can have spotty cell service.
 
People actually create new email accounts just for ERAS!!! Is this something people do every year? I have never heard of this. Although, I can see how it can be useful.
 
DrStephenStrange said:
People actually create new email accounts just for ERAS!!! Is this something people do every year? I have never heard of this. Although, I can see how it can be useful.
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I've heard its decently common. I was not going to do it but I get so many emails everyday I would be easy to miss an interview invite
 
ohmanwaddup said:
I've heard its decently common. I was not going to do it but I get so many emails everyday I would be easy to miss an interview invite
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It’s not about missing them. It’s that some places fill up all of their slots in >5 minutes and in a virtual interview season there’s almost no WL movement.

it’s about speed
 
Ho0v-man said:
It’s not about missing them. It’s that some places fill up all of their slots in >5 minutes and in a virtual interview season there’s almost no WL movement.

it’s about speed
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Yes. My SO and I both pulled off the side of the road to confirm interviews for me during this season. They both filled up before getting back on the road each time.
 
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