MD & DO Co’22 ERAS Panic Thread

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I’m just going to use my school email.

I chose my new phone service provider last December based on who offered separate cell plans for smart watches just in case I got separated from my phone. I’ve got my notification settings fixed, and my wrist buzzes very noticeably now every time I get an email to my school email.

I think this is going to work just fine - I don’t get that many emails to my school email otherwise. By the way, I also literally only got a smart watch because of this stupidity. I wouldn’t have gotten one otherwise. I just wanted to make sure I was comfortable with it before application season so I got it early.
 
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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well yeah that's what I meant by missing them. If I have countless other emails, it would be easy not to see it quickly enough
 
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
Click to expand...
This is so idiotic on program's part. Save that interview slot for the entire day FFS so that the applicant has time to catch up and confirm
 
ohmanwaddup said:
this is so ****ing insane
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Cath Up said:
"We like you. Like, a lot. So much so that we will allow you an entire 1-10 minute window to have a shot at our program!"
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The programs that do this are being disorganized idiots. Clearly if they're interested in interviewing someone, they should have the decency to give enough time for applicants to confirm.

How are programs run by the smartest people in the nation having such garbage and idiotic logistics?
 
Ho0v-man said:
If you ever needed proof that we’re all replaceable cogs to them...
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Yeah but that makes programs look sadistic and malicious. It's like they're wanting MS4s to get into a traffic accident to accept an invite or likely piss off an attending or even risk failing a Sub I to respond to an invite. It's idiotic and cruel.
 
Hey y'all, dropping in from the 2021 thread to wish everybody good luck! I just wanted to pass on a couple pieces of advice that were helpful to me during my cycle.

1. Start working on your personal statements early. I had a very rough draft done around mid-June, and then went back and edited it about 30 mins a week. I think it really helps you to have time to develop it organically and you can add in meaningful experiences immediately as they occur, which keeps it more fresh. Also make sure you get a number of different eyes on it (specialty advisors, general advisors, friends with writing backgrounds)

2. Asking for letters of recommendation sucks and it feels awkward, but it's part of an attending's job to write them for you and many of them will be flattered that you asked them.

3. If you're planning on doing a surgical sub-i, your ability to handle floor work is going to impress the residents a lot more than any OR skills you have. Don't abandon the floor at the first opportunity to go to the OR - if assigned cases for the day end early, try to help out with consults, and go back to the OR for other cases only once that work is done. You also get to do a lot more when you stay late/outside of when you'd be expected to be there - one resident let me do an entire progressive tension abdominal closure, including fascia, and an attending let me attempt a nerve coaption because I was still there at 1 AM for a limb reattachment.

4. Take step 2 as early as possible to get it out of the way, but don't sacrifice your score to get it early. Make sure you have a 2 week block relatively free to study for it. I didn't follow this advice, and it was super annoying having to study for it later in the year after my sub-is when I had forgotten all general medicine.

5. For personal statements, don't undervalue the worth of adding a program specific paragraph for places that you're really interested in. I had strong geographic preferences, and I wrote a little additional paragraph in my PS for the programs in that area, basically just saying why I was so interested in that program (I mentioned research time, faculty connections, and only THEN location - location, even if it's your #1 reason for interest in a program should always be discussed last. Programs want to hear about how special they are, not that they're located somewhere you want to live). I went 5/5 with interviews at places where I sent personalized personal statements.
 
FindersFee5 said:
Hey y'all, dropping in from the 2021 thread to wish everybody good luck! I just wanted to pass on a couple pieces of advice that were helpful to me during my cycle.

1. Start working on your personal statements early. I had a very rough draft done around mid-June, and then went back and edited it about 30 mins a week. I think it really helps you to have time to develop it organically and you can add in meaningful experiences immediately as they occur, which keeps it more fresh. Also make sure you get a number of different eyes on it (specialty advisors, general advisors, friends with writing backgrounds)

2. Asking for letters of recommendation sucks and it feels awkward, but it's part of an attending's job to write them for you and many of them will be flattered that you asked them.

3. If you're planning on doing a surgical sub-i, your ability to handle floor work is going to impress the residents a lot more than any OR skills you have. Don't abandon the floor at the first opportunity to go to the OR - if assigned cases for the day end early, try to help out with consults, and go back to the OR for other cases only once that work is done. You also get to do a lot more when you stay late/outside of when you'd be expected to be there - one resident let me do an entire progressive tension abdominal closure, including fascia, and an attending let me attempt a nerve coaption because I was still there at 1 AM for a limb reattachment.

4. Take step 2 as early as possible to get it out of the way, but don't sacrifice your score to get it early. Make sure you have a 2 week block relatively free to study for it. I didn't follow this advice, and it was super annoying having to study for it later in the year after my sub-is when I had forgotten all general medicine.

5. For personal statements, don't undervalue the worth of adding a program specific paragraph for places that you're really interested in. I had strong geographic preferences, and I wrote a little additional paragraph in my PS for the programs in that area, basically just saying why I was so interested in that program (I mentioned research time, faculty connections, and only THEN location - location, even if it's your #1 reason for interest in a program should always be discussed last. Programs want to hear about how special they are, not that they're located somewhere you want to live). I went 5/5 with interviews at places where I sent personalized personal statements.
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Did your personalized PS for programs go over 1 page? I have my PS done but it takes up almost exactly one page. I don’t want to add another paragraph if it’s going to turn programs off.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
Did your personalized PS for programs go over 1 page? I have my PS done but it takes up almost exactly one page. I don’t want to add another paragraph if it’s going to turn programs off.
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3 of them didn't, 2 went slightly onto the second page. I wouldn't worry too much about it running a little bit over.
 
Neopolymath said:
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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If the interview spots fill up before you have a chance to sign up do they send out more emails or are just SOL at that program?
 
Dropping in to says two things -

AMAA about the process last year (specifically I was also in rads gang). Can confirm pants are now completely optional in the residency application process.

Take however many programs you were planning to apply to and dial it up to 11. We have numbers now showing people were just as likely to match this year, whether or not a hoarding phenomenon did occur. But we don't have anything to reassure that people matched just as well, or that the same people as usual were matching/not matching. My school has a ton of people who should've applied to more places. You can always decline interviews. It's worth the extra app fees.
 
efle said:
Dropping in to says two things -

AMAA about the process last year (specifically I was also in rads gang). Can confirm pants are now completely optional in the residency application process.

Take however many programs you were planning to apply to and dial it up to 11. We have numbers now showing people were just as likely to match this year, whether or not a hoarding phenomenon did occur. But we don't have anything to reassure that people matched just as well, or that the same people as usual were matching/not matching. My school has a ton of people who should've applied to more places. You can always decline interviews. It's worth the extra app fees.
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How many are you suggesting?
 
Steve_Zissou said:
How many are you suggesting?
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It varies by person depending how competitive you feel. For someone around the average, I'd say look at the average for last year in your specialty and then add an extra 10-20. For someone very competitive you can probably just do the average, and for underdogs I'd go crazy and apply like 150% the average at least.
 
efle said:
It varies by person depending how competitive you feel. For someone around the average, I'd say look at the average for last year in your specialty and then add an extra 10-20. For someone very competitive you can probably just do the average, and for underdogs I'd go crazy and apply like 150% the average at least.
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So DO with high scores and a few first author pubs, maybe average or add an extra 5?

I also wonder if it will be more competitive this year with all the **** we’re seeing go down with other specialties and midlevels.
 
For Rads, I applied to ~50 places and I was geographically limited to the East Coast, Midwest and the South. I did not apply to any West Coast programs. My med school's PD recommends this number even to high stats applicants. As Efle mentioned, you can always turn down your interviews later on.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
So DO with high scores and a few first author pubs, maybe average or add an extra 5?

I also wonder if it will be more competitive this year with all the **** we’re seeing go down with other specialties and midlevels.
Click to expand...
Apply like ****in’ crazy. I’m a lowly osteopathic magician, too. Ended up exactly where I wanted. But my interview yield was waaay lower than I thought.

I think I saw you wanted to end up in the Northeast in another post. I remember Dartmouth made a personalized PS mandatory FWIW. I didn’t realize until too late...
 
Steve_Zissou said:
So DO with high scores and a few first author pubs, maybe average or add an extra 5?

I also wonder if it will be more competitive this year with all the **** we’re seeing go down with other specialties and midlevels.
Click to expand...
I think DO warrants more than +5 unless you're looking at a really good safety option you like, like if you'd be happy home matching. The horror stories from this year might spike applications next year, but then again I thought people would apply more broadly this year too and all the averages stayed about the same.
 
Ho0v-man said:
Apply like ****in’ crazy. I’m a lowly osteopathic magician, too. Ended up exactly where I wanted. But my interview yield was waaay lower than I thought.

I think I saw you wanted to end up in the Northeast in another post. I remember Dartmouth made a personalized PS mandatory FWIW. I didn’t realize until too late...
Click to expand...
Yeah, U of Vermont, Maine medical center, and Dartmouth are pretty much my top 3. I'm planning to either do personalized PS for each or send a LOI in mid-late October. Out of those programs, I think Vermont is the least DO-friendly just by looking at their current residents. Honestly, any of those 3 would be great, but I know I can't put all my eggs in that very tiny basket.
 
efle said:
I think DO warrants more than +5 unless you're looking at a really good safety option you like, like if you'd be happy home matching. The horror stories from this year might spike applications next year, but then again I thought people would apply more broadly this year too and all the averages stayed about the same.
Click to expand...
No home program for me. The region I'm in is also very competitive (West). Gonna be an expensive year, boys.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
No home program for me. The region I'm in is also very competitive (West). Gonna be an expensive year, boys.
Click to expand...
One of our reapplicants applied to every single program in the country in their competitive specialty, plus a bunch in their dual apply alternative. Think of it like insurance
 
efle said:
One of our reapplicants applied to every single program in the country in their competitive specialty, plus a bunch in their dual apply alternative. Think of it like insurance
Click to expand...
Holy ****. That’s probably too steep for my tastes, but I also have been networking a ton and have pretty competitive stats for DR. Way I see it, as long as I’m a radiologist at the end, I’m happy.
 
Steve_Zissou said:
No home program for me. The region I'm in is also very competitive (West). Gonna be an expensive year, boys.
Click to expand...
Make sure to blanket your schools region too. I got almost no love from the northeast despite being from there because they screened by school location. Got most of my interviews from the Midwest which is where my school is located.
 
efle said:
One of our reapplicants applied to every single program in the country in their competitive specialty, plus a bunch in their dual apply alternative. Think of it like insurance
Click to expand...
This isn't as crazy as it would be in a bigger specialty like ortho, but the MOST COMMON number of places to apply in plastics is now... every program (~80).
 
Ho0v-man said:
Make sure to blanket your schools region too. I got almost no love from the northeast despite being from there because they screened by school location. Got most of my interviews from the Midwest which is where my school is located.
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What do you mean by “blanket” my schools region? As in, don’t disclose it somehow?
 
Steve_Zissou said:
What do you mean by “blanket” my schools region? As in, don’t disclose it somehow?
Click to expand...
No as in shotgun apply to every single program that’s considered “west” to increase your interview yield.

I got all but one Midwest interview I am applied for. I only got three Northeast interviews. Two of those were from LOIs.
 
Ho0v-man said:
No as in shotgun apply to every single program that’s considered “west” to increase your interview yield.

I got all but one Midwest interview I am applied for. I only got three Northeast interviews. Two of those were from LOIs.
Click to expand...
Dope dope dope dope dope. Well, my school is technically Pacific Northwest, but there are only 3 or 4 radiology programs out here. Looks like I'll be applying to a bunch in the NE then. I'm not trying to end up in Cali at all, way too expensive. Looks like I'll have to expand my midwest picks some more.

Out of curiosity, did you end up matching in the Midwest or the Northeast?
 
Steve_Zissou said:
Dope dope dope dope dope. Well, my school is technically Pacific Northwest, but there are only 3 or 4 radiology programs out here. Looks like I'll be applying to a bunch in the NE then. I'm not trying to end up in Cali at all, way too expensive. Looks like I'll have to expand my midwest picks some more.

Out of curiosity, did you end up matching in the Midwest or the Northeast?
Click to expand...
Northeast. Ironically, at the one that I didn’t get from an LOI.
 
Ho0v-man said:
Make sure to blanket your schools region too. I got almost no love from the northeast despite being from there because they screened by school location. Got most of my interviews from the Midwest which is where my school is located.
Click to expand...
Would you apply this advice to IM too? I don't really want to end up in my med school area (midwest). Was planning on applying to like 2-3 programs in this region. Should I expand and just hit all of the one's in my school's state (~10-12 if I take out the HCAs)?

I'm so conflicted because I'm targeting mostly community programs since main goal is to end up back home, so realistically I shouldn't need too many programs, but I am still terrified. Was planning to aim for 40-50 total programs.
 
fldoctorgirl said:
Would you apply this advice to IM too? I don't really want to end up in my med school area (midwest). Was planning on applying to like 2-3 programs in this region. Should I expand and just hit all of the one's in my school's state (~10-12 if I take out the HCAs)?

I'm so conflicted because I'm targeting mostly community programs since main goal is to end up back home, so realistically I shouldn't need too many programs, but I am still terrified. Was planning to aim for 40-50 total programs.
Click to expand...
you can always turn down interviews. A few hundred bucks isn't much in the long run
 
efle said:
you can always turn down interviews. A few hundred bucks isn't much in the long run
Click to expand...
Yeah that's true. My plan was definitely to apply to more programs, but I was going to target other states that I'd want to live in more than where I'm at now. I guess it's silly to throw away the med school region benefit, though. Well...more programs it is!
 
fldoctorgirl said:
Would you apply this advice to IM too? I don't really want to end up in my med school area (midwest). Was planning on applying to like 2-3 programs in this region. Should I expand and just hit all of the one's in my school's state (~10-12 if I take out the HCAs)?

I'm so conflicted because I'm targeting mostly community programs since main goal is to end up back home, so realistically I shouldn't need too many programs, but I am still terrified. Was planning to aim for 40-50 total programs.
Click to expand...
Sorry but I don’t know if it’s applicable to IM tbh.
 
If anyone is couples matching I’d be more than happy to answer any questions. The couples match process was probably one of the most stressful times of my life and I’m glad it’s behind me but I would be more than happy to try to help out anyone else going through it!
 
So I’m having a mild quarter life crisis about doing EM given the recent ACEP report. I’m on EM right now and I really love it and don’t want to do anything else but I’m not sure how I can pursue it with the very real chance that I won’t have a job at the end of all this. My app and letters are all EM specific and I have EM auditions set up so I have no idea what to do. I could do critical care but I don’t think I could stomach an IM residency and fellowship is far from a guarantee and it sounds like CCM could be facing the same problems as EM in a few years. So I’m a little freaked out right now.
 
calivianya said:
You can do critical care as an EM fellowship and maximize the places you can get hired that way. We had a guy rotate through my ICU once that was EM/crit... he only lasted one shift and didn’t come back because he was completely overwhelmed, but I think that was just him personally, and the fact that he hadn’t been in the ICU regularly since fellowship.

I would recommend picking up shifts in both from time to time to make sure you stay current in both if you do that. I don’t really see that crit is that saturated... my intensivist friend got multiple calls per day from recruiters last time I talked to him. The burnout rate in critical care is pretty high so I feel like the job market is decent tbh. I worked with multiple crit boarded people who quit after 3-5 years, or took a break and just worked as regular IM, and stuff like that.
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I've actually always heard if you are not pulm/crit your hirability is less than just critical care alone.
 
DrStephenStrange said:
I've actually always heard if you are not pulm/crit your hirability is less than just critical care alone.
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I would definitely agree with this for larger facilities, but things get more flexible the further away from the big cities and desirable regions you get.

For example, my third year rotation site has no one boarded in crit at all in the unit... it’s been entirely run by regular IM only. I’m pretty sure they’d be stoked to get someone crit even if it’s EM/crit and not pulm/crit.
 
fldoctorgirl said:
Recommendations for aways are out.

www.aamc.org

Medical Student Away Rotations for Remainder of 2020-21 and 2021-22 Academic Year

The Coalition for Physician Accountability released recommendations for applicants and training programs as they prepare for the 2020-21 residency cycle.
www.aamc.org www.aamc.org
Click to expand...

Just to highlight:

Recommendation 2 (New): The improved vaccination status of medical students led to the updated recommendation that for the 2021-22 academic year, away rotations resume during the first block concluding in July 2021, with additional guidance:
  • Beginning on April 15, learners may apply for and schedule in-person away rotations with a date concluding in July or later. This recognizes that not all rotations are aligned with the calendar month. Rotations may have a start date in June if the end date is in July (the rotation block must conclude in July).
  • Given the compressed timeline paired with an inadequate quantity of electives available for completion, medical schools are encouraged to limit approved away rotations in any specialty to one per learner, per specialty(as previously recommended) except in cases where additional rotations are needed to complete graduation or accreditation requirements. Residency programs are encouraged to take into consideration if a learner exceeded the one away rotation limit during the residency selection process.
Click to expand...
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Just to highlight:
Click to expand...
the one per learner per specialty feels super vague. Like If I do GI can I not do cardio?

My school basically said to not follow these guidelines and gave us all letters saying we don't have to, so screw it either way. I'm vaccinated, I'm going to get a good 4th year education damnit,
 
Just chiming in to say my fourth year education has been mostly trash because of these guidelines. Furthermore, lots of people ignored it last year. I interviewed with people who had been auditioning for six months in IR, for example. And they were at the interview so obviously it didn’t hurt them to do so. In fact, after apps go out, no one knows where you’re you’ve been or what you’re doing anyway.
 
ohmanwaddup said:
the one per learner per specialty feels super vague. Like If I do GI can I not do cardio?

My school basically said to not follow these guidelines and gave us all letters saying we don't have to, so screw it either way. I'm vaccinated, I'm going to get a good 4th year education damnit,
Click to expand...
Same lol
 
Ho0v-man said:
Just chiming in to say my fourth year education has been mostly trash because of these guidelines. Furthermore, lots of people ignored it last year. I interviewed with people who had been auditioning for six months in IR, for example. And they were at the interview so obviously it didn’t hurt them to do so. In fact, after apps go out, no one knows where you’re you’ve been or what you’re doing anyway.
Click to expand...
My school told us we don't have home programs, so any rotations we have are already going to be away rotations lol. Therefore, the 1 away per student doesn't apply to us, and that they would give us letters if necessary to bypass any trouble. But I'm still scared every time I read the recommendations. F that, I already have 2 auditions set up.
 
Last edited:
Lost 3 hours today because an VSAS application opened a day early...... thought I would get some sleep tonight but guess not
 
Is everyone applying to do just one away rotation (so only like <20 VSAS apps to yield 1)?

I know the guideline is just one per rotator per specialty and I am curious if people are ignoring this or applying to multiple rotations so they can get exposure at an institution or something.
 
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