Deciding on peds late - how bad is it?

[babel]

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Hi all-

I am a rising MS4 that just decided to apply to Peds. I just completed my basic clerkship (end of July) and was pleasantly surprised to find myself in love with the field. Got my best evals of the whole year, and am hoping to get an Honors (depending on my shelf score).

I am currently doing a sub-I in another field and won't be able to do a peds sub-I until starting in mid-Sept. I didn't think this was such a huge problem, but when I met with one of our deans recently he said that I was going to be at a significant, though not insurmountable, disadvantage in obtaining interviews because most of my classmates who are applying have already done 1+ sub-i's at this point. The grade for my peds sub-i won't be available until mid to late Nov.

How bad is this, really? Anyone want to make me feel better, please?

 

[BigRedBeta]

I never did a true peds sub-i. If it hurt me in the interview process, then I was fairly oblivious, and in the end, I still ended up at a great program that I love. I was stuck between peds and med/peds, so my school advised me to do a medicine sub-i to see if I enjoyed it, then went into the PICU for an away rotation (at a school that essentially threw away student notes because they didn't want them part of the medical record).

I applied to 22 programs, got invites from 17 of them and went on 12 interviews. At the time the places where I was rejected, I "thought" at the beginning they were the places I most wanted to go. However, looking back on the process, they were all mid sized programs (13-15 interns/year) and the programs at the top of my list were all big programs, so I probably wouldn't have ranked those rejections that highly anyways.

So, based on my personal experience, I don't think you're in any sizable hole. If anything, you have a reason for your lack of a sub - i, and you can easily talk about that in your personal statement. And really, if it concerns you that much, call the programs youre applying to and just tell them what happened.

 

[Erina]

I was told by an attending who is very familiar with the residency application process that your pediatrics clerkship grade is more important than your sub-i grade because everyone does the clerkship; not everyone does a sub-i. it gives them a way to compare everyone. obviously, how you perform on a sub-i is very important, but if your evaluations and grade from the clerkship are good, i think you're fine.

 

[elr1983]

I did my peds Sub-I in October, after my transcript was sent. The grade wasn't even available on my dean's letter. I didn't get asked anything abotu a peds sub-I on any interview, ever, including at boston, chop, columbia, cinncinati. I matched at my first choice, one of the previously mentioned places. Don't sweat it.

 

[babel]

Thanks for all the encouraging info, guys!! I was a bit surprised by my dean's concern about the whole thing. I think part of it is that my school is a bit odd because the basic clerkships do not have to be finished in the 3rd year, so it's pretty common for people to start doing multiple sub-i's in March, leaving 1-2 basic clerkships for 4th year. I, however decided I wanted to just get them all out of the way, and so am just doing my first sub-I now. Good to know that even if I am an anomaly at my school, I'm not necessarily so off the mark when compared with everyone else.

He was trying to be encouraging about the whole thing, but in the vein of "well, if you only get 5 interviews, don't worry I'll call the PD's and tell them what a great candidate you are" etc, like my not having a sub-I in peds until Sept/Oct was this great black mark that he would have to explain away. Anyway, I certainly plan to explain my position and why I came to peds late in my PS. It's just good to know I'm not out of the running before I even start. 👍