Disappointed in this whole process

[mm1987]

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[anonperson]

Is anybody else feeling disappointed in this whole process? Personally, I have far less interviews than what I thought I would have, and it seems as if all the invites have now gone out. I mean, I have enough that I'll be fine and will match, but I never hit double digits. I feel kind of misled by my school and my advisers--they all said I'd have no problem getting interviews anywhere. Yes, I applied to some big names and expected to get rejected by some, but not all, of them. Even places where I never would have dreamed would have rejected me have. I'm not going into a competitive field, either.

For those of you who have 25+ interviews, great for you, but I'm looking to see if other folks are feeling the way I am. It seems like only those who want to brag post on here, leaving those of us who aren't have a great time just even more reason to feel like crap. I really thought this process would be fun, but instead it has been one of the worst experiences of my life.

I'd hate to see how you'd react on match day if you end up at your last choice.

In all honesty, the process is getting more competitive. Step 1 scores for applicants are trending upward slowly and most importantly, there is a glut of medical students, Allopathic/Osteopathic/IMG who are all clawing for a very fixed number of spots.

It's also hard to gauge your disappointment. You mention people with 25+ interviews. The vast majority of AMGs are not going to 25+ interviews and maybe applied to that many programs.

Also, SDN is not the greatest place to look for support. Half the people on this site lurk until they can post about their 270+ step 1 scores or post "what are my chances" topics so they can get their ego massaged when they mention their 250+ board scores and first author in Nature.

The disappointment will not end. It is the nature of medicine. Learn to deal with it in a healthy way and find happiness outside of your profession. You will be a saner individual for doing it.

 

[zappeuse]

I'd hate to see how you'd react on match day if you end up at your last choice.

In all honesty, the process is getting more competitive. Step 1 scores for applicants are trending upward slowly and most importantly, there is a glut of medical students, Allopathic/Osteopathic/IMG who are all clawing for a very fixed number of spots.

It's also hard to gauge your disappointment. You mention people with 25+ interviews. The vast majority of AMGs are not going to 25+ interviews and maybe applied to that many programs.

Also, SDN is not the greatest place to look for support. Half the people on this site lurk until they can post about their 270+ step 1 scores or post "what are my chances" topics so they can get their ego massaged when they mention their 250+ board scores and first author in Nature.

The disappointment will not end. It is the nature of medicine. Learn to deal with it in a healthy way and find happiness outside of your profession. You will be a saner individual for doing it.

agreed
anyway, i feel the same but still hope for some invites to come

 

[septoplasty]

I'd hate to see how you'd react on match day if you end up at your last choice.

In all honesty, the process is getting more competitive. Step 1 scores for applicants are trending upward slowly and most importantly, there is a glut of medical students, Allopathic/Osteopathic/IMG who are all clawing for a very fixed number of spots.

It's also hard to gauge your disappointment. You mention people with 25+ interviews. The vast majority of AMGs are not going to 25+ interviews and maybe applied to that many programs.

Also, SDN is not the greatest place to look for support. Half the people on this site lurk until they can post about their 270+ step 1 scores or post "what are my chances" topics so they can get their ego massaged when they mention their 250+ board scores and first author in Nature.

The disappointment will not end. It is the nature of medicine. Learn to deal with it in a healthy way and find happiness outside of your profession. You will be a saner individual for doing it.

This.

Also to the OP, if it soothes your soul.. I only have 4 interviews. There are tons of people who are in the same position so don't feel disappointed. As long as we match, that's all that counts.

And also, to make things harder, I'm an US-IMG. Matching is a whole different story for me. Be glad you're going to match even if it is your last choice.

 

[Mapplicant]

And also, to make things harder, I'm an US-IMG. Matching is a whole different story for me. Be glad you're going to match even if it is your last choice.

Indeed. It seems like every single year there are new medical schools opening and of course lots of applicants from the Caribbean schools as well as those who graduated outside of the US are all driving up the number of applicants. Not to mention AMGs are increasingly getting higher in their Step scores and whatnot. Everyone and their grandma knows that it is VERY lucrative to be able to practice as an MD in the USA.

Just looking at last year's data, there were a total of about 24000 PGY-1 spots and a total of 48500 people applying for those spots...and it only goes up every year.

Anyway, best of luck to everyone in this year's match!

 

[HoldTheCoffee]

What are you applying to?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Also, SDN is not the greatest place to look for support. Half the people on this site lurk until they can post about their 270+ step 1 scores or post "what are my chances" topics so they can get their ego massaged when they mention their 250+ board scores and first author in Nature.

Do you think that's true in the resident forums? I rarely see that.

I agree that in the Pre-Med (mostly) and to some extent the Medical Student forums there is still some degree of one-upmanship, but IMHO that doesn't really exist here.

 

[2012mdc]

Is anybody else feeling disappointed in this whole process? Personally, I have far less interviews than what I thought I would have, and it seems as if all the invites have now gone out. I mean, I have enough that I'll be fine and will match, but I never hit double digits. I feel kind of misled by my school and my advisers--they all said I'd have no problem getting interviews anywhere. Yes, I applied to some big names and expected to get rejected by some, but not all, of them. Even places where I never would have dreamed would have rejected me have. I'm not going into a competitive field, either.

For those of you who have 25+ interviews, great for you, but I'm looking to see if other folks are feeling the way I am. It seems like only those who want to brag post on here, leaving those of us who aren't have a great time just even more reason to feel like crap. I really thought this process would be fun, but instead it has been one of the worst experiences of my life.

I can relate to how you feel.

I went through a similar experience last year. Everyone kept telling me how strong an applicant I was and that I would be fine and that loads of interviews would be coming.

I ended up getting rejected by more than 2/3 of the places I applied to including all of the programs in my pre-interview invite top 5. I was distraught and disappointed.

But I got over it, realized I was lucky to still have some really great interviews and I enjoyed interview season. And on Match Day I ended up ecstatic.

You can't do anything about the rejections now, do the best you can with the interviews you have and try to enjoy interview season.

 

[QuacksterVu]

Is anybody else feeling disappointed in this whole process? Personally, I have far less interviews than what I thought I would have, and it seems as if all the invites have now gone out. I mean, I have enough that I'll be fine and will match, but I never hit double digits. I feel kind of misled by my school and my advisers--they all said I'd have no problem getting interviews anywhere. Yes, I applied to some big names and expected to get rejected by some, but not all, of them. Even places where I never would have dreamed would have rejected me have. I'm not going into a competitive field, either.

For those of you who have 25+ interviews, great for you, but I'm looking to see if other folks are feeling the way I am. It seems like only those who want to brag post on here, leaving those of us who aren't have a great time just even more reason to feel like crap. I really thought this process would be fun, but instead it has been one of the worst experiences of my life.

I think there are few people (if any) that actually have 25+ interviews. On a slight tangent, you could congratulate them for bringing up the airline industry if they are actually going to all of them.

In all seriousness, be glad that you will likely match in your preferred specialty. I look back on what happened to EM over the last two years and my classmates that were forced to scramble into other positions simply due to an inadequate number of EM spots. I have urology and ortho buddies that were forced into other specialties by the competitiveness of their fields. There were quite a few long nights spent supporting friends that were extremely depressed.

Try to enjoy the process (traveling, meeting new people and potential future colleagues, etc.). I certainly am and it has made the experience enjoyable (and physically exhausting, but that's another topic).

Best of luck this year and don't stress yourself out.

@Winged Scapula: I think the "bragging" tends to be in the form of humble bragging (i.e. "I am sooooo tired from finishing this marathon in <insert amazing time>." That said, it is pretty uncommon to see in this forum.

 

[duckie99]

OP likely you over-estimated your competitiveness. My school told me I could apply and get into anywhere. However I knew of people in the past who didn't match so I still sent out $600 worth of applications to all sorts of programs and ended up with a good number of interviews. From the top places I had a low yield for invites (only 3 out of 8) but super high yield from upper mid tier (this is IM). If you are only applying to mostly top programs you're going to have trouble because it's a crap shoot for even stellar applicants.

Also I think a lot of the process is random and very region dependent. Great programs ranked very high may be less competitive in general because of location. I can say that with certainty after looking at posts in the IM board about people turning down invites at places I found amazing.

As you said you have a decent number of interviews and should be fine to match. Not everything works out exactly how we would like but in the end you'll get great training.

 

[Top Gun]

If you have enough interviews to match, that's all that really matters. And its not over yet. When I was applying for residency, I was still getting interview invites during December and even as late as January. You never know. You could still get more.

 

[IMGAUCMD2013]

Is anybody else feeling disappointed in this whole process? Personally, I have far less interviews than what I thought I would have, and it seems as if all the invites have now gone out. I mean, I have enough that I'll be fine and will match, but I never hit double digits. I feel kind of misled by my school and my advisers--they all said I'd have no problem getting interviews anywhere. Yes, I applied to some big names and expected to get rejected by some, but not all, of them. Even places where I never would have dreamed would have rejected me have. I'm not going into a competitive field, either.

For those of you who have 25+ interviews, great for you, but I'm looking to see if other folks are feeling the way I am. It seems like only those who want to brag post on here, leaving those of us who aren't have a great time just even more reason to feel like crap. I really thought this process would be fun, but instead it has been one of the worst experiences of my life.

Not to burst your bubble but given the amount of people in the match this year, 9 or less interviews aren't a guaranteed match, at all.

 

[duckie99]

Not to burst your bubble but given the amount of people in the match this year, 9 or less interviews aren't a guaranteed match, at all.

This year is no more competitive than the last. For AMG 6 interviews at a broad selection (2 safeties, 2 great shots, 2 reaches) for IM and you're probably ok. Historically ranking that many programs is not a huge difference than ranking 10+ (literally a difference of 1% in probability of matching)... Now for IMG/DO I cannot say. But I imagine it is as hard as it always is, if only slightly more with a small increase in US grads.

 

[gutonc]

Not to burst your bubble but given the amount of people in the match this year, 9 or less interviews aren't a guaranteed match, at all.

Just curious where you're getting your data on the number of people in the Match this year?

 

[surg13]

I'm in the same boat. D.O., 2 good & 1 great LOR, 220/239. I applied to 129 programs including AOA ENT & ACGME general surgery and so far I have 4 categorical GS interviews, 1 AOA ENT, and 1 surg prelim. I knew ENT would be a long-shot, but did not think it was going to be this rough for general surgery. This combined with my SO getting TONS of interviews for a less competitive specialty = me going crazy.

 

[Mombosuthu]

I'd hate to see how you'd react on match day if you end up at your last choice.

In all honesty, the process is getting more competitive. Step 1 scores for applicants are trending upward slowly and most importantly, there is a glut of medical students, Allopathic/Osteopathic/IMG who are all clawing for a very fixed number of spots.

It's also hard to gauge your disappointment. You mention people with 25+ interviews. The vast majority of AMGs are not going to 25+ interviews and maybe applied to that many programs.

Also, SDN is not the greatest place to look for support. Half the people on this site lurk until they can post about their 270+ step 1 scores or post "what are my chances" topics so they can get their ego massaged when they mention their 250+ board scores and first author in Nature.

The disappointment will not end. It is the nature of medicine. Learn to deal with it in a healthy way and find happiness outside of your profession. You will be a saner individual for doing it.

Truer words were never spoken...

 

[Chakrabs]

I'm in the same boat. D.O., 2 good & 1 great LOR, 220/239. I applied to 129 programs including AOA ENT & ACGME general surgery and so far I have 4 categorical GS interviews, 1 AOA ENT, and 1 surg prelim. I knew ENT would be a long-shot, but did not think it was going to be this rough for general surgery. This combined with my SO getting TONS of interviews for a less competitive specialty = me going crazy.

Sorry to hear, but gen surg is no cakewalk anymore. I believe every spot in the country matched last year, and ENT obviously is super-selective. Working against you are that you're a DO with a Step 1 score at/below national average (overall, not just for gen surg).

 

[thecampuslegend]

Just curious where you're getting your data on the number of people in the Match this year?

underneath a snapple cap.

 

[greg1184]

Do you think that's true in the resident forums? I rarely see that.

I agree that in the Pre-Med (mostly) and to some extent the Medical Student forums there is still some degree of one-upmanship, but IMHO that doesn't really exist here.

Yes. Particularly in the Radiology forum.

 

[IMGAUCMD2013]

Just curious where you're getting your data on the number of people in the Match this year?

All the rejections that I got so far said it explicitly; "we received record high number of apps this year (3000-6000) and it is logistically impossible to interview all qualified applicants bla bla bla"

People in our position last year had way more interviews and especially if you need a visa - you can forget it. The visa requiring students aren't getting more than 1-2 interviews. Surely this isn't hard data but deductions such as mine aren't unreasonable.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Yes. Particularly in the Radiology forum.

AH...social misfits those radiology residents.

 

[gutonc]

All the rejections that I got so far said it explicitly; "we received record high number of apps this year (3000-6000) and it is logistically impossible to interview all qualified applicants bla bla bla"

Funny...that's exactly what the rejection letters I got in 2005 said.

 

[ShyRem]

I know my program got over 3,000 applications in the first few weeks for only 120 interview spots. The competition is stiff.

Now one word of advice for y'all.... if you are only getting one or two interviews, for heavens sake know what's on the program's website. Don't go and ask stupid questions that are already addressed on the internet such as "what are the required rotations for this program" and "how big is your hospital". Find those things out beforehand. You only have one or two interviews. Do some homework so you at least look like you were interested enough to learn about the program you are interviewing at rather than looking like someone who just applied to every single program in existence in a desperate hope of getting in anywhere but can't be bothered to learn about the one that will actually give you a shot.

Good luck. I do know of people who interviewed at less than 5 programs and yet still matched to their top choice. (granted some of these people only applied to 5 programs due to self-imposed geographical restrictions). You only need one to rank you to match.

 

[game24]

All the rejections that I got so far said it explicitly; "we received record high number of apps this year (3000-6000) and it is logistically impossible to interview all qualified applicants bla bla bla"

People in our position last year had way more interviews and especially if you need a visa - you can forget it. The visa requiring students aren't getting more than 1-2 interviews. Surely this isn't hard data but deductions such as mine aren't unreasonable.

I was in your same class at AUC.