Dual applying derm and psych?

[averagedoc]

Hi everyone,

I will be applying for residency soon and am considering my options. I have always loved derm and have been working since before medical school to build my resume towards dermatology. I'm not going to go into a ton of info on stats but lets say I am an average or maybe a touch below average derm candidate. I do have some strong connections at a few programs so I'm hoping for those to give me a bit of an edge.

I am very afraid of not matching. I love derm with a passion but I'd prefer matching into another field I like almost just as much, rather than not matching. I very much enjoyed psych in medical school as well as during clinical rotations. I also love that the lifestyle is good, pay is good, and job availability looks strong for years to come. Long story short, I would be very happy matching psych as well.

My question is, I've heard about dual applying being taboo, but how taboo is it really? With derm and psych being such different fields, do you think I'd be able to pull off dual applying without programs finding out that I'm doing so? Especially if I interview at different programs for each field? If I'm directly asked about dual applying during interviews, should I lie about it? Just not sure how to go about this and am very nervous that if programs find out I'm dual applying, I won't be ranked by derm or psych programs and will go unmatched.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for your help!

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[AnatomyGrey12]

If you have the requisite derm research and derm experiences it will be easy to see you are a derm candidate.

Dual applying isn’t really taboo, you just need to have two completely separate applications

 

[Dr. Doctor MD]

Hi everyone,

I will be applying for residency soon and am considering my options. I have always loved derm and have been working since before medical school to build my resume towards dermatology. I'm not going to go into a ton of info on stats but lets say I am an average or maybe a touch below average derm candidate. I do have some strong connections at a few programs so I'm hoping for those to give me a bit of an edge.

I am very afraid of not matching. I love derm with a passion but I'd prefer matching into another field I like almost just as much, rather than not matching. I very much enjoyed psych in medical school as well as during clinical rotations. I also love that the lifestyle is good, pay is good, and job availability looks strong for years to come. Long story short, I would be very happy matching psych as well.

My question is, I've heard about dual applying being taboo, but how taboo is it really? With derm and psych being such different fields, do you think I'd be able to pull off dual applying without programs finding out that I'm doing so? Especially if I interview at different programs for each field? If I'm directly asked about dual applying during interviews, should I lie about it? Just not sure how to go about this and am very nervous that if programs find out I'm dual applying, I won't be ranked by derm or psych programs and will go unmatched.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for your help!

This will be very hard to cover up as your ERAS activities section is static and will be shown to every program you apply to, so all your volunteer, research, leadership will show up to all your psych and derm programs. I'm not sure how psych programs would view this or how they would address it on interviews. Good question to look further into since I'm sure no field likes to know they are a "safety" and presumably this would adversely affect your interviews and rankings.

That being said, as a DO applying Derm there are realistically 15-20 programs (former AOA) that like to take DOs and many of them psuedo-require or at the minimum heavily recruit from people who do audition away rotations at their programs. If you're going to apply to dermatology as a DO, I would only apply to the previously AOA derm programs (+ any MD program that has taken a DO in the past 5 years) and plan on doing 4-6 away rotations at these programs. Many successful DO derm applicants do 6 or 7 auditions (basically June through January). If you do apply derm, having psych (or something else) as a back-up is a very smart idea, and just be very prepared with how you'll address a CV and application loaded with derm stuff.

EDIT: Just saw this thread is dual-posted in MD and DO, advice will vary based on what type of school you're at, so I recommend clarifying and then closing the non-relevant thread.

 

[averagedoc]

This will be very hard to cover up as your ERAS activities section is static and will be shown to every program you apply to, so all your volunteer, research, leadership will show up to all your psych and derm programs. I'm not sure how psych programs would view this or how they would address it on interviews. Good question to look further into since I'm sure no field likes to know they are a "safety" and presumably this would adversely affect your interviews and rankings.

That being said, as a DO applying Derm there are realistically 15-20 programs (former AOA) that like to take DOs and many of them psuedo-require or at the minimum heavily recruit from people who do audition away rotations at their programs. If you're going to apply to dermatology as a DO, I would only apply to the previously AOA derm programs (+ any MD program that has taken a DO in the past 5 years) and plan on doing 4-6 away rotations at these programs. Many successful DO derm applicants do 6 or 7 auditions (basically June through January). If you do apply derm, having psych (or something else) as a back-up is a very smart idea, and just be very prepared with how you'll address a CV and application loaded with derm stuff.

EDIT: Just saw this thread is dual-posted in MD and DO, advice will vary based on what type of school you're at, so I recommend clarifying and then closing the non-relevant thread.

The thing is, oddly enough, a lot of my derm research kinda doubles as psych research just due to the subject matter. I was also involved in both derm and psych interest groups, so I don't think it'll be too hard to spin my CV towards psych. And yeah auditions are definitely a big part of my plan, hoping to lock down at least 4. Appreciate the input!

 

[DarkHorizon]

You’re really about that chill lifestyle op, gfy

 

[calvinhobbes]

Hmmmm. Going to be tough. I guess on psych interviews say you changed your mind from Derm. On Derm interviews say you changed your mind from psych 😂

 

[calvinhobbes]

Also how would you pull this off haha. Realistically if you want to match Derm, all your ranks have to be Derm. And all your psych on the bottom...so psych would pretty much be your back up, but ranking them so low...may waste your time... so, I say choose one or the other.

 

[SharonShares]

I would recommend writing two distinct personal statements and address your specialty. I can easily see how you can adjust your statement to explain a derm focused ERAS application and experiences to psych. Since you posted in 2021, I'd like an update on what you decided and how it is working out.