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EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2015-2016 Thread
Started by mohands701
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Definitely agree. 9 cities in <3 months.... Excited but also like... hope it is socially acceptable for me to sit in breweries alone... because I'm going to need beer.... ( but in all realness I'll be that weirdo on interviews being like... SO Who wants to go drink tonight?)
Who the heck knows indeed! haha I have no clue! haha maybe when I fatigue out she'll be like Fiiine. Except some of my more "desired" places are in January (heck ya LA in January when I"m coming from a -40 degree wintery place... going to be awesome... and hopefully turning Denver into a first time skiing opportunity!)
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If you're trying to ski, you'll want an extra day to actually go up into the mountains and maybe a car [emoji13](I'm from there). But it's wicked fun and places like Eldora and Copper have day long lessons if you wanna fork over the cash
Anyone interested in swapping an interview date at highland? I have 12/1 I need to switch out. Thanks guys!
I'm hoping to convince some friends to come with for an extra 2-3 days! I will absolutely be doing a lesson... also at this point the money is basically monopoly cash. All my intern friends have told to me to make the most of m4 and enjoy it! haha And it's currently my last interview so if/when I injure myself... won't matter 😉
Lol good call! And in Jan the snow should be good!
God I miss Co. Love me CU! I want an interview so bad
There're still dates open at Denver!
That's like the best news I've heard today. I emailed them on Thurs letting them know my last letter was on (my app was on hold pending it ). But with acep, who knows!
So, everyone throws out the stat that ranking 12 programs gives you a 97% chance of matching. Well, I was curious and I went to page 72 of the 2014 match data. I was shocked to see that 239 US MD's ranked 16+ programs. Who are these people going on that many interviews?
I know many people who go on 16+ interviews. If you get 'em and have time/ money, why not check out programs? Especially if you're getting interviews at every spot in a city- you could easily spend a week in NY and do 4, do 3 boston, 5 in Southern California in 8 days, etc
One word..."Excessive"
Fair enough. I would rather go to Hawaii for a week, but to each their own.
Couples matchers? I would probably go on every interview I could reasonably schedule if I were couples matching. So happy I am not.
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That's about the only excuse I could make...but just how many of those 200 plus are couples matching tho lol?
Just got an invite from a program I withdrew from a good 10 days ago.....awkwaaaaaard.
Only have 2 invites at this point. One from my home institution and one other. Average/good board scores. High pass on home rotation. Pass on away. I think the Pass might really be hurting me. Should I be panicking right now and start putting in applications to transitional year or prelim programs? Would really appreciate some advice.
I'll be honest, because I think honestly only helps, even if it is hard to hear. I feel like things have really slowed down lately. I haven't seen/heard much in the way of invites recently so unfortunately I do think you should be setting up on a Plan B. I would also talk ASAP to an EM advisor, possibly your home clerkship director. Something is making programs hesitant to invite you.
(I have a pass on an away, albeit one of the oldest programs in the country, with 2 other EM honors from other good institutions, and have >12, so to me the pass isn't the hold up. I'm otherwise a strong candidate but not like top 10%)
I unfortunately have to agree with humerus...things have really slowed down to a crawl. My only words of encouragement is that people will cancel later on in the season but until than it could be kinda quiet. If your worried it can't hurt to throw out a few applications to prelim surgery...you might have a better chance considering this late in the season (less people want surgery and therefore more likely to have openings at this point). All it really takes is one interview, while not ideal still possible. Also you need to reflect on your list of programs that you applied to, and whether your goals were realistic :/.
You should really talk to your advisor (provided they are good). I got one late last week and another this week and I'm not an applicant that's been getting tons of invites.
My understanding is that there is a lot of movement in the application process as the interview season progresses. There is definitely no harm in reaching out to an advisor right now just to get their thoughts, but we also have to wait for the dust to settle from the post-ACEP hangover. More and more people are applying to more and more programs, and the number of interview slots have not been increasing proportionally. When people stop hoarding those January interviews I'm confident things will open up for a lot of people.
Is there a best time to interview? I feel like everybody publicly states that there is no difference, but your comment makes me think that January interviews are less desirable?
I agree wholeheartedly, it might be premature to resort to plan B just yet...there are always spots opening up as the season progresses, and people cancel their late in the season interviews, people will get tired and burned out as the season progresses!!
An interview is an interview...once you start analyzing which month is best, you're just gonna tire yourself out!!
I don't think they are less desirable as far as being "late" in the interview season goes. The programs may, however, be less desirable to the applicants holding onto them. Many people will schedule less desired programs later on and later drop them as they get tired of interviewing. The desirability of a program is very applicant-dependent, though. I have some I am excited about scheduled for Jan because that's what was available when I was also available.
I think it's just that people schedule interviews they are less excited about as late as possible, so they can cancel if and when more interesting offers come along. So I don't think there's any disadvantage per se in interviewing at a program in Jan, just at this point if people are going to "hoard" an invite that they intend to drop, they are going to try to schedule it in Jan/Feb
From all the research I've done on this topic (talking with PD's, researching around the web, watching the ALiEM program director panel), it doesn't matter at all when you interview. Although there is variability year to year, people who end up matching at any given program usually come from a variety of interview dates. The advice that I was given by my school was to schedule interviews that I wasn't that keen on going to later in the interview season, thus giving programs ample notice before canceling. Also, once people go on 12 interviews, interview number 13 in January doesn't seem as appealing. Or rather, the more interviews you go on, the more likely you are to find a program that fits you, and the more likely you are to cancel interviews later on.
In terms of when is the best time to interview, I think the answer is that it depends on the program. If you know what your top programs are, I would choose to interview at those places somewhere in the middle of interview season when you are going to be on your peak game. You would have already had some other interviews at less desirable programs under your belt, but it won't be too late in the season that you are so burned out. There is absolutely no evidence that suggests this method works, but it seems like it makes sense, and I've heard this anecdotally from residents and interns.
At the end of the day, to quote someone above, an interview is an interview and represents an opportunity.
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I think some people in this thread are being a little silly. I'm pretty similar to you as an applicant from the sound of it. So far, I only have 3 interviews (home, away, and 1 other) so maybe I'm biased, but my PD and APD are telling me that I should be fine and that there will be a ton of movement in November this year due to the late start most programs got and then ACEP being right after that. More people are applying to more places because med students are neurotic, so top applicants have more invites at this point. I really think it's too early to have to move to plan B. Yes it's always good to have a back up, but in past years a lot of people got most of their invites in Nov/Dec and that was even without things getting pushed back to mid October for most programs.
I mean... when I log onto to interview broker the majority of dates are full at alL my places. I'm being advised not to drop any(unless i physically cant make it) and honestly most are places I'm thrilled to go to.. also my later invites are scheduled so I have time to explore the cities if I've never been.
I hope there is movement for you but the majority of dates have been released already. I think you do need to explore why you have such a low number of invites.
I hope there is movement for you but the majority of dates have been released already. I think you do need to explore why you have such a low number of invites.
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From what I can see on Interview Broker, the more competitive places I've received interviews have zero open spots on any days. At the less competitive places, there are still openings...anywhere from 5-10. I assume this is the result of people canceling in the past few days as opposed to the spots not yet being offered. I'm guessing when a program reaches a certain number of openings, they will send out another wave of invites. If anything, waitlists should be moving soon.
While I agree most interviews dates are scheduled right now, there still seems to be a decent amount out there. Out of 10 places on my interview broker, 4 are full. The rest have 1-5 spots open. Of course, as others have stated, people will start dropping views too. It's a good sign that an outside program (no rotation) looked at their application and invited them. That doesn't mean I wouldn't be worried and at least thinking of a plan B if I only had 2 views right now.
Edit: I personally wouldn't start acting on that plan B yet IMO, but a good adviser in EM would a much better resource.
As someone mentioned, people seem to forget that this week is ACEP and of course things slow down. Our program has only released its first batch of invites and I'm sure that more spots will open here and elsewhere as people decide to cancel. Last year, it seemed as though we had barely gotten started around this time. I was not a "first wave invite" candidate - things got busier for me around Nov to Dec.
To those who have canceled interviews...have you called or emailed the Program Cordinator??
Emailed.
Heads up to you guys: I just randomly checked my spam folder on Gmail for the first time this whole cycle and had an invite from 4 hours ago sitting in there...and there was no associated message on ERAS. Freaked me out a bit. Glad I randomly decided to have a look in there today. Not sure why nothing was sent to ERAS. Fortunately, nothing else was in the spam folder. CHECK YER SPAM!
Because I'm not paranoid checking my regular mail...now I got to worry about SPAM too 😛
I cycle through email, spam, eras and interview broker cause I've heard of things going missing on all of them. Haven't found anything yet
If you use gmail and have the tabs set up where you have your primary inbox, promotions, and social media inboxes, I found one message from ERAS (an interview invite) go into the "promotions tab". I would get rid of these because you don't really need them (go to settings).
Scared the beejesus out of me though...
Scared the beejesus out of me though...
This. Saved me from missing one I really wanted today. Thanks!
How hopeful is it to get off the waitlist? Anyone have any info that was passed on to them as advice about the waitlist during residency application season?
How do you know you're on a wait list? I haven't been told I'm on any. Are some schools doing this?
Depends on the program I'm sure...but I've been on one waitlist so far, and I got an interview date 3-4 days later.
This might be the first time ever where I was not happy to see that I had no spam lol!!
These may have been asked, but I can't find answers. What is the least amount of time before an interview that you can cancel and still be within "proper etiquette". Also, I just received my second SLOE. Is it too early to update programs that I'm interested in? Lastly, if I expect that it is a good SLOE, should I send it to programs that I already received invites too, or wait until after I interview? Regardless I will need to submit it for a complete application.
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2 weeks but the more time the better for everyone in this process...No not too early if you have something to update...and yes if it's a good sloe send it away, why wait?!
Have you guys been experiencing any regional biases with your interview invites? It's interesting how I've gotten a few interviews at more local programs that are historically more competitive and were "reach programs" for me. But other historically "less competitive programs" that are located out of state are completely overlooking me. I did an away rotation in the midwest too and it seems like fly-over country is showing me no love.
Not complaining, I feel grateful to have interviews. Just wondering how big a role geography plays a role in all this.
Not complaining, I feel grateful to have interviews. Just wondering how big a role geography plays a role in all this.
I appreciate all the replies to my original post. I think I'm going to have to start working on plan B. My away rotation did not go well. I debated not using the SLOE but ultimately did because I figured not using it could be an even bigger red flag. In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have . I applied extremely broadly to 100+ programs. I still only have 2 interviews, 15 rejections, probably a lot of silent rejections at this point too if that's a thing.
I think a transitional year would be the best option, but I'm having a hard time even getting information from my adviser or dean about how many programs I need to apply to. Any idea where I can get some info on less competitive TY programs? Is it possible to SOAP into prelim medicine? I know TY fills.
Honestly at this point your best best is prelims surg or med. Do not underestimate the competitiveness of transitional years...competing with all the derm, rad onc, anesth and radiology big wigs. Go on Frieda website look up a bunch of prelims and just shell out the cash, DO NOT rely on the SOAP, seeing friends go through it, it is like a black hole where nothing is promised!!! Alter your essay, use the same letters minus the bad one and apply to 35 or 40 prelim surg and med programs if you want. But only if you feel that you are kinda screwed and would rather match into something than nothing at all!! I am not and I repeat NOT saying you need to initiate plan B just yet...but it can't hurt to get the wheels in motion so come Monday you say yes I want to pull the trigger, at least you are ready to do so!!
