Failed to match again

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Jayhow92

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
43
Reaction score
96
Hey guys, so I have failed to secure any anesthesia position for the second straight year. USMD from a mid-high level program, 250/251/1st pass CS/Pending Step 3 score result, HPs clerkship grades, good rec letters (apparently). SOAPed into a prelim position after not matching with 8 IV. Worked on my interviewing skills and did some pain case reports to beef up my resume. I got 10IVs from high level programs and newer programs to fall back on. 20 ranks (R,A,C) for this cycle. Still didn't match. I got multiple interviews in SOAP for R spot positions but no offer and they're all gone now.

At this point, I don't know what else to do or fix. I've put so much into trying to become an anesthesiologist but it's not working and I don't know why and neither does anyone else. I've had my profile looked over by homeschool PD for any reason as why what is going on, but I'm not getting a reason. Fail to match and SOAPing once is painful, doing it twice feels like hell especially when the numbers basically say I'm a lock to match.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Hey guys, so I have failed to secure any anesthesia position for the second straight year. USMD from a mid-high level program, 250/251/1st pass CS/Pending Step 3 score result, HPs clerkship grades, good rec letters (apparently). SOAPed into a prelim position after not matching with 8 IV. Worked on my interviewing skills and did some pain case reports to beef up my resume. I got 10IVs from high level programs and newer programs to fall back on. 20 ranks (R,A,C) for this cycle. Still didn't match. I got multiple interviews in SOAP for R spot positions but no offer and they're all gone now.

At this point, I don't know what else to do or fix. I've put so much into trying to become an anesthesiologist but it's not working and I don't know why and neither does anyone else. I've had my profile looked over by homeschool PD for any reason as why what is going on, but I'm not getting a reason. Fail to match and SOAPing once is painful, doing it twice feels like hell especially when the numbers basically say I'm a lock to match.

You are either not telling us something or your PD is not telling you something. Obviously it’s gotta be something interpersonal if those are indeed your stats. Since your PD is of no help, schedule some time to talk with some attendings you work with frequently and tell them that they have to give it to you straight, no matter whether it hurts your feelings or not.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 7 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Given the shortage of PPE, I recommend radiology. Teleradiology in particular.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Not an anesthesiologist, but there’s only 2 main reasons applicants with really good numbers do not match

1. Limiting how many programs and types of programs they apply and/or ranked. Either the number was too small, or the programs were too competitive.

2. Glaring personality problem evident on interviewing or in LORs. You need to take an honest look at yourself as a person and a student. Is it possible that you’re coming off as arrogant? Or socially awkward?

You are doing something during your interview that has been a redflag to every program 2 years in a row.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Not an anesthesiologist, but there’s only 2 main reasons applicants with really good numbers do not match

1. Limiting how many programs and types of programs they apply and/or ranked. Either the number was too small, or the programs were too competitive.

2. Glaring personality problem evident on interviewing or in LORs. You need to take an honest look at yourself as a person and a student. Is it possible that you’re coming off as arrogant? Or socially awkward?

You are doing something during your interview that has been a redflag to every program 2 years in a row.

Yes my first thought in a high stat applicant who fails to match is Aspergers or “oddness”. The match process (as well as other aspects of life) can be challenging for them even though they can be great doctors.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
You are either not telling us something or your PD is not telling you something. Obviously it’s gotta be something interpersonal if those are indeed your stats. Since your PD is of no help, schedule some time to talk with some attendings you work with frequently and tell them that they have to give it to you straight, no matter whether it hurts your feelings or not.

Those are my actual stats. This is not a troll thread. I never had any professionalism issues or anything as red flags. I’ll talk with my attendings and see what they think about me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I sure hope you find out OP. Because, unless you are an arrogant jerk, my heart goes out to you. It is really sad to work so hard and not get your goals achieved.
Has medicine really become this absurdly competitive field for matching?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
Im sorry thar you didnt match... it is hard to guess why you didnt match when you check all the boxes for a competitive match.

Why do you think you went unmatched the first time? It gets increasingly difficult to match after a failed match because people will just assume you have a red flag.

Before you apply again, you need to have a serious self-reflection, and next time, will have to do a shot-gun approach and apply to a ton of programs.
 
Those are my actual stats. This is not a troll thread. I never had any professionalism issues or anything as red flags. I’ll talk with my attendings and see what they think about me.

Alright, up all night at the hospital and ended up going through all your old posts. This is what stood out:

1. First time around you were wayyyyy to confident in your chances to match. You ranked only a few programs (all of which are extremely competitive) and even turned down interviews.

2. The first time around one of your interviewers told you it felt “forced”. If this person was willing to actually give you criticism like that, then I would assume it was a lot worse than they let on. Forced to me implies that you were not personable or humble...or that you were arrogant and didn’t seem like you were actually making an effort.

3. In one of your posts you stated “They didn’t feel like interviews”...this is a bizarre statement. Everyone who goes on multiple interviews usually encounters one maybe two interviewers who don’t ask the normal questions...but typically every interviewer at every program asks the same 10 questions or variations Of those questions but in the genre. So for you to say your interviews didn’t feel like interviews makes me think you were behaving atypically and not succeeding at the process.

4. Your responses to not matching give me the impression that you didn’t feel like the failure was in anyway your fault. You seem outraged and disgusted, like this was owed to you and it was stolen...most people confronted with such failure will typically take even more blame on themselves than they deserve...it hints that maybe you come off a little more arrogant than you think...i mean in your first cycle cancelling 4 interviews when you’d only done 8 was a cocky move. In my experience Anesthesiology Attendings are notably friendly and humble...and that in Anesthesiology quiet confidence often correlates with skill and competence (though there are also many loud mouth attendings who are also masters in their field).

5. Lastly, and this one is the biggest reach...you described your surgical prelim to someone as a waste of time and scut work. Maybe it truly was horrible...but it also makes me wonder if your effort and performance mirror your feelings (as it almost always does)...and instead of using the year as a chance to improve yourself and your application you trudged through it without improvement.

Anyways...this was very scrutinous and very harsh...but you’re at the point now that you need outside help and must accept that you’ve failed to identify your deficiency and thus failed to fix it. I really think the evidence points to you interviewing very poorly, and I think a lot of your Effort should go into presenting yourself as a humble hopeful who knows he’d be lucky to get a spot in such a respected field.
 
  • Like
  • Wow
  • Love
Reactions: 26 users
So odd. I have never known a lcme USA Med school grad with good scores to fail to match. Never. Unless they picked the top 10 programs or severely restricted their targeted programs to say the west coast.
 
Yes my first thought in a high stat applicant who fails to match is Aspergers or “oddness”. The match process (as well as other aspects of life) can be challenging for them even though they can be great doctors.
When we look at fellowship applicants we evaluate if we want to work with them for a year or consider them faculty potential. It’s a question on the eval. More than 1/2 of our recent faculty hires have come from people we trained. We get some odd folks, strange personalities from time to time, and they do ok but if you are not going to be a good fit, there’s no reason to offer you a spot.
Unless the OP applied pretty much exclusively to high profile programs where every successful applicant is far above average, my money is on a big red flag in one or more recommendations or the deans letter, or at the interview itself. There may be something there that screams poor fit for anesthesia and you don’t recognize it.
An example- “Has some difficulty taking direction.” “Poor attention to detail.” “Doesn’t always follow through with the plan.” That would be death in anesthesia. I need to trust that you will carry out my plan I’m my absence because I need to cover 2 rooms and will likely be gone most of the time. I don’t have time to babysit you, shadow EPIC to make sure you did what you are supposed to do. We make anesthesia look easy, but it’s very high stakes.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 12 users
All good advices and observations.

Are you on the spectrum? At this point, you may need your school/PD to step in for you. Probably someone need to make a call for you and attest the fact that you have a diagnosis.
Obviously, I am speculating.

If you actually have a diagnosis of autism (if you don’t I do apologize, but the following is also relevant if you’re arrogant). Consider carefully if anesthesia is really the field you want to be in. It’s a “service” speciality. You service the hospital, “proceduralists” (some of them have bigger egos than just “surgeons”), lastly patients. If you cannot deal with interviews by putting your best foot forward for ~ 6 hours, can you do that for years, your whole career?

Good luck.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I agree with all the comments above-I was an interviewer for many years at our residency program. You also may have one (or multiple) outlier LOR's-basically, one sentence in the LOR which is negative or off-putting can doom your chances and that gets flagged quickly among committee members.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
I would definitely reach out to both your home PD and even the anesthesia PD at the program where you are currently a prelim surg resident. I would also talk with your surgery PD and see if there is anything they can do to set you up for next year (if you didn't pick up anything in this year's SOAP). I hope this helps, and I'm sorry you are going through this again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You are either not telling us something or your PD is not telling you something. Obviously it’s gotta be something interpersonal if those are indeed your stats. Since your PD is of no help, schedule some time to talk with some attendings you work with frequently and tell them that they have to give it to you straight, no matter whether it hurts your feelings or not.
Bad evals/MSPE/Dean's letter?
 
I believe what brought you to this position is a combination of factors: the letters are good but not extraordinary (which is enough to grant u an interview but not enough to place you to a matchable rank), you are perceived as sth that programs don’t like, and/or you don’t interview well. It is mainly something that turn programs off after they meet you; it’s either what you say or how you say it. It might be also the fact that you come off as “dull” aka not super enthusiastic about the next several years of residency. Have you had postinterview communication with any of the programs? What did they reply? Did you have any mentor strongly advocating for you?
recommendation: u should search and apply for an a non-acgme accredited clinical year eg ICU or something. It’s gonna help you tremendously and will definitely polish your attitude.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
When we look at fellowship applicants we evaluate if we want to work with them for a year or consider them faculty potential. It’s a question on the eval. More than 1/2 of our recent faculty hires have come from people we trained. We get some odd folks, strange personalities from time to time, and they do ok but if you are not going to be a good fit, there’s no reason to offer you a spot.
Unless the OP applied pretty much exclusively to high profile programs where every successful applicant is far above average, my money is on a big red flag in one or more recommendations or the deans letter, or at the interview itself. There may be something there that screams poor fit for anesthesia and you don’t recognize it.
An example- “Has some difficulty taking direction.” “Poor attention to detail.” “Doesn’t always follow through with the plan.” That would be death in anesthesia. I need to trust that you will carry out my plan I’m my absence because I need to cover 2 rooms and will likely be gone most of the time. I don’t have time to babysit you, shadow EPIC to make sure you did what you are supposed to do. We make anesthesia look easy, but it’s very high stakes.

Curious, what kind of behaviors at the medical student level would give these comments?
Trying to imagine the difficulty taking direction as maybe declining offers to take consults? Is that kind of the idea?

For OP: did you ever get feedback from previous PD / interviewers? Saw you posted that you were going to reach out for feedback. Might be a place to start for this year.
 
You're better off, kid.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Yes my first thought in a high stat applicant who fails to match is Aspergers or “oddness”. The match process (as well as other aspects of life) can be challenging for them even though they can be great doctors.

I'm not on the spectrum. And I like to think that I'm a regular guy.


Alright, up all night at the hospital and ended up going through all your old posts. This is what stood out:

1. First time around you were wayyyyy to confident in your chances to match. You ranked only a few programs (all of which are extremely competitive) and even turned down interviews.

2. The first time around one of your interviewers told you it felt “forced”. If this person was willing to actually give you criticism like that, then I would assume it was a lot worse than they let on. Forced to me implies that you were not personable or humble...or that you were arrogant and didn’t seem like you were actually making an effort.

3. In one of your posts you stated “They didn’t feel like interviews”...this is a bizarre statement. Everyone who goes on multiple interviews usually encounters one maybe two interviewers who don’t ask the normal questions...but typically every interviewer at every program asks the same 10 questions or variations Of those questions but in the genre. So for you to say your interviews didn’t feel like interviews makes me think you were behaving atypically and not succeeding at the process.

4. Your responses to not matching give me the impression that you didn’t feel like the failure was in anyway your fault. You seem outraged and disgusted, like this was owed to you and it was stolen...most people confronted with such failure will typically take even more blame on themselves than they deserve...it hints that maybe you come off a little more arrogant than you think...i mean in your first cycle cancelling 4 interviews when you’d only done 8 was a cocky move. In my experience Anesthesiology Attendings are notably friendly and humble...and that in Anesthesiology quiet confidence often correlates with skill and competence (though there are also many loud mouth attendings who are also masters in their field).

5. Lastly, and this one is the biggest reach...you described your surgical prelim to someone as a waste of time and scut work. Maybe it truly was horrible...but it also makes me wonder if your effort and performance mirror your feelings (as it almost always does)...and instead of using the year as a chance to improve yourself and your application you trudged through it without improvement.

Anyways...this was very scrutinous and very harsh...but you’re at the point now that you need outside help and must accept that you’ve failed to identify your deficiency and thus failed to fix it. I really think the evidence points to you interviewing very poorly, and I think a lot of your Effort should go into presenting yourself as a humble hopeful who knows he’d be lucky to get a spot in such a respected field.

Thanks for the response

1. I agree, I was too over confident to ability to match. I thought that it had it in the bag with my scores, the charting outcomes of matching at close to 100%, and all of my advisors saying there wasn't anyway I wouldn't match. I only applied to ~ 25-30 schools because that's what I was advised to do. I mostly applied to high-top tier schools with some lower ranked school as fall backs. I got 8 IVs that time and which statistically put me at a really good shot according to the chart.

2. I was talking with my school's PD as they were going through my file and I just happened to noticed the IV paper saying that the IV felt "forced". I thought I worked on that for this time, but it looks like i have some personality flaws and interview skills that still need a lot of work. I'm just not sure how to do it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Curious, what kind of behaviors at the medical student level would give these comments?
Trying to imagine the difficulty taking direction as maybe declining offers to take consults? Is that kind of the idea?

For OP: did you ever get feedback from previous PD / interviewers? Saw you posted that you were going to reach out for feedback. Might be a place to start for this year.

Tried reaching out for feedback from previous interviewers and didn't get anything last year. I'll try again
 
I can’t answer why it didn’t work out for you but clearly you have some very concerning red flag somewhere. It is certainly more competitive for A and particularly R spots... but After 2 years I honestly think it might be time to move on.
 
I'm not on the spectrum. And I like to think that I'm a regular guy.




Thanks for the response

1. I agree, I was too over confident to ability to match. I thought that it had it in the bag with my scores, the charting outcomes of matching at close to 100%, and all of my advisors saying there wasn't anyway I wouldn't match. I only applied to ~ 25-30 schools because that's what I was advised to do. I mostly applied to high-top tier schools with some lower ranked school as fall backs. I got 8 IVs that time and which statistically put me at a really good shot according to the chart.

2. I was talking with my school's PD as they were going through my file and I just happened to noticed the IV paper saying that the IV felt "forced". I thought I worked on that for this time, but it looks like i have some personality flaws and interview skills that still need a lot of work. I'm just not sure how to do it.

How many interviews did you actually get the first time around after applying to 25-30? With your stats, 8 interview invites is very low yield given you mostly applied to higher tier programs, which are actually looking to interview applicants with your scores. Unless you've lived east coast all your life and applied only to west coast programs, I am now suspecting that your letters or MSPE was the issue. You should've easily gotten 15 interviews with those scores. If I am correct, now you have even a bigger problem at hand since attendings that observed you in person had low opinion of you, so you need to figure out what you were doing wrong clinically or how you carry yourself. How were your evaluation comments during 3rd year rotations?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
How many interviews did you actually get the first time around after applying to 25-30? With your stats, 8 interview invites is very low yield given you mostly applied to higher tier programs, which are actually looking to interview applicants with your scores. Unless you've lived east coast all your life and applied only to west coast programs, I am now suspecting that your letters or MSPE was the issue. You should've easily gotten 15 interviews with those scores. If I am correct, now you have even a bigger problem at hand since attendings that observed you in person had low opinion of you, so you need to figure out what you were doing wrong clinically or how you carry yourself. How were your evaluation comments during 3rd year rotations?

8 IVs the first time around. I applied heavily in the Southeast, and West regions that time and went to school in the southeast. This time I applied to every program with an R spot from top tier to brand new and had 10IVs. My PD said I had great letters so it might be my MSPE. I had a couple glowing evals with mix of "good student, hard working" basic ones, but nothing terrible that I recall. Should I email programs about why I didn't match today or wait until next week?
 
8 IVs the first time around. I applied heavily in the Southeast, and West regions that time and went to school in the southeast. This time I applied to every program with an R spot from top tier to brand new and had 10IVs. My PD said I had great letters so it might be my MSPE. I had a couple glowing evals with mix of "good student, hard working" basic ones, but nothing terrible that I recall. Should I email programs about why I didn't match today or wait until next week?
Your PD would know your MSPE, too.

Somewhere more than one letter writer must have suggested that you're an overconfident arrogant arse (which you used to come across as, from what @Sublimazing posted) or similar, and now that's biting you. If I'm right, you will have a hard time finding a position in any program that has a choice. Plus now you have been branded, by not matching twice. Not matching the first time didn't help this year either; you should have given up anesthesia, and claimed that you didn't match because you were a poor personality fit for the specialty.

What you need is a current supervisor advocating for you, calling programs for you (the next time). If I were to bet my money, you still have some issue (relatively to the "happy puppies" most residents around you try to be), it's just who you are (so you'd have to actively control yourself every second, which is hard). You may already have a reputation and don't know it yet.

Medicine is a small world and employers don't like to hire potential problems. You are in a VERY hard spot. My advice is to definitely switch specialties, and go for the low-hanging fruit. If you find any open PGY-2 position, in ANY specialty you can live with, TAKE IT ASAP.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
How many interviews did you actually get the first time around after applying to 25-30? With your stats, 8 interview invites is very low yield given you mostly applied to higher tier programs, which are actually looking to interview applicants with your scores. Unless you've lived east coast all your life and applied only to west coast programs, I am now suspecting that your letters or MSPE was the issue. You should've easily gotten 15 interviews with those scores. If I am correct, now you have even a bigger problem at hand since attendings that observed you in person had low opinion of you, so you need to figure out what you were doing wrong clinically or how you carry yourself. How were your evaluation comments during 3rd year rotations?

Agree with this. With your stats, you should've gotten more than 8 IVs out of 25-30 applications, especially considering the SE isn't as competitive as most other regions. My thought would it either has to do with your MSPE, Dean's letter, or LORs are negative. Even luke warm ones should've gotten you more interviews than that. I'd reach out to your Dean to ask them to evaluate your application and give you some insight. Or if you have any connections at a program that you applied to, they can reach out on your behalf.
 
You may have a personality disorder. Unfortunately, most people with those, have absolutely no clue and no insight about it. They suffer from severe narcissism and other ills. I would talk to the people closest to you. Parents, spouse, SO, close friends. See what they really, truly, think of you, and don’t get defensive if it’s bad. They may be scared of you and afraid to give you honest feedback though. I have encountered many people who I find to be complete sociopaths in medicine. They tend to usually be on the other side of the drape.

There was an article I read a few years ago about a scientist of some sort, who in the process of researching narcissism/sociopathy discovered that he was one himself. This was via brain scans. And his family confirmed for him.


Don’t know you, but it’s a possibility.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
red flags?? Something isn’t adding up.
I'm not on the spectrum. And I like to think that I'm a regular guy.




Thanks for the response

1. I agree, I was too over confident to ability to match. I thought that it had it in the bag with my scores, the charting outcomes of matching at close to 100%, and all of my advisors saying there wasn't anyway I wouldn't match. I only applied to ~ 25-30 schools because that's what I was advised to do. I mostly applied to high-top tier schools with some lower ranked school as fall backs. I got 8 IVs that time and which statistically put me at a really good shot according to the chart.

2. I was talking with my school's PD as they were going through my file and I just happened to noticed the IV paper saying that the IV felt "forced". I thought I worked on that for this time, but it looks like i have some personality flaws and interview skills that still need a lot of work. I'm just not sure how to do it.


You were right to be confident the first time around. According to charting outcomes, 315/316 USMDs with step 1>240 matched in 2018. You said you had mostly HPs during clinical years. Did you crush the shelf exams and get lukewarm or worse evaluations? You should have had more than 8/25 interviews on your first attempt so the letters may not be strong. Still, since you are getting interviews, it could be also interview skills. Is your speech fluid and relaxed? Are you a native English speaker?


There is a red flag. You must find it and address it.
 
Last edited:
You may have a personality disorder. Unfortunately, most people with those, have absolutely no clue and no insight about it. They suffer from severe narcissism and other ills. I would talk to the people closest to you. Parents, spouse, SO, close friends. See what they really, truly, think of you, and don’t get defensive if it’s bad. They may be scared of you and afraid to give you honest feedback though. I have encountered many people who I find to be complete sociopaths in medicine. They tend to usually be on the other side of the drape.

There was an article I read a few years ago about a scientist of some sort, who in the process of researching narcissism/sociopathy discovered that he was one himself. This was via brain scans. And his family confirmed for him.


Don’t know you, but it’s a possibility.

Thanks. Interesting read.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Your PD would know your MSPE, too.

Somewhere more than one letter writer must have suggested that you're an overconfident arrogant arse (which you used to come across as, from what @Sublimazing posted) or similar, and now that's biting you. If I'm right, you will have a hard time finding a position in any program that has a choice. Plus now you have been branded, by not matching twice. Not matching the first time didn't help this year either; you should have given up anesthesia, and claimed that you didn't match because you were a poor personality fit for the specialty.

What you need is a current supervisor advocating for you, calling programs for you (the next time). If I were to bet my money, you still have some issue (relatively to the "happy puppies" most residents around you try to be), it's just who you are (so you'd have to actively control yourself every second, which is hard). You may already have a reputation and don't know it yet.

Medicine is a small world and employers don't like to hire potential problems. You are in a VERY hard spot. My advice is to definitely switch specialties, and go for the low-hanging fruit. If you find any open PGY-2 position, in ANY specialty you can live with, TAKE IT ASAP.

The above post is great advice. The time to pivot is now. You need to take any PGY-2 spot available. If you still must be an Anesthesiologist then that will happen after your first Residency in Family practice or IM or Psych (if they have a spot for you).
 
You may have a personality disorder. Unfortunately, most people with those, have absolutely no clue and no insight about it. They suffer from severe narcissism and other ills. I would talk to the people closest to you. Parents, spouse, SO, close friends. See what they really, truly, think of you, and don’t get defensive if it’s bad. They may be scared of you and afraid to give you honest feedback though. I have encountered many people who I find to be complete sociopaths in medicine. They tend to usually be on the other side of the drape.

There was an article I read a few years ago about a scientist of some sort, who in the process of researching narcissism/sociopathy discovered that he was one himself. This was via brain scans. And his family confirmed for him.


Don’t know you, but it’s a possibility.

I understand where you are coming from and having a real personality disorder is certainly feasible. However, I truly believe that everyone one of us has a gut check learning psych seeing bits and pieces of these disorders within ourselves. Soul searching is necessary but plenty of people with personality disorders are able to succeed. I would recommend speaking with your dean and asking them to give you blunt feedback rather than going down a self-deprecating wormhole of trying to figure out what’s wrong with you.

Don’t drive yourself nuts. You’re probably not in a good spot emotionally right now. Focusing on what’s wrong with you personally poses a real risk of slipping deeper into depression. Take care of yourself. You convinced a med school admissions committee you’re a normal person.

One red flag that sticks out to me that i don’t think has been mentioned is that you mentioned your interest in pain. Some people think this is a red flag in itself. As a repeat applicant, if you were even remotely showing more interest in pain than anesthesia and didn’t seem to at the very least still have a genuine love of anesthesia, this may have killed your application.

You may be better off outside the hospital for the next year anyways....
 
I understand where you are coming from and having a real personality disorder is certainly feasible. However, I truly believe that everyone one of us has a gut check learning psych seeing bits and pieces of these disorders within ourselves. Soul searching is necessary but plenty of people with personality disorders are able to succeed. I would recommend speaking with your dean and asking them to give you blunt feedback rather than going down a self-deprecating wormhole of trying to figure out what’s wrong with you.

Don’t drive yourself nuts. You’re probably not in a good spot emotionally right now. Focusing on what’s wrong with you personally poses a real risk of slipping deeper into depression. Take care of yourself. You convinced a med school admissions committee you’re a normal person.

One red flag that sticks out to me that i don’t think has been mentioned is that you mentioned your interest in pain. Some people think this is a red flag in itself. As a repeat applicant, if you were even remotely showing more interest in pain than anesthesia and didn’t seem to at the very least still have a genuine love of anesthesia, this may have killed your application.

You may be better off outside the hospital for the next year anyways....
Yeah, we all have something wrong with us. My suggestion was there's a possibility he/she is clueless about his/her issues as are most people with personality disorders. And yea, I also know that plenty of personality disordered people are successful as research shows many CEOs of successful companies have personality disorders, most often narcissism/sociopathy. But many others don't tone it down early enough in their careers and end up getting in their own way because their arrogance and lack of empathy makes it difficult to get along with people around them. Most "normal" humble people don't like to be around that type of person. They can give off total jerk, bully vibes as they often end up hurting people's feelings without realizing it or caring. So it may come through to other people around the OP while he/she thinks everything is hunky dory. Like the attendings he/she works with.

I put "normal" in quotes, because that's all relative. After all, we are all a little abnormal.

He/she may not have a personality disorder, I don't know. But that's a possibility considering the stellar scores, small amount of interviews and some what @sublimaze pointed out. The arrogance stands out to me but he/she was also going by what their dean told them. However, he/she said he's working on it. There are some bad evaluations in there somewhere.

Or it could be social anxiety when it comes to interviews. I have social anxiety and hate formal interviews and getting up in front of an audience. But I found anesthesia interviews to be very chill and laid back. They were all about "Tell me about yourself" or "How did you come to America" or "Why did you end going up from RN to MD". And them selling their programs to me. The one interview that was all formal and asking me about my strengths and weakness and what I would be bringing to Baylor, was ranked at the bottom. I am not good at selling myself or faking it and that feels forced to me. I feel like most of my friends told me the same thing about interviews but maybe things have changed in the past 12 years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Can you make a phone appointment or Skype with your Medical School and Dean and ask them to just give it to you straight. That you know something bad is in your letter/ eval and you need to know what it is and what to do about it. Hopefully, they will show mercy on you and help you out.
Good luck.
 
You may have a personality disorder. Unfortunately, most people with those, have absolutely no clue and no insight about it. They suffer from severe narcissism and other ills. I would talk to the people closest to you. Parents, spouse, SO, close friends. See what they really, truly, think of you, and don’t get defensive if it’s bad. They may be scared of you and afraid to give you honest feedback though. I have encountered many people who I find to be complete sociopaths in medicine. They tend to usually be on the other side of the drape.

There was an article I read a few years ago about a scientist of some sort, who in the process of researching narcissism/sociopathy discovered that he was one himself. This was via brain scans. And his family confirmed for him.


Don’t know you, but it’s a possibility.


Many people with these traits are excellent at presenting themselves on applications and interviews (and dates). If anything it could be an advantage in the match.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I agree that something isn't adding up. We're not talking about oral boards, right?? I've been out of residency for 10+ years but I don't recall interviews for residency spot being stressful or intended to make you sweat; if you've been invited for an interview they've already decided you have the capacity to be an anesthesiologist. At that point, they're mostly getting a sense for whether you're a good fit in their program and whether they're a good fit for you. My interviews were all very congenial and somewhat informal (but again that was over 10 years ago). Unless you're saying really egregious things, you should have matched somewhere with those stats.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Many people with these traits are excellent at presenting themselves on applications and interviews (and dates). If anything it could be an advantage in the match.
Good point. It’s the people they know longer term that see the issues. That’s why I think it’s some bad eval from some attendings who know OP longer term.

OR it could be social anxiety.

OR who the hell knows.
I think many of us agree that there is a bad evaluation in there somewhere. But what the hell do we know? Just that something is weird and totally off.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Top