has anyone ever applied to only 1 program?

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double elle

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Just wondering if you, or anyone you know, applied to only 1 program.

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A guy from my school applied to only 1 EM program, at a hospital where he had done 1 year of Ob. His wife was also Ob, and they had a child (after he did his Ob-1 year, he quit the program to be a stay-at-home dad). He and I were the only 2 FMG's they interviewed that year (on the same day), and he matched.
 
I doubt that anyone who is smart (with apparently one exception) has.
 
I heard a story about a girl at our school who did it several years back because her husband lived in the town where the program was. She did not match because they didn't like her during her externship (it was in a different part of the country where things were done differently). She still ranked it as her only program knowing this. The program didn't fill so they agreed to take her during the scramble if she agreed to come back and do another externship first! I can't believe anyone would willingly go to a program where they admittedly didn't like her!
 
there was this one guy at USC who didn't even bother applying to family med... he just scrambled wherever he wanted to go instead.. didn't have to bother with ERAS, the personal statement or CV or interviews..
 
AznTrojan-MS said:
there was this one guy at USC who didn't even bother applying to family med... he just scrambled wherever he wanted to go instead.. didn't have to bother with ERAS, the personal statement or CV or interviews..

genius....talk about thinking outside the box :laugh:
 
I think most people at least apply to more than one, but I do know a few people who have ranked only one (I ranked 2). Most of these are people who want to be in a specific area because of family obligations, and only have one program there they'd want to be in. The upside is that if you don't get a call monday at noon, you know where you matched! You have to be pretty confident you'll get in, or have a strategy (year out in research maybe) for if you don't match.
 
AznTrojan-MS said:
there was this one guy at USC who didn't even bother applying to family med... he just scrambled wherever he wanted to go instead.. didn't have to bother with ERAS, the personal statement or CV or interviews..

For the Scramble, I think you still need to fax all the components of your application to various programs, meaning you still need to have your CV, PS, LORs, transcript, Dean's Letter, etc. available. Also, some programs have telephone interviews. I think they can ask for everything via ERAS too, which can still be transmitted after the Match.

If you are going for a completely non-competitive residency like Family Med and don't care where you end up, I guess it could save you some time and money. Doesn't seem worth it, though.
 
I know several people in the class above me who only applied to one Family Medicine program and matched it. They had all spent time around the program, knew they liked it, and enjoyed not having to hassle with all of the applications, interviews, and anxiety that most of us go through in 4th year.
 
A LOT of people have only applied to one program, or not ranked any. I know this wasn't your question...but a lot of independent applicants have accepted positions out of the match. You visit, they ask you, you go. If not, you try your next spot. This is less frequent these days, but still happens. But to rank only one is very risky. And yes, in the scramble, you need to fax them all the info anyway, so the skipped NRMP story is suspect, but not impossible (but you still need to construct a CV , personal statement, fwd transcripts etc...so, you save some bucks and risk that unmatched slots are all in bad spots).
 
bente said:
A LOT of people have only applied to one program, or not ranked any. I know this wasn't your question...but a lot of independent applicants have accepted positions out of the match. You visit, they ask you, you go. If not, you try your next spot. This is less frequent these days, but still happens. But to rank only one is very risky. And yes, in the scramble, you need to fax them all the info anyway, so the skipped NRMP story is suspect, but not impossible (but you still need to construct a CV , personal statement, fwd transcripts etc...so, you save some bucks and risk that unmatched slots are all in bad spots).

Can I rank everyone equally? [ I mean, whosoever gives me a position, is like a God to me ... and its not wise to compare Gods, isn't it? :) Can't they all be marked as one? ].
 
Apollyon said:
A guy from my school applied to only 1 EM program, at a hospital where he had done 1 year of Ob. His wife was also Ob, and they had a child (after he did his Ob-1 year, he quit the program to be a stay-at-home dad). He and I were the only 2 FMG's they interviewed that year (on the same day), and he matched.
He must be a super-human or a person with superb-luck! Oh Lord ... what a paradise! :)
 
Erica Lewinski said:
Can I rank everyone equally? [ I mean, whosoever gives me a position, is like a God to me ... and its not wise to compare Gods, isn't it? :) Can't they all be marked as one? ].

Umm...it's called a "rank" list for a reason...
 
Erica Lewinski said:
Can I rank everyone equally? [ I mean, whosoever gives me a position, is like a God to me ... and its not wise to compare Gods, isn't it? :) Can't they all be marked as one? ].

Are you serious? You really would have absolutely no preference in where you go?
 
Erica Lewinski said:
Can I rank everyone equally? [ I mean, whosoever gives me a position, is like a God to me ... and its not wise to compare Gods, isn't it? :) Can't they all be marked as one? ].

NO...you must RANK them in order of preference. BTW, regardless of how the programs or the NRMP wants to make it seem, for *most* residency programs YOU are the GOD (or whatever deity you like). They NEED you (or at least someone like you or better than you). You are cheap labor. Do not be so self-less that you would take any program just to get a spot. You are better than that.
 
To the OP, I too knew of someone (a med school classmate) who "suicide ranked" only 1 program. Partly because he preferred to be in a certain geographical location but also because he had a long history of not quite getting the big picture or understanding how things really worked.

Guess what? He didn't match (of course, if I told you that he did end up getting an offer in the scramble for another program in same area, it would ruin the cautionary timbre of this post, but he did. Still you should never [or hardly] ever rank only 1 program, IMHO).
 
fourthyearmed said:
Are you serious? You really would have absolutely no preference in where you go?
Believe it or not ... I'm. You see the question of preference only comes-in, when one has a choice in the first place! This is my last year to apply. I'll take the first one that comes along and be done with it. For the second year then, I heard, the whole world opens up and the scores (I&II) don't expire. Thanks.
 
A friend of mine only applied to 1 EM/IM program here at my school. He matched and started this year. He definately had inside connections, but I believe he had the grades and the total package too.

I thought he was crazy, but I guess he wasn't.
 
yeah, often if you have connections you can be assured of matching at your home program. even so, it's a pretty risky strategy.
 
I applied, interviewed, and ranked only 1 program... LoL, in Canada tho... went to about 5 in SoCAL too. :)
 
I have a friend who attended a prominent medical school who's chairman of the program she was going into had a formal meeting with each applicant and basically told them if he wanted them in his program....She got the formal wink and nod, only interviewed at one program and only ranked one program...and matched.

I suppose the whole reason the official wink and nod is illegal is to protect med students from deceitful program directors...however, I know that I sure would appreciate something like that as I am financially planning for interview season!

Carol ann
 
Don't do it.

And for every person that has gotten the "nod" there are 5 who got the "nod" and got screwed.
 
Kilgorian said:
Don't do it.

And for every person that has gotten the "nod" there are 5 who got the "nod" and got screwed.


so so true...
 
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